Kodi Is Getting A Proper Netflix Plugin

[andreano]

surely, devising a linux player for netflix is a whole lot easier than devising a whole netflix, isn't it?

A portable player should be cryptographically hard to make, assuming that the DRM works!
I can't believe this one is portable – it must be using some Widevine blob.

[pal666]

A portable player should be cryptographically hard to make, assuming that the DRM works!

i don't need portable, my videocard can do drm decode

[Geopirate]

While it's pretty obvious the concepts that netflix brought to the table is awesome, it's also pretty obvious that netflix itself doesn't give fuck about
linux users. Which means that for us netflix is -not- the solution. Fuck netflix. They've been fucking us for years, now it's time for us to devise an alternative. Seriously.

Well the thing is to make an alternative Netflix as you envision, you need people who are using Linux (or some other open source OS), who are comfortable paying for DRM encumbered content, and who are uninterested in paying Netflix for said content. There frankly aren't many people at all who check all of these boxes.

[Raybuntu]

I suppose that Widevine still means that it will be limited to 720p. Which means it's still not a real alternative for me.

No it's not limited to 1080p. The Article is also a bit missleading and wrong! It is not limited to Android! phoronix can you please correct it. The video shows Netflix playing on WeTek Play2 using experimental builds I made with kodi-agile LibreELEC which is a Linux OS. One of my users made the video while he was beta testing my community builds and the brand new Netflix addon. The video even has the title "Play2 LE9 Netflix"

http://www.wetekforums.com/v/index.p...#Comment_52838

The video shows streams up to 720p because the WeTek Play2, Odroid C2 and WeTek Hub have Amlogic S905 SoC which is currently struggling with 1080p streams.
Framerate switching and 5.1 sound was working too btw.
The Addon works on MacOS, Android, Linux and Windows. Due to restriction in Widevines DRM decrypting and decoding has to be done in CPU. Means no hardware decoders can be used on small SoC's.
I have also tested with WeTek Hub on Android and there is no restriction because of proper DRM support in WeTek's Android (L1 Widevine + Playready certified). You have secure HW decoders using mediacodec and I could test 1080p streams without any problems. I got no stream on a cheap S905X chinese box with L3 Widevine only in Android.
4K may never work with Linux because it requires HDCP support.

[Falcon1]

I know that Netflix doesn't care about me or my needs, but I care about me. ;-)

Currently I'm buying many DVDs or BluRays and am ripping them on my HTPC for my personal use. Those DVD/BluRay cases are taking lots of room and are currently stored away in the cellar. A solution where I don't have to buy and rip all those titles that I want is very welcome.

Cakeboxes and Puchedpockets.

[Ehvis]

I have also tested with WeTek Hub on Android and there is no restriction because of proper DRM support in WeTek's Android (L1 Widevine + Playready certified). You have secure HW decoders using mediacodec and I could test 1080p streams without any problems. I got no stream on a cheap S905X chinese box with L3 Widevine only in Android.
4K may never work with Linux because it requires HDCP support.

Unfortunately, the ability to stream 1080p or higher from Netflix is not determined by the hardware, but by Netflix serving it. I'm sure my PC could handle 1080p in Chrome/Firefox without any problem, but Netflix won't allow it. Supposedly because it thinks widevine is not secure enough. I checked this quite recently, but any option above 3 mbit is simply not available. I can't really think of a reason why Kodi would manage to do better.

[Raybuntu]

Unfortunately, the ability to stream 1080p or higher from Netflix is not determined by the hardware, but by Netflix serving it. I'm sure my PC could handle 1080p in Chrome/Firefox without any problem, but Netflix won't allow it. Supposedly because it thinks widevine is not secure enough. I checked this quite recently, but any option above 3 mbit is simply not available. I can't really think of a reason why Kodi would manage to do better.

But I can really stream 1080p on WeTek Play, Odroid C2 and WeTek Hub with Linux (LibreELEC). Others confirmed it working on Windows, MacOS and of course Android too.
Playback on those Amlogic SoC is just choppy because there is not enough CPU power.

http://imgur.com/a/2mneZ

[Ehvis]

But I can really stream 1080p on WeTek Play, Odroid C2 and WeTek Hub with Linux (LibreELEC).

Can it be done on a regular Linux desktop as well?

[Raybuntu]

Can it be done on a regular Linux desktop as well?

Yes!!

[TheLexMachine]

Netflix is now - as of this morning - functional on Linux desktops using the latest Firefox. However, you must disable script-blocking software and any other add-ons - Netflix doesn't give any idea which ones, they just say disable them all - that Netflix does not like.