Netflix streaming - Do you have it working?

[dearreid]

I can't test the streaming playback because for some reason the Netflix player on boxee won't accept my login credentials. I've authorized boxee on my Netflix account, but every time I try to log in through boxee it says my username and/or password are incorrect. They're not; but the email address does include the "+" character which I know causes trouble on some websites. Could the problem be related?

[macsyrinx]

Originally Posted by bgcecil

Yeah, Netflix is choppy... wasn't choppy while Netflixing thru Safari. Picture resolution is not as good as a Safari/browser window on "full screen" mode.

Another issue: I watched the beginning of a movie to see how Boxee handled it. I didn't finish the movie. Using the Apple remote, I hit STOP, then quit Boxee. When i went to stream a Netflix movie through Safari, Netflix told me that I was already streaming another movie and I had to quit it to stream another movie. I went back into boxee and trid to fast forward, etc... no avail.

I called Netflix tech to ask if there was a way to manually reset it. The guy said that whatever device I use to watch a movie has to "report a stop" to the Netflix server, otherwise it doesn't know that I have stopped (he knew what Boxee was). The guy said that the Netflix server will by default, reset that "stop" after two hours of the beginning activity.

Same here. I'll wait the 2 hours so I can test another box. No worries :-)
Mac Mini 1.somethingGHz 12Mb up / 2Mb down

[janngobble]

Originally Posted by macsyrinx

Same here. I'll wait the 2 hours so I can test another box. No worries :-)
Mac Mini 1.somethingGHz 12Mb up / 2Mb down

The issue is that you MUST sign out of netflix on boxee before attempting to watch netflix through another source. Signing out of boxee does NOT fix it. Boxee does not send the Netflix (or HULU) signout when boxee quits.

This plagued me several times before i figured it out.

J

[chrisr]

I was also getting the "Movie playing failed. Connection error." message. I tried signing out and reauthorizing, but to no avail.

Then I thought I'd try streaming straight from the Netflix site, and it worked fine. I switched immediately back to boxee and it was now working. I think following the Silverlight install, there must be some additional authorization it does with the Netflix site in the browser that's needed prior to running in boxee. Maybe I didn't read the instructions. :-\

However, now that it's working, I'm seeing the stuttering issue others have reported. It's fairly bad in browser (on the same system), and worse in boxee. Basically unwatchable in both.

My internet connection seems to be fairly solid with 10780 kb/s downstream and 26sec latency, but who knows what the connection w/ netflix is like. Firefox and bxflplayer-osx are both running around 70-85% in top.

Apple Trailers in boxee on the other hand play back perfectly in 720p. So it seems the issue would either by silverlight, or netflix' network connection.

Kudos definitely go out to whoever put together the Netflix interface. It looks great. Thanks!

Mac mini, 1.83C2D, 1GB, 10.5.5

[essron]

I can stream netflix and it does not stutter, however the video quality gets knocked down significantly from the quality I get using firefox. Sometimes it starts fine and then i get a progress bar message explaining that quality will be reduced due to a bandwidth constraint.

Also, the shuttle controls don't work. can't pause, ff or rew. the UI will show that the video is paused, but the stream keeps going.

Hulu looks great so my problems also seem to be only with netflix.

Am running Boxee on a Macbook 2Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB Ram, Mac OS 10.5.5, ethernet to cable modem.

[essron]

Originally Posted by janngobble

The issue is that you MUST sign out of netflix on boxee before attempting to watch netflix through another source. Signing out of boxee does NOT fix it.

Odd, I've been switching back and forth from netflix via boxee and firefox and had no difficulty. netflix even remembered where i had paused/stopped the film when switching clients.

[dyelton]

When I play a Netflix selection within Boxee and then stop it from playing and exit Boxee and then visit the Netflix site, Netflix tells me that I already have a movie being watched and cannot watch another for the plan I am on. I'm assuming Netflix resets this each day since it was resolved the following day.

I also have the typical issues like choppiness within Boxee (but not when streamed from Netflix.com) and the occasional black and white issue.

[nomar383]

Haha, how do you stop a Netflix stream after it's been started in Boxee? I don't see a stop option anywhere...

[donniefitz2]

I'm using a Mac Mini for Boxee and Netflix is really choppy for me. I can play the same movie in Safari through Netflix online without issue.

I think there's a performance problem when Boxee is running and playing a Netflix movie. Not sure but that's what it looks like.

Also, for the curious (to see how many frames are dropped), you can view a diagnostic screen overlay in a Silverlight movie by hitting (i think this is right): control, shift, option, D

And you can change the quality settings by hitting: control, shift, option S

[ntay]

I'll add my info here with everyone else. Netflix is choppy on mine as well.

Early '08 MacBook. Mac OS X Leopard (10.5.5)