Can Netflix be made to work with Linux Mint?

[I Shooter]

I just started Netflix and I was told that they don't support Linux Mint. They did have me down load some thing like Silver light that works with Linux. My question, is their a patch or some thing I can do to make Netflix work with Linux Mint? I don't want to have to start back with Windows. Thank you much for your time.

[Geek-9pm]

Yeah.. Hard to believe.
Here is one workaround. Tell us if it works for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuyPJFhVTxQ

[I Shooter]

I came up with a work around that uses two hard drives and a switch. I have Linux Mint on one and XP on the other. The switch will power the hard drive I want to use. Not ideal though it works. I can play on the net with Linux and use xp to watch Netflix. The switch is one that was used on an AC to Heat unit. It is a 4 pole double throw with a center off. The set up works great. I just wish I could have dun it all on Linux. I hate Windows.

[Salmon Trout]

I came up with a work around that uses two hard drives and a switch.

1. I hope you only operate the switch with the system powered right down. Otherwise, watch out for switching transients which might shorten (perhaps drastically!) the life of your drives, power supply, and in fact the whole computer.

2. What's wrong with a normal dual-boot configuration?

[Geek-9pm]

Try this Google search
Netflix News
There are some new things that have showed up in just the last few days. Netflix says they have a android version. That would imply some portable code that does not require windows.There is hope.

[JJ 3000]

I came up with a work around that uses two hard drives and a switch. I have Linux Mint on one and XP on the other. The switch will power the hard drive I want to use. Not ideal though it works. I can play on the net with Linux and use xp to watch Netflix. The switch is one that was used on an AC to Heat unit. It is a 4 pole double throw with a center off. The set up works great. I just wish I could have dun it all on Linux. I hate Windows.

I'm interested...
How does that work exactly? Can you explain it in further detail? Can you upload a photo of the setup?

[I Shooter]

I could take some pictures. I just don't know how to post them on this site. As for what I did I had Windows XP on a drive for this computer for the grand kids with some very old games on it for them to play. Some time back I got interested in Linux and decided to put Linux Mint on this computer so I could us it. I added a hard drive for the Linux OS and unhooked the XP drive and hooked up the Linux one. When the kids would come over I would just change drives for them so they could play the old games. As I said above because of Netflix not being workable with Linux I put in a 4pole switch with double throw. That means that where you hook up the wires it has 12 connectors, 3 rows of 4. The center row is where you hook up the four lines from the power supply, red, black, black and yellow. Then Hook up the power lines that go to the hard drives to the outside connectors.Just be very care full not to cross any lines. You know like yellow to black or such. Drill a hole in the front of the case and slide the switch through it. I used the extra bay for a DVD player for the switch. The sata cables are hooked up like always. Pick what OS you want with the switch then turn on the computer. To change OS turn off the computer and switch to the other OS and turn the computer back on.

I had a dual boot system and didn't like it. I had some problems with the hard drive and lost every thing. It is my understanding that you can dual boot with two drives. For me not being a computer tek person this was the easy way to go for me. Thank you all much for your time. I still think it is unreal that Netflix can't work with Linux. Any way that is my fix and it works great.
 

[ejames82]

if i understand I Shooter correctly, he has two sata hard drives.  both have data cables connected, but the switch chooses which hard drive gets power.  He powers down, then flips the switch.  Do I have this right?

Well it seems to me that netflix doesn't feel it is necessary to do business with linux users.  This is not showing much ambition in netflix's behalf.  Is netflix a subsidiary of microsoft?

Just a suggestion (wishful thinking), but have you tried WINE?  There is probably a reason why it won't work or Geek-9pm would have suggested it.  WINE has worked less than half the time for me, and I don't know if it works with mint, but it should.  It just might not work with netflix.

As for posting your pictures, there is an 'Additional Options' below.  click on it and click on 'browse' to your attachment (you have to save a screenshot first).  I actually use a hosting site like imageshack or tinypic myself, but you could try posting an attachment.  it may work for you.

[BC_Programmer]

Well it seems to me that netflix doesn't feel it is necessary to do business with linux users.  This is not showing much ambition in netflix's behalf.  Is netflix a subsidiary of microsoft?

No, they're a business and apparently have decided that the loss of revenue from trying to support the 1% to 2% of users running Linux, OpenBSD, or FreeBSD isn't worth the cost of switching to something other than silverlight, particularly since they would have to find an alternate technology that supports a form of DRM. (Without a form of DRM they simply aren't going to get any content providers willing to allow their content to be streamed). That said, Microsoft is actually moving away from the desktop as a platform fore Silverlight and aiming more for the mobile market. The "ideal" method for netflix to use would be HTML5, but again, without a form of DRM no content providers are going to be willing to provide content for them to stream. There is already Moonlight, but it's not quite "good enough" an implementation to run NetFlix, particularly since it doesn't have the "PlaysForSure" DRM implementations that Netflix requires (again, without which they probably wouldn't have any content to stream to begin with). Same issue with an HTML5 implementation.

Just a suggestion (wishful thinking), but have you tried WINE?  There is probably a reason why it won't work or Geek-9pm would have suggested it.  WINE has worked less than half the time for me, and I don't know if it works with mint, but it should.  It just might not work with netflix.

The closest you can get with WINE is to install WINE, install Firefox for windows under WINE, change the useragent string in it to "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.2) Gecko/20100115 Firefox/3.6", close and relaunch, Browse to netflix.com, log in, and go to the watch instantly page. Magically, you'll be transported beyond the "OS not supported" page you're used to, and you'll be given the option to install the Silverlight plugin. Do so. Then you can happily crash. You'll be able to get garbled display for a few seconds before it does so. Since Netflix works fine on the netflix boxes that get connected to televisions and those boxes themselves run a form of embedded linux I'm not sure why either netflix or some enterprising Linux user hasn't found a way to get the same stuff from one of those boxes running on a desktop linux distro.

In either case, it's not like netflix is the only option; there are a few other video streaming sites, that support *nix OS's, such as Amazon Video On Demand for Linux. The fact is if most people are going to set up a dual boot or a similar configuration just to run netflix they (netflix) aren't going to even notice that small percentage of users who are using Linux, since they have set up a dual boot or something to use netflix anyway.

[I Shooter]

ejames82, yes you have it just how it is.

I was wandering the same thing about if there was a Microsoft connection. I don't know if Netflix works out side the U.S. or not. It is my understanding that out side the U.S. that Linux is used more than Microsoft. I don't know if that is true or not.

If any one wants pictures of what I did I would be glad to e-mail them to you. Just PM me and I will send them to you. I didn't take any pictures of it but I can if some one wants them.

If I was young and more in to computers I might try some other of the ways to go about getting Netflix to work. What I did works for me and I am going to stick with it. Thank you much for your time. You all have a nice day.

[BC_Programmer]

ejames82, yes you have it just how it is.

I was wandering the same thing about if there was a Microsoft connection.

I love it. "It doesn't work on Linux, it must be a conspiracy by microsoft!"

The reason you can't get Netflix working is because it's going to be difficult to get the appropriate DRM stuff on Linux, and that has nothing to do with Microsoft and everything to do with GNU, the GPL, and the FSF. In fact if they had their way no Linux distro would even be able to play MP3s. And the reason you can't get something like netflix without said DRM is because no content provider is going to want to give content to a streaming service where anybody can rip them, and it's not sensible for netflix to do so anyway because Windows and OSX comprise a vast majority of the OS environment. Why should they bust their asses so that a tiny percentage of people interested in using NetFlix on Linux-based machines can use it? That wouldn't be "ambition" it would be bad business sense. Linux users ought to understand that just because your Operating System is Open Source doesn't suddenly mean that every single corporation is going to turn a blind eye to the extra costs of developing solutions on that platform.

I don't know if Netflix works out side the U.S. or not. It is my understanding that out side the U.S. that Linux is used more than Microsoft. I don't know if that is true or not.

It's not true. The difference between Windows usage inside and outside North America is well within the margin of error. Don't worry though, Apparently Linux will take over the desktop market any year now.

[I Shooter]

BC_Programmer. I don't know what you are talking about as far as the DRM and such. I do know that I can watch HULU on the net and all the TV station programs on my Linux machaine. Knowing that I had no idea that I woudn't be able to get Netflix. To put it an other way. Netflix is the only one I can't use on Linux That I have tried and if the wife hadn't set it up for me I would have gone with Hulu and wouldn't have been bothered with any of this. Thank you much for your time. You have a great day.

[BC_Programmer]

BC_Programmer. I don't know what you are talking about as far as the DRM and such.

PlayReady.

[Geek-9pm]

Netflix does not let you copy the stream. This makes it good for a media company to get a royalty for every time a movie is viewed. Even if you watch is several times, that is not the same as making a copy that will go on forever. Anyway, Netflix is winning. At least that is what somebody said today.

Have you noticed lately how many hours you've been spending ogling at the endless catalog of movie choices on Netflix Instant View? Did you smile a little yesterday at the news that Miramax movies will soon be available to subscribers--and maybe you even started planning your streaming Pulp Fiction party complete with Photoshopped boxes of Frute Brute cereal to munch? You're not the only one. According to a new report by Sandvine, Netflix now accounts for one third of all internet bandwidth in North America during primetime hours.
Netflix Is Winning the Internet

So that's why I lost my bandwidth!

[Garthhh]

Netflix will run on my Virtual box
XP
looks about as bad as it does on a straight XP box
Netflix works ok at my neighbors house through a WII
I'm not sure what the difference is

[Geek-9pm]

It is a WII
Netflix limits support to specific platforms and plug-ins and devices.
So far, this has not stopped their growth and popularity.

No simple answer to the problem. No yet. So far, Net fix has a firm hold on its market and plans to keep it that way. There software technologyy is hard to beat on a mediocre broadband connection.

But when everybody has Broadband above 1500 bps, they will have competition from  companies with less advanced software. Sounds like a paradox.

There are going to port Netflix to some new hardware that might make it easier to put Netflix on any machine that has the new chip. But is not here yet. Real soon.