Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[jmone]

Thanks Hendrik!

My first issue is... I can not login, it either:
- stops responding to Keyboard / Mouse input after say 10sec if I'm not quick enough, or
- even if I get the credentials in fast enough then it just sits on the login screen doing nothing

[JimH]

Using Edge?

Hold your fire on bug reports for now.  Hendrik has a list.

[jmone]

Yup & OK

[Hendrik]

The mouse interactivity going away is sort-of intentional so it doesn't take away focus from keyboard interaction, but as it is it can break the interactivity permanently which is of course not great, so i'll change that to be handled differently.

[Hendrik]

28.0.12 will contain a lot of fixes for this.

- The mouse is no longer being blocked, which might result in odd behavior if it focuses some element on the website, a new solution for that is TBD
- Season/Episode select should now be functioning properly
- Many style and glitch fixes

There is still loads to do, but with the above fixes it's much more usable.

PS:
I split out some unrelated discussions.

[jmone]

Looks really good so far (from a quick test):
- The imbedded player is getting a full UHD/HDR stream from Netflix's
- Navigation is working pretty (better than the Netflix Remote Controller utility I'd been using)
- KB/Mouse works when needed (login etc and when something goes awry)

Really nice work.  Couple of Qs:
- Not sure how you get out of Nextflix back to Theater View (I'd presumed "Backspace / Back" would keep going "back"
- It seems to be only picking up the 2.0 Audio track
- Auto Refresh Rate Change?  I'm not sure that it is possible to determine the FPS of the video and auto do this.  In NetflixRemoteController we could manually do it as keys 2,5,6 was mapped to 23.76, 50, and 59.94 respectivly.
- The main Netflix screen does not appear to be in full screen mode? as you see the scowl bar on the right hand side

[Hendrik]

I've been using Netflix Remote Control before as well, and while its navigation was serviceable, the constant offsets that it just moved the mouse cursor was a bit crude, to be honest.

- Getting back to Theater View is still a work in progress. Hopefully something in the next push.
- Audio Selection is up to Netflix, but I can probably instrument that to override the choice
- Not sure about refresh rate change. I had NetflixRemoteController always in 24p since thats practically everything anyway. Might be able to detect it, or offer some control. A good TV can process 24p in 60p at least and make it smooth, although 25/50 is a problem still.
- I know about the scrollbar. Even in fullscreen its usually visible in a browser, but I'll look into hiding it with a style override.

For the next version i'm also focusing on the "Watch" screen so you can reach audio/subtitle control etc on that screen with remote controls more easily.

[jmone]

Yeah - I'm pretty familiar with the innards of Netflix Remote Controller as it is written in AHK (and you can pull out the code if you want). It is/was crude but got the job done all those years ago, but your approach feels much much better!

- I'd suggest the consistency of using "Back" makes sense to get back to Theaterview when on the Netflix home page
- I'm surprised at how much stuff on Netflix is on refresh rates other than 23.976.  Most of the PAL sourced TV shows etc are in 25.  The issue I've always had is to either "guess" the correct refresh rate, pull out a keyboard for a Shift+Ctrl+Alt+D to check or just ignore the judder.  Oddly, there is even plenty of pure 24fps stuff. 

Broader Q:  Is this approach extensible to other On Line players?  eg:  Is there some sort of XML or Config file that users could copy to create similar controls for others aps (Prime, Stan, etc etc)

[Hendrik]

Its basically a JavaScript file, so its not impossible, but its a decent amount of work to map all the elements and controls.
If this turns out to be popular and functions properly, we might consider extending it, however the website in question would need to have at least a serviceable layout, which for example Amazon Prime really fails at. Using Prime Video on a desktop browser is a miserable experience, because its just some sub-section of the main Amazon website, it doesn't have a proper landing page experience and whatnot that Netflix or Disney+ have - which is where my experience with commercial services ends, as most others are not in Europe yet.

[jmone]

...and then of course, there will be a "Fresh" new look they will roll out that just breaks these methods.  It all reminds me of 1980's screen scraping fragility.  Have these companies not heard of API's 

[jmone]

Got another one.  The opening splash screen where you get to pick "who is watching" does not respond.  You have to use the mouse.

[Hendrik]

That one works fine for me. Can you check that its not a focus problem? (eg. click into it somewhere and see if it works then)

[jmone]

Yup.  Once I click on the screen I can then use the arrow keys.  But I have to get focus first.

[JimH]

Yup.  Once I click on the screen I can then use the arrow keys.  But I have to get focus first.

Same here.  It seems like nothing has the focus.  Just clicking in the middle of the screen lets the arrow keys begin to work.

It's possible our home screens are different.

[Hendrik]

Thats ok then, I can look into where the focus goes.

[JimH]

Thats ok then, I can look into where the focus goes.

I'd vote for putting it on Home in the upper left corner.

[Hendrik]

Theater View was stealing the focus back in some cases, but it should now treat the browser more gracefully. Now back to figuring out a good way to get back out to Theater View.

[jmone]

My 2c.  I'd suggest to keep using Backspace (when on the netflix home page) as it is the same key we use in MC to get to the "top" and also the same key netflix uses to get to the "top".  That way Netflix will navigate the same way as any of the sub categories we have in Theaterview.

[Hendrik]

Backspace doesn't do anything in Netflix by default (at least for me), thats my addition. But yes, that'll be the key to leave, just have to tie up some technical issues.

[jmone]

Nice addition! 

[Hendrik]

If you think of any other useful shortcuts to bind to keys, keyboard or remote, let me know.

Right now, there is
- Shift-F to focus the search (which I guess requires a keyboard)
- Shift-S to open the profile selection

Escape is also supposed to return you to the Netflix Home screen, but that doesn't currently work.

I haven't mapped them to remote keys yet, so typical MCE remote key assignments will come later, if needed.

[JimH]

Esc Esc (no delay)?

[jmone]

If you think of any other useful shortcuts to bind to keys, keyboard or remote, let me know.

The only other ones I've ever used was for manual Display Rate Changer (2,5,6).

[jmone]

Backspace back to TheaterView works well.

...and focus is also working fine for me.

[Hendrik]

The next version adds an augmentation to the player that should unlock 5.1 audio as well as a few additional options. Theoretically also DolbyVision HDR, but I don't have the required hardware to test that, and it may also be limited to certain PC hardware requirements.

Additionally, you will need the HEVC Video Extension from the Microsoft Store for 4K or HDR video
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/hevc-video-extensions/9nmzlz57r3t7

While you are in there, the free VP9 and AV1 video extensions may also not hurt, as Netflix uses those formats for some content.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/vp9-video-extensions/9n4d0msmp0pt
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/av1-video-extension/9mvzqvxjbq9v

[jmone]

1. Changed: Netflix in Theater View now offers various player augmentations to enable 5.1 audio and more (check Options -> Services -> Netflix Web)

Mate, nice stuff.  It all works.  UHD, HDR, 5.1, ATMOS etc etc.  Looks and sounds great.