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[dbalkunjr]

I am finding that MC in this 15th version is coming very close to my perfect total entertainment solution.  One thing that I am having a problem with though is the Netflix Watch Now interface.   If I queue up say the first season of 24, I can not pick which episode I want to watch without using a mouse.  I would like to be able to change episodes as well as access the Full Screen buttons with my Harmony remote.  Is there any way to  control these items using a remote control without having to resort to a mouse?

Thanks

[JimH]

Don't the right and left arrows work?  Try them on a keyboard.

Thanks for the "... close to my perfect entertainment solution".

[dbalkunjr]

Well I got a chance to mess around with the Netflix interface again last night.  I had my Adesso wireless keyboard with touchpad and my Harmony remote (programmed to control a  Microsoft Media Center PC).  I figured out that if you hit the “F” key on a keyboard you can make the display change to full screen which mimics the same action as the “full screen” button I would like to be able to control with my Harmony Remote.
Now I think I was not as clear as I should have been in my original post after re-reading it.   Let me explain in better detail.  When Netflix is picked from the top level Theater View screen, it brings up all videos in my Instant Watch Queue.  From here there are two different situations that take place.
#1- If a movie or non-episodic title is picked there are no problems…It just plays and the only item that I can’t seem to control is the full screen button (which mentioned above can be controlled on a keyboard with the “F” key).

#2- If an episodic title IS picked (IE. Weeds,Lost,24,Rescue Me) it will bring you to another screen where you can press play(That is the only option here that I can see).  Then it will start playing from the first episode.  If I want to go another episode while it is playing, there is a button that produces a pop up with the episode titles to pick from within the display window.   It is this button that I cannot control with a remote control or keyboard command, only navigation with a mouse can select this option as far as I can tell. 

Like I originally stated, this is close to my perfect entertainment solution.  The WAF(Wife Acceptance Factor) is the biggest driving force to use only one application for all my media.  In order for this to get a positive WAF, the interface needs to be able to be totally controlled from within theater view.  I am sure I am not alone in using this WAF metric to determine how good your product is.

One last item to add is that since I sit 15 feet away from my 50” screen, I have a hard time reading the text on the Netlfix player partially because the text is grayish and blends in with the black button.  Also if the buttons were a little larger where the text could also be larger it would make it easier to make selections using this “10 foot interface”.

[JimH]

For size, try adjusting Theater View settings.  I use 140%.

I'm not sure what you mean by the F button.  I have an Adesso keyboard I could test.

#2- If an episodic title IS picked (IE. Weeds,Lost,24,Rescue Me) it will bring you to another screen where you can press play(That is the only option here that I can see).  Then it will start playing from the first episode.  If I want to go another episode while it is playing, there is a button that produces a pop up with the episode titles to pick from within the display window.   It is this button that I cannot control with a remote control or keyboard command, only navigation with a mouse can select this option as far as I can tell. 

Try using Enter to select what you want.  You should be able to completely navigate with the four arrow keys and enter in Theater View.

[dbalkunjr]

The "f" key is  the alpha key on a qwerty keyboard.  I found this by trial and error.
There is no reason to adjust the screen size.  Click on my links below and you will see what I mean.

This is the screen that is shown after hitting play from the title screen.  As you can see it is not full screen by any means.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/7HHVqk25igIa-qkLXGqbCA?feat=directlink

This screen is what happens when you click the full screen button or hit the "f" key on the keyboard.  After a few seconds the progress bar will disappear and the video will expand to fill the entire screen. 
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/0T1Oruz7PuE3Se6YSUtaAQ?feat=directlink

Now back to the episodes issue.  If you look at the first image you will see the "more episodes" button.  This is the only way that I can find to change episodes.  I can only access this button with a mouse.  I tried the arrows on the keyboard as well as my harmony remote and just now with my MCE credit card remote that came with my laptop.  None of those are able to access the more episodes button to open that option up.  I did see that using the enter button does seem to cycle through a few different viewing screens but does not go directly to full screen like the "f" key.  I hope this explains it a little better.

[cncb]

The problem is that it looks like Display View is essentially just showing a web browser for Netflix content and will only support keyboard shortcuts that are supported in the Netflix player.  The Netflix player doesn't seem to support keyboard shortcuts to popup the episode selection menu.  MC will have to support selecting the episode before launching the Netflix player.

[dbalkunjr]

I believe that is how the WMC implementation works.  You can select the Title you want to play then the episode then the player screen comes up.  That sounds like that would work just fine for my needs.  It would be nice when the episode is selected and the player comes up, it defaults to full screen.  That would take care of both my problems.

[SteveGoff]

I am also trying to control Netflix playback using a remote control. The "F" key does cause the Netflix Silverlight player to go fullscreen, and the "escape" key goes back to windowed mode. And "space " and "enter" toggle play/pause. "Page up" also works for play, and "page down" works for pause. But I know of no shortcuts for changing episodes. Apparently someone at SageTV has written an autohotkey script for providing more control, including dealing with TV episodes. Here is a link to a blog discussing this and providing links to the autohotkey script and discussion. http://markwarren.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/netflix-movie-player-keyboard-shortcuts/

[dbalkunjr]

I have been on vacation and finally got a chance to install MC15.095.  Thanks for getting a change implemented for Episodes so quickly.  There is however still a problem.  In WMC7(and the Netflix screen on my TiVo as well), the Netflix layout comes up with the main titles of the movies or seasons of shows that are in the instant queue.  Once you select the title of a season show it will then let you pick the episode to watch and once the episode is selected, then and only then does it begin to download and play.  This is keeps the Instant Queue screen from getting too cluttered.  It works much better IMHO than how MC currently has it set up.  When I first clicked on Netflix in MC and LOST Season one came up and filled my screen over and over with the DVD cover art I thought that this was a bug.  Then I started to read the captions under each one and realized that this was how it was intended.  This does work but, it does not make for a very polished implementation.  I would like to see this mimc WMC7 and TiVo as that keeps the Queue uncluttered and easy to navigate.