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How are users handling premium streaming services?

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2023 10:01 pm
by larry5b6
I'm new to MythTV, hoping to replace an aging Windows Media Center setup. In that environment, services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc., can generally be run in a browser. But looking through the wiki and wish list, I see that there are DRM/etc. issues that make it impossible to watch these services on the internal MythTV browser - I tried briefly, and got an impolite Segmentation fault :( .

So I'm wondering what other users are doing about this? My smart-ish TV can stream Netflix and Amazon directly, but I'm not sure what my solution would be for Hulu, Paramount, or whatever comes next. The only solution I can think of is to shove one of those 'stick' PCs into another HDMI input, but before I go off and reinvent the square wheel I thought I'd ask what others are doing.

Re: How are users handling premium streaming services?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2023 11:15 am
by mtvf2894
I have added a menu to the Frontend that opens the relevant URLs in Firefox.

You can then have a menu item for each service or just a menu item to Firefox and then use Bookmarks from within Firefox itself.

When you close/exit Firefox you go back to the Frontend.

The streaming service obviously needs to let you watch via Firefox for this to work.

It isn't 100% slick but you soon get used to it and works surprisingly well.

Re: How are users handling premium streaming services?

Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2023 10:53 am
by bshanteau
mtvf2894 wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 11:15 am
I have added a menu to the Frontend that opens the relevant URLs in Firefox.
How?

Re: How are users handling premium streaming services?

Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2023 2:11 pm
by paulh
There is an example in the Helpful Tips section on this wiki page
https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Menu_theme_ ... lpful_Tips

You would just need to tweak it a little to run Firefox and change the type and text to better reflect what the new menu button if for.

Re: How are users handling premium streaming services?

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2023 3:46 pm
by Gribnif
The biggest hurdle I've found is that no amount of Googling has resulted in a procedure for getting widevine DRM to work with Firefox under Linux. I have the plugin installed and running, but something still doesn't pass muster for Netflix or Amazon Prime.

Re: How are users handling premium streaming services?

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2023 4:47 pm
by gedakc
Check to see if Digital Restrictions... er Rights Management (DRM) is enabled in Firefox.

It's under the Three bar hamburger menu -> Settings -> General. Enable Play DRM-controlled content.

You might need to scroll down the page quite a bit to find the setting.

Re: How are users handling premium streaming services?

Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2023 8:11 pm
by mtvf2894
bshanteau wrote:
Thu Feb 09, 2023 10:53 am
mtvf2894 wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 11:15 am
I have added a menu to the Frontend that opens the relevant URLs in Firefox.
How?
Sorry I have been away from the forum if you still need more information please post in the thread.

Re: How are users handling premium streaming services?

Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2023 8:17 pm
by mtvf2894
Gribnif wrote:
Mon Feb 13, 2023 3:46 pm
The biggest hurdle I've found is that no amount of Googling has resulted in a procedure for getting widevine DRM to work with Firefox under Linux. I have the plugin installed and running, but something still doesn't pass muster for Netflix or Amazon Prime.
Sorry I have been away from the forum if you still need more information after trying the Enable DRM option (Edit - Settings menu and in the search box type DRM) please post in the thread. Firefox used to prompt to enable this if needed. It used to playback Amazon but that was quite sometime ago now perhaps things have changed. If anyone knows how to test playback with Netflix/Amazon I will give it try as I have cost cut and have no premium subscriptions at the moment. The mythtv menu item to open Firefox technique still works great for standard YouTube though.