Roku serves up Netflix Player source code

Hope you're not too sleepy, you hacker you, 'cause we've got a juicy one coming your way. No sooner did we find that the Netflix Player would be streaming content from other players in the industry later this year than Roku opens up the source code vault. You heard right -- the GPL code has now been posted for the world to see, meaning that there's just one link standing between you and umpteen delicious tarballs. Mmm, tarballs.

[Via Hack-A-Day]

[ihaveathumb @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:35PM]

Tasty tasty tarballs!!

[Steven Czech @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:39PM]

So what does this mean to people who own a Netflix Player, and dont know what GPL code is or does?

[Mikeweezer @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:42PM]

nothing...

This means something to someone like me with a spare PC or two who has a netflix account!

[Yousef Reda @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:10AM]

GPL = GNU Public License - a very permissive ("open" or "free" as in freedom) license you can use to distribute software code.

Code = the programming code behind the software running it.

What this could mean for you is that if Netflix is willing to accept software patches from regular people/developers, you could get new features and bug fixes faster.

What this means for the average person is that one can use their own computer or make their own, new (or old) small computer work to achieve the same goals as this box: watch Netflix videos. But it also means that completely new software can be made based on or with inspiration from Netflix's code.

Something like that, I think.

[Yousef Reda @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:12AM]

Sorry, it's "GNU General Public License".. there are a few other GNU licenses ("Affero", etc). I seem to be incapable of editing my comment :/

[David Ron @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:07PM]

This means that Roku created a device that uses a modified version of Linux as the Operating System and other GPL licensed software. According to the license, payment for using Linux includes that they MUST post the source code of modified programs. For us that means we're going to be able to play with the roku hardware, modify the Operating System, and put other stuff on these boxes. We can make cheap routers, terminal servers and all kinds of set-top computer things out of the Roku.

I doubt that this source code includes the keys to watching Netflix movies on non-windows machines, although it might help hackers to strip the technology so that we can get streaming Netflix on non-windows machines without the risk of having an account shut down.

[caleb @ Jul 3rd 2008 1:53AM]

Wow, honestly, I was JUST thinking about this.

[Jason @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:53PM]

So, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but this could feasibly completely replace other networked video players like Popcorn Hour with the right software updates, for only $100 instead of $180+, right?

[cesium @ Jul 3rd 2008 1:31AM]

I think it would be the other way around. You can make a Popcorn hour stream netflix with the right update.

[David Ron @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:08PM]

Correct. This is only the GPL code they had to change to get the ROKU working. From what I can see, this is NOT the propritary code that interfaces with Netflix. For that reason, it's more useful for hacking the ROKU to other things than to "install the ROKU" on other devices.

[TheClassic @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:55PM]

Delicious... I'd love to see this put in XBMC

[scooterbaga @ Jul 3rd 2008 7:00AM]

Oh God yes!

[Benson @ Jul 3rd 2008 8:37AM]

That's what she said!

[kuyashii @ Jul 3rd 2008 7:21PM]

if by "she" you mean your mother, and by "oh god yes" you mean me filling her bandwidth with my roku gpl goodness, then yes...

[cory3218 @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:17AM]

hopefully some one makes a wii channel for netflicks.

[hiimcliff @ Jul 3rd 2008 1:19PM]

that would kick arse!

[itchytooth @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:19AM]

Quick! Port it to Apple TV!

[Distortedloop @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:45PM]

It will never happen until Apple licenses Windows DRM for AppleTV use, or licenses out its FairPlay DRM to third party developers.

Neither of those are likely to happen in the near future.

[arima @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:55AM]

After quick look of what they put up, it doesn't look like they included the actual netflix streaming code. They only posted the software they used that's open source, but none of their own. Those hoping to stream netflix to whatever linux box they have around might be a bit disappointed.

[skulldriveshaft @ Jul 3rd 2008 1:37AM]

DSL should fit right into the mix.

Cheapo terminal for $100?

[kevin @ Jul 3rd 2008 1:49AM]

True, but I still have faith that with what we know, and some packet sniffing we might be able to figure out how to reverse engineer it.

[duffman @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:16AM]

gunzip source.tar.gz
tar -xf source.tar

amirite?

[Doctor Nick @ Jul 3rd 2008 4:08AM]

tar xfz source.tar.gz

nub

[zargon @ Jul 3rd 2008 8:59AM]

Bzip2 is better.

[RL @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:52AM]

Does anyone know what version of the GPL these are being offered under?

Also, Arima is spot-on about "Watch It Now" being unlikely to open up on other platforms via this news. If one reads to the bottom of Roku's announcement, a small snippet informs that "This product is protected by certain intellectual property rights of Microsoft Corporation. Use or distribution of such technology outside of this product is prohibited without a license from Microsoft or an authorized Microsoft subsidiary." AFAIK Netflix's "Watch It Now" only operates with Internet Explorer due to concerns about DRM. So if you want XBMC and Apple TV to use "Watch It Now," you'd be better off looking out for (or working on) a Wine port to those systems than following news like this.

The good news (or bad news depending on which STB you bought recently) is that this brings about the possibility of making the Roku a robust media client a la Popcorn Hour. I'm interested so see what kind of decoding this thing would be capable of.

[Doctor Nick @ Jul 3rd 2008 4:07AM]

There's nothing really interesting here, none of the code that streams the Netflix video is here. They're just doing this to be in compliance with the GPL.

[zargon @ Jul 3rd 2008 7:00AM]

Roku did the same or maybe simular thing with their Photobridge, which allowed the community to write third party applications for it.

Roku really needs to release a true successors to the Photobridge, as it was the best media stream of its time.

[jambino @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:57AM]

I wouldn't get too excited about going home and building one of these things out of your old Packard Bell you have collecting dust in your garage just yet. The only thing that Roku has done here is release the source code for some of the overall dependencies of their player. That just keeps them in compliance with the GPL.

There isn't anything in that list of tarballs that does something a run of the mill GNU/Linux distribution won't do. (okay you might not get the framebuffer modules).

The thing that gets me is: what Microsoft software are they using? Check out the Acnowledgements at the bottom of the page... Activex maybe?

You know thinking on it; I doubt you are going to come up with parts to build a box that will output composite, component, and HDMI for $99.

[Distortedloop @ Jul 3rd 2008 1:20PM]

I'd assume they're using Microsoft's DRM, which is why the acknowledgement. The NetFlix Watch Instantly uses WMP DRM management.

[David @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:11PM]

Put this on the Popcorn A-100 ASAP!!!!

[Joseph @ Jul 3rd 2008 12:27PM]

Would I be correct in think that even though they released the code, it doesn't necessarily mean you'll actually be able to load it onto the device?

[RL @ Jul 3rd 2008 1:46PM]

That was why I was wondering which version of the GPL is in use here for these packages.

Under GPLv2, a device maker can block unsigned code from running on its devices (a la Tivo) and still technically be in compliance. The GPLv3 would at least mean no explicit hardware restrictions would be in place to prevent unsigned code from running on this device.

The Wifi chip is part of a USB interface on this device as I understand it, so at least an input method seems possible at this point...

[Alex @ Jul 4th 2008 2:54PM]

There not all that delicious. These are tarballs for opensource utilities you can download from anywhere you want. The really intereting bits - like the actual player software weren't published. Lame.