http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/ Engadget Comments for Roku serves up Netflix Player source code http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2010 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 2nd 2008 11:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 2nd 2008 11:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/
This means something to someone like me with a spare PC or two who has a netflix account!]]>Jul 2nd 2008 11:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-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.]]>Jul 3rd 2008 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 3rd 2008 12:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/
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.]]>Jul 3rd 2008 12:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 3rd 2008 1:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 2nd 2008 11:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 3rd 2008 1:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 3rd 2008 12:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 2nd 2008 11:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 3rd 2008 7:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 3rd 2008 8:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 3rd 2008 7:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 3rd 2008 12:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 3rd 2008 1:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 3rd 2008 12:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/
Neither of those are likely to happen in the near future.]]>Jul 3rd 2008 12:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 3rd 2008 12:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/
Cheapo terminal for $100?]]>Jul 3rd 2008 1:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 3rd 2008 1:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/tar -xf source.tar

amirite?]]>Jul 3rd 2008 2:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/
nub]]>Jul 3rd 2008 4:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 3rd 2008 8:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/
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.]]>Jul 3rd 2008 2:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 3rd 2008 4:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/
Roku really needs to release a true successors to the Photobridge, as it was the best media stream of its time.]]>Jul 3rd 2008 7:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/
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. ]]>Jul 3rd 2008 10:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 3rd 2008 1:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 3rd 2008 12:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 3rd 2008 12:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/
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...]]>Jul 3rd 2008 1:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/02/roku-serves-up-netflix-player-source-code/Jul 4th 2008 2:54PM