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Not surprised I have a Netflix and Amazon Prime sub I find myself downloading the shows I pay for because it’s eaiser to have them in Plex than searching for th

Not surprised I have a Netflix and Amazon Prime sub I find myself downloading the shows I pay for because it’s eaiser to have them in Plex than searching for them on Netflix/Prime. In the US it’s even worse as there are many more services available like Hulu all of these really need to open up an API for searching and streaming so Plex and Kodi can easily integrate with them. The cost is also getting pretty steep with more and more services being required for coverage.

bilbo0s 8y ago
>I have a Netflix and Amazon Prime sub I find myself downloading the shows I pay for because it’s eaiser to have them in Plex than searching for them on Netflix/Prime... ??? If it's easier just to have them in Plex, why would Plex need to search Netflix? Serious question. I'm not a Plex user, but the first statement made me think about switching for a moment. Then you made the second statement about Plex needing an API to search Netflix. So I'm genuinely confused why that would be?
- detaro 8y ago
  They want to watch videos Netflix and other services from Plex. Those services don't have useful APIs, so Plex can't integrate them into their search/UI. So parent instead downloads the videos from torrents etc., so they are normal video files they can feed into Plex.
- hadrien01 8y ago
  Plex is (mostly) for pirated content. If you could search on Plex with a Netflix API, you would be watching legal content.
  - touristtam 8y ago
    Can you link Netflix/Amazon Prime to a plex server and index that?
    - dewey 8y ago
      Not but it looks like that's something they are going for. Offering other subscriptions through Plex in the native Plex interface. https://www.plex.tv/blog/turning-plex-music-up-to-eleventy/ https://www.plex.tv/blog/turning-plex-music-up-to-eleventy/
      - dogma1138 8y ago
        Plex has a lot of plugins for online content https://github.com/plexinc-plugins https://github.com/plexinc-plugins
        dewey 8y ago
        Most of these seem to be for public catch-up providers. Getting Netflix to run with the whole DRM situation seems to be a whole other challenge I'd say?
        dogma1138 8y ago
        Some aren't public providers it's just a webapp you can do nearly anything you want. As far as DRM goes it isn't really a problem since it's easily solvable on any device you use, for devices they can use the built-in DRM, for computers it's already a browser anyhow so you have the OS and browser level DRM. And you know what even if you aren't going to stream through the Plex app itself which is easily achievable how hard it is to just make the search API accessible and then simply have links like netflix://f9dd2846-cda5-49a0-bb19-fb9ba5b0521d for one click streaming? The trailers, recaps and episode data is publicly available any how e.g. https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/70300800 https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/70300800 All I want is for a basic API that would allow you to search then use these links to launch the stream through your account I don't care in which app it actually streams, this can be solved by an intern in an afternoon and it's mind boggling why it hasn't been done yet.
        dewey 8y ago
        > this can be solved by an intern in an afternoon and it's mind boggling why it hasn't been done yet. This is such an ignorant thing to say. Do you really think it's not done yet because it's so hard to do? It doesn't make any sense business wise for them that's why the public API they had got shut down for everyone except a selected few. Making everything easily accessible and comparable by making it easy to get the data out is most likely not what they are focusing on. You also don't need an API for their deep urls as you can just build them yourself: nflx://www.netflix.com/watch/<Netflix ID>. This opens the app and plays the video.
  - untog 8y ago
    Not sure why you're being downvoted here. I'm a Plex user that uses their DVR offering and whenever I look at the message boards/subreddit it's very clear the vast majority of Plex users are using it with pirated content.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- dogma1138 8y ago
  Because I care about the user experience not the legal technicality. It’s much easier for me to automatically download and add all the shows into Plex and use its library management for all media. If I had a legal way to do it I would, Plex has plugins for example I watch NFL trough a plug-in which is linked to my account, I also watch BBC content through the iPlayer plugin, as well as other content such as podcasts for example from multiple sources. If Netflix and Prime has an official plugin that would allow me to link my sub and add that content to the Plex library I would do that in a heartbeat.
crispyambulance 8y ago
Yeah, it baffles me why Netflix, a company with deep pockets and enormous technical talent, deliberately makes their search shitty and instead seems to be pushing algorithmic "recommendations". Their genre categorizations are a joke too. Really, the only thing that their search (at least on the Roku) seems to work for is Titles. Would it be too much to ask to be able to search against director, cast, language, actors, date?
- jscheel 8y ago
  One plausible, if slightly paranoid, explanation I read was that Netflix is trying to intentionally obscure the size of their library and the deficits in it. This would be especially relevant to OP's story about rising exclusivity.
  - RodericDay 8y ago
    this is obviously, trivially the reason why
  - touristtam 8y ago
    It isn't paranoid: it obvious when you realize their licensed catalogue is continuously rotating,
- barrkel 8y ago
  Netflix is a hostile user application due to perverse incentives. They see engagement as a proxy for stickiness, and similarly lack of engagement as a leading indicator of churn. So they implement features that look like they increase engagement, like auto-play while scrolling, auto-play of next title, auto-play of a new series after the end of a series. I don't know about other people, but they absolutely infuriate me. We normally mute Netflix on entry into the app because we know that it's going to start blaring out of the speakers as the menu is navigated. And even the menu can't be navigated in peace: I need to keep hopping between adjacent shows to stop it trying to auto-play in the background with distracting images. If I want to leave the remote idle, I need to exit the app or find somewhere for focus to rest where it's not going to start playing something. It's just one or two more "engagement" steps away from getting cancelled.
thebigspacefuck 8y ago
I use justwatch.com to look for things I'm interested in watching. The search sucks sometimes because it doesn't always find what I typed in,sometimes I have to do a site:justwatch.com search in Google to actually find something, but in general it will usually point me in the direction of where I can stream or what subscription I need (so I do a trial, watch then cancel if there's nothing else to watch). If I can't find it anywhere, I hit up the library or rent it from Prime. I used to not have any money so I would pirate, but now I make enough that a couple of bucks isn't worth doing something illegal for.

bilbo0s 8y ago

>I have a Netflix and Amazon Prime sub I find myself downloading the shows I pay for because it’s eaiser to have them in Plex than searching for them on Netflix/Prime... ??? If it's easier just to have them in Plex, why would Plex need to search Netflix? Serious question. I'm not a Plex user, but the first statement made me think about switching for a moment. Then you made the second statement about Plex needing an API to search Netflix. So I'm genuinely confused why that would be?

detaro 8y ago
They want to watch videos Netflix and other services from Plex. Those services don't have useful APIs, so Plex can't integrate them into their search/UI. So parent instead downloads the videos from torrents etc., so they are normal video files they can feed into Plex.
hadrien01 8y ago
Plex is (mostly) for pirated content. If you could search on Plex with a Netflix API, you would be watching legal content.
- touristtam 8y ago
  Can you link Netflix/Amazon Prime to a plex server and index that?
  - dewey 8y ago
    Not but it looks like that's something they are going for. Offering other subscriptions through Plex in the native Plex interface. https://www.plex.tv/blog/turning-plex-music-up-to-eleventy/ https://www.plex.tv/blog/turning-plex-music-up-to-eleventy/
    - dogma1138 8y ago
      Plex has a lot of plugins for online content https://github.com/plexinc-plugins https://github.com/plexinc-plugins
      - dewey 8y ago
        Most of these seem to be for public catch-up providers. Getting Netflix to run with the whole DRM situation seems to be a whole other challenge I'd say?
        dogma1138 8y ago
        Some aren't public providers it's just a webapp you can do nearly anything you want. As far as DRM goes it isn't really a problem since it's easily solvable on any device you use, for devices they can use the built-in DRM, for computers it's already a browser anyhow so you have the OS and browser level DRM. And you know what even if you aren't going to stream through the Plex app itself which is easily achievable how hard it is to just make the search API accessible and then simply have links like netflix://f9dd2846-cda5-49a0-bb19-fb9ba5b0521d for one click streaming? The trailers, recaps and episode data is publicly available any how e.g. https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/70300800 https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/70300800 All I want is for a basic API that would allow you to search then use these links to launch the stream through your account I don't care in which app it actually streams, this can be solved by an intern in an afternoon and it's mind boggling why it hasn't been done yet.
        dewey 8y ago
        > this can be solved by an intern in an afternoon and it's mind boggling why it hasn't been done yet. This is such an ignorant thing to say. Do you really think it's not done yet because it's so hard to do? It doesn't make any sense business wise for them that's why the public API they had got shut down for everyone except a selected few. Making everything easily accessible and comparable by making it easy to get the data out is most likely not what they are focusing on. You also don't need an API for their deep urls as you can just build them yourself: nflx://www.netflix.com/watch/<Netflix ID>. This opens the app and plays the video.
- untog 8y ago
  Not sure why you're being downvoted here. I'm a Plex user that uses their DVR offering and whenever I look at the message boards/subreddit it's very clear the vast majority of Plex users are using it with pirated content.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
dogma1138 8y ago
Because I care about the user experience not the legal technicality. It’s much easier for me to automatically download and add all the shows into Plex and use its library management for all media. If I had a legal way to do it I would, Plex has plugins for example I watch NFL trough a plug-in which is linked to my account, I also watch BBC content through the iPlayer plugin, as well as other content such as podcasts for example from multiple sources. If Netflix and Prime has an official plugin that would allow me to link my sub and add that content to the Plex library I would do that in a heartbeat.

crispyambulance 8y ago

Yeah, it baffles me why Netflix, a company with deep pockets and enormous technical talent, deliberately makes their search shitty and instead seems to be pushing algorithmic "recommendations". Their genre categorizations are a joke too. Really, the only thing that their search (at least on the Roku) seems to work for is Titles. Would it be too much to ask to be able to search against director, cast, language, actors, date?

jscheel 8y ago
One plausible, if slightly paranoid, explanation I read was that Netflix is trying to intentionally obscure the size of their library and the deficits in it. This would be especially relevant to OP's story about rising exclusivity.
- RodericDay 8y ago
  this is obviously, trivially the reason why
- touristtam 8y ago
  It isn't paranoid: it obvious when you realize their licensed catalogue is continuously rotating,
barrkel 8y ago
Netflix is a hostile user application due to perverse incentives. They see engagement as a proxy for stickiness, and similarly lack of engagement as a leading indicator of churn. So they implement features that look like they increase engagement, like auto-play while scrolling, auto-play of next title, auto-play of a new series after the end of a series. I don't know about other people, but they absolutely infuriate me. We normally mute Netflix on entry into the app because we know that it's going to start blaring out of the speakers as the menu is navigated. And even the menu can't be navigated in peace: I need to keep hopping between adjacent shows to stop it trying to auto-play in the background with distracting images. If I want to leave the remote idle, I need to exit the app or find somewhere for focus to rest where it's not going to start playing something. It's just one or two more "engagement" steps away from getting cancelled.

thebigspacefuck 8y ago

I use justwatch.com to look for things I'm interested in watching. The search sucks sometimes because it doesn't always find what I typed in,sometimes I have to do a site:justwatch.com search in Google to actually find something, but in general it will usually point me in the direction of where I can stream or what subscription I need (so I do a trial, watch then cancel if there's nothing else to watch). If I can't find it anywhere, I hit up the library or rent it from Prime. I used to not have any money so I would pirate, but now I make enough that a couple of bucks isn't worth doing something illegal for.