Netflix on your TV
April 10th, 2006 at 1:54 pm by Jason
Two of the best parts of Beyond Media are its flexibility and its extensibility. The Beyond Media SDK has enabled the SnapStream developer community to add many new features including new ways to control Beyond Media, checking your email, and getting the latest theater listings. Head on over to the Beyond Media Downloads section to see everything the users have contributed that’s been built off the SDK. Over the next few weeks we are going to be highlighting some of the best user created plugins which utilize the flexibility and extensibility of Beyond Media to deliver new features to all Beyond Media users.
The first Beyond Media plugin I’d like to highlight is the Netflix plugin created by Craid Baldwin. I’m not currently a Netflix subscriber, but everyone I’ve spoken with has raved about how much easier this plugin makes their life. It gives you access to your Netflix queue right on your TV. As soon as you finish watching your latest batch of DVDs you can take your remote and start searching for what you would like Netflix to send you next. Everything from just seeing what’s in your Netflix queue to getting recommendations and making changes to what Netflix is going to send you can now be accessed via remote control.
The Netflix plugin start screen
The Netflix plugin queue screen
The user benefits aside, the Netflix plugin is special for another pair of reasons. It features a well organized 10 foot friendly interfance, and it is a solid example of a plugin that exposes features which other plugins can use. The “Send to Netflix� option in the “Movie Showtimes� plugin (link) is provided by the Netflix plugin. This is a nice example of even user created addons keeping with the Beyond Media extensibility spirit.
Learn More about the Netflix Plugin by cncb
Download the Netflix Plugin by cncb (requires Beyond Media)
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(if you are interested in creating Beyond Media plugins, check out http://code.snapstream.com for tutorials and other development information. When you’re finished, submit your plugin to http://www.snapstream.com/ssdn/submit.aspx and it will get published for the community to see and download.
April 10th, 2006 at 6:40 pm
I find it very odd that a product that has had no major upgrade or added any features on its own for at lest a year now , has to resort to praising its network of creative users for developing great pluggins that may or may not work in the future. Don’t get me wrong the if not for the great work of its creative user base the product would be useless. But come on now either tell us when to expect the next product release and since that is supposed to integrate with BTV. How is this all going to work. Will we need to start over with all new pluggins for a BTv/Bm integrated product. The silence is deafening Snapstream and we deserve to know if we are being lead down a dead end road or building a new highway. Its been far to long since we have been given any timelines on your future plans for this product so as far as I am concerned the only BM news I care to hear about is when is the next realese and what will it include.
April 11th, 2006 at 9:48 am
The Beyond Media Plugins available do work well. The Netflix plugin is one of my favorites and has improved continually over the past several months. My favorite Plugins on Beyond Media are as follows:
DVD Library
Movie Showtimes
Netflix
J. River Media Center
As I understand it, the Integration of the Beyond Media and Beyond TV products will be happening soon. This integration will involve BTV being “integrated” into beyond media not the other way around. This is important because it means the the plugins that exist for Beyond Media today will work when they implement the integration of the two products. Snapstream hasn’t been silent on the integration. They had a post on this very blog regarding it. You can view it here: http://blogs.snapstream.com/2005/07/29/welcome-to-the-first-snapstream-qa-session/
This post was in July of 2005, so it would be nice to hear an update from Snapstream soon
April 11th, 2006 at 10:29 am
OK, My two cents here:
Yes, I agree with Dave that BM (Not BTV) is getting a little stale. Hocking a user contribution as a value-add is fine but lets hear about upcoming releases of BM and not regianally specific plugins that do not work in all markets.
What would be truly worth talking about would be an upcoming feature that allows the user to configure their DVD rental plugin for ZIP.CA or other online DVD rental companies that operate outside the US.
I understand that the author of this plugin is in the US and created the plugin for his needs as well as the regional needs of the US BM owners but this is supposed to be an international web site with visitors from other countries.
I would like functionality like this in the next version of BM. I suspect that Snapstream is dedicating most of their resources to BTV and DRM at the present time and BM is off the radar.
April 14th, 2006 at 5:04 am
Netflix Plugin for Beyond Media
The SnapStream blog features a new Netflix plugin for Beyond Media, a program that “…. is a DVD player, a music player, and a photo browser–an all-in-one media player that will take your entertainment PC to the next level..” via Netflix Fan Blog a…
April 24th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
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May 9th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
[...] Netflix on your TV [...]