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Show HN: Showgoers – Watch Netflix with friends remotely

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Re: Show HN: Showgoers – Watch Netflix with friends remotely

#32

The concept seems very similar to Rabbit: http://rabb.it

I've messed with rabbit before. I wasn't a fan because in their implementation actually open netflix on a virtual machine GUI and use browser tricks to try to make it seem like you're just controlling the computer like its your desktop. The performance is horrible though because there is two hops, from netflix to their servers, and their servers to you.

Re: Show HN: Showgoers – Watch Netflix with friends remotely

#33

The Netflix app on the Xbox 360 used to do this. And you and your friends could put on your headsets and watch the same thing on Netflix while chatting.

I'm having a wonderful vision of a global group of friends all tied in via headsets and shushing them all whenever they try to talk.

Re: Show HN: Showgoers – Watch Netflix with friends remotely

#35

There's another solution called https://rabb.it/ , but it also has HBO, Hulu and a bunch of other stuff, seems like a better alternative.

My girlfriend and I tried using rabbit but we weren't happy with the performance. Their implementation is actually to open netflix on a virtual machine GUI and use browser tricks to try to make it seem like you're just controlling the computer like its your desktop. The performance tends to be bad because there is two hops, from netflix to their servers, and their servers to you.

Re: Show HN: Showgoers – Watch Netflix with friends remotely

#36
As I said over on /r/netflix, great app, and the implementation is hands down better than rabb.it's RTC method.

Did you start after Netflix switched to HTML5 video? I'm curious how you might've dealt with the old flash player- I basically gave up on any actual control of Netflix in my side project because it was too black-boxy.

Re: Show HN: Showgoers – Watch Netflix with friends remotely

#37
post #36

As I said over on /r/netflix, great app, and the implementation is hands down better than rabb.it's RTC method. Did you start after Netflix switched to HTML5 video? I'm curious how you might've dealt with the old flash player- I basically gave up on any actual control of Netflix in my side project because it was too black-boxy.

Yeah, the HTML5 was key. It's way easier to listen to player events without really interacting with Netflix-specific stuff. I probably would have given up if I was doing it with silverlight. Actually, this is why this is only a chrome extension because Netflix uses silverlight in Firefox.

Re: Show HN: Showgoers – Watch Netflix with friends remotely

#38
post #27

Cool stuff -- at AltspaceVR we support the same concept with Netflix, YouTube, Twitch, etc, but as avatars within a virtual space (ideally in VR.) You can hang out while watching netflix with voice chat, body tracking, etc. This was a big challenge for us to get working well, so I can sympathize with the authors :) http://altvr.com Just install our browser plugin, go to a netflix vid, hit "watch in AltspaceVR", and y…

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