Netflix Add-in search fix

jlunman

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#21

Post by jlunman » Sat Aug 09, 2014 2:00 pm

Good news - I have a fix!

The problem is with a Microsoft-hosted web server, not Netflix. Media Center is trying to contact https://ehome.vo.msecnd.net/, which is currently responding with a "504 - Gateway Timeout" error.

The good news is that the failing server is not actually responsible for the search itself. All it does is provide Media Center with a bit of meta information (the "search taxonomy") about what its Internet TV search providers are, and what sort of filters they support, etc. Most of those were for the old Internet TV channels that are officially discontinued anyway. All that really remains is Netflix.
It turns out you can override the search taxonomy URL with a registry entry. So I created a simple Windows Service that acts as a local substitute for Microsoft's broken server, and serves up a dirt-simple SearchTaxonomy document with the minimum necessary information to allow Windows Media Center to initialize the Netflix search.

You can download it here. Extract the files and run Install.bat, with the "Run As Administrator" command. Once installed, the Netflix search should just work.

The code is hosted on GitHub, if you're curious about the technical details.

Enjoy!

Ed 

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#22

Post by Ed  » Sat Aug 09, 2014 7:06 pm

:thumbup: Good job man! I don't use WMC Netflix - but there are plenty here who will benefit from what you did.

webminster

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#23

Post by webminster » Sun Aug 10, 2014 12:16 am

Very nice work! Seems to work here...
-Alan

JTScribe

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#24

Post by JTScribe » Tue Aug 12, 2014 5:55 pm

Thanks for the fix, working great on two of my machines.

greenvalor7

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#25

Post by greenvalor7 » Tue Aug 19, 2014 1:32 pm

Thank you for the fix! :thumbup:

cadprofessor

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#26

Post by cadprofessor » Sat Aug 30, 2014 2:19 pm

It works great. Thanks so much for taking the time to research this a create and share a fix.

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newfiend

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#27

Post by newfiend » Sun Aug 31, 2014 5:48 pm

jlunman wrote:Good news - I have a fix!

The problem is with a Microsoft-hosted web server, not Netflix. Media Center is trying to contact https://ehome.vo.msecnd.net/, which is currently responding with a "504 - Gateway Timeout" error.

The good news is that the failing server is not actually responsible for the search itself. All it does is provide Media Center with a bit of meta information (the "search taxonomy") about what its Internet TV search providers are, and what sort of filters they support, etc. Most of those were for the old Internet TV channels that are officially discontinued anyway. All that really remains is Netflix.
It turns out you can override the search taxonomy URL with a registry entry. So I created a simple Windows Service that acts as a local substitute for Microsoft's broken server, and serves up a dirt-simple SearchTaxonomy document with the minimum necessary information to allow Windows Media Center to initialize the Netflix search.

You can download it here. Extract the files and run Install.bat, with the "Run As Administrator" command. Once installed, the Netflix search should just work.

The code is hosted on GitHub, if you're curious about the technical details.

Enjoy!
THANK YOU!!! My daughter is happy again she can search for new shows in WMC again. Well done! :thumbup:

Dkeyguy1

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#28

Post by Dkeyguy1 » Sat Sep 06, 2014 11:58 am

jlunman wrote:Good news - I have a fix!

The problem is with a Microsoft-hosted web server, not Netflix. Media Center is trying to contact https://ehome.vo.msecnd.net/, which is currently responding with a "504 - Gateway Timeout" error.

The good news is that the failing server is not actually responsible for the search itself. All it does is provide Media Center with a bit of meta information (the "search taxonomy") about what its Internet TV search providers are, and what sort of filters they support, etc. Most of those were for the old Internet TV channels that are officially discontinued anyway. All that really remains is Netflix.
It turns out you can override the search taxonomy URL with a registry entry. So I created a simple Windows Service that acts as a local substitute for Microsoft's broken server, and serves up a dirt-simple SearchTaxonomy document with the minimum necessary information to allow Windows Media Center to initialize the Netflix search.

You can download it here. Extract the files and run Install.bat, with the "Run As Administrator" command. Once installed, the Netflix search should just work.

The code is hosted on GitHub, if you're curious about the technical details.

Enjoy!
Thanks for this!
Nice save.

dotbatman

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#29

Post by dotbatman » Mon Sep 29, 2014 12:16 pm

Thanks for posting this. Saved me from digging into it myself. Works great!

walt

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#30

Post by walt » Sat Nov 01, 2014 12:49 am

jlunman, thank you very much for the fix! :clap:

I installed your fix and now my search function works. My work around of searching and adding movies to my queue then opening Netflix on my HTPC was really time-consuming. Also, my kids and family wanted to vote on what we wanted to watch which was hard to gather around a tablet.

I really enjoy this forum and all the support this forum provides. I'm not looking forward to upgrading to Windows 8 and actually pay for WMC, I love my HTPC running Windows 7 and WMC!

CharlesLam

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#31

Post by CharlesLam » Sun Nov 02, 2014 3:02 am

1 vote to sticky this thread. :clap:

mdavej

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#32

Post by mdavej » Sun Nov 02, 2014 6:46 pm

jlunman,

First thanks a million. Works great. But I have a problem. The service apparently stopped on me at some point, requiring a re-install. So could you give us a little more detail, like what service to look for to restart when things go wrong?

jlunman

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#33

Post by jlunman » Tue Nov 25, 2014 7:00 pm

Service name is Mcenflx. The display name of the service (as seen in the Services window) is Media Center Netflix Search Fix. In the "Recovery" tab of the service's properties window, you can set it to restart automatically if it fails.

p2portal

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#34

Post by p2portal » Wed Dec 03, 2014 4:10 pm

Thanks jlunman!
I appreciate your reverse engineering and the .net service code looks legit, but I didn't want to install and run another service on my machine so I followed your github comments to host the search taxonomy xml here: http://www.p2portal.net/
Others can simply modify the registry key to point there if they don't want to install the service also.

jlunman

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#35

Post by jlunman » Tue Dec 16, 2014 8:33 pm

Great! I was too cheap to pay for hosting. :-)

But also, I didn't want to just replace one remote URL with another that could just as easily disappear on a whim, especially for something so simple as a static XML file that never changes. So that's why I wrote the self-hosting Windows service.

(You might want to include a link to my GitHub download on your page, just so anyone that finds it knows there's also an option to self-host.)

Anyway, nice job.

J

shanew76

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#36

Post by shanew76 » Wed Feb 18, 2015 3:25 am

I'm new to WMC. I have Neflix working in WMC, I think.....
Only it's a very old app that only allows me to see the master account and none of the Sub-Accounts, and Super HD is not a play back option.

Is this the only add-in for Netflix available? And is it also like the XBOX 360 and only offering 720p HD and no 1080 support?

3rob3

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#37

Post by 3rob3 » Wed Feb 18, 2015 3:30 am

Yes, Yes, and Yes. You could try the 8.1 "metro" Netflix app. Or there is a Chrome extension that makes it remote friendly. Best bet is a dedicated streaming device.

shanew76

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#38

Post by shanew76 » Fri Feb 20, 2015 8:13 am

Thanks, I'll try the Chrome extension. That might come in handy for other things. I'll just keep using my PS3 for all my streaming content. Netflix, HBO, HULU, ect....... Sounds like that's my best bet.

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Billyray520

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#39

Post by Billyray520 » Thu Mar 12, 2015 6:51 pm

This is actually a great add-in. I wish I could use it though. :cry: Apparently it does something to sleep mode, so if I have it installed, the HTPC no longer sleeps reliably. (I'm also using the MCE sleep add-in to control sleep)

jim97219

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#40

Post by jim97219 » Sun Jun 21, 2015 11:48 pm

I'm having what I think is the same problem described here. When I am in WMC and go to Netflix and hit the search button, I get a message that says "NO INTERNET CONNECTION. The Internet connection has been lost. Make sure your PC is connected to the Internet, then try again."
I have a connection to the internet so that's not the issue.
It works if I got to a browser and log into Netflix that way.
I've tried uninstalling then reinstalling the WMC plugin for Windows but that didn't work.
I called Netflix and they said it's a Microsoft problem.
I called Microsoft and they suggested turning off Norton anti-virus and also the firewall. That didn't help. For $100-$150, they'd upgrade me with regards to a service package. It's not worth that kind of money to me.

I ran the program jlunman mentions on page 2 of this posting but I can't get it to install on my computer. I get an "installation FAILED. See Install.log for details."
Install.log gives me this:
Installing assembly 'C:\Users\xxx\Documents\MceNflx\MCENFLX.exe'.
Affected parameters are:
logtoconsole =
assemblypath = C:\Users\xxx\Documents\MceNflx\MCENFLX.exe
logfile = C:\Users\xxx\Documents\MceNflx\MCENFLX.InstallLog
Installing service MceNflx...
Creating EventLog source MceNflx in log Application...
Rolling back assembly 'C:\Users\xxx\Documents\MceNflx\MCENFLX.exe'.
Affected parameters are:
logtoconsole =
assemblypath = C:\Users\xxx\Documents\MceNflx\MCENFLX.exe
logfile = C:\Users\xxx\Documents\MceNflx\MCENFLX.InstallLog
Restoring event log to previous state for source MceNflx.
An exception occurred during the Rollback phase of the System.Diagnostics.EventLogInstaller installer.
System.Security.SecurityException: The source was not found, but some or all event logs could not be searched. Inaccessible logs: Security.
An exception occurred during the Rollback phase of the installation. This exception will be ignored and the rollback will continue. However, the machine might not fully revert to its initial state after the rollback is complete."

How do I restore the search function in Netflix/WMC? Can anyone steer me in the right direction?

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