Amazon On-Demand Video Addin for Media Center

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3rob3

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#81

Post by 3rob3 » Wed Dec 04, 2013 9:09 pm

So I did end up moving my Media Center pc to the office, replacing my WHS 2011 machine. Pretty happy with the setup overall, using a 360 slim on main tv and older white 360 in bedroom. The Amazon and Netflix apps are much nicer than their Media Center counterparts. Yes it sucks having to pay for Live Gold, but I did get a good deal on it from eBay. As long as you are not trying to use both Xboxes for internet streaming apps at the same time, the Live login automatically transfers between Xboxes seamlessly. Kinda wish I had gone this route years ago.

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Doctor Feelgood

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#82

Post by Doctor Feelgood » Thu Dec 05, 2013 12:37 am

Anyone else subcsribe to the blog for this plugin? Last few days someone else has been posting promising sounding posts that this may be alive again sometime soon!! :clap:

3rob3

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#83

Post by 3rob3 » Thu Dec 05, 2013 2:38 am

Doctor Feelgood wrote:Anyone else subcsribe to the blog for this plugin? Last few days someone else has been posting promising sounding posts that this may be alive again sometime soon!! :clap:
New posts only get added after he has approved them. I have posted there and they still aren't live. I hope something does happen but wouldn't hold my breath.

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Doctor Feelgood

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#84

Post by Doctor Feelgood » Thu Dec 05, 2013 11:30 am

I meant these two from this week posted by marcrdavis - which got me hopeful...

Hi Everyone – I have obtained a copy of Gareth’s awesome add-in and I have the SilverLight player working. I am working through the rest of the code – fixing some of the resource links and looking to improve some other bits. I will release an updated DLL shortly on my blog: sharepointsnapple.com. Stay Tuned.

Update: Did get the Silverlight player working -but- without remote controls the usability is a little limited. During the course of that research I discovered that the Flash player still works – the issue is the code to get the session and token data is no longer working because the format of the data has changed in the page. Also – Amazon is now implementing Captcha on their logins which breaks the plug-in login page. I have a fix for that. I tested the flash player by sending in my sessionid and token and the movies and tv shows play just fine. I’m updating the flashvars code to retrieve the session and token info in the new format. Will have something usable soon.

Sounds pretty good to me.

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woodchuck

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#85

Post by woodchuck » Thu Dec 05, 2013 2:22 pm

Wow, if you check that sharepointsnapple.com link, he has posted a download with his revised code! Sweeet... Checking it out now.

Edit:
It works! I'm definitely donating in hopes of continuing development from the new dev!

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Doctor Feelgood

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#86

Post by Doctor Feelgood » Thu Dec 05, 2013 2:42 pm

woodchuck wrote:Wow, if you check that sharepointsnapple.com link, he has posted a download with his revised code! Sweeet... Checking it out now.

Edit:
It works! I'm definitely donating in hopes of continuing development from the new dev!
Sweet - I had not tried it yet, but I will be grabbing that later. I would also gladly contribute to the dev!

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micallen

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#87

Post by micallen » Thu Dec 05, 2013 2:55 pm

:) :)
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3rob3

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#88

Post by 3rob3 » Thu Dec 05, 2013 5:06 pm

Awesome! Anyone know if the new developer is a member here?

soccerdad

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#89

Post by soccerdad » Thu Dec 05, 2013 5:51 pm

micallen wrote::) :)
:) (+1)

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micallen

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#90

Post by micallen » Thu Dec 05, 2013 5:59 pm

Looks like as of 30 minutes ago, something is wrong with it according to the sharepointsnapple.com site. He is working on it.

I will try this out over the weekend. Looking forward to it !!
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barnabas1969

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#91

Post by barnabas1969 » Thu Dec 05, 2013 9:18 pm

3rob3 wrote:So I did end up moving my Media Center PC to the office, replacing my WHS 2011 machine. Pretty happy with the setup overall, using a 360 slim on main tv and older white 360 in bedroom. The Amazon and Netflix apps are much nicer than their Media Center counterparts. Yes it sucks having to pay for Live Gold, but I did get a good deal on it from eBay. As long as you are not trying to use both Xboxes for internet streaming apps at the same time, the Live login automatically transfers between Xboxes seamlessly. Kinda wish I had gone this route years ago.
Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to just buy a Roku? Then, you'd get both Amazon and Netflix without paying for the Gold membership.

PS: You can buy a Roku for about the cost of the Gold membership.

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#92

Post by 3rob3 » Thu Dec 05, 2013 10:12 pm

Yeah, I know and strongly considered that but for whatever reason I am still obsessed with the "one box for all" approach and this accomplishes that (plus for me it is one less PC running 24/7). I wish I didn't, but I personally hate Harmony remotes and that is pretty much the only way to seemlessly switch inputs for using something like a Roku. Also, I received a free Xbox Slim from a relative so that made the decision a bit easier.

Anyway, I am still happy this project was resurrected and it looks even nicer than before.

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Doctor Feelgood

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#93

Post by Doctor Feelgood » Fri Dec 06, 2013 2:08 am

There is a new version that fixes the sessions - http://sharepointsnapple.com/amazonmceaddin/ - going to try it now.

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#94

Post by barnabas1969 » Fri Dec 06, 2013 2:11 am

3rob3 wrote:I personally hate Harmony remotes and that is pretty much the only way to seemlessly switch inputs for using something like a Roku.
I've never tried Harmony. My remote is similar to Harmony, but different (better in some ways, worse in others). Have you ever tried the Acoustic Research (Audiovox) AR-RX18G?

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#95

Post by soccerdad » Fri Dec 06, 2013 2:14 am

I tried it. It let me try to log in once, then the plugin crashed. Now it just crashes every time when I start. I get a plugin has stopped responding message and a no token message. I removed and reinstalled it and now I don't even get the log in. Don't know where to post a problem with it that the developer will see.

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#96

Post by soccerdad » Fri Dec 06, 2013 3:24 am

I emailed the developer and he is still working on some things. I have not been able to get it to work on my test box, but will try on my main box tomorrow. He seems like a good guy. Great to have an active developer in WMC! Has anyone else had any success?

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#97

Post by soccerdad » Fri Dec 06, 2013 3:47 am

He built a new installer and it works now! Some issues, but great progress. He really works hard on it.

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#98

Post by KerrAvon » Fri Dec 06, 2013 3:58 am

Hi everyone. My name is Marc Davis – I am the developer who has inherited the Amazon Instant Video MCE add-in. Apologies for the rough start – still going over the code but I think the permission and authentication issues are now fixed in Build 27811.

The initial (re) release of this solution was meant to re-enable the Flash playback and fix a few of the usability issues. We actually have come quite a ways in the past 3 days. I have a lot of great ideas and plans for this solution – assuming Amazon cooperates (or at least doesn’t willfully sabotage me). A Silverlight player is also in the works as well as buying/renting movies.

If you have issues with the solution or want to pass along a suggestion, please visit http://sharepointsnapple.com/amazonmceaddin/. Support issues can also be emailed to support@sharepointsnapple.com. When reporting an issue please send the log file from the Program Files folder.

Thanks for the warm welcome and the incredible response. I didn’t think there were this many people interested in the solution. I was pleasantly surprised with the number of inquiries and fans of Media Center.

Stream on.

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#99

Post by micallen » Fri Dec 06, 2013 4:14 am

KerrAvon wrote:Hi everyone. My name is Marc Davis – I am the developer who has inherited the Amazon Instant Video MCE add-in. Apologies for the rough start – still going over the code but I think the permission and authentication issues are now fixed in Build 27811.

The initial (re) release of this solution was meant to re-enable the Flash playback and fix a few of the usability issues. We actually have come quite a ways in the past 3 days. I have a lot of great ideas and plans for this solution – assuming Amazon cooperates (or at least doesn’t willfully sabotage me). A Silverlight player is also in the works as well as buying/renting movies.

If you have issues with the solution or want to pass along a suggestion, please visit http://sharepointsnapple.com/amazonmceaddin/. Support issues can also be emailed to support@sharepointsnapple.com. When reporting an issue please send the log file from the Program Files folder.

Thanks for the warm welcome and the incredible response. I didn’t think there were this many people interested in the solution. I was pleasantly surprised with the number of inquiries and fans of Media Center.

Stream on.
Thanks for the effort you're putting into this. Looking forward to trying this tomorrow.
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Doctor Feelgood

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#100

Post by Doctor Feelgood » Fri Dec 06, 2013 2:27 pm

Yes - thanks for reviving this Marc!

I asked a question on your blog - thanks for the answer - but I wanted to see if the other users here had any advice...

Basically - I'd just prefer not to have this in its own strip on the Start Page. I installed on Windows 7 x64 system and it worked fine until I used Media Center Studio to move the Start Page icon to another strip I created for other streaming services like Youtube and Netflix. Once the Amazon icon is moved to another strip it does nothing. If I put the strip back I can launch the plugin again. Never had that problem before, and I have used Studio to rework the interface extensively. Media Center Studio won't let me move other apps to the Amazon strip, either. Any ideas?

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