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Thursday, October 22, 2015

NSS Updated To Allow HTML5 Netflix Playback In Ubuntu

A while back we wrote about enabling HTML5 playback for Netflix in Ubuntu, but that required updating NSS and using an user-agent extension in Google Chrome. Well, NSS 3.17 landed today in Ubuntu 14.04 and 12.04, and thanks to this, Netflix should soon use HTML5 playback in Ubuntu, without requiring any tweaks.

Right now, the only tweak required to use Netflix with HTML5 playback in Ubuntu is to use a custom user agent in Google Chrome, but soon that won't be needed because a Netflix developer posted a message on the Ubuntu-dev mailing list a few days ago, asking if Canonical plans to update NSS to version 3.16.2 or newer and saying that if that happens, "Netflix would be able to make a change so users would no longer have to hack their User-Agent to play".

And with today's update, all the supported Ubuntu versions (12.04, 14.04 and 14.10 - currently in development) include NSS 3.17 so all that's left is for Netflix to add Ubuntu to their supported OS list, and Ubuntu users will have native Netflix HTML5 payback out of the box. Update: Netflix now works out of the box in Ubuntu, without having to change the user agent.

Of course, Google Chrome (stable - you no longer need Chrome Beta or Dev) is still needed, so it won't work with any other browser under Linux, because Netflix HTML5 requires the Encrypted Media Extensions which are bundled with it.

How To Set Up Tunlr DNS Under Linux To Access Netflix, Hulu, CBS, ABC, Pandora and More Outside The US

Tunlr is a free DNS service that lets you use U.S.-based on-demand Internet streaming providers, such as Netflix, Hulu, CBS, MTV, ABC, Pandora and more, if you're living outside the U.S.

At the time I'm writing this article, Tunlr reports that the following streaming services are working:

US video streaming services: Netflix, Hulu, CBS, ABC, MTV, theWB, CW TV, Crackle, NBC, Fox, A&E TV, TV.com, Vevo, History, Logo TV, Crunchyroll, DramaFever, Discovery, Spike and VH1;
US audio streaming services: Pandora, Last.fm, IheartRadio, Rdio, MOG, Songza;
Non-US streaming services: BBC iPlayer (excluding live streams), iTV Player, NHL Gamecenter Live and TF1 Replay / WAT.tv (excluding "direct" stream).

In my test, Tunlr has worked as advertised, but there's one issue: using Tunlr DNS permanently is not a good idea: for privacy/security reasons, speed and so on. Even the Tunlr FAQ page says you shouldn't use the Tunlr DNS for every day web surfing. On Windows, there are some tools you can use to quickly switch the Tunlr DNS on/off, but there's no such tool for Linux, so here's how to properly use Tunlr under Linux.

Configure Tunlr DNS under Linux

Before proceeding, please note that Tunlr recommends using Firefox and also, Google Chrome is not supported!

Below you'll find two ways of setting up the Tunlr DNS under Linux.

The first one (A) has an advantage over the one (script) below: the Tunlr DNS is only used for Netflix, Hulu, etc. while using the default DNS for other websites. There's a drawback too though: if Tunlr changes the DNS servers, you must edit the /etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d/dnsmasq.conf and manually add the new DNS. Update: I've added a script at the bottom of method A for automatically retrieving and updating the Tunlr DNS (thanks to Jochen Blacha!).

The second (B) method has the advantage of always setting the correct Tunlr DNS servers since it automatically retrieves them from the Tunlr website (the DNS servers have changed quite a few times already). The disadvantage is that when switching Tunlr on using this script, all the traffic passes through the Tunlr DNS and not only the websites that need it, like it's done using the first method. But you can do this: only browse the websites you wouldn't normally have access to when switching the Tunlr DNS on and when you want to visit some other websites, switch the Tunlr DNS off.

With these in mind, use the configuration method that suits you best.

A. Configure Tunlr DNS using Dnsmasq / Network Manager

In Ubuntu 12.04+, Network Manager uses dnsmasq by default so the instructions below are specific to Ubuntu users. For other Linux distributions, you can simply paste the code below (the two lines containing "server="...) in /etc/dnsmasq.conf and restart Dnsmasq. I only tested it in Ubuntu though.

Let's proceed. Firstly, create the /etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d folder (I believe it's not created by default in Ubuntu 12.04 for instance):

sudo mkdir -p /etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d

Then, create (edit) a file called "dnsmasq.conf" under /etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d/. I'll use Gedit below:

gksu gedit /etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d/dnsmasq.conf

And in this file, paste this:

domain-needed
all-servers
cache-size=5000
strict-order

server=/tunlr.net/netflix.com/hulu.com/pandora.com/cbs.com/bbc.co.uk/abc.go.com/mtv.com/go.com/abc.com/tv.com/pbs.com/vevo.com/fwmrm.net/thewb.com/cwtv.com/crackle.com/mog.com/iheart.com/mylifetime.com/doubleclick.net/rubiconproject.com/cpxinteractive.com/adnxs.com/brightcove.com/cpxadroit.com/atdmt.com/mtv.com/mtvnservices.com/imrworldwide.com/demdex.net/fox.com/foxfdm.com/eurovisionsports.tv/netflix.ne/nflximg.com/nflxext.com/chartbeat.com/nbc.com/history.com/discovery.com/vh1.com/itv.com/aetv.com/foxadhd.com/cbsstatic.com/cbsi.com/theplatform.com/akamaihd.net/pbs.org/sharethis.com/revsci.net/scrippsnetworks.com/scrippscontroller.com/imrworldwide.com/scorecardresearch.com/quantserve.com/liverail.com/elogua.com/inskinmedia.com/ip2location.com/rubiconproject.com/southparkstudios.com/conviva.com/liverail.com/local.yahooapis.com/msnbc.com/nbcuni.com/rdio.com/recaptcha.net/69.197.169.9
server=/tunlr.net/netflix.com/hulu.com/pandora.com/cbs.com/bbc.co.uk/abc.go.com/mtv.com/go.com/abc.com/tv.com/pbs.com/vevo.com/fwmrm.net/thewb.com/cwtv.com/crackle.com/mog.com/iheart.com/mylifetime.com/doubleclick.net/rubiconproject.com/cpxinteractive.com/adnxs.com/brightcove.com/cpxadroit.com/atdmt.com/mtv.com/mtvnservices.com/imrworldwide.com/demdex.net/fox.com/foxfdm.com/eurovisionsports.tv/netflix.ne/nflximg.com/nflxext.com/chartbeat.com/nbc.com/history.com/discovery.com/vh1.com/itv.com/aetv.com/foxadhd.com/cbsstatic.com/cbsi.com/theplatform.com/akamaihd.net/pbs.org/sharethis.com/revsci.net/scrippsnetworks.com/scrippscontroller.com/imrworldwide.com/scorecardresearch.com/quantserve.com/liverail.com/elogua.com/inskinmedia.com/ip2location.com/rubiconproject.com/southparkstudios.com/conviva.com/liverail.com/local.yahooapis.com/msnbc.com/nbcuni.com/rdio.com/recaptcha.net/192.95.16.109

Some of the websites under the "server" lines above have been added to avoid the geofencing used by some websites. You can edit the "server" lines above to add more websites. You can find a list of Tunlr supported websites HERE. The IPs at the end of the "server=" lines are the Tunlr DNS servers. If accessing Hulu, Netflix, etc. stops working, make sure you check the Tunlr website for updated DNS.

When you're done, save the file, then run the following command to restart Network Manager:

sudo restart network-manager

Then, restart your browser and visit the Tunlr status page - under "Tunlr activation check" it should say: "Tunlr DNS address is set. Tunlr is activated!" like in the screenshot below:

If it doesn't work, firstly try to restart your computer. If it still doesn't work (some users are reporting issues with dnsmasq and private names), try editing /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf and commenting out (put "#" in front of the line) "dns=dnsmasq".

Update: to automatically retrieve and update the Tunlr DNS in case it changes (it changes quite often), use THIS script.

B. Quickly switch the Tunlr DNS on/off using a script

Another way of easily switching the Tunlr DNS on/off is using a script included with the Tunlr AUR package created by edloaa.

If you're using Arch Linux, install wget - Ubuntu users can install it using the following command (may already be installed):

sudo apt-get install wget

And then download and install the script using the following commands:

sudo apt-get install wget
cd /tmp
wget https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/tu/tunlr/tunlr.tar.gz
tar -xvf /tmp/tunlr.tar.gz
sudo install /tmp/tunlr/tunlr /usr/local/bin/

Then, simply run the following command to use the Tunlr DNS:

sudo tunlr start

Next, restart your browser and visit the Tunlr status page - under "Tunlr activation check" it should say: "Tunlr DNS address is set. Tunlr is activated!".

To stop using the Tunlr DNS, use the command below:

sudo tunlr stop

And restart your browser.

Pipelight 0.2.0 Released With Multi-Plugin Support (Silverlight And Flash For Now)

Pipelight, a project that allows you to install Silverlight to any Linux browser that supports the Netscape Plugin API (Firefox, Chrome, Midori), has been updated today, receiving multi-plugin support.

Pipelight combines the effort by Erich E. Hoover (the Netflix Desktop developer) with a browser plugin (unlike Netflix Desktop which requires a Windows version of Firefox to run under Wine) which lets you access services that require Microsoft Silverlight, such as Netflix, LOVEFiLM, Maxdome and more, using native Linux web browsers.

With this release, Pipelight doesn't only handle Microsoft Siverlight but also the Windows version of Adobe Flash, which is a mandatory step to get Widevine (a browser plugin designed for viewing premium video content, supported only on Windows and Mac OS X and only with Chrome under Linux) DRM working in future releases.

The new version also brings the posibility to enable plugins on a per user basis instead of system wide as well as other changes such as:

easier Silverlight version switching;
added several wine patches to fix deadlocks and race conditions when using hardware acceleration with Silverlight;
added possibility to read plugin path from the registry, so that it is not necessary to update the configuration on a plugin update;
other bug fixes.

Install Pipelight

Ubuntu users can follow the updated instructions from our initial Pipelight article: Pipelight: Use Silverlight In Your Linux Browser To Watch Netflix, Maxdome Videos And More

For Arch Linux, Debian Wheezy / Jessie / Sid, openSUSE or if you want to compile Pipelight, see the official instructions.

Pipelight 0.2.6 Released With Experimental 64bit Support, 2 New Plugins

Pipelight is a wrapper for Windows NPAPI plugins such as Silverlight, Widevine or Flash (the Windows version) which allows you to use these plugins in native Linux web browsers and thus, use services that aren't officially supported on Linux, such as Netflix (Silverlight), HBO Go (Widevine) and so on.

Pipelight 0.2.6 was released yesterday and it brings changes such as:

added the ViewRight plugin which is used by some VOD services as DRM player. In this release the Caiway version of this plugin ("viewright-caiway") was added;
added a new Vizzed RGR plugin which ships an emulator to play old games;
64bit support for the following Pipelight plugins: Flash and Unity 3D. According to the Pipelight changelog, the 64bit plugins tend to be more buggy than the 32bit versions but the Pipelight team is working on fixing them. For now, this is considered experimental;
a work-around was added so it's no longer needed to change the browser user agent to be able to use Silverlight in Linux browsers. This might not work in all cases though.

The Pipelight 0.2.6 changelog also mentions that the Pipelight team is currently working on GPU decoding and they already have a working prototype which decodes mpeg2 on the GPU when using the windows version of VLC as player:

"There is still a lot of work left, but we hope that we can support GPU decoding for flash (and hopefully silverlight) in future versions".

For how to install Pipelight and its plugins in Ubuntu, see the following article: Pipelight: Use Silverlight In Your Linux Browser To Watch Netflix, Maxdome Videos And More

I didn't update our Pipelight article with instructions on installing 64bit plugins since this is currently experimental, but if you want to use this anyway, you can install the 64bit version of Windows Flash or Unity3D using the following commands (use them after installing Pipelight using the instructions from the link above):

Firstly, install the 64bit capable version of wine-compholio:

sudo apt-get install wine-compholio:amd64

- Install Windows Flash for 64bit:

sudo pipelight-plugin --enable x64-flash

- Install Unity3D for 64bit:

sudo pipelight-plugin --enable x64-unity3d

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