Netflix Streaming

How to watch Netflix instant movies in Firefox in XP in Ubuntu

I recently installed Netflix and can now watch streaming movies in Ubuntu. This tells how I installed on my Ubuntu 8.04LTS Myth System. My hardware is an Asus M3A with an AMD 5400+ processor and a Nvidia based 6200 graphics card with SPDIF audio. For spdif sound install see [1]
This setup really taxes my hardware. TOP shows 106% cpu which is about 5x the load for Netflix streaming directly.
Allen Edwards (2/17/2009)

Install VirtualBox

I selected the not-free version not the open source one. It is advisable to download directly from VirtualBox.org as it is very well organized and more up to date than other sources. I would advise using the gui version of the install and not a command line or an get-apt version as the gui version guides you through the process and all the command line guides seem to be out of date.

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From inside your Ubuntu system open a browser

Go to VirtualBox.org

Select Downloads

Select (at least as of this date) VirtualBox 2.1.4 for Linux hosts

Click on i386 on this line: Ubuntu 8.04 LTS ("Hardy Heron") i386 | AMD64
Note: if you should actually click on the AMD64, you will know it.

It will put an icon on your desktop. Click on it and install VirtualBox

Set up your virtual machine

Install a virtual machine
Just follow the on screen installation guide. It is as good as anything on the web that guides you through it and I am sure has the advantage of being up to date. I followed the default suggestions with the exception of setting the memory to 512MB.
I set up a Windows XP machine with CD-ROM and ALSA sound.

Install Windows XP

It takes forever but just do it like you would on any computer. Don't forget the updates and service packs.

Install Guest Edition Drivers

I did this to get the ability to go full screen and any screen resolution.
Select DEVICE at the top of the VirtualBox window toolbar
The "Install Guest Additions"

Install Firefox

Open IE, Download and install Firefox.

Install Silverlight and Netflix Streaming

Get the Netflix streaming plugin for firefox using Silverlight by going to:
Netflix.com/silverlightoptin

Integrate into Myth Menu System

Copy your myth menu system to a place where you can edit it and it won't change with updates

 $ sudo cp /usr/share/mythtv/*.xml ~mythtv/.mythtv

Edit your menu system as desired putting this command in
This isn't worked out yet...

 <button>
    <type>VIDEO</type>
    <text>NetFlix STreaming</text>
    <action>EXEC Need command here to launch virtual box ...</action>
 </button>

This is untested. Need to test it.

Watch Instantly

To watch manually:
From a Ubuntu desktip, launch VirtualBox
Start the XP session
Launch Firefox (set to start on the Netflix page by default)
Start a movie