Another dishonline annoyance

[chrisn]

The player no longer works with linux, or at least on Fedora, as of the past week or so. It requires some kind of add-on that is not compatible.

If anyone has a fix for this... let me know.

 

[TG2]

which browser are you using in Linux, and what error are you getting?

Also, take note, that dishonline has *two* different plugins, and possibly more on the way. One plugin is for the Web Sling Player, the other is for Wide Vine Media .... the webslingplayer is required for all stuff, the widevine plugin is only required for external content from protected sites like HBO, Starz, etc..

The widevine plugin appears to have just been updated.. good goin' dish.. only 5 weeks after FireFox 5 was out, did they update to a version of WideVine's plugin that is stated as for FF5

<!-- Firefox -->
<em:targetApplication>
<em:minVersion>1.5</em:minVersion>
<em:maxVersion>5.*</em:maxVersion>
</Description>
</em:targetApplication>​

and of course this plugin is compatible with 1.5 min up to 5.* ...

... and FF6 will be out in about 2 weeks or less..

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/229447/ready_for_firefox_6_heres_whats_on_the_way.html
Though the final version of Firefox 6 isn't due until August or so, this Aurora release can now be downloaded for Linux, Mac and Windows from the "Future of Firefox" page on the Mozilla Project's Web site​

its f**king stupid of dishonline to be this lazy, especially when there isn't a GD THING wrong with the plugin that requires it to only be good through FF5 ... I modified the installer for the previous version (for FF4) to *make it* install under FF5 and it worked perfectly fine.. so now they've finally caught up, but they've again crippled the users for when 6 hits.

'tupid. Just plain 'tupid!

 

[chrisn]

I tried with both chromium and firefox 5. It is the Wide Vine plugin causing the problem, but only very recently. HBO GO works fine for me, but the same program on DishOnline cannot be viewed.

 

[chrisn]

And not getting an error, it's just Fedora can't do anything with the widevine plugin.

 

[TG2]

And not getting an error, it's just Fedora can't do anything with the widevine plugin.

The question would be why now all of a sudden are you seeing an issue? The widevine plug in has been required for all *non* DVR content, such as hbo, sho, starz, **AS delivered ** through DishOnline for over 3 months.

If you're seeing an initial prompt for the plugin, that might be triggered by any of the content that's on the main page, and you should still be able to get hulu delivered stuff, as well as anything that isn't DRM protected by WideVine, and your own DVR stuff..

I emphasized "as delivered" because HBO Go / Max Go / Epix Online, those are their own entities and not the same as comes through DishOnline ... Just like DRA (Dish Remote Access) is not the same thing as DO (DishOnline)

Can you check FF and see if it shows the plugin is there, but disabled? If so ... there may be something that could be done, as I had done to the Widevine plugin before, I had taken out its signature, nixed the version in the install file, and then manually installed the plugin. The one unknown, is if you currently have the plugin installed for FF4 before your install updated to 5 ...

 

[chrisn]

FF shows the extension as NOT being disabled. I don't believe I ever had widevine installed on ff4 as the other day was the first I had been prompted to install it for either chrome or firefox. Maybe the videos I watched before didn't require it and so I wouldn't have noticed?

The only other videos I can't watch on linux are Netflix Watch Instantly... not a big deal since I can get it on wii or xbox. Everything else just works.

I installed lubuntu on a different computer today. I'll test dishonline there and, maybe, narrow it down to a Fedora issue and not linux. We'll see.

 

[chrisn]

I wonder why Dish has to add widevine to the equation when hbogo and the others don't find it necessary?

 

[TG2]

I wonder why Dish has to add widevine to the equation when hbogo and the others don't find it necessary?

well ... I don't think it was dish per say that "wanted" it... but that HBO and other media content providers wanted some additional form of content protection encryption, or content kill switch.

I say that not as technically digging into it ... but that if you don't have Widevine's plugin installed, you can get the movie to play for a few seconds or a minute or so.. and then the "IT" takes control and says you're not authorized or some such (been a while since I did it, and I didn't capture a screen shot)

Interesting thing to note, is that Widevine is now owned by Google (Dec 2010). And while some of the less intelligent and easily appeased Dish people believe its for "media optimization" the fact that some content can be played and only after a few seconds of playback gets interrupted proved its real intent was DRM ... as in their website's Title header entry states.. 3 parts DRM, 1 part optimization:

<title>DRM, Video Optimization, Digital Copy Protection &amp;  Conditional Access - Widevine Technologies</title>

I mean really.. how many different ways does WideVine have to say its *more for* content protection DRM/DigialCopyProtection/ConditionalAccess and oh yeah Optimization.. LOL

 

[chrisn]

Interesting that google owns them. They are usually pretty Linux friendly. Had the same problem on a fresh install of lubuntu, so there's that.

I'll wait and see what happens.

I still don't understand how widevine benefits any party here, but anyway, unsolved and moving on.

 

[TG2]

Interesting that google owns them. They are usually pretty Linux friendly. Had the same problem on a fresh install of lubuntu, so there's that.
I'll wait and see what happens.
I still don't understand how widevine benefits any party here, but anyway, unsolved and moving on.

I figured ... HBO, Sho, Starz .. all wanted some additional assurance that the content they provide through DishOnline would not be abused ... and that they've probably already some relation with Widevine, and that perhaps that became the deal.

I know hulu's content comes from them, I've not dug into hbogo or hbo content that comes through dishonline to see if they are sourced from the same place .. figuring that HBOGo has its own line on the identity of who is at their site and who is watching what and how they're getting it (browser type, etc)

my guess is that Goog bought out WV to have quick access into everybody's pies. The analytic side of Uncle Cracker..er..Google ... wants to know who what when and where, and by using "their" plugin they get that info ... on the "plus" side it really can benefit the users by keeping some good content available to the users, and the bad side is loaded with the tracks that follow our every action...