Netflix support in SteamOS BPM?

[3vi1]

I've seen people report that Netflix now works natively in the SteamOS browser, but on my system (Alienware i7 Steam Machine, opted into brewmaster_beta, w/ beta steam client) I still see the "Whoops.." error and Netflix refuses to actually stream anything if I try to use it from the browser in SteamOS's normal BPM.

If I go to desktop mode and fire up Chrome, I can watch Netflix fine (so it's definitely not a network issue).

Is Netflix supposed to be working in BPM, or are all the people saying it works really talking about steam in BPM on Windows instead of SteamOS?

[egeexyz]

Can you confirm you are using SteamOS Brewmaster and not SteamOS Alchemist? I watch Netflix on my Steam Machine every night using the SteamOS browser but I am running Brewmaster.

[3vi1]

I'm definitely using Brewmaster_beta. The apt sources say brewmaster in sources.list, and brewmaster_beta in steamos-beta-repo.list. The Alienware steam machines shipped with brewmaster, so I've never even had Alchemist on the box.

desktop@steamos:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: SteamOS
Description: SteamOS 2.0
Release: 2.0
Codename: brewmaster

It's puzzling why it works for you and others, yet I always get error M7355-1204. Other sites like Yahoo stream fine via the SteamOS browser. It would be more understandable if I had installed the OS from scratch myself, but Netflix didn't work with the machine as it was out of the box when I got it in October, and still refuses to work after I opted into both the SteamOS and steam client betas.

I've tried clearing the browser cache via system setting, but the symptoms have not changed.

Thanks for taking the time to help me troubleshoot this. Any other ideas are appreciated.

I've also tried opting-out of the beta client, but the problem persists even then.

If anyone else is experiencing this issue, please chime in here so that we can know for sure if it's a one-off thing with my system, or is a larger SteamOS bug affecting multiple people.

[3vi1]

BTW: Googling for the error, the closest match I saw was M7355-1203. That error indicates an issue with the browser, and their suggested fix is to re-install the browser.

That's not something I can really do without knowing a little more about the way the SteamOS components are grouped. I looked via aptitude and did not see a separate package for the integrated web browser . :\

[mdeguzis]

The only thing I can think of is chopping up the directory that has the steam client, forcing it to redownload. It's messy, and I don't have the specifics on hand. Essentially you are forcing Steam to redownload the client components. Have you tried a restore? This may will redownload the latest client and maybe undo this kink. However, it will wipe out any custom installed software you might have added.

[3vi1]

I was hoping to avoid the restore option. I've built some emulators for my old games and other software from source and really want to avoid all the reconfiguration I'd inevitably have to do when I forget to back-up some config. Also, I kind of like the Alienware bootsplash logos - which I'm sure will be gone if I reinstall everything from the Valve iso.

I would have thought opting in/out/in of the client beta would have rewritten the files related to the integrated web browser, since that basically re-installs the client. I've been looking for any local cache for it (the browser, specifically) that I could manually clear, but haven't seen anything promising yet.

If anyone else actually bought one of the Alienware systems, I hope they can comment as to whether or not it works for them - If it's somehow related to their customization, that would be helpful to know.

When I get a chance later, I'm going to rename some of the steam directories and see if I get the same results with a "blank" slate.

[mdeguzis]

I've built some emulators for my old games and other software from source

Which ones? I may already have them packaged for you, if not you can request them over at the SteamOS-Tools GitHub page. I know this sucks, just throwing out suggestions for you. Have you posted this to on the Steam Universe discussion board? How about /r/SteamOS and /r/linux_gaming? There is also a dedicated subreddit called /r/steambox.

[3vi1]

Which ones

Mess is the main one - saves me from having to have the old NES, Genesis, and other systems hooked up. The real pain would be recreating the shortcuts for each user, since they have the long parameters set in the launch options. Then again, I recall finding the file that contains those and backing it up on my Linux system long ago, so I could probably find it again.

I prefer to build these from source rather than use a package, since I like to go into the source and do things like disable the info screens for the non-perfect emulation systems and such that can't be done in the config file.

[egeexyz]

I've tried clearing the browser cache via system setting, but the symptoms have not changed.

I am curious if there is a way to check the specific version of the browser. Seems like the problem is there..

From what I understand, Error M7355-1203 happens not because the browser doesn't support Netflix, but because Netflix doesn't support something about the browser. An example of this is before Google updated Chrome to handle DRM within HTML5 videos. You'd see this error because Netflix wouldn't allow the browser to view the videos because it was lacking the DRM plugins, or whatever.

[3vi1]

Yeah, I was one of the early pipelight users on Linux, and jumped ship as soon as HTML5 worked (with forged useragent)... I went through my Netflix settings to make sure there wasn't still any settings relevant to that (because I remember opting in to the html5 beta), but found nothing. :\

[3vi1]

I fixed it... though I'm not entirely sure how.

Yesterday I tried going through all of /home/steam looking for anything related to caching and blowing it away (well, renaming it at least ) indescriminately. However, the problem still persisted.

Just now, I ran clonezilla and backed up sda in preparation for a complete re-install. But then, on a lark, I decided to try to clear the web browser cookies and opt-out of the beta again. I did, tested, and Netflix began playing correctly! I opted back into the beta, and Netflix still appears to be working.

So, I'm not sure what the specific fix was - maybe a mix of clearing out some of the cached html and then re-installing the client by flip-flopping my beta status. But whatever the original cause, I no longer have the issue.

Thanks to egee-irl and prof K for their suggestions and help in determining that the issue was specific to my install!

[pic1701d]

I'm having the same issue here.
I did a fresh install today, opted in brewmaster_beta and steam client beta.
Now if I want to watch a movie I get the "Hoppla.." error (which seems to be the german translation for "Whoops" ;-) )

How exactly did you clean the cached html and the cookies. I did not find anything like that under /home/steam?

[msteinbeck]

I'm having exactly the same issue using a custom SteamOS installation.

[mdeguzis]

Those of you still affected could try clearing your browser cache at /home/steam/.local/share/Steam/config/htmlcache I have no been affected by this issue, so please backup the folder before giving this a try. If that works without harm, I'll add it to the wiki somewhere.

[msteinbeck]

I used the following commands

cd /home/steam/.local/share/Steam/config/ # change into the directory containing htmlcache
sudo tar cfvz htmlchache.tar.gz htmlcache # create backup
sudo rm -rf htmlcache/* # remove all files
sudo shutdown -r now # reboot system

Still having the same problem :(