Cool stuff -- at AltspaceVR we support the same concept with Netflix, YouTube, Twitch, etc, but as avatars within a virtual space (ideally in VR.) You can hang out while watching netflix with voice chat, body tracking, etc. This was a big challenge for us to get working well, so I can sympathize with the authors :)<p><a href="http://altvr.com" rel="nofollow">http://altvr.com</a><p>Just install our browser plugin, go to a netflix vid, hit "watch in AltspaceVR", and you'll have a virtual space dedicated for that netflix movie.<p><a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/altspacevr/ijjkiofdllfjjpociicclnleonjknagc" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/altspacevr/ijjkiof...</a>
The Netflix app on the Xbox 360 used to do this. And you and your friends could put on your headsets and watch the same thing on Netflix while chatting.
The far less polished solution I came up with for syncing viewing with my friends: <a href="https://github.com/wcummings/vlc-irc-rc" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/wcummings/vlc-irc-rc</a>
In the tradition of declaring something new as "X for Y", I declare this is "Cytube for Netflix". Or it will be, when you add chat functionality.<p>It's a really neat idea, and it's basically second-best to watching a video in the same room as someone else. It's really fun to watch shows with other people, have discussions about the show, and share the experience.<p>References (I didn't make these):<p><a href="https://github.com/calzoneman/sync/wiki/CyTube-3.0-User-Guide" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/calzoneman/sync/wiki/CyTube-3.0-User-Guid...</a><p><a href="https://Cytu.be" rel="nofollow">https://Cytu.be</a>
I recently made a similar desktop app to watch movies with my gf. It has only video sync and text based chat.<p>Check the screenshot: <a href="http://i.pics.rs/64I0n" rel="nofollow">http://i.pics.rs/64I0n</a><p>Maybe I will open source it when it's done. Btw I used Qt and libVLC.
As I said over on /r/netflix, great app, and the implementation is hands down better than rabb.it's RTC method.<p>Did you start after Netflix switched to HTML5 video? I'm curious how you might've dealt with the old flash player- I basically gave up on any actual control of Netflix in my side project because it was too black-boxy.
I'm in a long distance relationship and have been working on a project to do just this! I've been thinking about open-sourcing it.<p>I have video chat, a synced shared web browser, and support for Netflix & Hulu.<p>If anyone is interested: <a href="https://www.distanceflix.com" rel="nofollow">https://www.distanceflix.com</a>
Interesting stuff! I enjoy watching movies with friends at the cinema hall together and discuss about the movies soon after. Recently when I made a decision to move abroad, I was wondering if there was a feature that would give us a similar experience of watching a movie together.<p>I was thinking of using Skype screen-sharing with friends, where one user plays the movie and acts as the movie-host taking control of the pause/play, seeking controls and others watching the movie on Skype via the host's screen. Doing this provides us with the option of chatting real-time about the movie too - like how we'd do when seated next to each other in the cinema hall. The issue with this is that it would take up a lot of bandwidth to stream a movie and then share it with others simultaneously.<p>This - Showgoers - claims to solve many of these issues, so I'd definitely give it a try. One main downside is that Netflix still isn't available for users in my home-country India. And with limited movie-collections on Netflix and the other on-demand video services, I'd almost-never again be able to get the experience of watching a 'newly-released' movie at the cinema hall with a bunch of close friends.
I had a web app to do this a few years ago (2011?) For thematic music video content at <a href="http://80smtv.com/#80smtv" rel="nofollow">http://80smtv.com/#80smtv</a> (still up but a ghost town).<p>Here's the source (<a href="https://github.com/kristopolous/emptyv" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/kristopolous/emptyv</a>) ... most of it was written during the 3 or so weeks that it had lots of traffic, coming from all places, Poland.<p>I worked hard on the anarchistic anonymous vj feature as a social experiment. It was interesting but not traction building.<p>One day I'll build something that can sustain traffic. One day...
There's another solution called <a href="https://rabb.it/" rel="nofollow">https://rabb.it/</a>, but it also has HBO, Hulu and a bunch of other stuff, seems like a better alternative.
Add support for <a href="http://www.google.com/cast/" rel="nofollow">http://www.google.com/cast/</a> and I'm in.
Sounds a good idea, social TV in general sounds good, but think I just would find it annoying. "What, another toilet break!".<p>Zeebox/Beamly also had/have some good social features but I think they even struggled for people to actually use it. After the initial curiosity people just want to veg in front of the box. I think. <a href="http://beamly.com" rel="nofollow">http://beamly.com</a>
For plex users, if your friends can access your plex server, this is trivial.<p>One of you starts watching a movie, the others start watching the same movie and it asks them "would you like to resume from X". Just say Yes and you're all watching the movie in sync.<p>I love that you can do this with Netflix now though, this seems like one if those features that could have (was?) In the original release.
This would be a lot cooler if it weren't necessarily a chrome extension and was rather a native app for windows and mac...and it'd be even better if it had video chat included along with a embedded chat client. Something along the lines of <a href="http://distanceflix.com" rel="nofollow">http://distanceflix.com</a>
Heh, I had the same idea for a while, but using HTML5 and streaming it to friends directly via P2P. But I was too lazy to implement it and afraid of getting into troubles with the MAFIAA.<p>Just using netflix is definitly suitable for the masses too :)
Great idea. I used to always just count down so we could start Netflix at the same point, and then sync up after a bit by pausing and restarting occasionally, this is a very elegant solution!
We used to watch TV with my grandma over the phone.<p>Instead of commercial breaks they could have intermissions like old movie theaters allowing people to smoke and chat.
you should also check out Let's Gaze. <a href="https://letsgaze.com/#/" rel="nofollow">https://letsgaze.com/#/</a><p>it works for YouTube and local files.