DSTV Now on Lubuntu using Chrome

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bridgeburner

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Hi MyBB Linux users.. hopefully this is the right sub-forum for this. I have an ancient laptop installed with Lubuntu which I use to stream DSTV Now occasionally. I noticed a couple of weeks ago that it stopped working, and only really getting around to start looking into this now.

It seems to be related to Google's Widevine DRM as I can see the call failing in the dev tools:
Code: 
400 Bad Request https://license.dstv.com/widevine/getLicense
when using Chrome v80 and FF.

However, it works perfectly on a Windows 10 machine.

Anyone seen this before and have a work-around? Not too much on the net about it, but found a couple reddit posts about a similar thing happening to CBS's streaming service but apparently its fixed.

I tried a cheap and nasty work-around by using Chrome with WINE, but it failed spectacularly. Chrome seems to be quite unstable when running through WINE.
 
bridgeburner said:
Hi MyBB Linux users.. hopefully this is the right sub-forum for this. I have an ancient laptop installed with Lubuntu which I use to stream DSTV Now occasionally. I noticed a couple of weeks ago that it stopped working, and only really getting around to start looking into this now.

It seems to be related to Google's Widevine DRM as I can see the call failing in the dev tools:
Code: 
400 Bad Request https://license.dstv.com/widevine/getLicense
when using Chrome v80 and FF.

However, it works perfectly on a Windows 10 machine.

Anyone seen this before and have a work-around? Not too much on the net about it, but found a couple reddit posts about a similar thing happening to CBS's streaming service but apparently its fixed.

I tried a cheap and nasty work-around by using Chrome with WINE, but it failed spectacularly. Chrome seems to be quite unstable when running through WINE.
Click to expand...
Do you have the Widevine addon installed? Instructions here:

itsfoss.com

How to Play Netflix on Firefox in Linux

Firefox now enables you to play DRM content. This means you can watch Netflix on Firefox in Linux without painful workarounds.
itsfoss.com itsfoss.com
 
When last did you update Linux?
How old is your laptop, can you try a different linux? Like Peppermint Linux
 
If you followed https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/threads/release-dstv-now-kodi-add-on.977513/page-43
You would know that Google made a change in the Widevine DRM library.

VMP was disabled by default in the past, and in a recent version it was changed to enabled by default.
DSTV probably dont know this, but for now DSTV Now will not work on Linux.
VMP is not compatible with Linux, eg. not ported to work on Linux.

Similar happened with international network: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/01/cbs-all-access-serves-ads-but-not-content-to-linux-users/

Only difference is, that article was updated and CBS disabled VMP to allow streaming their shows in Linux.

So you will need to escalate this to DSTV and pray for the best to get it working on Lubuntu.
Your other option as pointed out is to use Windows Chrome in wine.
 
Tinuva said:
If you followed https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/threads/release-dstv-now-kodi-add-on.977513/page-43
You would know that Google made a change in the Widevine DRM library.

VMP was disabled by default in the past, and in a recent version it was changed to enabled by default.
DSTV probably dont know this, but for now DSTV Now will not work on Linux.
VMP is not compatible with Linux, eg. not ported to work on Linux.

Similar happened with international network: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/01/cbs-all-access-serves-ads-but-not-content-to-linux-users/

Only difference is, that article was updated and CBS disabled VMP to allow streaming their shows in Linux.

So you will need to escalate this to DSTV and pray for the best to get it working on Lubuntu.
Your other option as pointed out is to use Windows Chrome in wine.
Click to expand...

Yes I am aware of all that, just wondered if someone had a work-around. As mentioned in my OP, running Chrome for Windows through WINE is very unstable.

DSTV advised that I install hal, but that's now a deprecated package. After bringing this to their attention, all I got was "unfortunately we have no fix or solution for Linux users at the moment". No surprises there.

I'll try the FF add-on suggested by @oldhat but not sure how it will make a difference if Google enabled VMP by default and DSTV haven't made the changes their side to get around this.
 
bridgeburner said:
Yes I am aware of all that, just wondered if someone had a work-around. As mentioned in my OP, running Chrome for Windows through WINE is very unstable.

DSTV advised that I install hal, but that's now a deprecated package. After bringing this to their attention, all I got was "unfortunately we have no fix or solution for Linux users at the moment". No surprises there.

I'll try the FF add-on suggested by @oldhat but not sure how it will make a difference if Google enabled VMP by default and DSTV haven't made the changes their side to get around this.
Click to expand...
There is no work around for VMP on Linux without using Wine. That firefox link will not work either.
There is only 2 options:
1. Use Wine
2. Get DSTV to disable VMP

Actually there is a 3rd, get Google to implement VMP on Linux (not happening anytime soon).
 
Tinuva said:
There is no work around for VMP on Linux without using Wine. That firefox link will not work either.
There is only 2 options:
1. Use Wine
2. Get DSTV to disable VMP

Actually there is a 3rd, get Google to implement VMP on Linux (not happening anytime soon).
Click to expand...

Well Wine didn't work for me so effectively its out of our hands :X3:
 
Its not working on Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS 64bit at this time - Tried Firefox and Brave browsers
 
DSTV not woking in Raspian OS (linux lite), with chromium browser.
When wil this be fixed.
 
uride said:
DSTV not woking in Raspian OS (linux lite), with chromium browser.
When wil this be fixed.
Click to expand...
It probably never worked in chromium. You need to use Google Chrome as your browser to get it to work as far as I know. Give that a try.
 
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