Netflix rpi4 CastagnaIT video quality

Help and Support Raspberry Pi
1

Hello everyone.
I would appreciate any advice regarding Netflix video quality support under Kodi running on RPi4 using CastagnaIT plugin .
I successfully installed and configured plugin.
I didn’t made any changes on ESN settings (so my ESN look like “NFCDCH-01-ID…”)
I have premium Netflix subscription with 4K HDR Atmos/TrueHD support
I configured Adaptive Stream to use 4K
I configured Netflix to select stream quality at playback start
But maximum video quality i could have is 1080p (but fo some videos even less - its 960x540p )
And bandwidth mostly awful (like 0.7 - 1.5 mbps - especially if VP9 enabled)
Here are few examples:

  1. The Witcher. Frame resolution 1080p, stream bitrate 6 mbps @ H.264 / 1 mbps @ VP9
  2. Wednesday. Frame resolution 1080p, stream bitrate 2 mbps @ H.264 / 0,7 mbps @ VP9
  3. Extraction. Frame resolution 1080p, stream bitrate 1.5 mbps @ H.264 / 0,7 mbps @ VP9

Some movies have up to 10 mbps bitrate.

but
Indigenous bastards: Frame resolution 540p bitrate 0.5 mbps
Shrek Frame resolution 540p bitrate 0.5 mbps
47 Ronin resolution 540p bitrate 0.5 mbps

Why it is so and is there any chance to make Netflix believe RPi4 is Widevine L1 certified ?

2

First off all, this question is out of the scope of this forum. Here are some reasons why:

  • Google have terms when it comes to their licensing which might limit a manufactures options.

  • Netflix can pick and chose which manufactures are able to use diffrent widvine levels.

  • Any advice to bypass any content providers limitiation, could be seen a liable on OSMC.

Hope you understand that this is a jungle when it comes to legal terms, distrubution rights, licensing deals and what not. Just be glad you can still watch Netflix on your Pi.

3

Pi would need persistent storage and a secure video pathway for L1.

We licensed Vero V for L1 and HDCP2.2 but implementation of Netflix with L1 is still WIP

4

Thank you for your reply.
Sorry if I pick wrong forum.
I reviewed other topics about Netflix and RPi. Most of them was about technical issues while installing plugin or playing content. Other ones, not related with RPi itself, mostly about certified platforms like Smart TVs, NVIDIA Shield etc.
I do not have any issues, video is played smoothly.
Just the only problem is quality which is sucks mostly (however other movies offers relatively acceptable bitrate and quality)
Therefore I am confused and wandering about others experience with it.

p.s. I have PS5 but i think use PS5 to watch Netflix is the weirdest thing I could do )

Could you give more information about that ? What should I do ?

5

I think Sam meant that Widevine L1 support on the Raspberry Pi is impossible because the Pi lacks certain hardware features that would be required to support it.

Basically, what you’ve got at the moment is as good as it’s ever going to get on that device.

If you wanted to buy a Vero V then there is a chance that you will eventually get better performance - but if I understand Sam correctly, this is not available on the Vero V yet. And even if Widevine L1 is fully implemented on the Vero V eventually, that still won’t get you access to 4K Netflix streams, only better playback of 1080p. If your focus is streaming services like Netflix, then an OSMC device should probably not be your first choice of media player; OSMC is primarily designed for playback of locally stored videos.