Video playback is restricted to 540p

[r2rX]

Netflix add-on version

1.20.2

Operative systems used

Linux (Ubuntu / Mint / ...)

Kodi version used

Kodi 19 (Matrix)

Description of the bug

Simply put, when trying to load any video through Kodi/Netflix plugin, the maximum resolution allowed on playback is 540p.

Steps to reproduce the behavior

Not sure what to write here but install Kodi 19.4 & the Netflix v1.20.2 plugin and try playback any video files (that are confirmed to support 1080p) to check if they'll play above 540p.

Debug log - mandatory

https://paste.kodi.tv/avoyodoseh.kodi

Possible fix

No response

Additional context

Widevine is up-to-date, as far as I can tell (there were no prompts to update). When hovering over content, i.e a series, the label at the bottom right indicates 1080p support but the moment I open the entry to select an episode, it reflects 540p. The last time I viewed any content was between a week to two ago. At that point, all videos I was viewing were playing at 1080p. Between then and now, both Kodi and the Netflix plugin have remained on the same respective versions. The Netflix account subscription was upgraded to support up to 4K so it's safe to assume that it should support 1080p. Lastly, I also reset the ESN and applied but it didn't seem to resolve it.

Screenshots

No response

[demod-au]

Just noticed this happening to me tonight. Kodi 19.4 on android shield. Also haven't watched Netflix for 3 to 4 days so not sure exactly when it started.

Edit:. ESN was missing a large number of characters. I manually copied from Netflix app and now playing 1080p again

[kokikoku]

Same to me from yesterday. max only 540p.

Netflix add-on version: 1.20.2 Debug enabled: False System platform: windows Machine architecture: AMD64 User agent string: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/96.0.4664.77 Safari/537.36

Widevine info

Library status: Correctly loaded Version: 4.10.2557.0

ESN

Used ESN: NFCDCH-02-*9KW0HM0JY0C9UXMFWUYMR411H* Website ESN: NFCDCH-02-APW18CHCT8MGW2K77E4PE10KY** Android generated ESN: --not obtained--

[semool]

Jup. Here also on Nvidia Shield 2019/Kodi20 Nightly. 540p with HDR g

OK. it works again after i set the ESN new in the Addon Settings. Before i only checked the saved ESN in the settings.xml. They where complete there. Strange.

[damnms]

i have an odroid n2 with coreelec and i was quiet sure netflix worked with 1080p and above some months ago. now i noticed that i can only watch in quiet bad resolution. so i asked in #kodi if anyone else has the same problem. someone says that this can not work because of widevine. now i am wondering if its a widevine problem or if its also (hopefully) only a ESN problem. can someone tell me how to get the ESN from the website?

[vascobraga41]

I solved my issue by resetting ESN in the addon settings. Solved it in at least 3 devices using CoreELEC.

[Sholander]

On my Firestick 4K I had to write, to the end of existing ESN, additional 64 characters that I got from official Netflix app. After writing them, had to press "OK" button to save them (NOT Apply changes now button). After restarting Kodi all is back to normal. Although in addon FAQ for Video Stream only at 540P (SD) on Android device says "... manually copy the official ESN in the add-on by clicking on Change ESN button (you can ignore all characters of the final part)" it looks like all characters are now needed.

[damnms]

when i reset the ESN i can select 1080p but it does not start playback. i will try to install the LG netflix app on my TV and get the ESN from it

tried to use the ESN from my TV (there it works without problems), but in kodi it says there is some error because of the format. the ESN looks like: LGTV20171=x1x030xxx31 where x is a number - not sure how "sensitive" this information is

i downloaded the netflix app (without ms store) on windows 10 ltsc and copied the extremely long esn into the netflix app. it says now "User authentication data does not match entity identity." :(

[vascobraga41]

Tried on another CoreELEC device and also successful. After reset of ESN I do "apply changes now" and then ok. For this type of devices it always works.

[damnms]

For this type of devices it always works.

what device exactly?

in the logs i found some things, maybe its related, not sure:

2022-12-04 11:58:52.101 T:3850  critical <general>: [script.module.inputstreamhelper] ['ldd', '/storage/.kodi/cdm/libwidevinecdm.so'] cmd failed.
2022-12-04 11:58:52.101 T:3850  critical <general>: [script.module.inputstreamhelper] Failed to check for missing Widevine libraries.
2022-12-04 11:58:52.105 T:3850  warning <general>: [script.module.inputstreamhelper] Widevine update check was made on 2022-12-03 21:06
2022-12-04 11:58:52.130 T:3648     info <general>: VideoPlayer::OpenFile: plugin://plugin.video.netflix/play/movie/81245455/?profile_guid=WPEXNH2E7NHULMMPRIC4GVB4L4
2022-12-04 11:58:52.131 T:6488     info <general>: Creating InputStream
2022-12-04 11:58:52.133 T:6488     info <general>: AddOnLog: inputstream.adaptive: [Repr. chooser] Resolution set: 1920x1080, max allowed: 1920x1080, Adjust refresh rate: 0
2022-12-04 11:58:52.133 T:6488    error <general>: GetDirectory - Error getting /usr/lib/kodi/addons/inputstream.adaptive/
2022-12-04 11:58:53.231 T:6488     info <general>: AddOnLog: inputstream.adaptive: Successfully parsed manifest file (Periods: 1, Streams in first period: 35, Type: VOD)
2022-12-04 11:58:57.507 T:6488     info <general>: Creating Demuxer
2022-12-04 11:58:57.509 T:6488     info <general>: Opening stream: 1001 source: 256
2022-12-04 11:58:57.907 T:6488     info <general>: Creating video codec with codec id: 27
2022-12-04 11:58:57.907 T:6488     info <general>: AddOnLog: inputstream.adaptive: VideoCodec::Open
2022-12-04 11:58:57.907 T:6488  warning <general>: AddOnLog: inputstream.adaptive: ToCdmVideoCodecProfile: Unknown codec profile 0
2022-12-04 11:58:57.909 T:6488     info <general>: Creating video thread
2022-12-04 11:58:57.910 T:6504     info <general>: running thread: video_thread
2022-12-04 11:58:57.910 T:6488     info <general>: Opening stream: 1002 source: 256
2022-12-04 11:58:58.022 T:6488     info <general>: Finding audio codec for: 86056
2022-12-04 11:58:58.023 T:6488     info <general>: Creating audio thread
2022-12-04 11:58:58.023 T:6507     info <general>: running thread: CVideoPlayerAudio::Process()
2022-12-04 11:58:58.023 T:6488     info <general>: Opening stream: 1032 source: 256
2022-12-04 11:58:58.028 T:6488     info <general>: CDVDSubtitlesLibass: Using libass version 1600000
2022-12-04 11:58:58.028 T:6488     info <general>: CDVDSubtitlesLibass: Creating ASS library structure
2022-12-04 11:58:58.028 T:6488     info <general>: CDVDSubtitlesLibass: Initializing ASS Renderer
2022-12-04 11:58:58.028 T:6488     info <general>: CDVDSubtitlesLibass: Initializing ASS library font settings
2022-12-04 11:58:58.029 T:6488    error <general>: GetDirectory - Error getting /storage/.kodi/temp/fonts/
2022-12-04 11:58:58.029 T:6488    error <general>: GetDirectory - Error getting special://temp/fonts/
2022-12-04 11:58:58.119 T:6488     info <general>: CDVDSubtitlesLibass: Creating new ASS track
2022-12-04 11:58:58.148 T:6488     info <general>: Opening stream: 1001 source: 256
2022-12-04 11:58:58.148 T:6488     info <general>: Opening stream: 1002 source: 256
2022-12-04 11:58:58.148 T:6488     info <general>: Finding audio codec for: 86056
2022-12-04 11:58:58.149 T:6488     info <general>: Opening stream: 1032 source: 256
2022-12-04 11:58:58.154 T:6507     info <general>: CAEStreamParser::TrySyncAC3 - E-AC3 stream detected (6 channels, 48000Hz)
2022-12-04 11:58:58.155 T:6507     info <general>: Creating audio stream (codec id: 86056, channels: 6, sample rate: 48000, pass-through)
2022-12-04 11:58:58.157 T:3678     info <general>: CActiveAESink::OpenSink - initialize sink
2022-12-04 11:58:58.157 T:3678     info <general>: CAESinkALSA::Initialize - Configure simple control for "AUGESOUND"
2022-12-04 11:58:58.158 T:3678     info <general>: CAESinkALSA - Use card "hw:0" and set codec format "DD+"
2022-12-04 11:58:58.164 T:3678     info <general>: CAESinkALSA - Set Spdif to HDMITX to "Spdif_b"
2022-12-04 11:58:58.165 T:3678     info <general>: CAESinkALSA - Set codec for "Audio spdif_b format"
2022-12-04 11:58:58.165 T:3678     info <general>: CAESinkALSA - Set codec for "Audio spdif format"
2022-12-04 11:58:58.165 T:3678     info <general>: CAESinkALSA::Initialize - Attempting to open device "hdmi:CARD=AMLAUGESOUND,DEV=0"
2022-12-04 11:58:58.171 T:3678     info <general>: CAESinkALSA::Initialize - Opened device "hdmi:CARD=AMLAUGESOUND,DEV=0,AES0=0x06,AES1=0x82,AES2=0x00,AES3=0x0e"
2022-12-04 11:58:58.187 T:6507     info <general>: CAEStreamParser::TrySyncAC3 - E-AC3 stream detected (6 channels, 48000Hz)

[Yaqwa]

Just noticed this happening to me tonight. Kodi 19.4 on android shield. Also haven't watched Netflix for 3 to 4 days so not sure exactly when it started.

Edit:. ESN was missing a large number of characters. I manually copied from Netflix app and now playing 1080p again

Can you give me the correct string please

[damnms]

i reinstalled widevine and clicked reset ESN, now it works with full hd again, thanks

no, i wont give u that as i have no idea whats behind this information, sorry!

[r2rX]

So I have tried reinstalling widevine and resetting the ESN but that didn't work. When comparing the last, long portion of the ESN string in Kodi from what's reported in the Netflix app in Win11 and Android, it is indeed shorter in Kodi. Replacing the shorter string with the longer one from either app didn't work (still playback at 540p) unless I am getting the format wrong. Using the entire string from either app results in an error (understandably). Ideally, we shouldn't have to do this even for those that this workaround works for.

[Sholander]

You can not use ESN strings from different operating systems. If you have installed Kodi with Netflix addon on an Android system, then you can use only the ESN string from Netflix official application on the same Android system.

[r2rX]

You can not use ESN strings from different operating systems. If you have installed Kodi with Netflix addon on an Android system, then you can use only the ESN string from Netflix official application on the same Android system.

I figured as much but thought to test anyway. If that's the case, the last option I can think of is to sign-in via Chrome but I haven't determined how to derive the ESN through Chrome.

[semool]

It looks like a general Problem at Netflix Site. Since today i have 540p everywhere, also in the native netflix app on my Shield.

[8traxrule]

The native app on my Shield is still playing 2160 (verified with the test patterns you can get just by searching for "Test Patterns".)

I have only been getting 540 on Kodi though since Thursday, and I depend on that to work as the regular Netflix app is entirely unusable by my standards (butting into credits, Skip prompts and onscreen Rating displays mainly). I had been messing with something else on Kodi so I thought that had broken it, and I had seen this happen before and it was fixed previously by uninstalling the Netflix add-on and reinstalling it. This time it didn't help. I completely uninstalled Kodi and that didn't help either, then as a last result I reset my Shield back to factory settings and no go there. Glad it's not just me at least.

I will donate $100 USD to the add-on developer after this is fixed, just to show them my appreciation for the add-on and its upkeep. I know things like this happen sometimes but hopefully it's being worked on. It's a shame that the people who design native apps are so focused on the ADD crowd that we have to resort to these kinds of workarounds just to view things complete and uninterrupted, but I'm thankful those workarounds exist. I would not use these services otherwise.

[ksooo]

Since today i have 540p everywhere, also in the native netflix app on my Shield.

Same here.

[semool]

Have they Blacklistet Our ESN or is this a problem with shield in general? With the App in my TV 4k works fine.

[vascobraga41]

There are some changes, most definitely. In Linux based systems it's enough to just reset ESN and apply changes. I had to do it again in one of the devices I had reset yesterday. But I tried now 6 devices and I can get 1080p in all of them. The android ones, that use the ESN from the app are in more trouble, it seems. I guess that when Stefano is "fit for duty" things will be solved.

[8traxrule]

Those who are getting 540 on the native Shield app, do you have the 4K subscription or a lower level?

[r2rX]

There are some changes, most definitely. In Linux based systems it's enough to just reset ESN and apply changes. I had to do it again in one of the devices I had reset yesterday. But I tried now 6 devices and I can get 1080p in all of them. The android ones, that use the ESN from the app are in more trouble, it seems. I guess that when Stefano is "fit for duty" things will be solved.

Linux systems aren't exempt from this issue as I'm stuck at 540p on Fedora, despite resetting the ESN. Hopefully Stefano can work his magic, once he's able to. :)

[8traxrule]

Changed the ESN to what my Shield info displays and getting 2160 again!

Will be sending $100 donation soon in appreciation of this add-on, it means a lot to me.

[didgerifou]

Hi. I had the same problem on nvidia shield. I had to change the esn. I had to indicate the complete esn and not the partial. I have HD again. Sorry my English...

[Liqianyu]

@ksooo @semool It looks like it's because using the full ESN (with 64-bit random code) in the add-on causes the ESN to be limited to live at a low resolution. Not sure if this is temporary or permanent, I think we should stop using add-ons and watch. @8traxrule Netflix Premium Plan,I think you should stop using the full ESN in add-ons, which may result in the official app not getting 540p+ resolution either.

[kokikoku]

I solved my issue by resetting ESN in the addon settings. Solved it in at least 3 devices using CoreELEC.

reset ESN not sovled in my Win11 Kodi.

[CastagnaIT]

There are some changes, most definitely. In Linux based systems it's enough to just reset ESN and apply changes. I had to do it again in one of the devices I had reset yesterday. But I tried now 6 devices and I can get 1080p in all of them. The android ones, that use the ESN from the app are in more trouble, it seems. I guess that when Stefano is "fit for duty" things will be solved.

Linux systems aren't exempt from this issue as I'm stuck at 540p on Fedora, despite resetting the ESN. Hopefully Stefano can work his magic, once he's able to. :)

I'm currently still in bed with covid, but I'm recovering, I hope in a few days i should be able to use the pc

[smplayer-dev]

I changed one of the numbers in the ESN and I get 1080p again. I guess this new ESN is going to be blacklisted, but maybe the addon could randomly change some of the ESN numbers from time to time?

Edit: I have also tested with a fully 64 hexadecimal random number and it works as well.

[Liqianyu]

@smplayer-dev This ESN will also be restricted if the number happens to be used by another device. Then it will probably affect others. I think this way to solve the problem may cause more serious problems (such as account blocking)

[Ronny-nerd]

There are some changes, most definitely. In Linux based systems it's enough to just reset ESN and apply changes. I had to do it again in one of the devices I had reset yesterday. But I tried now 6 devices and I can get 1080p in all of them. The android ones, that use the ESN from the app are in more trouble, it seems. I guess that when Stefano is "fit for duty" things will be solved.

Linux systems aren't exempt from this issue as I'm stuck at 540p on Fedora, despite resetting the ESN. Hopefully Stefano can work his magic, once he's able to. :)

I'm currently still in bed with covid, but I'm recovering, I hope in a few days i should be able to use the pc

Before you start programming again, you should recover properly, the other things can wait.

[r2rX]

I'm currently still in bed with covid, but I'm recovering, I hope in a few days i should be able to use the pc

Oh man. Rest well and feel better, dude. Your health and well-being is priority.

[MickBim]

Hi. I had the same problem on nvidia shield. I had to change the esn. I had to indicate the complete esn and not the partial. I have HD again. Sorry my English...

How do you find the partial ESN ? I have the full one, I reset it (it's still displayed on screen though), and I still don't have 4K

[vascobraga41]

Even though for CoreELEC resetting ESN works, it has a limited time span so I don't think that it's a good idea to just keep resetting it.

[mklcw]

Tried keying in the full esn, and it worked for a day or two. Then it stopped working and my netflix app on mibox 4 also showing 540p.. No more 4k. Anyone has a solution?

[mklcw]

@ksooo @semool It looks like it's because using the full ESN (with 64-bit random code) in the add-on causes the ESN to be limited to live at a low resolution. Not sure if this is temporary or permanent, I think we should stop using add-ons and watch. @8traxrule Netflix Premium Plan,I think you should stop using the full ESN in add-ons, which may result in the official app not getting 540p+ resolution either.

Oh no, saw your message too late. My official app is stuck at 540p. Do you have any solution?

[Liqianyu]

@mklcw No, if the blockade is temporary, then waiting might be the answer. But if it is permanent... I tried again to contact the local Netflix customer service. They were unable to help. Of course, the problem can be solved by replacing the device.

You can get HD\UHD temporarily by entering a random ESN inside the plugin, but of course the new ESN will be blocked as well. And not sure if this method may cause more serious problems. (Maybe account blocking)

[Paco8]

I wonder why netflix is doing this. I mean, it seems they can detect when requests come from the addon instead of the official app, but if they wanted to prevent us to use the addon they could do something else, but by blocking the ESN they also restricting their app, which doesn't make any sense, that could only lead users to unsubcribe.

[mklcw]

Netflix customer service of no help at all. Told me my mibox4 not supported.... Wtf Stuck at 540p.......

[dm2912]

Resetting ESN on CoreELEC worked for me.

I wonder if this has something to do with the recent tier changes. Bottom tier used to be 540p, but with the addition of ad tier they moved bottom tier to 720p. wonder if that required an ESN refresh to re-apply the tier which was done automatically via official apps.

Rather than anything nefarious from Netflix

[MickBim]

@ksooo @semool It looks like it's because using the full ESN (with 64-bit random code) in the add-on causes the ESN to be limited to live at a low resolution. Not sure if this is temporary or permanent, I think we should stop using add-ons and watch. @8traxrule Netflix Premium Plan,I think you should stop using the full ESN in add-ons, which may result in the official app not getting 540p+ resolution either.

Oh no, saw your message too late. My official app is stuck at 540p. Do you have any solution?

The official app on my Shield is not stuck at 540p though, only the add-on on Kodi is, and they share the same ESN

[0xallie]

if your legit device has been downgraded to sd, try reprovisioning widevine using the kaltura device info app and then reinstalling the netflix app, or doing a factory reset. that may change the esn.

[Liqianyu]

@nyuszika7h I tried reconfiguring widevine with the Kaltura Device Info App, reinstalling the Netflix App, restarting ...... Unfortunately, these actions do not change the ESN. it seems that only in rare cases, initialization can change the ESN.

[semool]

@Liqianyu I will do it tomorrow and report. Today i have no time for it.

[8traxrule]

Had it change back to 540 for me also, but this time I just changed the last few ESN numbers to something random and got 4k back.

VERY vile of Netflix to try and stop this addon from working when they make their native app so annoying. I don’t tolerate having the end credits broken into, the Skip Intro button that pops up is also highly annoying (the add-on lets you turn it on or off, why can’t Netflix do that?) and the rating info at the very beginning spoils content and darkens the whole top of the screen when it’s on. If Netflix would just make their own app more customizable, we wouldn’t need this add-on! All my comments to them have fallen on deaf ears, even though there have been articles that have publicly shamed them for what they do to credits. (They don’t seem to shrink the screen anymore, but they now have “suggested titles” pop up onscreen instead.) Chromecast leaves the end credits alone but you still get the Skip Intro onscreen, which makes no sense as you’d be hitting your phone to use that anyways.

[CastagnaIT]

The (full) ESN itself its an uuid, an theorically should not be used with more than 1 app on same device at same time, or, same ESN on more devices

talking about of android case only: from my last investigation on the official android app some of months ago the official app most of the time seem to generate the last part of ESN by hashing the widevine DRM uuid code of the device, therefore theoretically the ESN should never change, even after reinstalling the official app or if you resetting shield,

but other factors that could influence and so could not always use the widevine DRM uuid code, difficult to say because the reverse engineering is not always a good panacea but a closer look also shows that exists a fallback case in case of problems, when the app use this fallback generates a random hash as last part of ESN

so append a random hash to the android type ESN should be the best/easy way for now it is possible that by avoiding using the same ESN between official app and add-on, you no longer fall back to 540p

[8traxrule]

Made a large donation to you on Sunday BTW which I hope will help. Didn’t activate the official Netflix app on my Shield after resetting it, the only time I would need that would be for the interactive stuff which doesn’t work with the add-on, those play a video telling you it doesn’t work instead.

Netflix now charges more than any other service also, and you’d think the people who care enough to pay extra for the best quality would also not want their content interrupted.

They may be trying to stop people from blocking their commercials though now that they have a low tier with those- I pay the lower price for Hulu and the Kodi app does not play the commercials on that. Been keeping quiet about that as they may “fix” that if it’s well known, but felt it was worth mentioning here.

[CastagnaIT]

thank you @8traxrule for the donation so appreciated, after two weeks at bed i am now slowly improving my condition, still somewhat clouded mind... for today i spent 3 hours to update myself about general situation

@8traxrule good catch change last few ESN numbers to something random let me know if after that change, the resolution is still HD/4k also after some days

i am not worried about netflix AD content, i should do a test in the future to avoid legal problems in case of unwanted "tricks" but currently the advertising plan makes no sense to most of people

this weird problem sound more one of many netflix server backend problems that happens over the time... at least i hope

[8traxrule]

I am guessing that after 1 or 2 days the problem may come up again and I will have to change the ESN again at that point. I fixed it on Sunday and did not check it yesterday, but today it went back to 540 with the device ESN and I fixed it just with changing the last 3 numbers. I don’t know much about how these things work, but it worked for several months before and now it seems to be checking the ESN every day or so.

The ad tier is also restricted to 720 resolution. I already tested that this addon cannot get 4k resolution if you are not paying extra for that.

[Liqianyu]

@8traxrule Netflix may think that Intro and Credits will affect the experience. They really should give users more freedom of choice. Is it that hard to just add an option? Then again, using a browser to play Netflix might work for you?

[8traxrule]

Is there any browser that will play Netflix with 4k resolution, HDR and Atmos audio (which people who skip credits likely don’t even care about)? If there is let me know what I need to use that. I know there are browser add-ons that block intrusions while viewing through Netflix’s site, but as far as I know that only works through my laptop which doesn’t deliver more than 2-channel sound unless that’s changed recently.

Airplay is another good way to avoid annoying apps from some services, but Netflix has actively disabled that!

[vascobraga41]

I just want to confirm that the addon works at 1080p in Ubuntu.