Netflix: Google Chrome vs. Compholio
I have both the Compholio (modified-Wine with Silverlight) version of Netflix player (now rebundled in the Pipelight package) and the dev Google Chrome (v.38) / HTML5 version of Netflix player runnning side by side on my systems (both Precise and Trusty) using the instructions at (K)Ubuntuguide: http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Netflix
IMO the Compholio version (which uses a slightly older, and faster, version of Firefox as the browser) runs faster and gives better performance than the Google Chrome-based method, but YMMV (your mileage may vary). Pipelight is not needed for the Google Chrome-browser version (and has no effect on it).
The point (that someone made above) that installing the Compholio/Pipelight version will take over Wine on your system is a good one. I don't use Wine for anything else, so it doesn't matter for me, but for someone who wants to preserve an unmodified "stock" Wine environment, the Google Chrome-based player is worth it (for Netflix).
For general usage, I stick with Firefox anyway, which for me runs faster, is easier to configure, and has more security options than Google Chrome. However, having to run it within the Wine environment is disadvantageous for routine use, so either way I maintain a dedicated Netflix platform as well as a generic FF browser.
I have both the Compholio (modified-Wine with Silverlight) version of Netflix player (now rebundled in the Pipelight package) and the dev Google Chrome (v.38) / HTML5 version of Netflix player runnning side by side on my systems (both Precise and Trusty) using the instructions at (K)Ubuntuguide: http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Netflix
IMO the Compholio version (which uses a slightly older, and faster, version of Firefox as the browser) runs faster and gives better performance than the Google Chrome-based method, but YMMV (your mileage may vary). Pipelight is not needed for the Google Chrome-browser version (and has no effect on it).
The point (that someone made above) that installing the Compholio/Pipelight version will take over Wine on your system is a good one. I don't use Wine for anything else, so it doesn't matter for me, but for someone who wants to preserve an unmodified "stock" Wine environment, the Google Chrome-based player is worth it (for Netflix).
For general usage, I stick with Firefox anyway, which for me runs faster, is easier to configure, and has more security options than Google Chrome. However, having to run it within the Wine environment is disadvantageous for routine use, so either way I maintain a dedicated Netflix platform as well as a generic FF browser.
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