Watch Now - More than 4 Computers Problem

Posted by PC_Rob on February 13, 2008 at 8:38am in Instant Watching

Hello all,

Here is my issue and frustration:

I am a new (again after 4 years away) Netflix customer. I got it for the rentals of course, but for the on demand movies and shows. I recently bought a laptop to use with the bedroom and family room TVs to do just that, stream netflix movies, and Media Center stuff.

Well I also have a dedicated theater with it's own PC. I use the watch now in there also. After testing it on a couple of computers at home and at work for quality, etc. I bought the new laptop, and the first time I tried a watch now, I got the message: "you have used this feature from more than 4 computers, please call this number to verify your account is not being used fraudulently" or something like that.

So I called the number. Waited 30 minutes, and got no one. Called the next day and waited 20 minutes to finally speak with someone. He said they use some "special recipe" to tag each computer you use, and make sure you do not go over the limit of 4. That recipe supposedly includes the browser you use, your Windows version, etc. OK, so he cleared my new laptop for use, and it worked.

So I get home last night and I install this new My Netflix plug in for Vista Media Center that allows me to browse my queues, add movies to queue, and the watch now feature right from inside Media Center. Cool right? It was until I hit watch now, and I got that Netflix error message about using more than 4 computers. So I went out of Media Center, and went to netflix.com with Internet Explorer directly, and it worked fine. So what is happening here? Are they really considering that as two separate computers because the request is coming from a different browser? That is crazy.

This entire limit is done poorly. It should just look at the MAC address on the PC and be done with it. The support guy told me that I now have 4 PCs in my history, and I I were to reformat one of them, or get a new PC, etc. they would NOT be able to authorize that new PC to use the watch now feature until my 12 month anniversary date NEXT JANUARY!!!!

I said, so if my house burns down, and I get new computers to replace them, and I am a LEGAL paying customer, I would have to wait a year before I could use those new computers with your service? He said: "yes, as the policy stands now we would not be able to authorize those computers, but we WOULD want to hear from you about it". What the heck is that junk? They should simply have an "Authorize this computer/DE-authorize this computer from your account" like Rhapsody has. I should not have to be penalized if I am legally using the service.

Any comments, suggestions, etc?

Thanks everyone!

Rob

Tags: browse instant, instant watching

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by wowwee123 on May 9, 2008 at 12:16am: I've used CC at least a dozen times, and still able to use IW on the same 'puter. Great program, but before using, one should be careful what settings they apply.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Fox Mulder on May 9, 2008 at 12:04pm: Oh what settings do you use?

Because whenever I use it, I check mark everything.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Fox Mulder on May 10, 2008 at 12:42pm: Oh thanks for your help guys. I called Netflix Customer Service yesterday and the guy was really cool. He fixed it. He said there's a conflict with the antivirus program AVG 8.0 (which I had on my computer) and Netflix Movie Viewer. And they're also having problems with Vista and the movie viewer.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Steve on May 13, 2008 at 7:54am: Fox,
I just installed AVG 8 on my XP and Vista machine and got the instant movie download computer limit warning. I called customer service and they asked if I had registry cleaning software installed.
What was the workaround for the problem? Is there one?

Thanks!

Steve; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Steve on May 13, 2008 at 12:37pm: Fox,
I spoke with customer service today. By the way, my hold time was under one minute at 11:38 a.m. on a Tuesday--not bad at all. There is a problem with AVG 8 on machines running Vista and the Netflix system for tracking unique computers. The representative said that Netflix is currently working with AVG to resolve this problem.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Fox Mulder on May 13, 2008 at 1:48pm: Did he customer service guy fix it for you? He should have fixed it for you. He fixed it for me. What he did is he had me download and install a program called "GoToAssistDownloadHelper" so he could look into my computer. Then he put a little Netflix utility program on my desktop and he put the license number there and since then IW has worked fine for me.

If he didn't fix it, call back. He should fix it for you.

Also I should note I have since reformatted my hard drive and reinstalled Vista and that I don't have AVG installed on my computer anymore and probably won't anymore.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by DR on May 22, 2008 at 1:40pm: I called Netflix WI support today. I have one MacBook Pro which accounts for 4 machines according to Netflix. Granted, I have used Parallels and Boot Camp, so I can see it accounting for two machines, but not four. They show two Parallels video adapters and two Nvidia adapters accessing WI. This is an error on their part. The representative was unable to help me, other than to tell me when DRM for those "four" machines would expire... June 15. The current DRM timeout period is 30 days, not one year. So, on June 16, I should be able to utilize WI on my new HTPC Mac.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by DR on May 23, 2008 at 7:21am: Then again, maybe I *won't* wait until June 16...

http://koitsu.wordpress.com/2008/03/08/netflix-watch-now-pc-limitat...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by MirrenFan on May 23, 2008 at 6:32pm: OK, here's a question, because I didn't relaize this was an issue until a few days ago. I've been running through reformatted PC's like they're going out of style and not even thinking about the NF Instant Viewing software. I'm about to hook up my fourth one. I don't suppose simply uninstalling the software will free up one, will it? I'd hate to install it on this next PC, have it crap out on me, move on to the next one and not be able to use the feature anymore because I've downloaded it too many times just because I can't find a freakin' computer that works.

Thanks...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by PC_Rob on May 27, 2008 at 7:54am: Uninstalling it will not help. Try the link DR posted above yours.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dale on May 27, 2008 at 11:11am: Well you need to just back up your key, it is located in the reg HKCU\Software\Netflix\Movie Viewer\ID

I have done this and it worked on a few computers, just copy the reg key, (export it) and replace it on the computer that is not working.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Andrew on May 29, 2008 at 8:00am: PC_Rob, I had this same issue. The problem is that the Media Center Plugin installs a different device ID than the normal Netflix Player Uses (in vista, the registry entry for the player gets sandboxed inside of an IE sub-registry type tree, the player installs it in the default location if it doesn't find the other I suppose).

Anyway, the fix is as follows to get the media center plugin to work:
Copy the value from this key:

HKEY_USERS\\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\InternetRegistry\REGISTRY\USER\\Software\Netflix\Movie Viewer\ID

to this key (both should exist already):
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Netflix\Movie Viewer\ID

That will make the MCE plugin use the correct ID and solve your issue.; ▶ Reply to This