The Netflix Instant Watching Lottery

A source at Netflix confirmed that you can turn on the "Watch Now" tab by going through the steps below. They are only releasing a limited number of seats each day, and the dates and times are random (it's like a lottery). I was told that it was already closed today, but you should keep trying at different times if you want early access.

To try to turn on Instant Watching:

1. Click on the Help link in the upper right hand corner of the Netflix site.
2. Search for Watch Now.
3. You'll see the first result includes a link for "instant watching." Click on this link.
4. Look to see if you have the Watch Now tab. If not, try again later.

Update: Ben got the following e-mail from Netflix customer support that gives an alternate way to see if it is available:

Dear Ben,
Thanks for your message. We appreciate your interest in our new instant viewing feature. At this time, we are enabling members to the program in stages. This is to ensure the best possible experience for all participants. We currently plan on making instant viewing available to all Netflix subscribers by June of 2007. You may determine whether you are currently able to participate in the instant viewing program by clicking the following link: http://www.netflix.com/YourAccount/ On the right hand side of the Your Account page, you will see a link labeled "How can I watch movies on my PC?" If you are currently able to participate, clicking this link will explain the feature in greater detail, and offer you a button labeled "Start Now." Clicking "Start Now" will allow you to begin accessing instant viewing content. If you do not have a "Start Now" button, you are not currently able to access instant viewing content. Please check back frequently, however, as we are constantly adding more subscribers to the program. Again, we thank you for your interest in instant viewing, and very much appreciate your patience. If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.
Thanks, ******
Netflix Customer Service

Comments

[keith]

Didnt work for me...grrr...

[stardiver]

do you know if you have to be using an internet explorer browser to see if your "Watch Now" tab appears? I understand that you can only use the feature with IE, but should I be only checking with IE, or would I see the tab on a Firefox browser?

[Rusty Ramrod]

Score !! Worked like a charm.

Unfortunately I don't accept DRM licenses out of principle (I forgot they would require them), so I won't be able to use it until there is a workaround.

Oh well. Thanks for the instructions.

[Edward R Murrow]

Blu-ray cracked:
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39285289,00.htm

[Edward R Murrow]

Microsoft speaks about DRM:
http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2007/01/20/windows-vista-content-protection-twenty-questions-and-answers.aspx

"We have analyzed your defensive capabilities as being unable to withstand us. If you defend yourselves, you will be punished."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg_(Star_Trek)

[CJ]

Stardriver has a good question - do you have to have access the site using IE browser to activate using this "back door" method? It is easy for NF to know what browser you are using to view their site at any time.

I use Firefox for web surfing, however, there are still a few sites that I have to use IE to view correctly. Wonder if I should just shift over to IE for all NF interfacing? Seems like NF wants you to use IE, I assume for DRM, rather than Firefox.

[Lamarr Wilson]

Hey CJ. I would think so. I have IE Tab for Firefox so I just enabled IE for the Netflix site for now. I hope it works; I'll keep refreshing from time to time.

[type-cast]

"Blu-ray cracked:"

It was only a matter of time. The studios do all they can to stop fair use/time shifting. They only raise awareness of work-arounds. I use AnyDVD and DVD Decrypter for most of the time. Followed by ImgBurn. Some DVDs require additional processing with FixVTS. For added flexibility: DVD Shrink, PGC Edit, RipIt4Me, VobBlanker, DVDFab Decrypter. There'll never be an uncrackable format, unless WE want it.

[f0am]

First off what does DRM Cracked have to do with WATCH NOW?!%@!^#!$&

Second off, no one has successfully cracked a Blueray disc using this guys source.
::SLAMS HEAD INTO KEYBOARD::

And Mr. Rusty Ramrod, by having Netflix are you not supporting DRM by watching movies with CSS encryption which was part of the beginning stage of DRM?

[f0am]

Well I think this might be a Myth, and the truth apparently was brought on by post happy subscribers.
I waited until 5:30 am central time, 3:30 Pacific for the site to come back up. The second it loaded I jumped on tried both methods of getting Watch Now to work. Both times I was thanks for my interest and informed I will be able to use Watch Now by June 2007.

[HypoPig]

foam - "They are only releasing a limited number of seats each day, and THE DATES AND TIMES ARE RANDOM (it's like a lottery)."

[Joel Risberg]

The updated "Your Account" method did work for me within the first few minutes of trying it late Monday night (Jan 22). I was using Firefox at the time, so don't worry about having to suffer with IE until you're actually activated.

The experience started very poorly. I installed the ActiveX player without issue, but when I tried to actually play a movie I got a license error. The Netflix troubleshooting page offered the suggestion of going to the Microsoft site to update my DRM components, which I did, but it had no effect. I also rebooted as suggested and still had no luck. Finally I relented and upgraded to Windows Media Player 11 (I had been running version 9, which Netflix says will work with Watch Now) and the movie player finally worked.

On my 3mb DSL line the initial buffer time was a little over 10 seconds and video quality in full screen mode was very impressive. It appears to be at least DVD quality, with absolutly no visible compression artifacts. Streaming was flawless throughout my 10 minute test.

So after an initial bumpy ride -- and the bitter taste of letting bloated WMP 11 get its hooks into Windows XP -- I must say I'm impressed overall.

Joel Risberg

[Lamarr Wilson]

I finally got it to work; I'm going to test it out later today. Thanks Mike!

[Aron]

This tip works. Thanks for the info.

[McDahling]

I got it. I just clicked the link. I feel like maybe I should have worked harder to get it. Its not that great. The only good movie they had was Jackass. And every time I clicked the little bars to see if they could retest my connection I got a different quality (first basic, then good, then the best one, then back to basic) I have cable (internet connection), and I know its really fast, but I don't know the exact rate. I do know it takes like 15 seconds to download a song off itunes.

[gir]

A song in 15 seconds - you've probably got 3 mbps, maybe 5 (depends on how big the song was).

It also sounds like your speed varies a lot. Maybe you've got a 5 mbps connections but with a lot of other people on the same cable, so your speed sometimes drops down to about 1 mpbs. That would explain the varying results from the Watch Now tests.

[Matt]

Yep, worked for me too.

[archieleach]

It worked for me today! Unfortunately, I was able to find the answer to a question I and a few other here had:

Q: Can a Profile watch movies instantly on their PC?
A: No, the instant watching feature is only available to account owners.

[Hunter McDaniel]

Bingo! Maybe they figure anyone who tries that link more than a certain number of times is really interested and therefore SHOULD have access.

Of the 60-odd movies in my queue, though, only one was available through WatchNow.

[archieleach]

Like Hunter said, maybe they were actually paying attention to our "expressed interest" rather than just "thanking" us for it.

Has it worked today for anyone else who has tried it multiple times in the past week?

[bronte311]

Yes, I clicked that link obsessively all weekend and it finally worked for me this morning! Of course, now I have to go to class and don't have time to really play with it, but still, an exciting start to the morning...

[jawzforlife]

worked for me. Not alot of good movies to watch though.

[cmmsml]

Just did it and it worked for me! Wahoo!

[Giri Cherukuri]

Thanks for the tip! I just checked this morning, and it worked perfectly.

[cmmsml]

Hmmm... not a whole lot worthing watching yet, but its a start.

[Jillolli]

Its working today. Tried it with FireFox, it started fine but wouldn't play the videos,was told I had to use Internet Explorer.

[priv8pete]

Same result as everyone else for me. I clicked multiple times over the past week and then on my first try today I got the Start Now option. Oh, and only 1 movie from my queue, but others that I have interest in.

[tulipsforjen]

Well, it worked for me too! So yay, but sadly, netflix rates my connection as "basic" and therefore the video quality sucks. I can't imagine using it for any movie i actually want to watch. If I had the DVD-like quality that one of the commenters talked about then I probably would use it a lot.

[tulipsforjen]

Actually to follow up my last statement, I just watched the first 5 minutes of "The Housekeeper", a movie that I had in my queue, with the "basic" viewing quality and it's not awful. Although I would probably still not watch any movie that I really wanted to see, I think this new feature is pretty awesome.

[tulipsforjen]

Ok, I am following up my last comment YET again, and having watched another few minutes, it's really not bad! The more I watch, the better it looks to me. I can only imagine how great it must look if you have the high quality version. Anyway, this feature rocks.

[flaflashr]

I am home ill today, so I tried it, and sure enough, I have the link available. However, when I tried to play a movie, it reported that it will not work under anything other than Windows XP or Vista, and only with IE. WTF??? I use Linux 98% of the time, and Firefox 100% of the time.

Bummage!

[BoB]

Tried it several times last few days... nothing.

Went there now (5:20pm central) and Firefox did not show tab, clicked help link and got it. Have not tried it yet but it is added to my tabs at top now.

[Account Deleted]

I had tried everyday since it was annoucnced. I just tried tonight and it works now. Sweet.

[jaippolito]

can anyone verify that they've been able to connect at a speed above basic? I couldn't get it to detect anything but basic last night and I am on a 6mpbs cable connection. Speed tests last night for me were at 4mpbs, but Netflix wouldn't detect anything above basic.

[Xiteer]

I just wanted to report that it worked for me.. I have tried this a few times a day for the last 3 or 4 days at random times.. It just added the tab for me.. Thanks!

[Brian]

Same here. I was able to add it to my account, and 3 of my coworkers did as well.

[Hunter McDaniel]

Ok, so I tried this on two different computers last night. No luck on the first machine, a desktop with XP Home and WMP9 - the player put up a MediaError(1) message each time I tried to play something. I followed all the suggestions on the Netflix help site - upgrading to WMP11, bending over for any and all DRM they wanted to install - still no luck. So I filled out the dialog to send a message to Tech Support (who will probably just ask if I followed the suggestions on their Help site).

Better luck on my second machine, a laptop with XP Professional and WMP9 also. Player started right up the first time, without upgrading anything. My connection was rated as Basic, and that's how I would describe the viewing experience - definitely fuzzy at times. Buffering worked very well and I never noticed any hiccups, which is more than I can say for most video streaming sites on the web.

So now I've BTDT. Probably won't use it all that much, but it might be handy next time I'm on the road and don't have any discs with me.

[trixare4kids]

HEY NETFLIX EMPLOYEES *OVER HERE* HI! HELLO? -- do you read this?

1. The Watch It Now feature should have it's own little queue or at least a place to make a list so you can remember what you wanted to watch.

2. I think it's really lame to offer Season 2 or 3 of a series, but not the first season! How helpful is that? (See Coupling Series 3 & Ballykissangel Series 2 as examples. Um.. lame?

3. The "Suggestions for you" section is at least 85% of films I have already rated and thus already seen. Not helpful.

[tardissauce]

Thanks! It worked without ANY problems. I also took the liberty of adding the IE tool to my Firefox browser and that worked like a charm too! Unlike many of the others, I think they have tons of great stuff! They have [mostly] all of the Doctor Who's and the Masters of Horror Series! Watching "Imprint" by Takashi Miike right now! I am a dire hard reader of this blog and its times like this it really pays off! :)

[siggo8]

OK, I've been trying the link about once an hour for 2 days and nothing. (including nights) I am starting to wonder if I've been put on the blacklist like I was before for renting too many movies. It sounds like everyone else is getting on. I don't know if they are keeping certain high volume users from getting access to protect bandwidth now or what. Any other very high volume users been successful? (3 at a time program)