Watch Now Problems?

Steve writes, "Whenever I attempt to use the "Watch Now" feature, I either get a red screen that says "Netflix" on it and the film never starts streaming, or I get a mostly black screen and then eventually a error that says "MediaError(1229)". I recently contact Netflix technical support about this and they said they were aware of the problem (the guy actually seemed all TOO aware), and that it had something to do with the fact that their software tries to go out on a large number of ports, all of which were random and none of which were configurable. In other words, the Netflix viewer software has major compatibility and configurability problems that prevent it from working properly across many firewalls. As a firewall and network security engineer by trade, I can tell you that there is virtually nothing that can be done, short of eliminating firewall protection altogether, to allow rogue programs like the Netflix viewer to work properly. Netflix needs to get on the ball and fix their viewer!"

Aida writes about a Watch Now ratings bug, "I noticed something strange when I finished watching a movie on Netflix yesterday. I rated the movie, went to my home page, and when I was done went back to the WatchNow section and saw that it still didn't show up rated. So I rated it again thinking I might be nothing. Today I went to the browse page and looked at my ratings (1,315) and went to the WatchNow tab, there was the movie I had seen yesterday still showing up as if I hadn't rated it. I rated it again and went back to the browse page to see if it effected my ratings. It went up a number so I figured it worked that time. But when I went back to the Watch Now tab the movie was still there and showing as not rated. I rated it again and went back to the browse page and my ratings had gone up another number. I tried it a few more times, refreshing the page and using different browsers but it made no difference. It doesn't happen when I rate movies that aren't in the Watch Now section, which makes me think it's just a Watch Now bug."

Has anyone else noticed any problems with Watch Now?

Comments

[netflixuser]

I had a similar problem. In my case I was running in a vmware session. So I rolled back to a point before I installed the watch now feature and let it install again.
After that, everything worked okay.

[CJ]

No problems here.

I would look at my home network firewall to see which ports Watch Now addresses, however, why bother? -it's always worked fine on two different computers downstream of my firewall. Maybe some firewalls are setup a little too secure and restrictive...

My observation is that Watch Now ratings take a day or so to appear on my account - no idea why.

I've also noticed, occasionally over the years, normal rental DVD ratings sometimes either don't register at all or mysteriously disappear a day later after initially showing. I just rate the DVD again, when I notice.

[winshape]

The only problem I have is the inability to choose which drive to install the software. My C: partition is too small to run the upgraded watch now, so I just keep getting "out of space" errors.

[hueristix]

"I can tell you that there is virtually nothing that can be done, short of eliminating firewall protection altogether, to allow rogue programs like the Netflix viewer to work properly."

What is this guy smoking? First of all, I too have hardware and software firewalls in place with no probs. so this is bad information. Second, it is VERY possible to open certain ports if needed. I doubt anyone would implement completely random ports, but even if so, you can also simply config the firewall to allow all ports just for the netflix software.

The only error I got with watch now was in configuring my dual monitors- I noticed it does not like to be run on the secondary display and gave an error screen. While I hope they fix this to allow more flexibility (and I believe they are) I am finding the viewer really solid for a beta release. The best part is I have never experienced a pause or stutter due to streaming.

Netflix constantly improves their site, and Watch Now is now part of that well done process.

[hueristix]

Winshape,
Here is some free IT advice; you will have many stability and installation problems unless you leave a nice amount of free space on C:, 100 meg is a nice minimum, but much more is better.

[spidermitch]

I've been disappointed that the Watch Now feature is so heavily married to the OS, browser, and windows media player. Not many options for the non-windows crowd.

I'm a software engineer by day and I've already been expressing my displeasure to Netflix about the poor design of the Watch Now feature. They haven't offered much in the way of hope...

This bothers me because now I pay the same as everyone else, but I can't use the feature, so I've become a 2nd class citizen. "Well it is free, you know," they keep telling me. Give me a break, if it were "free", then how come I can't use it if I'm not a Netflix subscriber?? Oh, because it's not "free" so don't blow that smoke up my skirt, Netflix.

Needless to say, they weren't buying the notion that non-windows users should get a discount because we shouldn't be paying for a feature we can't use. I like Netflix, I just think they need to hire some better developers...

[Kymberlie R. McGuire]

I'm able to watch the movies on my laptop, but on my desktop I get the red Netflix screen and then nothing but a green box, even though I can hear the movie just fine.

I'm trying to update the browser and software right now to see if I can't get it working.

[sam]

@ spidermitch
I don't have blu-ray or hd dvd, so I can't use those discs that are available on the Netlix site. Should I complain that I am being excluded from that content or subsidizing its support? I don't think so.

Windows PCs still make up more than 90% (or so, i don't know the figure) of the computer using public, so for an early in development feature like this, I'd say that's pretty good coverage. And this is coming from a Mac user, so I'm in the same boat.

[mrdiesel]

I'm the author of the original complaint. First of all, this isn't a problem for everyone, but if you have a corporate-class firewall (one of the real ones that denies everything in AND outbound) you might have some serious problems. The problem? The Netflix software uses random ports on the OUTBOUND side, making it impossible to use their viewer unless you open up the firewall to permit everything outbound. NOT a good security measure. The cheap home-user type firewalls do this out of the box, but the higher-end firewalls with the better protections do not (I use an Astaro firewall). I'm not imagining this, folks, and Netflix's customer support admitted that their viewer software runs amok with random ports. I'm still trying to work with the viewer and my firewall to figure out a way to resolve the issue, if I find a fix I'll post it here for others.

[mrdiesel]

Update: just called Netflix support again, they ran me through a bunch of changes to the settings in Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer. I still get the red screen, then eventually the Play button is enabled after about 3 minutes of streaming data. When I press the Play button, a dialog box comes up about needing a license from Netflix, I click the box, the license is obtained, and then it cycles back again to the same dialog box. Endless cycle, the movie never starts. We used up four media streams trying to get this to work which then shut the whole process down because Netflix can't stop the streams once they're started. I'll have to call them back in a couple of hours.

[mrdiesel]

Additional note: it's possible that the firewall might not be the issue here, despite what the first tech at Netflix told me. I ran up the live monitor screen for my firewall and could see no rejected packets during the support call with Netflix today. Also, the data IS streaming in. Something's very wrong in the WMP/Browser department. I'm running XP Pro with all the latest updates for all the products.

[mrdiesel]

Problem solved -- sort of. The only way to get the Netflix player to work correctly was to shut down the HTTP Proxy in the firewall, so this did end up being a firewall issue. So, the Netflix viewer is not going to work correctly with some firewalls, it all depends on your configuration. The best thing that Netflix could do is to provide a means in their viewer to alter the method of accessing the Internet (e.g. proxies/no proxies, fixed port range, etc.) so that it's more configurable under varying circumstances. The firewall vendors aren't going to rewrite all their code just to accommodate the idisyncracies of the Netflix viewer.

[gakawell]

mrdiesel I want to thank you for checking this out. I tried using the service from the office and had the same problems. I could not believe it when I called tech support for help and they acknowledged the problem, but they could not even tell what things to change in the firewall. Please keep this site posted if you find a solution because I am sure this is the only way that I will find out what to do.

[Blackfoot]

I have recently encountered that error (1229) code, it’s like the BSOD for Netflix users. Ok I call up Netflix, tech support tells me it’s a security issue in Windows that has been corrupted…and they tell me that the only way to fix this that they know of is to 1) either create an new users account to log into Windows, or 2) reinstall Windows… those were not options for me (a huge waste of time for a 2 megabyte program that was written incorrectly by whom ever, for Netflix) so I found out that there is a beta version of the Netflix movie browser. I ask if I could have it, tech emails it to me and the problem was resolved. I’m a very lazy man when it comes to searching for things, so I can’t tell you if you can get this beta off of another website or what, so I uploaded it to a sight and I’m linking it here for you: "http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XP485SWF" . You have to be logged on as an administrator to install, (so if you’re on a limited account, get off!) it’s a .zip file, extract it, run the installer, you may get an error code saying something like error can’t read such and such click ok and then run the installer again, then it should say installed Netflix or something like that and click ok then it asks to restart and then say yes. Then after that you’re set to go, it should work, and this file is not some virus or key logger or whatever. Take it or leave it. If you don’t trust the file that I posted or sight which it’s from then search Google or something for the beta version of the Netflix browser v1.90, and it should work.
~Blackfoot

[Ernest Lehmann]

MAC tip: I had a problem viewing Netflix using a MacBook Pro 17" using BootCamp & Windows XP SP2 with all udpates applied. The driver used is an ATI Radeon X1600. When playing Netflix Watch Now, the movie showed up in all GREEN - the kind of thing Netflix says is a result of a video driver that needs to be updated. I was able to get it to work by running dxdiag (Start, Run, type "dxdiag" and click OK). On the DISPLAY tab I turned off DirectDraw Acceleration (DISABLED it) and my movie displayed properly immediately without needing to reboot.

[Feeness]

Media Error 1229 is really negatively affecting my netflix experience - I can't get the watch now to work. UGH

[Jeanne Hobbs]

Hi - I am having a problem with Watch it Now - it gets stuck on "Determining Video Quality" 3 bars over and over. I have exhausted NetFlix tech support trying to resolve it, and they now suggest calling HP. I have IE 7.0, XP Home, Media Player 11, Verizon Cable Modem. The machine is not on a network, no Firewall, Netflix is a trusted site, tried a new Windows profile, checked the connection speed - under 44 in each of 8 hops before timing out.
What I get do get is a Java error that it can't identify any bandwidth. Any thoughts??? thanks!

[Devan]

I have had this error and called tech. The server I was watching the movie on had gone down and later I was able to watch just fine. I don't know if this helps but it was my experience and I have little to no problems with netflix

[jeanne hobbs]

Regarding my problem with Watch it Now, Devan, thanks for your response, but I don't think the issue is with one of the Netflix servers since I have never been able to get Watch It Now to function.

I have spent over 3 hours with Netflix tech support, and they have exhausted their ideas, that's why they recommended I contact HP for support with the Java error.

[budakhan]

Success! Try this:
http://supportingnetflix.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=56bbf634f2129bf9fb0a206b34225b4a&topic=10.0

[poetgirl]

If someone (Preferably one of these IT guys!) could just suggest how I can "re-set" my computer's settings to get past this View Now issue (I get a flashing green screen.)I would be very grateful. I'm on spring break, (broke) and am going through "view now" withdrawl! The worst part of all of this is I think it's the result of something I did to the settings myself, but of course, cannot seem to fix now.

Any knowledgeable advice would be so appreciated, thanks!

P.S. I need the instructions for the fix in 'regular speak,' or, step by step, if you will! :)

[RICK]

I WAS RECENTLLY LOGGING INTO WATCH IT NOW AND WAS ASKED THAT THE WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER NEEDED AN UPGRADE I DID THIS ON MY DESKTOP WHICH HAS WINDOWS XP TRIED TO DO THE UPGRADE ON MY LAP TOP WHICH HAS VISA AND IT WOULD NOT UPGRADE ANYONE HAVE ANY ANSWERS THANKS