boxerboys:

Just curious...how long should it take to load this app (Vista x86)?  I finally got it loaded after about 20 minutes of the spinning circle.  I was able to browse things quickly and add items to the instant queue once I got in.  But when I click to watch one in the instant queue, it just sits with the spinning circle again and never let up.  It finally gave up with no error.    Watching the same movie through IE works great.  This is on the VMC PC itself; not an extender.  As a reference we have 39 movies in the DVD queue and 7 in the instant queue.

On an extender, I get a message indicating that Netlfix will be setup for the extender; after confirming I get a quick message saying something like the extensibility host stopped working.  Lastly, I get the same results with or without the Windows firewall on.

I have downgraded to 1.0.28 with no improvement (thought I noted some users had better luck with older versions).

Great concept and I look forward to future versions and will give it another shot.

Thanks

If you have the latest version it should be pretty quick to load up(1.1.2 was quite slow), as for playback check your bitrate in setting.  The player in IE will detect appropriate bitrate but this app lets you configure it.  If your bitrate is too high it will take a long time to start playing or in my experience it may never start playing, but if you bump your bitrate down it will start quickly.  Personally I download what I want at the highest bitrate and watch from there that way I don't lose video quality.

Hi. Nice software.  Just installed it and it is very nice.

I see mention of Parental control, and we do have young children in the house, but the only option I see is under Settings -> General -> Parent Control and my options are Filter and Prompt.  But where can I set the filter?  I looked through everything in Settings, and there are no other options I can see.

jknight:

Hi. Nice software.  Just installed it and it is very nice.

I see mention of Parental control, and we do have young children in the house, but the only option I see is under Settings -> General -> Parent Control and my options are Filter and Prompt.  But where can I set the filter?  I looked through everything in Settings, and there are no other options I can see.

Setup Parental Controls normally under VMC->Settings->General->Parental Controls, then if you select filter it just filters (you won't see anything that does not meet with the filter requirements).  Select prompt, and you will need to enter the Parental code before gettting to the details page.  If prompt is selected, you will only need to enter the code once during a vmcNetFlix session.

- EricL

Just uploaded Beta 1.1.5 to address the following issues:

Went back to using an external vmcExtenderSetup application - works for 64-bit OS's and has the advantage of being able to kill the process after timing out, if necessary.  

Modifications to support detection of virtualized registry keys when IE runs in Protected Mode.

Fixed minor spelling error.

- EricL

Also, I would probably recommend performing a "Clean Uninstall" for this release

At this time I'd like to make everyone aware of a couple of resources that we've recently been populating, (hopefully) to help make the support of the vmcNetFlix app a little less time-consuming for Eric (who's been extremely generous with his time for the past six months or so):

• Issues list

• As we come across issues with the vmcNetFlix application, we've recently begun creating "bug reports" in the Google Code project that Eric has setup for vmcNetFlix.  
• If you notice odd behaviour, or you see crashes or other problems with vmcNetFlix, please check the Issues list.  Add a Comment to the issue if it's already been reported by someone else, and if you don't see your concern already reported, please add a New Issue to the list.
  
• The Open Issues list will show all those bugs that have been reported, and which have not yet been addressed (usually either by fixing them or documenting a response).
• The All Issues list will show every bug ever reported - i.e. both bugs addressed and new bugs still being worked.  Sometimes you'll find older bugs here that already cover the issue you're experiencing (especially if you haven't updated to a recent version of vmcNetFlix).
  

• Wiki pages

• The length of this discussion thread is well beyond the patience of most new users of vmcNetFlix - while there are many great tips and details buried in its almost 100 pages of posts, I doubt anyone has time to read the entire thread to see if someone else has already encountered a situation you might be experiencing.
• Rather than lose the value of all the great discussions and ideas that have been posted by everyone, (and in the hopes that some frequently-encountered troubleshooting scenarios can be resolved for those who would prefer not to wait for a response), we've begun piecing together the useful bits of knowledge from the archives into Wiki pages:
• Troubleshooting: We're collecting all the Error messages & descriptions of issues people have experienced, as well as the known (or proposed) solutions/resolutions/workarounds (except for Media Center Extenders).
  
• Extender Issues: The troubleshooting documentation for setting up Media Center Extenders is so important, it has its own page.
  
• Folders And Files: A list of all the directories used by vmcNetFlix, what their purpose is, and what kind of growth you can expect in each.
  
• Registry Settings: A list of all the Registry settings created by (and/or useful to troubleshooting) vmcNetFlix, what behaviour they control, and what the available values are.
  
• Tips: miscellaneous features and behaviours of vmcNetFlix that you may not be aware of.
  
• These wiki pages will evolve over time as we get caught up with the discussion archives, but if you notice something wrong or missing, please do add a Comment to the most likely Wiki page.
  

We hope these will be useful to you, and will make the experience of using vmcNetFlix as trouble-free as possible.  Let us know how we (Eric and his small gang of volunteers) can improve!

Thanks.  That did it.

Awesome!  The new version (1.1.5) works like a charm now on my 64-bit Ultimate.  Thanks for the GREAT app, now I don't have to renew my unused Gold subscription to stream with the new dashboard update.

Hi, new user, and i had a working 360 on 1.1.4, but i couldnt get it to work on a 2nd 360, so i uninstalled everything and cleared like the instructions say (folders, registry, etc), and reinstalled 1.1.5.  However, after it installs on my VMC PC, it loads right into the new video thumbs and nothing else happens. i dont get the prompt to setup extenders or even enter my login/password.  When i click the Netflix xonnection setting it already has my login there, and when i try to load it up on a 360 extender, it says that the host PC is not set up for streaming, but i cannot get the host to prompt me to do so.  I even removed the extender from the MC and re-paired it  .  I also verified that i do not have a virus blocker working as well.

What can i do?

 

Well i waited a couple hours and re did everything from scratch. and turned off UAC.  all working now.

 

A caveat:  talked to netflix and it seems that when the VMC PC initiates a session with netflix, after exiting the program the server does not get  atermination command to end the string.  It stays open for 2 hours until it times out.  I couldnt play a movie with my IE7 until after 2 hours from starting a movie from vmc.  just an fyi.

awesome program so far!

likewise.  i have a 64-bit Ultimate and use Xbox as an extender.  Version 1.1.5 works on the Xbox extender.  Thanks for the effort on this product.

After some messing around and running the player initializer three or four times, I got vmcNetFlix working perfectly on my Xbox 360.  A day later, I can't get it to play a movie on my 360 for the life of me!

I'm thinking Kaspersky Internet Security may be the culprit.  Yesterday, I had it turned off while I was messing around with the 360.  Whenever I run the vmcExtenderSetup.exe on my PC, I get an alert that says "This exe has been changed or updated" and I have to click "Allow" every time; it might be doing this to the 360 without showing me the dialog.  I tried turning it off today but I still had the same problem.  Maybe KIS isn't completely turning off.

When I run the setup from the 360, on my PC I can see it does a few reads and writes and stops.

Also, it appears to be taking a full 90 minutes to get the "timeout" error message on the 360, even though I set it to 30 seconds in the settings.  Where is this setting stored, in the registry?  I do not have a registry entry for "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Luttmann\vmcNetFlix".

// Edit:  Nevermind, it worked fine today.  Was able to initialize the movie player on first try in a few seconds.

Hello, I just set up your app with very little trouble. I had to install it twice on the xbox, but then it runs fine. The only thing I can't figure out is why I can't see the the downloaded files. They are in the correct folder on the media center but the xbox can't see them. Thanks!

---

solder first, ask questions later

I'm stumped.  I am using a Linksys DMA2100 and I was able to get this to install successfully once but the media extender was started once when my computer was off which made it attempt to recreate the connection and now I cannot get vmcNETFLIX to work.  It keeps timing out after pressing  OK to set it up on my linksys.  I have tried uninstalling vmcnetflix, made sure I could play movies in it under Media Center, resetting it on the linksys (I think Im around 15 times for doing this) and extending the timeout to 5 minutes on the linksys but it always times out.  I don't see anything useful in the logs.  What else can I try?  Thanks!

Edit:  I just tried again and it said it timed out but it was able to play a movie.  This is really strange but it seems ok now.

very nice plugin, ive had no problems with it, if i could change anything it would be with the UI, the netflix logo that flashes by i dont really like (im just picky) the netflix logo in the upper left hand corner i kinda dont like, id like it if it just said vmcnetflix in the upper right hand side, in the similiar style as the heatwave plugin, the long red bars
http://myweb.cableone.net/eluttmann04/projects/vmcNetFlix/ScreenShot6.png
i kinda dont like, id like it if it was vista button style (with that lil animation if possible)
absolutly great plugin, i would just like it to blend in seamlissly (spelling??) with vista media center...just my 2 cents, either way im gonna use the plugin as it is a great piece of work

Now that I have it working it is really nice being able to watch from Netflix.  Would it be possible to add a "Page Down" button when scrolling through video listings instead of just being able to arrow over?

Ryland:

Now that I have it working it is really nice being able to watch from Netflix.  Would it be possible to add a "Page Down" button when scrolling through video listings instead of just being able to arrow over?

The FastForward and  Rewind buttons on the remote should already do this.

- EricL