If your account is enabled for the legacy player, it will automatically download when you go to watch a movie. If you're enabled for the silverlight player, then the legacy player will do nothing. Downloading it won't do anything for you.

bspoogeferd:

Can someone post a llink to download the legacy Netflix player? PS - Why can't you search individual threads on TGB?

See above post. But just in case:
http://www.jonsabo.com/blog/2008/01/netflix-instant-viewing-plugin.html

What triggers an account to be enabled for the legacy player?  Do you just have to navigate to the "play movie" page without the old netflix player installed?

I installed Windows 7, which comes with IE 8, and tried to install the old VMC NetFlix player before trying out vmcNetFlix.  When I did try vmcNetFlix, I saw the "you're almost ready to watch movies, you just need to install silverlight" message, but I did not install silverlight.

Did I just screw myself?  Am I stuck with the silverlight player?

I'm going to try restoring a backup of my old setup and see if the old player still works on that.

jennyfur:

bspoogeferd:

Can someone post a llink to download the legacy Netflix player?

PS - Why can't you search individual threads on TGB?

See above post. But just in case:
http://www.jonsabo.com/blog/2008/01/netflix-instant-viewing-plugin.html

Thanks Jennyfur. Unfortunately, this isn't working for me. I just installed Windows 7 RC on my HTPC, and even though I have not installed Silverlight, when I go to play a movie in the browser, Netflix displays a web page prompting me to download it before it will play. Also, even though I installed the legacy pllayer, when installing vmcNetflix it claim it cannot find the legacy player and will run in "silverlight compatibility mode". I guess I'm hosed...

Dan

bernardino:

What triggers an account to be enabled for the legacy player?  Do you just have to navigate to the "play movie" page without the old netflix player installed?

I installed Windows 7, which comes with IE 8, and tried to install the old VMC NetFlix player before trying out vmcNetFlix.  When I did try vmcNetFlix, I saw the "you're almost ready to watch movies, you just need to install silverlight" message, but I did not install silverlight.

Did I just screw myself?  Am I stuck with the silverlight player?

I'm going to try restoring a backup of my old setup and see if the old player still works on that.

Same thing happened to me...

bernardino:

What triggers an account to be enabled for the legacy player?

If you're a new Netflix user (as in just joined this year) then your account defaults to the new silverlight player. If you're an older user then you could keep the legacy player so long as you NEVER opted into the silverlight update.

jennyfur:

bernardino:

What triggers an account to be enabled for the legacy player?

If you're a new Netflix user (as in just joined this year) then your account defaults to the new silverlight player. If you're an older user then you could keep the legacy player so long as you NEVER opted into the silverlight update.

I've been a customer since before they introduved streaming, and I never opted in, I just installed Windows 7, then installed the legacy player, then tried to play a movie from Netflix in the browser. Netflix still insists I install Silverlight...

This exact same thing happened to me. I think the other shoe has dropped at Netflix. They're tired of maintaining mutiple servers for multiple codecs. I was gifted an xbox360, checked-out their netflix plugin, then installed Win7, the legacy player and the vmcNetflix plugin on my HTPC. It insists on the silverlight player, which led me to believe that the Xbox application may have opted me in. This turns out to not be the case. I've been a member of netflix for 4+ years and was an early adopter of their streaming efforts as well.

I just restored my old Vista install, which I am 100% positive the old player worked on, and tried to play a downloaded movie.  It asks me to sign in to get a license, then it shows me a page that says "To start movie, click play button when it appears below" and the movie never starts and I don't see a play button.

Tried playing a non-downloaded movie and they all say there is no stream.

Tried initalizing the movie player and lo and behold, it's the silverlight playing asking me permission to play protected contact.  I don't think I've ever installed silverlight, and I'm 100% positive I never opted into the silverlight player.  Is Microsoft pushing silverlight via a auto-installing windows update?

Well it was fun while it lasted.  It was nice being able to pre-download movies for watching later to avoid skipping during prime internet time.  It was also nice being able to navigate and play the movies directly from the list, rather than having to go through the whole add to instant queue then play via play-on process.

As of 6/27 I was able to play netflix content through my extender without any problems using the legacy player.  They might have not fully pushed the silverlight player out yet and Im also 99% sure that I have silverlight installed on my pc (but never opted into it for netflix).

I have vmcnetflix 1.1.14 x64 installed on my media center. I have noticed that when I go under say "Children and Family" it starts to populate the movie titles and then stops at some random number. If I exit the category and then re-enter it usually it will go beyond the previous number of titles. So for instance the first time I visit Children and Family it will show 48 titles. I immediately exit and re-enter then it will show a higher number, say 79. I exit and re-enter and then it counts up to 150, etc. Is this a known bug? Is there a workaround? It's pretty annoying having to go back and forth to get a full listing of the movies. I would install the native Netflix plugin but I have read it uses silverlight and I would like to stay away from that as much as possible. Thanks in advance.

johnb175:

I would install the native Netflix plugin but I have read it uses silverlight and I would like to stay away from that as much as possible. Thanks in advance.

Assuming that you don't use an extender (the native Netflix plugin doesn't work on extenders) there's no reason to avoid Silverlight. The VC-1 advanced encode packs a better picture into less bandwidth.

As alaya said, but with these comments:

johnb175:

I would install the native Netflix plugin

The 'native plugin' is whatever your account is configured for. If you have never opted in for Silverlight, you may sill have the non-silverlight version. The best way to install it is to try watching a movie. It will install the right one for your account.

... but I have read it uses silverlight and I would like to stay away from that as much as possible. Thanks in advance.

You don't have a lot of choice. People have said they're being converted even though they never opted in. I expect that everyone will eventually be migrated.

anoncoward:

The 'native plugin' is whatever your account is configured for.

I took "native plugin" to mean the new Netflix plugin for VMC.

I went away in May and came back mid June to find a new Netflix icon on my VMC... it seems to have corrected a bunch of problems, like the full screen problem, and works great.  My question- is this from Netflix or Microsoft?  My guess is it was a Microsoft update that happened while we were away.  Can I take the Anapark vmcNetflix plugin off now??  Thanks!!