Error Messages

• Error message: "Cannot Play Video The file type is not recognized and cannot be played. Either the correct codec (a file that compresses/decompresses audio or video) is not installed or the file is corrupt."
• This error usually occurs when the player didn't get installed correctly.
• Make sure, after installing vmcNetflix, that you first run the vmcNetflix application from your Vista Media Center PC - this sets up the ability for the Extenders to load the player ...
• Did you get the dialogs indicating it was attempting to setup the extender for streaming?
• Did it get past the "Determining quality" and "Big Red Buffering" screens? When you are prompted to "view now" or "view later", be sure to quickly choose "view now".
• This error may also occur if you have used up all the licenses that Netflix will issue for your Netflix account. If this is the case, you will need to call Netflix for support.
• If all else fails, you might try resetting the extender's settings and try again (see the troubleshooting steps on Eric's page here).
• Error message: "License Unavailable Windows Media Center Extender cannot find a license to play this content. Return to your computer to acquire a license for this content."
• Error message: "Unknown Player error (missing codec)" when configuring vmcNetflix via an extender.
• Resolution: Uninstall and reinstall vmcNetflix.
• Error message: "vmcNetFlix is not yet ready to setup streaming video on your Extender. Please run application on media center pc and look for notification that setup can begin."

Other Issues

• Issue: when setting up an extender, you receive a message saying something like "not ready to setup extender".
• try disabling UAC in Windows Vista and try again.
• enable a debug option in the Registry to narrow down the source of the problem; this has to be enabled for each MCX user account that corresponds to any extender experiencing setup problems.
• Issue: extender setup for vmcNetflix hangs (does not complete) during the "Determining your video quality..." stage.
• Resolution: Try restarting the VMC application on the extender (no, you don't have to reboot - just press the "Green button" and relaunch the vmcNetflix application on the extender). Try this a few times.
• Resolution: check the Vista PC for any on-screen prompts or errors. For example, McAfee security software has been known to interrupt this stage, waiting for you to indicate whether you want to allow vmc<...something...>.exe to access the network. Allowing this program (which is what performs the video quality test) will allow the extender to proceed.
• Issue: extender setup for vmcNetFlix hangs (does not complete) at the browser just after the "Determining your video quality..." stage.
• Resolution: if you're using Vista 64-bit, it may be defaulting to using the 64-bit version of Internet Explorer. This isn't compatible with vmcNetFlix, so you'll have to ensure that Internet Explorer 32-bit intercepts the call.
• Issue: when first starting vmcNetFlix from an uninitialized Extender, if you answer "yes" to the initialize prompt, nothing else happens.
• Resolution: Login to the Media Center PC using your main account, delete the following file and run the vmcNetFlix app again: C:\ProgramData\vmcNetFlix_Data\vmcNetFlix_AppStore.dat
• You should then see a message indicating extenders can now be setup. Also, before doing this, make sure you can view WatchNow movies from IE7 on the VMC PC.
• Then go to Settings > Movie Player > Initialize Movie Player button, wait for the dialog stating that the re-initialization completed. Then play a movie to make sure it is working on the VMC PC.
• After that, on the Extender run the vmcNetFlix app and go to Settings > Movie Player > Reset Extender button.
• Then restart the vmcNetFlix app on the extender and you should get the extender setup messages again.
• Assuming you want to "clone" the license, select that option.
• When you attempt to play a movie, if it fails you should see a dialog asking "Would you like to reinitialize the movie player and play the movie again?". Select this and see if it works for you - during the re-initialize you will see the "busy orb", but don't do anything (it might take a while). Then you should get a dialog saying the re-init finished and it will automatically attempt to play the movie for you again.
• If this doesn't work, increment the delay one more time and try again.

Netflix "4 License" Limit

• When you first run vmcNetFlix from the first Extender, you should see a dialog box asking whether you would like to "clone" the license from the Vista Media Center PC, or have vmcNetFlix request a new license.
• The tricky part is trying to prevent Netflix using up an extra PC license for each Vista user account on the PC. NetFlix only issues WatchNow licenses for up to 4 PCs per Netflix subscription per year per account(depending on your subscription level). For example, the 1-disc plan allows you to install/license the NetFlix player on one PC per year. NetFlix resets the allowed licenses every January.
• If you exceed your account's allotted licenses, you will receive an error something like "trying to watch more than X movies simultaneously" or something to that effect (where 'X' is the number of simultaneous licenses your NetFlix subscription allows).
• A “feature” of Vista is that each user account looks like a new “PC” to Netflix, and I’ve found the hard way this can scarf-up your licenses fast. There are two approaches to contending with this limitation, and they're built in to the vmcNetflix setup for each extender (as of v1.0.7.3):

1. If you want to occasionally share one Netflix license between two devices (e.g. the Vista PC and an extender you rarely use, or between two extenders - one of which you use much less often), and you don't mind going through the setup hassle each time you "switch" devices:
• Do not try to setup vmcNetflix on extenders before completing the setup on the VMC PC. vmcNetflix will obtain a license for the first device, and then "clone" (really, more like "move") the license for use on the second device.
• At that point, the first device will not be able to display "Watch Now" content (since the license has been "moved"). e.g. The Vista PC or another extender would have to "take back" the license from the extender.
• Under the covers, the license is being "moved" from one Vista user account to another (e.g. from the main PC login account to an "MCXx" extender account, or from one "MCXx" extender account to another).
• If you are already "cloned", you will be prompted if you would like to clear the license in order to obtain a new license from Netflix. Once you obtain a new license, you cannot switch back to cloning the Vista Media Center (PC) license - you can redo the setup, but the license info stays the same.
2. If you want to avoid the setup hassles for multiple active devices (e.g. devices that will be regularly used), and prevent having to perform the setup each time:
• the setup process can obtain a new license from Netflix for each new device (e.g. one for the Vista Media Center PC and one each for each Extender attached to the PC)
• once you have obtained a new license on an extender, do NOT delete/uninstall your MCX session - as you will most likely lose your new Netflix license, and have to wait for the once-a-year NetFlix reset to be able to use it again.

ffshow Compatibility

• Issue: after launching vmcNetFlix, ffshow presents a dialog saying that vmcNetFlix is trying to access ffshow.
• Resolution: add vmcExtenderSetup.exe to the "blacklist" (both audio and video). This has to be configured for each Vista user account (i.e. has to be configured again for any MCX accounts used by Extenders).
• There is also a checkbox in ffshow's configuration which you can deselect so this warning dialog won't show up for unknown devices - however, that option is unique to each user as well, and it'll "hide" the intrusions of other apps as well.
• Issue: vmcNetflix extender setup won't complete, and the Windows Vista Event Logs record an error "An unauthorized window was detected while running the Windows Media Center Experience, 'ffdshow compatibility manager (This dialog will close in 23 seconds.)', with file name 'C:\Program Files\Luttmann\vmcNetFlix\vmcExtenderSetup.exe'."

Tips

• Make sure that the Netflix movie viewer (ActiveX control) and appropriate codec are setup correctly for each MCX user account (the account that's enabled for a Media Center Extender).
• Note: getting WatchNow streaming working for an extender requires a Registry modification "to the MCXx account"; this also enables other Netflix apps.
• Fwd/Skip: multiple users have reported that pressing the skip button for an extender will lock up the extender - if you're watching a streaming movie (not a movie that has already been downloaded to the VMC PC). This sometimes occurs when pressing the fwd button as well.
• If repeated attempts to configure an extender still can't get past one of the steps, you could try resetting the extender settings. In the Settings page on the extender, press the Reset Extender Settings button, then restart the vmcNetflix application. After this point it will try the installation of the extender player from scratch.
• If all else fails, you should double-check if the NetFlix Player needs to be updated - browse netflix.com from Internet Explorer and try to play a Watch Now movie.
• To see the detailed log of setup attempts, examine the %TEMP%\vmcExtenderSetup.log file.