Netflix instant movies under linux

[tatteredpotato]

Originally posted by: Netopia
Just an FYI for everyone. I tried to get into NetFlix to watch another episode of Heroes last night. I got a box that popped up which said that I had tried to watch on more than 4 computers, and that I should call the number shown in order to speak to tech support to make sure no one was hijacking my account.

In fact, I knew that I had watched from two desktops at my house, and also my laptop... but that was it. I called, and I waited on hold (speaker phone while doing other things) for about 1 1/4 hours before a tech came on.

Long story short... the part of the deal with the movie industry is that any one account cannot have more than 4 registered viewing devices (presumably computers... but they say devices) in any one year. After one entire year from the use of the first device, you can use other devices and the first four used with replace the original four. The only problem with this is that I knew FOR A FACT that only three devices had been used.

Apparently, there is some info sent back to NetFlix which they use to identify the computers. The guy was able to tell me the video card in each device used (maybe he had more info... don't know). The problem was, that two of the "devices" were the same computer (our family's main computer) but from different desktop logins. I explained the situation and asked if he could remove one of them. Sadly, he couldn't. He said that the recording industry had basically shackled them and they had no control of the registry of devices, they could only look at the listings for trouble shooting! I strongly suggested that they plaster this all over the site, so that families might consider WHICH computers they want to be able to watch, since there is a limit.

This isn't directly relevant to the discussion, but since people were trying to do workarounds, I thought I would let them know about this so they didn't inadvertently lock themselves out of their own service!

Joe

That is BS. I searched the FAQ's and fine print searching for any such limitation and found nothing. I have watched on 3 PCs, and one of them is registering twice since I used a system restore back to before WMP11 was installed and therefore reindividualized the pc when WMP11 was reinstalled. Leave it to the MPAA to get in the way when people try to use legal methods of acquiring their content.

 

[TBSN]

I just ran into this also.
After a couple attempts under linux and then using windows for netflix the site now has me blocked. Saying

Instant watching message

Your Netflix account has been used to watch movies instantly from 4 different
computers.

For your security, please contatct Customer Service at 1-866-402-2616 to confirm that
your account is not being accessed by unauthorized parties.

They need to make this VERY clear on the site.
Thing is all viewing was done from that same pc, just different OS.

If they can't restore the viewing on, instant viewing, I'll cancel the account.
They can complain then to the MPAA how they are losing revenue.


Edit
Just got off the phone with netflix.
They gave me one device back.
They told me that there is a registry key that you need to copy before changing your os.
Each time the player is run on a pc for the first time it generates a device key and puts it in the registry.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Netflix\Movie Viewer]

Your key for your account device id is in the ID key.

I recommed you backup that key.

Thanks for the info...

So, I was watching netflix on my friends computer. If I get that key from the registry, can I call netflix and have them remove that "device" from my account?

Thanks

edit... sorry for digging this up, kinda an old post.