vmcNetFlix on the MediaSmart Connect
Microsoft released the New Xbox Experience back in November, and I’ve been pleased with the Netflix integration and have watched a few movies and TV shows with good results. My Xbox is in the MediaSmartServer.net “batcave” (aka the basement) where I game, watch TV and movies, develop Add-Ins, and write these blog and forum posts. My wife is usually upstairs in the living room when she wants to watch something, and has lately been complaining that my DVD selections from Netflix aren’t “chick-flick” enough (her words 
). I have a HP MediaSmart Connect x280n in the living room, and so started my quest to enable her to be able to Watch Instantly through our Netflix service.
I figured there had to be a Windows Media Center plugin to enable the Netflix Watch Instantly functionality, and since the MediaSmart Connect includes Extender support I should be able to accomplish my goal without purchasing any additional hardware. I first found the MyNetflix plugin for Windows Media Center, and had almost installed it when I realized that it does not support Extenders. Continuiing my search, I found the vmcNetFlix plugin which does include Extender support. Installing the software is straight forward, but getting everything working was no easy feat.
The first issue I encountered was getting the Netflix player to work on my Vista Ultimate 64bit system. During install of the player, the Netflix software informed that it would need to reset my DRM store. Knowing that I have Windows Home Server backups of the PC (as well as Previous Versions of the files) should something go wrong, I let the player attempt to reset the DRM store and of course it encountered a problem. At that point IE crashed whenever I tried to use the Netflix player, Windows Media Player wouldn’t even open, and Media Center crashed shortly after launch. I found instructions for manually resetting the DRM store which resolved all those issues. My best guess as to the cause of the DRM store issue was the presence of the MediaSmart Connect software which includes CinemaNow and the MediaSmart Services Gateway application which presumably also access the DRM store.
After accomplishing all the prerequisites, I then installed the vmcNetFlix plugin, configured my Netflix username and password, and was able to Watch Instantly from within Media Center. It was now time to move on to getting the Extender working. To make a long story short, during my first attempt I failed miserably at getting either the MediaSmart Connect or the Xbox 360 Extenders to install the vmcNetFlix extender plugin. After following the first seven troubleshooting steps with no success, I found myself at the last troubleshooting step, which was to completely uninstall and reinstall the Extenders and the vmcNetFlix plugin.
I followed the instructions exactly, went to my Extender, launched the vmcNetFlix application, and it failed to install the player. I tried again, it failed again. I tried a third time, and finally it installed! I was then able to browse the Instant queue, add movies to my Instant or DVD queue, and most importantly stream movies from Netflix to the MediaSmart Connect. To celebrate, I immediately added some chick flicks to the Instant queue and showed my wife how to access the new feature.
vmcNetFlix Extender GUI on the MediaSmart Connect
This is a very cool feature that is unfortunately potentially difficult for many users. From reading the vmcNetFlix support forum I presume that some users will have no issues at all getting this working, and some users may never get it working. My best advice is to read the instructions very carefully, follow all the troubleshooting steps, and cross your fingers. I’m very pleased with the way it is working and look forward to watching some chick flicks with the wife.
If you decide to try this Add-In, why not share your experience in the forums.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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Hey Alex, I have a problem with hard drives after removing them from the HP mediasmart server. I had issues with file inconsistencies and could never fix them after hours of phone support with hp. So i bailed and just started over with new hard drives. It’s all working now, but i have 3 500Gig hard drives that are not recognized as drives on any computer i put them in. I also have an USB enclosure that I slipped them in and still the drive is not recognized. Any suggestions?
When I took them out of the server, i did not go through the remove drive process. I just pulled them out.
I’d appreciate any help.
Erik
Hi Erik,
This really has nothing to do with the blog post topic. I’d be happy to help, but would request you to post in the forums where I and any other members of the community here can help you with the issue.
Thanks,
Alex
Alex,
Alex,
Will/Can/Does this plug-in work independently of having a WMC/WMP macnine up and running? WIll it work if the MS Connect and the MSS server are the only things turned on within network? I only have one Vista machine now and prefer to not have to fire it up everytime I want to watch someting on the Extender? If not, can we install WMP on the MSS and get it to stream to the MS COnnect??
Regards,
James
Hi James,
The Add-In is a Vista Media Center plugin and requires that the WMC machine be up and running. The DRM license is stored on the WMC system, one of the setup steps is to clone the license from your PC to the extender. I’m not super familiar with WMC yet, so don’t know if you can configure your machine to wake up from sleep when the Extender tries to connect.
Alex
Guys,
My experience has been the same without the successes. I have the HP Mediasmart TV and I was connecting my laptop to the TV and streaming movies until I decided to kick my satellite service to the curb and move off the grid. I went out and bought a good HP workstation with Vista Media Center. I began the process of creating the cable experience that I wanted instead of something someone wanted to sell me. It was right about here that everything started going wrong.
You see, while I was streaming NetFlix to my Mediasmart TV direct I started to stream, ABC, NBC, CNN, CBS, UsaNetwork, Foxnews, Foxs, and much, much more. I decided that I could make this work with alittle creativity.
I connected the HP workstation to the router and the Media Smart TV to the router and they saw each other and easily walked through the steps of adding the mediasmart TV as an extender. Now. I downloaded the VMCNetflx.exe file and it installed well. but nothing worked. I could not stream to the local machine and I could not stream to the extender. I have tried everything…much of what has already been written but nothing has worked.
Currently I have most everything else working but Netflix. I simply do not know what to do in order to get this going. You see I joined Netflix in February and they now use the Microsoft Silverlight software to stream movies and that software does not work with nor is it supported by media center. I am stuck until the VMCNetflix is updated to include the silverlight technology.
If you guys have any ideas I am all ears, fingers, and hands to do it. I am glad that someone was able to get it working but the only folks I know of that has it working are those that have the old VMCnetflix.exe file (Pre-2009 install).
Tom Carter
tomcarter1@gmail.com
Hi Tom,
I’ve not tried the Silverlight version, and have not installed that on my VMC PC. I am still using the .11 version of vmcNetflix though I have not tried it in a few weeks.
If you have a Home Server you could Restore your PC from a Server Backup that doesn’t have Silverlight, try to roll back to a restore point prior to installing Silverlight, or re-install your PC though I doubt you want to go to all that effort.
Sorry to hear your experience has been so difficult, I’ve really enjoyed it once I got it working.
Alex
Alex,
I do not have Media Home Server but I will be adding it. I tried to roll back to version 11 but I was not allowed. When I say I was not allowed NetFlix coded my login to only work under silverlight. Now, my streaming videos works on my workstation or my laptop connected to my Mediasmart TV, the problem comes up when I try to run VMCNetflix on my extender….my Mediasmart TV working as an extender. Everything fails. I called Netflix and discussed this issue with them and they noted that all accounts were being switched over to silverlight. They are systematically changing the profile of each user within there oracle database. Therefore, this is a problem that will rear its ugly head for all at some point. If yours is working do NOT change a thing and definitely do not upgrade your VMCnetflix file.
This is very frustrating to have this system up and running and creating all these features to use in multiple rooms in my house (9 to be exact). Everything works well, videos, DVD rips and plays, sharing my 200 disk disc changer, dvd library and so on. The problem is with Netflix streaming to my extenders. It simply does not work due to my account coding.
Tom
Hi Tom,
I need to try mine again, it’s been quite a while. When I do get the inevitable switch to Silverlight I’ll be sure to try it out and post my results.
I hope things improve and perhaps the vmcNetFlix author will get his great add-in working better in this scenario.
Alex
Hi Tom, we tried it last night and I’m still working great with the older version of vmcNetFlix. Perhaps I’ve not been upgraded to the Silverlight account yet, but I’m pleased it’s lasted as well as it had.