Windows 7: WMC freezes at end of Netflix episodes

Well that didn't last long!...An update to 3 days ago...todays updates from Microsoft...and wamo..netflixs is again a problem within wmc. I noticed there was an update to Silverlight and did not install...but needless to say at restart with the update not installed...netflix locks on the last frame. Initially I could not get netflix to load past 7% on loading bar. Wait 5/8 minutes and the program would burst into life. So I loaded the update to Silverlight and the problem is the same....As I have stated else where..."I hope these to media giants work this out before the release of windows 10 or 11!!" I am using Silverlight 5.xxxx, needless to say netflix works in IE9. Why is wmc so unstable?

I've been a heavy user of netflix for at least a year now and never had any issues at all until a few days ago (may 10th). Now it almost always freezes at the end of playing or when starting it stops at about 7 percent bar.

When the problem started, first thing I noticed windows update just installed eight security updates for ".NET framework 4 client profile", and one update "Silverlight 4.1.10329.0" update. Also, the first time I started netflix after these updates it lost my netflix login account info.

It looks like my problem is fixed for now.

1. Did a windows system restore and selected the restore point of the windows update that occurred a few days ago.
2. Tried running media center but would not start, so I installed all critcal updates except for the siverlight.
3. WMC now started ok, but when trying to play netflix movie got a script error.
5. Download silverlight 5 from microsoft's website.
6. Now was able to play netflix movies again, but same problem, seek toward end of movie and let play to end, the movie freezes.
7. I then went to windows update, and selected all optional updates (mostly .NET security updates).
8. After reboot, I checked windows update again, and only available update was bing desktop
9. Within the past hour, I test played a couple dozen movies seeking to end then let play to end. It now works like it had before, perfectly, no problems at all. I also rebooted the computer a couple of times to make sure everything was still good.
10. Now that all is well again, I disabled automatic updates, and I'm now planing to do a acronis complete backup of my multimedia PC after this post!

I am 100% positive that this is caused by a codec issue, and I'm pretty sure that it has to do with the order in which you install Silverlight and your video codecs. This has now happened to me twice on two different MCE builds, and it seems to happen when I install Silverlight AFTER I've installed my third party video codecs. Not sure about everyone else, but I generally only use two codecs on my Media Center PC: Haali Media Splitter and ffdshow. When I install them before installing Silverlight, I get the issue that everyone else is having (MCE freezes at the end of a Netflix streaming video). Here's how I just fixed the problem:

1) Uninstall Silverlight and any third party video codecs you've previously installed.

2) Reinstall the latest version of Silverlight.

3) Reinstall any other codecs you might use, ensuring that you are using the most up-to-date versions of each.

That did it for me! Furthermore, I believe that this might have something to do with a conflict between Silverlight and one of the third party codecs-- I say this because I've noticed that the behavior of my Netflix app changes after I install the other codecs. If you install ONLY Silverlight and play a video via the Netflix app, watch what happens when you hold down the fast forward button-- it scrolls through the timeline very quickly. Now, install Haali Media Splitter and ffdshow with their default settings and try it again. You will no longer be able to scroll through the timeline by holding down the button-- instead, you have to press the button over and over again to get it to advance. So I assume that one of these third party codecs takes over some of the Netflix streaming duties from Silverlight, and you can probably tinker with the settings for each one to ensure that this doesn't happen. In any event, I can all but guarantee that this is a codec issue, and if you uninstall all your codecs and make sure that Silverlight is installed FIRST, that will take care of the problem... unless you're using another codec that could cause a separate conflict, but in my opinion you don't need to use any other codecs other than Haali and ffdshow, so there's no reason to install anything other than those two.

In your case, I would uninstall Silverlight and reinstall it to see if that takes care of the problem. If it doesn't, uninstall it again, AND uninstall any other codecs you might be using. Install Silverlight first, then reinstall the other codecs. That should do it.

Hi there...to be perfectly honest I have moved away from WMC and the buggy issues I have had for years, and now use a smart 3D BD player. The picture is superior to that of WMC, plus the benefits of closed captions and a smoother video presentation on the TV. This has been my delivery of Netflix for the past 7 to 8 months....Microsoft drove me away!