WMC freezes at end of Netflix episodes

Almost every time a Netflix show I'm watching in Media Center reaches the end (final frames of video), the show freezes in full screen and WMC stops responding. The video remains full screen, frozen on the last frame played, and WMC's menus/buttons do not appear. WMC does not back out of the video to the Netflix browser.


I say almost because because a show has properly ended and backed out to the Neflix/WMC browser maybe once in all the episodes/movies I've watched (~10, mostly tv episodes, one movie).


Typically the freeze happens before the very end of the video (during credits, sometimes chopping the show short/mid-sentence if they're talking over credits).



The only way I can get out of the video and back to WMC is to alt-ctrl-del and end the Media Center process (it shows Running in task manager but eventually it comes up "Not Responding" then restarts).


I've rebooted several times with the same result.


I can properly back out of a running video to the Neflix browser any time prior to the lock up, but once it's frozen the only way to get out is to end the task in windows task manager.


Otherwise WMC is running fine, this is just a super deal breaker since I have to go through so many steps just to watch the next episode of the series.



Running Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit), latest updates installed including those for WMC and Silverlight. It's on a computer I just started using as an HTPC so the WMC Netflix plugin is freshly installed as well. Almost no applications running in background.



Dell Inspiron 1764 core i3 2.13GHz, 4GB ram, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330. Connected to HD TV at 720p (computer doesn't quite keep up at 1080p).


Internet/Netflix connection is tried and true- have been streaming Netflix via Nintendo Wii and web browsers for years- only experiencing playback issues in WMC.

I just uninstalled and reinstalled the Netflix plugin for WMC and Silverlight. Same issue, though this time the video went to black instead of freezing on one of the last frames.

I'm getting the same thing - just started within the last week or two. Worked flawlessly for years before that...

Yup. Same here. I would say started about 3-4 weeks ago. I think it was some Windows update that hosed it up.

I'm having this issue as well, same time frame. Acer PC, Win7 Home Premium x64.

The last time I searched, I didn't find anyone with it... so I'm relieved to see other people with the issue, because I was about to nuclear format and start over. Phew!

Since you guys thought this was related to a Silverlight update, I manually upgraded to the developer RC of Silverlight 5 (I was on the auto-updated Silverlight 4, I didn't note the full version number).

A quick test shows that the problem didn't happen, but I'll post again after a few more comprehensive tests.

AtomicCEO said:

I'm having this issue as well, same time frame. Acer PC, Win7 Home Premium x64.

The last time I searched, I didn't find anyone with it... so I'm relieved to see other people with the issue, because I was about to nuclear format and start over. Phew!

Since you guys thought this was related to a Silverlight update, I manually upgraded to the developer RC of Silverlight 5 (I was on the auto-updated Silverlight 4, I didn't note the full version number).

A quick test shows that the problem didn't happen, but I'll post again after a few more comprehensive tests.

Whoo hoo! Duplicated success. I'll post again if I have an issue going forward.

i just installed silverlight 5 rc
hopefully that does it

I'm getting the same issue on some TV shows, but not others. I get the issue on Louis and Portlandia, but not on Breaking Bad.

Does anyone know where the Netflix bug tracking system is so we can at least bring this to their attention as a bug?

I tried updating from Silverlight 4 to Silverlight 5 at microsoft.com/getsilverlight and I still have the same problem. The test show I used was Portlandia episode 1.

Did anyone else confirm that developer RC of Silverlight 5 fixes this issue? I have it too.