Microsoft Adds Netflix Integration to Windows Media Center

netflixthumbMicrosoft recently announced that Windows Media Center – the company’s all-in-one home theater media center – will now support the Netflix Instant Streaming library of over 12,000 movies and TV shows.  Windows Media Center software is included in both Vista Home and Ultimate editions by default and is also included in Windows XP Media Center edition.

To begin streaming movies and TV shows in Windows Media Center, select the new Netflix tile which is available under the “TV + Movies” section and login to your Netflix account.  You will now be able to search Netflix’s entire library and also manage your DVD and Instant Watch queues from within Windows Media Center.

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Netflix Instant Watch is already available on your PC and Xbox 360, which has been had great reception and has single-handedly repurposed the Xbox 360 from a game console into a complete media center.  Where the Media Center version of Netflix really shines is its ability to manage your queues from right within the application, which is something the Xbox 360 version has yet to offer.

Microsoft has provided a few fancy videos if you’d like to see the new service in action (Silverlight required, of course):

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11 responses to “Microsoft Adds Netflix Integration to Windows Media Center”

  1. kmlesch Avatar
    kmlesch

    I tried to install this earlier today, but when I click Netflix to load it (after a full reboot), it still just crashes WMC. Not sure how to go about reinstalling WMC, but I'm pretty sure that would solve it (as well as how WMC freezes after ~10 min inactivity). Any ideas?

    1. Evan Wondrasek Avatar
      Evan Wondrasek

      Are you using WMC in Vista or XP Media Center edition?

      1. kmlesch Avatar
        kmlesch

        Vista

        1. Evan Wondrasek Avatar
          Evan Wondrasek

          Here's something you can try:

          1. Click on the Start menu, choose All Programs, then Accessories, then right-click on the Command Prompt item and select Run as administrator

          2. Click Continue to authorize opening a command prompt with administrative privileges

          3. Run this command in the cmd prompt: sfc /scannow

          4. The cmd prompt should list text stating "Beginning system scan. This process will take some time."

          5. Wait for the scan to complete (this can take several minutes so be patient). This command will scan all protected system files and attempt to replace incorrect versions with correct Microsoft versions

          6. When the scan completes, the SFC tool will indicate whether or not it found any problems and whether or not it was able to fix them

          7. If any errors are reported that SFC was unable to fix, there are steps in this knowledge base article – http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/9298… – that explains how to locate and attempt to fix the errors

          8. After fixing any errors that are found, try to use Windows Vista Media Center again

          via http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2007/03/16…

          Hope it helps!

  2. kmlesch Avatar
    kmlesch

    I tried to install this earlier today, but when I click Netflix to load it (after a full reboot), it still just crashes WMC. Not sure how to go about reinstalling WMC, but I'm pretty sure that would solve it (as well as how WMC freezes after ~10 min inactivity). Any ideas?

    1. Evan Wondrasek Avatar
      Evan Wondrasek

      Are you using WMC in Vista or XP Media Center edition?

      1. kmlesch Avatar
        kmlesch

        Vista

        1. Evan Wondrasek Avatar
          Evan Wondrasek

          Here's something you can try:

          1. Click on the Start menu, choose All Programs, then Accessories, then right-click on the Command Prompt item and select Run as administrator

          2. Click Continue to authorize opening a command prompt with administrative privileges

          3. Run this command in the cmd prompt: sfc /scannow

          4. The cmd prompt should list text stating "Beginning system scan. This process will take some time."

          5. Wait for the scan to complete (this can take several minutes so be patient). This command will scan all protected system files and attempt to replace incorrect versions with correct Microsoft versions

          6. When the scan completes, the SFC tool will indicate whether or not it found any problems and whether or not it was able to fix them

          7. If any errors are reported that SFC was unable to fix, there are steps in this knowledge base article – http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/9298… – that explains how to locate and attempt to fix the errors

          8. After fixing any errors that are found, try to use Windows Vista Media Center again

          via http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2007/03/16…

          Hope it helps!

  3. Reis Pritchard Avatar
    Reis Pritchard

    This is great. I knew it was bound to happen after the Xbox 360 update including the Netflix feature, and sure enough…

  4. Reis Pritchard Avatar
    Reis Pritchard

    This is great. I knew it was bound to happen after the Xbox 360 update including the Netflix feature, and sure enough…

  5. jjwhitehouse Avatar
    jjwhitehouse

    For those of you who are having a problem with their windows media
    center crashing while trying to watch a netflix movie I believe I have
    found the fix. All I did was add a shortcut to my desktop for the
    windows media center and then right clicked and selected “Run as
    administrator”. This did the trick for me.

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