WD TV Live PLUS Canada

Blame game tends to indicate licensing disagreements.

I would assume that as it only went live yesterday there are both teething problems and deficiencies in local knowledge.

Same here, Netflix support said that WD Live Plus did not support the Canadian Netflix accounts and we should contact WD and ask for a firmware update. WD Support simply said that it was never intended for Canada. I already made my voice heard. It may help if we all do the same.

It won’t help – WD is definitely aware of this issue and whatever will happen, will happen.

Well I got hold of a “Level 2” tech at WD.  He said “dunno”.  So that’s the official answer at the moment.  WD has no clue about Netflix in Canada.  They are unaware of the WD Live TV Plus even being sold in Canada.  They do not support Netflix in Canada.

Is Best Buy selling grey market equipment?  Perhaps a truck got lost and ended up in Canada rather than the USA?  No idea.

Anyway no Netflix at the moment on the WD in Canada.

On the plus side, Netflix does support the Wii (which I have).  They are sending me a Disc so I can use my .CA account.  I’d rather use the WD…  guess I will just return this thing.  Best Buy gives me 14 days so I won’t be out anything.  I can always get a non-Plus WD over at Costco and save $20.  But I’ll hang on for a few more days and see if there’s such a thing as a “Level 3” tech.

–DB

This ought to be interesting.  If Best Buy did jump the gun, then there’s going to be some awefully unpleasant experiences with folks purchasing the Live Plus expecting Netflix support.  As you said though, at least the wii supports it with a disc add-on.

It’s not just BestBuy …I bought my WDTV Live PLUS a month ago  from NCIX Canada - I pricematched to Newegg.ca price. I bought it specifically for the netflix which it claimed to support. 

edited to add…I called support and was assured there would be an update within 10 days. I explained I bought the device intending to use with the netflix in Canada and if it wasn’t going to be supported I would be returning it. He assured me they were working on an update.

Sorry… just to be clear the WD Live Plus doesn’t work with or without a disc.  The disc was for the Wii (you know… that kinda crappy game console sold by Nintendo?).  There’s no support for the WD Live Plus in Canada at the moment anyway. 

–DB

Edit:  I just got word from my Level 2 Tech.  I had asked him when/if support for WD will be provided.  He replied that it will be up to Netflix to announce when/if support will be made for various devices.  So no new news.

I was really excited about being able to use Netflix on my Western Digital HD Live Plus, after fiddling with the setting and a firmware upgrade, I was unable to activate my Netflix Subscription on my Media box,

Phoned Netflix, the very polite and energetic agent advised, it may take more than two weeks for my media box to added to the list…boooooooooo for now…but at least i can use my iPhone until then

Thanks for the info, after looking at the content with my free trial account and assuming it will improve I do want to take advantage of this and after playing withi t via Boxee on a PC I have to say that it appears to have some hitches there as well.  FYI - in Boxee you can see all the USA content but it does not tell you want is only available in Canada, when you select a movie to play it says ‘connecting to NetFlix server’ for 5 minutes before i cancelled it.  The instant queue does not work as you get an internal error when selecting content not available in Canada and there is no way to tell what is not available.

Follow my inelegant solution and drag out an old desktop and hook it up to your home theatre setup

Use Live plus for  you tube :slight_smile:

I contacted Netfix and they told me that I would need a firmware upgrade from WD. Contacted WD and they got  a hold of level 2 suport that said they are working on it . Hopefully this is true.

Anyway I think the best and fastest way to get this resolved is to have everyone with tthe WDLive Plus to get a hold of Netfix and WD support and voice your concerns.  If nothing is said nothing will get done. Also this takes no time at all. The squeeking wheel gets the grease(it does work).

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We’re totally aware of this issue, and we will do what we can about it.  Whoever said that we would have a firmware update within ten days is wrong.  We will need to investigate, first, to see if we can do this, and if so, how. 

Moreover, just because we sell a device in the US that’s capable of streaming Netflix for the US, do NOT assume that it will just automatically work for Canada.  Even if we are advertising that Netflix is coming to Canada. 

Ok… just got off the phone with the WD Live specialist at WD.  He says they have nothing to announce at this time.  If there ever is Netflix support for the WD Live it won’t be any time soon.  Probably not this year.

I also spoke with Netflix.  They also say nothing is in the works for the WD Live Plus and no announcement pending in the near to medium term.

Both companies suggested that if I bought the WD Live Plus to watch Netflix then I should return the product to Best Buy before my 14 day return period expires.

So it sounds bad to me.

–DB

bill_s wrote:

Moreover, just because we sell a device in the US that’s capable of streaming Netflix for the US, do NOT assume that it will just automatically work for Canada.  Even if we are advertising that Netflix is coming to Canada. 

It’s not really an assumption if WD is advertising on the box that the unit being sold in Canada supports Netflix.  That is just plain false advertising.  First year Canadian law teaches that.  And there are laws set up in Canada that protect the consumer from this unscrupulous practice (Consumer Protection Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, CHAPTER 30, Schedule A, Part III, Section 14).  Moreover, if licensing issues prevent WD from supporting Netflix in Canada, then a good rule of thumb would be to not blame the consumer (WD’s user base) for WD’s mistake.  Lawsuits have been fought for for lesser amounts, and spin control makes WD look silly (“support says a firmware will come out in a few weeks to address this problem”, “support says it’s a Netflix problem”).

A good solution to this mess is to pull all the Plus boxes from Canadian circulation until this is cleaned up.

In simple numbers: If Best Buy’s (or other retails outlet’s) ratio of returns exceeds profitability to carry a product, that said product will be banned from such stores.  And sales margins are already slim enough for any tech products claiming operatability within the context of advertised specs.

Be that as it may, it will be quite interesting to see what the the coming weeks will present when more Canadians begin plugging in fresh purchases of the Live Plus only to find that the unit does not work with Netflix, even though the boxed advertising proclaims otherwise.

Why don’t you guys fool the device that you are in USA by getting a USA ip address through a proxy or VPN then activate your device., but then not sure If netflix USA and Canada share the same database for the activated codes, username and  passwords. Just a thought.

Spoofing a US IP would only be part of the problem.  Netflix.com and netflix.ca have different user databases and different products.  You would also have to “spoof” a physical US address and a US credit card or bank account.

Oh and when I asked my WD specialist WHY WD is selling the Plus in Canada when the only difference is that the PLUS does Netflix and Netflix doesn’t work in Canada… he said “that was a marketing decision”.  Whatever that means.

–DB

Amanco wrote:

Why don’t you guys fool the device that you are in USA by getting a USA ip address through a proxy or VPN then activate your device., but then not sure If netflix USA and Canada share the same database for the activated codes, username and  passwords. Just a thought.

 

 

Why doesn’t WD just make the unit work as advertised on the box?

Actually to be perfectly honest the box shouldn’t mention Pandora neither.

Looks like Apple TV is already available in Canada when you order from Apple.ca or by phone.  In a couple of weeks it will be available through retailers like Best Buy.  It sells for $10 less than the WD AND it supports Netflix.

Seems to me like WD had a golden opportunity to jump out of the gate with Netflix but somebody dropped the ball.  Now Apple TV is going to do some serious a$$ kicking.  Good thing this is just a very minor sideline product for WD or they would be hurting big time.

Anyway I took my WD Live Plus back as suggested by both WD and Netflix.  I may look at it again once the Netflix issue is resolved.  Unless I’ve already bought something else.

–DB