Live Plus: Some Netflix shows do not play... for example:

[bnalgene]

Try playing The Guild season 3, the video starts but it is very slow, choppy and all i hear is “blips” for audio.  I’m using the WDTV Live Plus, connected to my Sony TV via HDMI cable.  I’m loving this device but this specific show and one other didn’t work at all for some reason… 

any ideas?  firmware fix needed?

[mkelley]

Welcome to the forums.

Is it in HD?  Netflix has some known issues with HDMI HD shows that they are working on.  Otherwise it might be a sole Netflix issue – try contacting them (they are surprisingly helpful in this regard).

[bnalgene]

Yes, it’s an HD clip.  Even on my computers, the video is kind of choppy for some reason and it’s not a performance problem believe me.  I submitted a problem report to netflix, maybe they’ll do something but something tells me the WDTV should be able to play it anyway, though the quality isn’t the best.  I think it’s 15 FPS instead of the standard 30 or whatever.

[PixelPower]

If it doesn’t play smoothly on your computers (assuming they’re not ancient and slow), the chances of it playing smoothly on the WD TV are pretty small.

What speed is your internet connection?

I have an 8Mbit cable line and Netflix HD is usually fine (had a weird blip during Heat but that’s almost 3 hours long).  HD TV shows are usually not a problem.

[bnalgene]

CHeck out The Guild season 3, it’s really 1 big episode.  Season 3 plays kind of choppy… i think it’s the way the video was encoded.  Season 2 was flawless.

I have a 20Mbit cable connection, HD movies over netflix are flawless.  My PC is a quad core 3 ghz w/ 4 gigs o ram.

Actually I just tested it in Netflix, i turned off “allow HD” in the netflix player in my browser and it looks exactly the same but not choppy anymore… I think the video is just screwed up and the WDTV has no clue how to handle it properly.

[mkelley]

Yeah, that’s why I suggested contacting Netflix.  They have been good in the past about at least looking into these issues.

[PixelPower]

I just tried The Guild: Season 3 and can confirm that it’s behaving exactly the same way on my Plus.

Takes slightly longer to buffer than it should, video is not as smooth as it should be and the audio is missing apart from occasional chirrups / beeps.

None of the other HD TV shows I tried exhibit this (nor have any that I’ve watched).  This is down to Netflix and possibly a bad encoding; I’ve not come across any other shows that lump episodes together like that, perhaps that could be the cause?  

Like Mike says, the solution will most likely have to come from Netflix support (who, from reputation, are pretty good).