An image is worth a thousand words, but I added some to mine to get my point accross. Use the "Emulate IE7" button to get around these problems. Netflix needs to fix their website.
Netflix does not work with IE8. There are underlying incompatibilities with libraries that trigger Netflix into thinking an upgrade is needed. However, the upgrade fails. Even if you try to use the IE7 emulation mode, Netflix fails with IE8.
This is good to know, as I'm liable to jump on beta browsers...Netflix will no doubt work with Microsoft to work this out asap -- maybe with an early introduction of Silverlight? -- Please keep us updated through this thread, thanks again.
I have been using Watch Instantly since it's inception, without trouble. Until two weeks ago, that is. Now, every time it tries to connect, it crashes Explorer. I called them and spent an hour on the phone with their support staff. While the man was very nice, he was not helpful. He told me to do all the things I'd already done. I did them any way--to be friendly. However, when he told me that the last thing to try was uninstalling Explorer and reinstalling it, I drew the line. Explorer is imbedded with components that other programs use, and it'll totally mess up my machine. NOT cool. Not truly helpful...and now I feel rather ripped off and grumpy. We use this feature a lot, and I feel like it's part of their service...which I can no longer access. Any one have any ideas?? Netflix doesn't.
Well, apparently they've fixed something whilst I wasn't looking. It now works. Lovely. I still think their advice was lousy though...but, I'm glad they fixed it!
See Yahoo's graded browser support matrix. Bill Scott is ex-Yahoo and director of the UI engineers at Netflix, and has adopted this matrix as the goal for Netflix to track. IE8 is still considered beta, and is not part of the set of browsers that are tested. Over time, IE8 will be added. I have been posting feature enhancements here and will note IE8 support when it arrives.
Permalink Reply by Jess on August 30, 2008 at 7:59pm
Adrian,
On Microsoft's IE8 release notes page (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949787) they state that they are working with Netflix to resolve this issue. Is netflix really not going to work on this issue until IE8 is out of beta or have they already started working on this (since your post is from May)?
As the IE8 release note states, Netflix and Microsoft are working on this issue. However, checking the Yahoo graded browser support site as of today, IE8 beta is not supported by Yahoo, and is not supported by Netflix. As IE8 gets closer to release more time will be spent testing and fixing issues. We can't say at this point when it will be regarded as fully supported, but the specific issue mentioned (playing instant watch titles) is being worked on. I'll post a note here when there are releases that include changes to Netflix IE8 support.
Permalink Reply by Jess on August 30, 2008 at 8:02pm
Check out microsoft's release notes for IE8. They are aware of an issue with Netflix instant watch and 'are working with Netflix' on a solution. No idea how long this will take or even if they have really started working with them.
Netflix must have done something last night. I use Firefox, and now the "Community" section doesn't render correctly. The "Latest Member Reviews" section that has the active scroll, is sort of indented in the frame so only 1/4 of the column of text/icons is viewable!
I can live with "Watch Instant" only working in IE, but Netflix is making it difficult for us FF users to stay.
I have firefox and the Netflix site looks fine to me (although it takes forEVER for my queue to load). Maybe it's an add-on that's causing your problems?
I am excited to post that, as of October 15, Netflix now has a microsoft patch that enables the ie8 beta to render instant movies. That's fast action, and I certainly appreciate their prompt and considerate attention to this situation.