Every once in a blue moon I'll use the Netflix Play It Now feature. I have an eVGA 8800GTS 320M video card and used to have a Gateway FPD1975 monitor. Whenever I tried to run Play It Now, I'd get a DRM error and the movie wouldn't play. The video card and monitor were both supposed to support HDCP, but Netflix's response was just to plug the monitor in with a VGA cable. That worked and was not a big deal since I don't use Watch It Now that much anyway.
One day I decided to plug my kid's el-cheapo Hanns-G monitor in and see if it worked with Netflix. Well, lo and behold with the same video card, same DVI cable, same resolution, same computer, same everything except plugging in a different monitor, it worked fine. Put the old monitor back on and no workie. So, seems pretty easy to blame Gateway, no?
Well, I used this excuse to get a little more real estate with an Acer AL2216W panel. It advertised HDCP and I saw an Internet post about someone using Watch It Now on it. No worries, eh? Well, it still throws up the darn DRM error. (What exactly is this DRM supposed to be protecting anyway?? Who wants to pirate some low-quality Watch It Now title which are mostly junk?? OK, easy to get into a DRM rant, so skip it...but I do buy all my media and software and it just seems like I get screwed for it.) I called Netflix again and they didn't know what to say. (Both people I've talked to there were really nice and seemed to know what they were talking about, so no complaints about them--probably a couple of the most pleasant tech support calls I've ever had.)
Anyway, who do I blame now? It seems like the video card maybe, but I'm not going to experiment any more with buying hardware. Is there some way to trace the DRM chain and see where it's breaking? I don't know why I care so much, but it's annoying that this thing isn't working when by all accounts it should be...
One day I decided to plug my kid's el-cheapo Hanns-G monitor in and see if it worked with Netflix. Well, lo and behold with the same video card, same DVI cable, same resolution, same computer, same everything except plugging in a different monitor, it worked fine. Put the old monitor back on and no workie. So, seems pretty easy to blame Gateway, no?
Well, I used this excuse to get a little more real estate with an Acer AL2216W panel. It advertised HDCP and I saw an Internet post about someone using Watch It Now on it. No worries, eh? Well, it still throws up the darn DRM error. (What exactly is this DRM supposed to be protecting anyway?? Who wants to pirate some low-quality Watch It Now title which are mostly junk?? OK, easy to get into a DRM rant, so skip it...but I do buy all my media and software and it just seems like I get screwed for it.) I called Netflix again and they didn't know what to say. (Both people I've talked to there were really nice and seemed to know what they were talking about, so no complaints about them--probably a couple of the most pleasant tech support calls I've ever had.)
Anyway, who do I blame now? It seems like the video card maybe, but I'm not going to experiment any more with buying hardware. Is there some way to trace the DRM chain and see where it's breaking? I don't know why I care so much, but it's annoying that this thing isn't working when by all accounts it should be...
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