# Netflix activation rules change for the better



## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

It appears the Netflix device activation rules have changed. If you check your activated devices page you'll see that the good news is that you are now allowed up to 6 devices. The bad news is that PCs are now considered devices and count towards the 6 device limit.

The really good news is that the 12 month limitation time appears to have been removed, so one you deactivate a device it disappears from the list.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Sweet, now I can have 3 tiVos and three 360s on my account.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

As long as you don't use Netflix on the PC, it appears that way.


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## djwilso (Dec 23, 2006)

morac said:


> It appears the Netflix device activation rules have changed. If you check your activated devices page you'll see that the good news is that you are now allowed up to 6 devices. The bad news is that PCs are now considered devices and count towards the 6 device limit.
> 
> The really good news is that the 12 month limitation time appears to have been removed, so one you deactivate a device it disappears from the list.


Wow, thanks for posting this. I always thought that the 12-month window thing was pretty restrictive.

Dennis


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

hmm - I have a PC that I have used watch instantly on for some time now.
As I tyoe it is showing a Netflix instant movie and the activation list only shows my TiVo. I was not asked to do any activation to bring up the Instant watch movie other than the typical get rights to movie.

perhaps this PC activation only applies to silverlight or only new PCs not used before?


but yes, happy to see Netflix continue on with its tradition of getting less restrictive


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

ZeoTiVo said:


> perhaps this PC activation only applies to silverlight or only new PCs not used before?


I believe that it does only apply to silverlight, but since Netflix is switching everyone over to silverlight it will eventually apply to everyone.

I'll mention that even though I had played Netflix videos on my PC in the past, my PC did not show up on the activation page until about 15 minutes after I used Netflix last night. I could then deactivate the PC and continue to play videos and it wouldn't reappear back on the list until I closed my browser and then played another movie. When I saw a "checking/acquiring activation", it showed up on the page shortly afterwards.

I did not try removing the TiVo so I don't know if that vanishes off the page, like the PC did but I would assume it would..


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

morac said:


> I believe that it does only apply to silverlight, but since Netflix is switching everyone over to silverlight it will eventually apply to everyone.


I'm using Silverlight and it does not show my PC. Also, I am able to stream to more than one device at the same time now it seems. I am on a one at a time plan, but I am not seeing that limitation when watching from my PC and TiVo at the same time.


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## Meklos (Nov 22, 2002)

Two new Tivo HDs installed yesterday at the house (total 3 now), but I only activated Netflix on one of the 3 Tivos (plus my 360) just because of the stupid 12-month activation rule. 

Looks like I'll be activating two more boxes for Netflix tonight.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

rainwater said:


> I'm using Silverlight and it does not show my PC. Also, I am able to stream to more than one device at the same time now it seems. I am on a one at a time plan, but I am not seeing that limitation when watching from my PC and TiVo at the same time.


I think playing on more than one device/PC might be a glitch as that didn't use to work. Either that or it was added as a work around for the case where the TiVo locks up the one stream even after you finish playing.

In any case there appears to be lag time between the time you "activate" a PC and the time it shows up. The PC activation also seems a bit glitchy since you can still play on a PC after deactivating it and the "last played" field for my PC didn't update for nearly a day.

Like I mentioned my PC showed up on on the list about 15 minutes after I started playing, but I could continue to play even after deactivating my PC. It didn't reappear until I closed my browser and reopened it and played a bit (it showed up some time later).

There really needs to be a way to determine what PC is what though since currently the serial number appears to be randomly generated based on some file in the %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Silverlight folder

A bit of trivia here:

When I wiped out that folder (just as a test), playing a movie regenerated the folder and a "new PC" device showed up on my activation list. I couldn't tell which was which so I just deactivated both PC's and then one PC came back at some point.


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## NeitherSparky (Jan 3, 2008)

I have a question about this...

My brother and I live together and each have a Tivo, each under our own names though so they are not linked. If I get a Netflix account then can we both use it on our separate Tivos? If so, if we both wanted to each a different movie at the same time, do I need the $13.00 plan which lets you order 2 DVDs by mail, is that how it works? Or do we just have to each get our own $8.99 Netflix plan?

Thanks.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

Since Netflix doesn't know anything about what accounts the TiVo are under, I would think that both you and your brother would both be able to add both TiVo's to the same Netflix account. I don't know for sure, but it doesn't hurt to try.

As for the second part of your question. Yes you would need the 2 DVD plan to stream to both TiVos at the same time.


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## NeitherSparky (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks.  Yeah, I plan to try it out, but not until next month probably.


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## berkshires (Feb 22, 2007)

I really appreciate hearing about this change because I think I will take advantage at some point. I truly hope you can freely add/remove devices.

This page is interesting under the terms and conditions tab describing the simultaneous stream limits for your account. The page still has the old 4 device/12 month limit mentioned. I wonder if the simultaneous stream rules changed too?


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## Lenonn (May 31, 2004)

I can't get it to allow two accounts on the TiVo, without deactivating the prevous account on the device.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

Lenonn said:


> I can't get it to allow two accounts on the TiVo, without deactivating the prevous account on the device.


I wouldn't think it would allow you to sign up one device (TiVo) on two different Netflix accounts. I'm not sure why you'd want to either.


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