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Report: #322991

Complaint Review: Netflix.com - Internet

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: Phoenix Arizona
  • Author Confirmed What's this?
  • Why?
  • Netflix.com netflix.com Internet U.S.A.

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Today I received "The Sixth Sense" DVD from Netflix. I put it in the DVD drive on my PC and after all the usual FBI warnings, I started getting movie trailers. I did not want to watch movie trailers. I paid to watch a movie and I wanted to watch it. So I tried to get to the DVD's main menu and found that the DVD overrode the player's menu function. OK, I have software for a second player and I tried to use that to watch the DVD.

But the same thing happened with the second player. My only choices were either watch all the trailers before I can see the movie or not watch the DVD at all. So I choose not to watch it at all. But when I tried closing my player, my cursor changed from an arrow to an hourglass that would tumble every few seconds, as if some application was running. But task manager showed nothing running. I had to restart my PC to get rid of the annoying tumbling hourglass cursor.

When the PC restarted I had the normal cursor and everything seemed to be running OK, except for one thing. The icon for Norton Systemsworks that always displays in the system tray is suddenly missing for the first time since I installed it three months ago. So, one DVD in and two non-function players, a tumbling hourglass cursor, and a missing icon out. Quite a trade-off.

Needless to say I was pissed. I went to Netflix site and removed all the selections from my queue as I do not need any more crap like this. I tried to contact customer service but all my attempts were rejected because the account lists my wife as the primary holder. Funny how they never object to taking their monthly fees out of my checking account. I tried to leave a review of the movie, making my complaints known but I got an error message when I tried to post it. Netflix apparently wants to control what gets posted on their site, so I have to post my experience where they cannot delete it.

Just to make sure they get the message that something was wrong, I returned the DVD after cutting it into four pieces with scissors.

Yes, I know that Netflix does not produce the DVD's they rent, but they are large enough to just say "No" to those that do produce this kind of junk. Just as I am now saying "No" to Netfix.

Larry
Phoenix, Arizona
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 04/01/2008 09:48 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/netflixcom/internet/netflixcom-dvd-highjacks-my-computer-internet-322991. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
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6Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#6 Consumer Comment

Really?

AUTHOR: xononeofyourbusiness - (USA)

POSTED: Friday, July 06, 2012

I just don't know what to say.... have you only bought bootleg DVD's with no trailers? This is quite common. And the fact that they only allow the account holder to call? That's common privacy.

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#5 Consumer Comment

In this case the issue is with the publisher of the dvd movie

AUTHOR: AMERICAN CITIZEN - (United States of America)

POSTED: Thursday, March 15, 2012

Actually the ripoff needs to be directed to the publisher of the DVD.

See the time being forced to watch through the trailers is time that could be doing something else.

In effect your time is being stolen from you by the publisher that force feed the trailers down your eye sockets.

See the publisher can easily make it so the trailers can Be accessed from main menu. They do not need to force it

This forced trailer watching the OP is posting about is a bad business practice of forcing people to watch unwanted advertising.    Forced advertising is equivalent to punching a person in the face when the publisher screams free speech.    Why is this the case, you ask?    freedom ends at the next person face.  In this case publisher has punched the original poster by forcing UNWANTED free speech down the OP eye sockets.

I am actually in same boat with him about being forced to watch something through extortion.

The extortion is watch the trailers or you don't get to watch the movie.

Where this is the case most often is in the Heavy DRM rental versions of movies.  As a condition to force people to buy their own copy of the retail version of a movie   Publishers such as sony and others force things like  forced trailers or forced to watch on certain player types etc. disabling of extras, and much more  to discourage people from renting movies.

Netflix has nothing to do with what content is on the DVD itself   The publishers are the ones Telling netflix what they can and can't do.  It is not just netflix either  our public library is getting scammed into this as well to be forced to take rental versions of movies instead of the retail ones.

I know for FACT sony has it set up to play in only sony players   I had rented 3 dvd from netflix where  sony is the publisher   NONE OF THEM WOULD PLAY ON ANYTHING BUT SONY PLAYER!
4 differant computer payers wouldn't play sony rental titles such as "VLC" ALPLAYER", "NERO" "WIN !!"     As far as actual DVD standalone players it would NOT WORK in JVC "Magnavox"     ONly player sony rental would play in was a PS3..... GO FIGURE......

The forced trailers is managed by the DRM  That is the core of this issue.   The DRM may have interacted with the OP system because the DRM didn't like how the OP system was setup or some other issue.  If there had been no DRM on the DVD that was placed there by the PUBLISHER, there would most likely  never had been an issue for the OP

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defective_by_Design
Quoted from the link :"        View on the impact of DRM
DRM is used to encrypt various multimedia products (including audio,
video, and console games) and is intended to restrict the uses of a
product to those the rightsholders intend. Examples of DRM functionality
include: limiting or prohibiting duplication of media to hopefully
prevent copyright infringement or lawful archiving, sharing, of media
and encrypting or blocking access to a system's input or output to
prevent consumers from using non-licensed products, such as a
competitor's hardware or media
.[citation needed] DRM can prevent users from duplicating a CD or a DVD, prevent someone watching a DVD from skipping an advertisement,
or create problems with interoperability between competing products
.
Although tech-savvy users are often able to find a way around DRM, this
can be difficult and may require use of the analog hole. For others DRM might prevent them from using media in legal ways.[1]
In addition to restricting copying of DRM-protected media, DRM can allow a computer to systematically disobey its owner"

Take NOTE of the bold italic underlined portions.  This describes exactly what happened to the OP if it was not  virus or spyware related.

This has actually happened to me on a virus/spyware free system.

OP is perfectly legit about griping,  just didn't realize who was actually at fault  and why and how it was done.

To the OP need to figure out who the publisher was to the movie and confirm if it was a rental version or not in that is more likely to have the DRM   That caused the malfunction.  

Other possibility is the Player you were using did not have the correct codex to play the disk properly so on exit out it crashed.

Oh AND NEVER turn off the PC when that hour glass is turning  That will corrupt files by doing that.  In future if your using vista or later use the ctrl+ alt+del   to get task manager up and force task manager to shut any active programs down.   Be patient  it will take task manger a while to fix an error like that to shut a running program you can't see down.  Like the player that crashed, but you couldn't see.

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#4 General Comment

So not a rip off

AUTHOR: Dot - (USA)

POSTED: Thursday, April 14, 2011

You wasted your time even filing a complaint for this, I'm a netflix member and any dvd you get, 9 times out of 10, they will always have trailers, why dont you just watch it on an actual dvd player , If you are that impatient to watch trailers, then you shouldn't watch movies at all especially at a movie theater. Clearly you have anger problems with cutting the dvd up, that was so uncalled for and now most likely you won't ever be able to be a netflix member again. Not a ripoff here people, just plain lazy and impatient.

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#3

A DVD "highjacks" your internet?

AUTHOR: Brandon - (USA)

POSTED: Wednesday, August 12, 2009

You didn't watch a DVD because you couldn't wait 15 minutes? So when you go to the movies you walk out because the trailers are too long? This is the most ridiculous complain I ever seen.

You must be a computer illiterate if you can's skip scenes on a DVD.

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#2 Consumer Comment

Please let us know....

AUTHOR: Gabriel - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, April 02, 2008

how much Netflix charged you for the dvd you destroyed.

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#1 Consumer Comment

Suggestions.

AUTHOR: Robert - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, April 02, 2008

1. Run a good virus scan on your computer. Then run a good anti-spyware scanner on your system. Install a good "firewall" program. Boot your machine and then review the running programs in task manager and use config.sys to remove "start up" programs that are not needed.

2. Some programs for playing DVDs on your computer are better than others. Power DVD is pretty good.

3. Learn to control your anger.

4. Enjoy the "4 piece matching coaster set" you just purchased. (Oops. forgot, you gave that to them.)

FYI, my wife has played "The 6th Sense" on 2 computers in our home without the issues you report.

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