Samsung forum: Samsung Blu-Ray cannot stream Netflix

I contacted Samsung Support - below is our "conversation":

Please wait for a Samsung Agent to respond.

You are now chatting with 'Simon'. There will be a brief survey at the end of our chat to share feedback on my performance today.

Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK56401095747X

Simon: Hi, thanks for reaching out to Samsung tech support. How can I help you today?
Visitor: My BD-5300-ZA stopped playing netflix videos. From what I've gathered I need to downgrade the firmware back to the original version, but I can't find it anywhere.
Visitor: The internet is working, all the apps are working (even netflix) but when it attempts to play it suggests i try back later.
Visitor: Can you help me find old firmware versions?
Simon: Please allow me to go through the inquiry.
Simon: I understand that you are having issue with the Netflix.. Is that correct?
Visitor: Yes.
Visitor: It was working fine until the last firmware update.
Simon: I'm sorry to hear that. Let's try to fix the issue.
Simon: Please follow the instructions below to reset the smart hub to isolate the issue.
Simon: Press the Smart hub on the remote.
Simon: Press the blue button the remote to open settings menu.
Simon: Use the arrow keys to select the reset and press reset.
Simon: You may asked for password press 0000.
Simon: The reset of smart hub will complete.
Visitor: Reset in progress
Visitor: Done.
Simon: Please check whether the issue persists.
Visitor: Checking
Visitor: Activating Netflix
Visitor: Loading
Visitor: "We're having trouble playing this title right now. Please try back later or pick a different title."
Visitor: I've tried several titles.
Visitor: Same message
Simon: Thanks for the information.
Simon: Please follow the below instructions to reset the player to isolate the issue:
Simon: With no disc in the player press and hold the Stop button on the front of your Blu-ray player for about 8 seconds or until the front display reads 'SETUP'. 'Resetting all settings to default values...' is displayed on your TV screen as the Blu-ray player powers off and resets.
Visitor: I will try that again as well. Hold on.
Simon: Please go ahead.
Visitor: Setting up internet on unit
Visitor: Internet is connected successfully.
Visitor: Initial Setup Complete
Visitor: Should I retry Netflix?
Simon: Yes, please check and let me know the status.
Visitor: Smart Hub is downloading.
Visitor: Installing
Simon: Please go ahead.
Visitor: Waiting on the unit
Visitor: Starting...
Simon: Thanks for the information.
Visitor: In the smart hub.
Simon: Please check whether the issue persists.
Visitor: Connecting to Netflix... "Starting"
Simon: Please go ahead.
Visitor: Waiting on the unit...
Simon: Thanks for the information.
Visitor: The smart hub is not functioning properly. The icons for the apps are not present. The names are all there, but the pictures for each icon are missing.
Visitor: I'll try rebooting the unit
Simon: Okay, please go ahead.
Visitor: "Starting" the smart hub.
Visitor: "Smart hub needs to update"
Visitor: Updating
Visitor: 1/11
Visitor: 2/11
Visitor: 3/11
Visitor: 4/11
Visitor: 5/11
Visitor: which is netflix
Visitor: 6/22
Visitor: oops 6/11
Visitor: 7/11
Visitor: 8/11
Visitor: 9/11
Visitor: 10/11
Visitor: 11/11
Visitor: Updated
Visitor: Starting Netflix
Visitor: "Loading" video
Visitor: Same message
Visitor: "We're having trouble playing this title right now..."
Simon: May I know whether other apps are working fine?
Visitor: They were before we started. let me check again
Simon: Please go ahead.
Visitor: Trying Pandora...
Visitor: I'll have to reactivate. Just a min.
Simon: Please go ahead.
Visitor: Loading.
Visitor: Playing music
Visitor: Simply Irresistible - Robert Palmer
Simon: Thanks for the information.
Simon: Please disable the firewall on the router to isolate the issue.
Visitor: From what I've read online the problem is with this firmware upgrade and has something to do with how the unit communicates a secret code to Netflix.
Simon: As the firewall on the router will block the content that allow by the Blu-ray player so please disable the firewall to isolate the issue.
Visitor: The firewall is not active.
Simon: There are no reported issues with the firmware.
Visitor: There are on the discussion boards on the web
Simon: I understand, please contact the Netflix support as the other apps are working fine. Please try to contact them to isolate the issue.
Visitor: It is NOT a netflix issue.
Visitor: I would like the old version of the firmware please.
Simon: Samsung players and TV's does not have a back up feature to get the old firmware version.
Visitor: I'd like to report a problem with the firmware.
Simon: May I know the firmware version of the player?
Simon: With the disc tray open, press and hold the INFO button on the remote control. The System Information appears on the screen.
Simon: Please follow the above steps and let me know the s/w version of the player.
Visitor: 2012/03/22_001025
Simon: Would you mind holding a few minutes while I gather the required information for your request?
Simon: Thanks for holding.
Simon: I see that your player is updated with the new firmware version.
Visitor: That is correct, unfortunately.
Simon: Please try to un-plug all the network devices such as TV or computer, modem and router. Please try to connect only the player and check if the issue persists.
Visitor: If I unplug the modem and router the device won't have internet and then no apps will work.
Visitor: I will also lose this chat connection
Visitor: This is the only player in the house with a Netflix problem.
Simon: I understand, it means that to connect the modem, router with only player without any other sharing devices and check if the issue persists. You may disconnect the chat, please get back to us with the ticket ID: LTK56401095747X. We will go further steps to isolate the issue.
Visitor: Apparently, from reading extensively about my challenge before contacting chat, there are plenty of other Samsung customers who have experienced the same problem.
Visitor: I will, however I am 100% sure this is NOT a network problem.
Visitor: What are your chat hours? How long will someone be available today to respond on that ticket number?
Simon: We are available 24/7. We can process the chat further.
Visitor: What are the further steps?
Visitor: It seems to me that I've isolated the issue pretty far down the possibilities list. The problem presented immediately after firmware update.
Visitor: What are the further steps?
Simon: If the issue persists, I will forward your concern to the Samsung department.
Visitor: That is the only remaining step?
Simon: Yes, it is the only step should be done. As we have done will all the steps except that I provided above.
Visitor: I will go ahead and follow the instructions. Just to be clear, once I've done that - if the issue isn't resolved the only step left is to "forward your concern to the Samsung department"?
Visitor: As a customer what will I be able to do? I have a non-functioning unit.
Simon: Yes, you are right. Once it is done, please get back to us, I will forward your concern.
Simon: Please get back to us if the issue persists with the ticket ID: LTK56401095747X, we are available 24/7. We are here to assist you.


Obviously no assistance is actually provided. The next person to call, email or chat can now unequivocally respond to the lie "this is the first time we've received notice of this issue".

Netflix and Samsung servers are not 100% reliable. It appears that the companies that are selling this are trying to avoid the longer conversation about this issue.

Sorry but until the makers get beat up enough I fear they will not share when there is a server or other issue.
Bob

We had gotten a ton of frustrated calls about Samsung players. Most people would be yelling at us on phone, but I would have them try playing Netflix on another player, and 99% of the time it would work unless the connection itself was messed up. I know it is frustrating to get ping-ponged back ad forth, but most other devices we can get working with deactivation and reactivation.... Samsungs always seem hard to get working, and we have to refer back so Samsung quite a bit because there is nothing we can do over the phone with the customer to fix it. I wouldn't place much of the blame at Netflix's feet, though. I witnessed idiotic decisions of their's internally, but they do tend to work well on most devices. The common call in issues are usually actually the users net, or the app got corrupted and needs reinstalled, etc.... not things done by Netflix. The main Netflix issues are things like doing away with vacation holds and deferring cancellations, billing difficulties on prepaids, etc.

Up untill yeaterday I never had a problem. S/W version 2012/03/22_0010025.

Netflix is the only thing having the issue. It will load all the available titles but will not play any of them.

Reseted everything, my Blu-Ray player (unplugged it), my network, did a hard reset of the player. Nothing fixed the problem.

Still get "We're having trouble playing this title right now"

Any ideas?

And we know it's their servers (some that write a Wii works may not realize those could be on other servers) you get to ask Netflix.

This has been really frustrating, because I was really liking my Samsung home theater system until a few weeks ago. Suddenly, Netflix would not stream video. I could open the app, click on a movie, the movie would open, I'd click "play" and then the message "we cannot play this title right now, please choose another or try again later". Unfortunately, I tried a ton of different titles and I always got the same message.
Now the crazy part was, it was playing without a hitch for a month and a half or so and I had done NOTHING to the set up to make it suddenly stop working. So, I jumped on the forums and started reading page after page of trouble with all different models of Samsung players, and the frustrations that people experienced with customer service.
I decided to just try a few of the things other consumers suggested- first of all, I went into SETTINGS and changed the time zone to the appropriate one. For some people, this was all they needed to do to fix the problem. Not me. Next, I tried plugging and unplugging the BD player and the router, the longest I left if off was around 2 hours (as suggested in one of the forums). No go. I did this a bunch of times, and always went back to check that my time zone setting hadn't changed. I was fairly ready to give up- but I saw a suggestion to deactivate and reactivate the netflix app. The way to do this on the remote in the netflix app is press up up down down left right left right up up up up. Bingo, the window opens and you have the option to deactivate, which I did. Then I shut down the BD player and unplugged it, and unplugged the router for about 10 minutes. After that, I plugged everything in, logged into netflix, and pressed a title. I have NO IDEA WHY, but netflix seems to be in working order once again.

Working in an old thread with this deeply buried is painful.

But for now call it in and use the prior discussions. If I see a new post I'll share prior things that helped.
Bob

Deactivating and reactivating the Netflix app worked for me! Thanks so much!!! Been messing around with this problem for days, and this was the only thing that worked.

I would have been up all night trying to figure this out! Thank goodness I didn't call some tech support desk at Samsung. Your suggestion with the arrow buttons up down left right,etc steps worked perfectly. Saved me so much time. When I first read it, it sounded crazy, but lo & behold, it worked fine. I didn't power off or disconnect anything, I just deactivated the account and reactivated with Netflix log in credentials, went back to my queue & selected my tv show & it started playing right away. I joined this forum just so I could say thank you.

How did you learn the thing about the arrow keys? OMG the "cannot play this title" thing has been driving me nuts! Though it has been keeping my son from watching that horrid "Johnny Test" show, so the breakage had a positive side effect... But tonight he wanted to watch "Blue Planet," and that's when I decided to get serious about finding a solution. Deactivating and reactivating fixed everything. I'm going to have to save that little incantation somewhere. Thank you!

I have this player. When I purchased in Feb, 2012, it played Netflix great. Even nice and clear over wifi. The main reason we bought it was to use netflix and ditch cable. After a few months of flawless operation, I got the dreaded "..can't play now..try later". So I did the rounds, re-install netflix, update firmware, call netflix, call samsung..everything except this little number.
I'm going to try this when I get home since several claimed victory. I hope it works. I'll report back. Its been since April or May that this player has sat and done just about nothing. Maybe occasional dvd. ...
Thanks.

I have a Model #: BD-D5700/ZA wireless blue ray player. Feb 2012. stopped working a few months later. ...

I read it here first. I tried the arrow sequence above. At first it didn't work, I did it too fast. (this aint ps3 here),
I did slower while the netflix app was loaded. I got an info screen with my Name, some versions info, and highlighted box saying Deactivate. I selected, confirmed and back to player menu. Hit netflix button, loaded, and did new device activation. Tried playing something and OMFG, it works!! It hasn't worked since april or may. And i've tried and tried. Called everyone and internet searched. Some how missed this thread earlier. Maybe my 4 yr old wouldn't have cracked my vizio screen....ughhh. But at least netflix works again. Hope it lasts.
I thought about the deactivation a while back on my own. In netflix online, there used to me a way to see devices and remove/delete/deactivate. Netflix stopped using it they told me. But at least its hidden in the player.

The bottom line here, is this "cannot play title now, try again later" is obviously a bug in samsung product. Its not our internet connections, its not our weak wireless, its not even netflix, well partly. Its a bug between the communication between samsung and netflix's server. Its how the software is written in the player/tv.
There are less reports for errors from other mfr. Sony is rated well for netflix, and never fails. How come my iphone, windows vista, osx 10.4.11 all play netflix without ever a single problem. Everything plays close to HD or HD over wireless. even when router is burried on the floor under clothes. Netflix is tight, and works really well. It is soo not them.

And yes, the damn thread is over 361 days old, but is still on top of google search. Keep this **** Alive!

Didn't think it would go anywhere but I tried your Nintendo trick just for the heck of it and it worked! After a power outage my Netflix would get as far as just about to play the video when it would give that error. Even on my LG TV it worked. At first I didn't think it was working cause the arrows would move you around in the interface, but just ignore that and try it a few times. THANKS!

Where exactly do you do the trick with the arrows? I keep trying that, but all it does is move me through the app

The maneuver is called the KONAMI code because of it's origins.

Your old gamer knows why it's called that but you have folk today that ask why. My question is why is this done this way?

Silly. Come on, it's time to stop this nonsense and put it into a menu.
Bob

I did.everything followed the instructions and the deactivation work.fine but when I logged back.in and tried a movie still got same error message

In conversations with a Netflix supervisor who is in the wrong career field stated that "Netflix is a streamer of movies" and denied any involvement by Netflix in creating the apps that are on these Blu-Ray players. Netflix recommended I reach out to Samsung.

There is plenty of reasons for it not to work and since "once the app launches" Samsung is not taking responsibility if it's not their app, the discussion turns to what consumers expected and how this is a repeat of the Windows ecosystem. That is, you don't call Dell when your Netflix app fails. Well you could try that.
Bob

Netflix was streaming perfectly one day, and the next I got the "We cannot play this title at this time," or whatever, error. Netflix still streams perfectly on my two Macs, so it's clearly a breakdown of the Samsung device. I've tried all of the suggestions in this and other forums, but I'm not going to call some help desk in India and get a runaround from someone reading corporate b.s. off their screen.

So, I'm going to buy a Roku box and just use the 5700 to play DVDs and remind myself never to buy anything by Samsung again.

Just last night my PC coughed up that message. Guess Friday nights can overtax the hamster farms.
Bob

I'm running the latest firmware version (2011/10/26_001019). I didn't have any issues when after first updating, the problem didn't start occurring until later.

d1sc1ple1176 -

Try resetting it by, with the unit powered ON and the disc tray empty, press and hold the STOP button on the player itself. You'll have to reconnect to your network and load Netflix again, but this will allow you to reset the player and the App.

--HDTech

Online Brand Ambassador

- Click here to visit the Samsung forum
- Click here to visit the Samsung store on CNET

Exact same issue here. Netflix was working perfectly fine, kids were watching non-stop on UN55C8000 via BD-C6900... Then suddenly it stopped working, with a message claiming I am not connected to the Internet, which is not true!!
So, I tried the reset thing on the BD-C6900, held the stop button and rebooted, loaded NetFlix app back on it and tried again...no change.

Incidentally, Netflix has also stopped working on the tv, that also used to work and gives the exact same message. It has it's own Internet connection which also works perfectly.

I do not know what to do, seems like a lot of people in the same situation as me.

I just tried the reset, and I'm still getting the same error.

I'm having this exact same problem, so far with no luck. Things I have tried (without any progress) include:

- Confirming that Hulu Plus/Pandora/etc can access the internet and stream content
- Checking my time/date settings
- Updating to the latest firmware
- Completely resetting my player (testing before and after updating again) -- tried this multiple times

- Deactivating Netflix
- Confirming that Netflix works on other devices (laptop, etc)
- Other Netflix troubleshooting

- Confirming no conflict on wireless channels
- Checking with ISP -- haven't exceeded monthly data, no other conflict, etc

I've put in a call to Samsung, but after the last failed troubleshooting, I was told that I'd be called back with a solution in the next 72 hours ... but it's been a month and counting with no reply. Problem has been in place for two months now. For the other users: how long ago did your problem show up? Has this shown up with any other apps?

I did do this and Netflix streaming worked for about 10 minutes. Now it is back to not working, though when a selection is picked the red bar fills up but then still get the same "having trouble playing this title..." . Before, the bar never filled with red. All other apps work and Netflix works fine on the other tv thru the Wii and on computers and smartphones. Not sure what to do next.

(from my post elsewhere in this thread)
--------------------------------------------------
I experienced many of the same problems mentioned by others, but I also encountered them using the HULU Plus app. All while watching through my BD-D6500/ZA "Smart Hub" function to my TV.

Then, this past Sunday, June 27, 2012, I was not able to connect to any apps OR even sign into Smart Hub. Anything I tried got me the error message that there was an internet connectivity issue and I should call my ISP. I called my ISP and everything checked out fine on their end

On Monday, June 28, 2012, I still could not connect to anything EVEN THOUGH my network settings said that there was an internet connection discovered (Ethernet AND Wi-Fi) but that the player could not connect to it.

I called Samsung and troubleshooted the problem with the rep. We even had me do a direct modem-to-player Ethernet hard wire connection. Nothing worked. I could not even sign into my account.

At other times, I had noted that problems with Netflix were only on my TV through the player. Otherwise, I was able to access and play Netflix through my PC just fine.

The rep told me the problem must be in my player, and told me to expect an email within 24 hours with a return label (I had to request that).

Today, almost 48 hours later, I had not received the email from Samsung, BUT, I did one more reset of my player AND of Smart Hub, and now everything works again (although still with buffering problems in Netflix and Hulu Plus.

I called Netflix and they told me they have been having trouble with Samsung's servers for about six months now.

I then called Samsung again. This new person said they have "never heard this news" that there might be problems with their servers. She said my only option was to ship them the unit (still under warranty) and have it repaired or replaced.

I had them promise me that if they could not reproduce the problem I would not be charged.

My gut tells me this is a Samsung problem, as a Netflix problem would NOT cause me to lose ALL internet access through my Blu Ray player.

Everyone call Samsung at 1-800-SAMSUNG (1-800-726-7864) and tell them you know it is their network/servers causing the problem.

That, and copy, paste this post or any other post everywhere you can on the internet.

We must force them to accept responsibility for their poor network/server performance, even if it is intermittently so.