EVEN with wireless G, it should not have any problems streaming from netlfix since the bitstreams are so slow. With my TiVos, if i use wireless G the experience is identical to the tiVos I have using wired ethernet.

I don't have Tivo.. I'm not sure how it works but...

but isn't Tivo a device that stores video to a hard drive rather than streaming??

I don't have Tivo.. I'm not sure how it works but...

but isn't Tivo a device that stores video to a hard drive rather than streaming??

Most of these devices are expanding to support streaming. Tivo supports Netflix streaming, as does the XBox 360 and newer Blu-ray players.

I would guess that most play-back devices will offer support for at least Netflix and Hulu in the next year or so if they wish to remain competitive with other playback devices.

Most of these devices are expanding to support streaming. Tivo supports Netflix streaming, as does the XBox 360 and newer Blu-ray players.

I would guess that most play-back devices will offer support for at least Netflix and Hulu in the next year or so if they wish to remain competitive with other playback devices.

Yep. Netflix is supposedly working on a new Flash player that should bring it to a ton of devices, including most if not all TVs that use those Yahoo widgets.

My itouch Netflix app is pretty convenient.

What app is this? Are there multiple apps for managing one's Netflix queue via the iPhone?

I forgot to mention, the reason why I asked about the picture quality difference for HDMI vs. component on the Roku is that I seem to recall reading somewhere that the Samsung 2500 "upconverted" the Netflix SD stream over HDMI and I was wondering if the Roku did something similar. If the Roku outputs simultaneously HDMI/Component, perhaps it would be possible to do an A/B test to compare.

They won't look identical because your using two different inputs but on all of my DVRs Component is just as good as HDMI. I use both because I can only run one HDMI source at a time through my AV so if I want to watch more than one game, the others go with component.

I was thinking about getting the Netflix streaming through my Xbox online account. I have seen a lot of positive info here so I may check it out..

I forgot to mention, the reason why I asked about the picture quality difference for HDMI vs. component on the Roku is that I seem to recall reading somewhere that the Samsung 2500 "upconverted" the Netflix SD stream over HDMI and I was wondering if the Roku did something similar. If the Roku outputs simultaneously HDMI/Component, perhaps it would be possible to do an A/B test to compare.

I had my Roku connected to my Kuro 5020 via HDMI; due to a handshake issue that caused significant delay when switching inputs, I swapped out to component. Noticed no real difference in PQ. As someone stated, it currently outputs at 720p, so it's a non-issue.

The Netflix Watch Instantly service is down. It was rather strange for me -- I was waiting for a chosen movie to buffer, and after refreshing the web page, all Watch Instantly movies became "Unavailable". I tried calling their 24-hour help line and it was busy...then they posted the following note at the top of their home page:

Movies and TV shows are currently not available to watch instantly.

Has this happened before?

SCD

The Netflix Watch Instantly service is down. It was rather strange for me -- I was waiting for a chosen movie to buffer, and after refreshing the web page, all Watch Instantly movies became "Unavailable". I tried calling their 24-hour help line and it was busy...then they posted the following note at the top of their home page:

Movies and TV shows are currently not available to watch instantly.

Has this happened before?

SCD

This is the first wide outage I recall, at least since the service really started to take off after they provided support for the XBox 360.

Looks like they got it resolved.

http://www.hackingnetflix.com/2009/05/netflix-watch-instantly-service-outage.html

The Netflix Watch Instantly service is down. It was rather strange for me -- I was waiting for a chosen movie to buffer, and after refreshing the web page, all Watch Instantly movies became "Unavailable". I tried calling their 24-hour help line and it was busy...then they posted the following note at the top of their home page:

Movies and TV shows are currently not available to watch instantly.

Has this happened before?

SCD

And here I thought it was just me. I had just activated my new Roku at around 4:45 PST and much to my dismay I wasn't able to browse and add any HD titles to my queue. Fortunately I already had a few in my existing Watch Instantly queue so I was able to try it out.

BTW, I pulled the HDMI cable from my BD player and did an HDMI / component A/B test for PQ on both SD and HD titles and thought component looked better, by a nose, for HD, and for SD they looked about the same on a 32" 720p Sammy LCD.

What titles are available in HD to watch instantly? I can't find any!

What titles are available in HD to watch instantly? I can't find any!

Last I checked, HD was a genre you could list by on Netflix.com

What titles are available in HD to watch instantly? I can't find any!

http://www.netflix.com/WiHD?ftr=false

Last I checked, HD was a genre you could list by on Netflix.com

They told me I need to activate my xbox 360 (or another device, besides my laptop) in order to watch HD stuff instantly.

Then he said that HD would come up as a genre...thanks for the help everyone!

If there are any new Roku owners out there, like me, that have a problem with the unit randomly rebooting during playback, there's a thread on the RokuLabs forums that addresses this issue:
http://forums.rokulabs.com/viewtopic.php?t=20829

As of today, there's no set established fix, Roku continues to state that there's no known defect with the Roku, and most who have called (after being led through a basic routine of resetting/re-activating/rebooting their units) are having a replacement sent. I'm still waiting to see if the problem reoccurs after the rebooting procedure before getting a new one sent. So far, so good, but I'm not holding my breath.

If there are any new Roku owners out there, like me, that have a problem with the unit randomly rebooting during playback, there's a thread on the RokuLabs forums that addresses this issue:
http://forums.rokulabs.com/viewtopic.php?t=20829

As of today, there's no set established fix, Roku continues to state that there's no known defect with the Roku, and most who have called (after being led through a basic routine of resetting/re-activating/rebooting their units) are having a replacement sent. I'm still waiting to see if the problem reoccurs after the rebooting procedure before getting a new one sent. So far, so good, but I'm not holding my breath.

these guys are great.. great customer service

Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 9:20 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just an update on this issue. We believe we have a possible solution for this.

We are testing a fix for this issue and expect it to be available the week of May 18th. if you are still experiencing spontaneous reboots when watching movies, and would like to try the software fix, please send me a PM with your Roku Player serial number. Beginning Monday, May 18, we'll arrange to have your box take the software fix for testing.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience this is causing for a small percentage of new customers and we appreciate your patience as we work to deliver a fix as quickly as possible.

these guys are great.. great customer service

Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 9:20 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just an update on this issue. We believe we have a possible solution for this.

We are testing a fix for this issue and expect it to be available the week of May 18th. if you are still experiencing spontaneous reboots when watching movies, and would like to try the software fix, please send me a PM with your Roku Player serial number. Beginning Monday, May 18, we'll arrange to have your box take the software fix for testing.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience this is causing for a small percentage of new customers and we appreciate your patience as we work to deliver a fix as quickly as possible.

Thanks for the alert to this new post. I actually watched a full movie from beginning to end without any problems last night, so I wonder if I should even bother with the software update at this point (may cause more harm than good ;))

I'm trying to watch something on Netflix that is HD. The quality bar only goes to about the middle and of course doesn't display HD. I got out of Netflix so my Samsung 1600 wouldn't be using any of my bandwidth then did an internet speed check using my providers speed check site and my internet speed is great.

Does the quality bar only affected by my internet or does Netflix's server have an effect on that also?

I'm trying to watch something on Netflix that is HD. The quality bar only goes to about the middle and of course doesn't display HD. I got out of Netflix so my Samsung 1600 wouldn't be using any of my bandwidth then did an internet speed check using my providers speed check site and my internet speed is great.

Does the quality bar only affected by my internet or does Netflix's server have an effect on that also?
I always get the full bars with U-verse 6 Mbps, the quality is often pretty good with the HD titles. I measure about 5.7 Mbps. What kind of download speeds were you getting with the speed check?

I always get the full bars with U-verse 6 Mbps, the quality is often pretty good with the HD titles. I measure about 5.7 Mbps. What kind of download speeds were you getting with the speed check?

I measured 7.6 Mbps and the ping was 26 ms.

I tested using speedtest.net and my isp providers speed test site.

I measured 7.6 Mbps and the ping was 26 ms.

I tested using speedtest.net and my isp providers speed test site.
Weird. It could be a time thing. I have also heard that some providers have good scores for tests, but cannot sustain those speeds for extending periods. And I'm also assuming that wireless is not part of the equation.

I have not had problems before tonight. I've been using the Samsung 1600 for about a month and for the most part have had really good quality readings on the quality bar.

Thanks for the alert to this new post. I actually watched a full movie from beginning to end without any problems last night, so I wonder if I should even bother with the software update at this point (may cause more harm than good ;))

Unfortunately unplugging the modem, router, and player didn't didn't turn out to be a permanent fix, as I started getting spontaneous reboots on my Roku again last night. Before I got a chance to contact Roku this morning about the software patch they are offering, I got a call from the same CSR I spoke with on Saturday, who is now escalating my case # to the engineering department. In spite of the problems with this rebooting bug, I have to agree with 1brokebrother that Roku's tech help/customer service has been outstanding!

The other day I tried to use my Roku player after not using it for a while, and it was, well...dead. I tried unplugging and plugging into a different outlet, resetting, etc., but still no little white light.

Since I had planned to disassemble some other pieces of my system anyway, I pulled the box out to check it over. I eventually noticed that the power adaptor had what looked like a small bit of melting to its shape. I called Roku support, and they shipped me a replacement adaptor. I just receieved it today, and I'm happy to report that it solved the problem!

I had the unit plugged into my receiver's accessory outlet (to turn the Roku on and off automatically with the receiver). Maybe the heat build-up was too much for it. Or maybe the adaptor just imploded on its own. Don't really know, but I thought I'd share in case anyone has a similar experience with a dead player.

Anyone having issues with streaming audio only playing back in stereo? I have to use my receiver to simulate surround sound and it doesn't seem like I should have to do that. If the movie is DD it should just come through that way no??

Anyone having issues with streaming audio only playing back in stereo? I have to use my receiver to simulate surround sound and it doesn't seem like I should have to do that. If the movie is DD it should just come through that way no??
I believe that stereo is the best you are currently going to get with Netflix downloads.

For anybody wondering how these players compare...

Well, I finally had a chance to compare the Netflix streaming picture quality of the Samsung BD-P2550 to the Roku Player. Note that both players have the latest firmware versions. My conclusion is that there is little difference in the image. At least I wasn't able to see it switching back and forth with an HDMI switch. The Samsung was set to 1080p and the Roku to 720p. Both sending HDMI video to a 60" Pioneer PDP-6010 1080p plasma. The movies I watched were Host in HD (4 stars on Roku and 13 bars on Samsung) and Wild Things in SD (4 stars on Roku and 10 bars on Samsung). The other thing that I noticed right away is the Roku Player is much faster than the Samsung at navigating though the title list.

I figured if the PQ of the Samsung was better I would put in the main AV rack and move the Roku to the bedroom system. I already have the OPPO BDP-83 in the main rack, so the Blu-ray and DVD capabilities have no use there. So, now I will be keeping the Roku in the main system and will replace my Panny 35 Blu-ray player in the bedroom with the Samsung.

I would be interested in hearing if anybody else has made the same comparison and what the results were.

Has anyone watched "Splinter" instantly? I watched the first few minutes and it was streaming in HD...looked good through my xbox 360 elite!

need a little info if anyone can help me.
I have a roku box but in another room I just have a computer. First time I tried playing a movie to the tv it worked great with hdmi coming from an ATI 4870 card with HDMI.
picture was perfect but NO sound.
Is there a way to get sound over hdmi from the computer?

Has anyone watched "Splinter" instantly? I watched the first few minutes and it was streaming in HD...looked good through my xbox 360 elite!

Same here streaming through a X-box 360 Elite. All the titles look great in HD

Same here streaming through a X-box 360 Elite. All the titles look great in HD

Great is subjective. I would say Netflix is good enough for the masses, but what Netflix calls HD looks no better than an upscaled DVD with its best content in a 10' experience. I checked out Splinter based on some comments here and was not impressed. And yes, my connection is fast enough and I have access to nearly every CE device with Netflix integrated into it.

Great is subjective. I would say Netflix is good enough for the masses, but what Netflix calls HD looks no better than an upscaled DVD with its best content in a 10' experience. I checked out Splinter based on some comments here and was not impressed. And yes, my connection is fast enough and I have access to nearly every CE device with Netflix integrated into it.

I second that. In fact, your comparison to a good upscaled DVD via a good player is spot on. In fact this made me pull a comparison with my LG BH200 which is a really good upscaling player, and it was spot on with Netflix- not to mention the 5.1 sound that Netflix is lacking.

Still, very, very good for instant streaming and "free".

I second that. In fact, your comparison to a good upscaled DVD via a good player is spot on. In fact this made me pull a comparison with my LG BH200 which is a really good upscaling player, and it was spot on with Netflix- not to mention the 5.1 sound that Netflix is lacking.

Still, very, very good for instant streaming and "free".Precisely. "Good enough for the masses" is all that they can really aim to be, particularly as a no-extra-cost service ancillary to disc rental. Vudu offers much better PQ with surround sound, but it's a purchase-or-pay-per-view download model.

Netflix has stated that the lack of surround sound is due to their use of Windows Media DRM, whose only compatible surround encoding is WMA Pro (which extremely few AVRs can decode). They hope to improve on that in the future.

I do expect things to change in the future.

The trick is for the studios to realize and accept that the rental market is growing and that there is a growth opportunity there for them, both on a per title basis and the overall size of the market.

Once they realize they can double the revenue share they see from Netflix by supporting streaming (versus physical media), and that low cost rentals of new titles (by places like Redbox) are limiting the rebound of the sell through physical media market, they will work harder to provide new titles for streaming with quality that matches or exceeds current physical media limitations.

Actually, I think they may already realize this and simply need to change the exisiting contracts so the "windows" better reflect the market. I can't believe they are dumb enough to not realize that Netflix will continue to grow and pull-in a higher percentage of rental dollars and know that the current system results in 1/3 of that revenue (that could be going to the studios) instead goes directly to the USPS.

[QUOTE=miata;16500800]For anybody wondering how these players compare...

Well, I finally had a chance to compare the Netflix streaming picture quality of the Samsung BD-P2550 to the Roku Player. Note that both players have the latest firmware versions. My conclusion is that there is little difference in the image. At least I wasn't able to see it switching back and forth with an HDMI switch. The Samsung was set to 1080p and the Roku to 720p. Both sending HDMI video to a 60" Pioneer PDP-6010 1080p plasma. The movies I watched were Host in HD (4 stars on Roku and 13 bars on Samsung) and Wild Things in SD (4 stars on Roku and 10 bars on Samsung). The other thing that I noticed right away is the Roku Player is much faster than the Samsung at navigating though the title list.

I figured if the PQ of the Samsung was better I would put in the main AV rack and move the Roku to the bedroom system. I already have the OPPO BDP-83 in the main rack, so the Blu-ray and DVD capabilities have no use there. So, now I will be keeping the Roku in the main system and will replace my Panny 35 Blu-ray player in the bedroom with the Samsung.

I would be interested in hearing if anybody else has made the same comparison and what the results were.[/QUOTE

Thanks for your observations/Posting. Bought the BD-2550 for use in a vacation home mainly for the ROKU feature. Was wondering how well it would work!!:):)

Great is subjective. I would say Netflix is good enough for the masses, but what Netflix calls HD looks no better than an upscaled DVD with its best content in a 10' experience. I checked out Splinter based on some comments here and was not impressed. And yes, my connection is fast enough and I have access to nearly every CE device with Netflix integrated into it.

I would say it is comparable to DirectTV HD...not near the quality of my Toshiba HD-A35 player or Denon 2500 blu-ray. I have Comcast and watching on a 50" plasma.

Yes it's certainly better than upconverted SD. It easily has more detail than upconverted SD.

Yes it's certainly better than upconverted SD. It easily has more detail than upconverted SD.
I would agree that the HD feeds have more detail than DVDs -- especially in slow moving scenes. However, even with a full signal there is artifact-ing with fast motion. The stereo audio is, of course, inferior to DD on DVD, but with Dolby Pro Logic decoding the experience is still decent. All in all, some of the better HD titles don't bother me at all.

I would agree that the HD feeds have more detail than DVDs -- especially in slow moving scenes. However, even with a full signal there is artifact-ing with fast motion. The stereo audio is, of course, inferior to DD on DVD, but with Dolby Pro Logic decoding the experience is still decent. All in all, some of the better HD titles don't bother me at all.

I wouldn't watch anything with either heavy-surround sound or a lot of fast moving scenes (pretty much any action or sci-fi movie), but I watch a lot of other stuff with it, and have no complaints.

Some of these titles are starting to piss me off.
A lot of the older movies are not letterboxed...which really blows...the quality of the streaming of regular NON-HD titles looks like crap...HD streaming titles look very good.
I tried watching 'The Andromedra Strain' and the lip synch was off by a full second! Couldn't watch it...seems like the netflix streaming is becoming more of a, if I can't see the blu-ray, then I'll watch the DVD, it I don't have it on DVD then I guess I'll have to watch it on netflix...
Don't know if it's getting better or worse.

I just checked Andromeda Strain on my laptop again at work where we have a 30 megabits connection and it's still out of sync!
I'm going to email netflix about this!

Some of these titles are starting to piss me off.
A lot of the older movies are not letterboxed...which really blows...the quality of the streaming of regular NON-HD titles looks like crap...HD streaming titles look very good.
I tried watching 'The Andromedra Strain' and the lip synch was off by a full second! Couldn't watch it...seems like the netflix streaming is becoming more of a, if I can't see the blu-ray, then I'll watch the DVD, it I don't have it on DVD then I guess I'll have to watch it on netflix...
Don't know if it's getting better or worse.

I just checked Andromeda Strain on my laptop again at work where we have a 30 megabits connection and it's still out of sync!
I'm going to email netflix about this!
Email them and make sure they know!

Right now it looks like they are getting some crappy encodes from Starz.

Email them and make sure they know!

Right now it looks like they are getting some crappy encodes from Starz.

Yeah, most of the Starz Play stuff is pretty lousy. It looks like NF chose to choose a bigger library of older/lower quality encodes from Starz, rather than starting with a smaller library of higher quality encodes.

I hope they re-encode this stuff....those old encodes are a few years old now.

Obviously the newer encodes are much better, and I have very little complaints about any newer titles (sound aside, I mean)

I just let them know...they have a pretty decent feedback system to report problems with the instant streaming titles...and sync issues is one of the options...hopefully they'll crack the whip on Starz!

I think I'm going to put my account on hold until I see some better titles streaming. As far as new releases, this could be a good time anyway because not much coming down the pipe. I'm talking 2 or 3 months tops. Hopefully we'll see something better.

We are just not too happy with it. The fact that you cannot search for titles on the TV is a killer for my family--just too many steps. Add to that how hard it is to tell if a title is in HD, and it has greatly tarnished in our eyes. We still use it some, but not much.

We are just not too happy with it. The fact that you cannot search for titles on the TV is a killer for my family--just too many steps. Add to that how hard it is to tell if a title is in HD, and it has greatly tarnished in our eyes. We still use it some, but not much.
These really are some one of the biggest problems. It would be a lot nicer if Netflix simply emulated the Amazon model that is used on the Roku Player where you can naviagate by genre, HD, etc. My work-around is to create a queue of about 100 movies that the familar can browse from the TV.

We are just not too happy with it. The fact that you cannot search for titles on the TV is a killer for my family--just too many steps. Add to that how hard it is to tell if a title is in HD, and it has greatly tarnished in our eyes. We still use it some, but not much.

I use the 360 and have similar complaints, but it's not annoying enough for me to forego the (IMO) "most-bang-for-your-buck" option. I just do my queue management on the computer, and have it set up like this:

HD titles in alphabetical order
SD titles in alphabetical order

the way the HD titles are at the top/first in my queue, and it's easy to tell them apart because they are separated.

It's kindof annoying, but not as annoying as not having streaming or paying $4-$6 per title.

I really wish/hope they're adding the search and "Available in HD" stuff directly to the menu on the 360 Dashboard. I also just wish they'd add sorting options to my queue...I'd really like to be able to sort my Instant queue alphabetically rather than having to do it manually.

Tried 3 movies last week on the Roku and they were all in full screen. I don't see where widescreen is indicated, but it really needs to be. Hardly use streaming at all.

I use the 360 and have similar complaints, but it's not annoying enough for me to forego the (IMO) "most-bang-for-your-buck" option. I just do my queue management on the computer, and have it set up like this:

HD titles in alphabetical order
SD titles in alphabetical order

the way the HD titles are at the top/first in my queue, and it's easy to tell them apart because they are separated.

Great idea. I'll have to play with this. Is thre any way to tell that a movie is HD after you put into the queue? That is also annoying.

The Xbox 360 fall dashboard update will make things easier for Netflix subscribers by allowing you to search and browse from the Xbox.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2348010,00.asp

The Xbox 360 fall dashboard update will make things easier for Netflix subscribers by allowing you to search and browse from the Xbox.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2348010,00.asp

Awesome! This will make it much better...I sometimes can't find something I feel like watching in my queue and hate having to fire up the laptop to add something to my queue. Excellent feature!

Just finished watching a movie, streaming from the x-box 360 and around 40 on queue. Real happy with all you get. I have the 2 dvd out at a time (mostly blu though). Cannot wait until they upgrade the sound though.

The Xbox 360 fall dashboard update will make things easier for Netflix subscribers by allowing you to search and browse from the Xbox.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2348010,00.aspOT, but they're apparently also going to do instant-on 1080p24, surround-sound streaming of some of the stuff in their pay-per-view-or-purchase XBL Video Store (which is becoming the "Zune Video Store", or something like that involving the Zune brand, with the introduction of Zune HD, which will be able to play HD-rez videos from an HDMI-equiped dock). No doubt this involves their much-ballyhoo'd Silverlight streaming tech, which hasn't impressed me, at least not on my 3 y/o laptop.

Tried 3 movies last week on the Roku and they were all in full screen. I don't see where widescreen is indicated, but it really needs to be. Hardly use streaming at all.

Unfortunately it seems many of the StarzPlay movies are full screen (4:3). Their PQ is also generally worse than other SD titles. I now avoid them like the plague. If you have a fast enough Internet connection, try some of the HD titles.

Unfortunately it seems many of the StarzPlay movies are full screen (4:3). Their PQ is also generally worse than other SD titles. I now avoid them like the plague. If you have a fast enough Internet connection, try some of the HD titles.

I don't think I"ve seen a 4:3 StarzPlay movie yet (but I'm sure it's dependent on what you watch)

But yes, I cringe everytime I start to play a movie and the StarzPlay logo comes up. The quality is pretty bad. I wonder how old those encodes are. Netflix should really push to phase those out or re-encode them.....they are giving the service a bad name. Yes, I know that provides a lot of quantity, but man...

I don't think I"ve seen a 4:3 StarzPlay movie yet (but I'm sure it's dependent on what you watch)

But yes, I cringe everytime I start to play a movie and the StarzPlay logo comes up. The quality is pretty bad. I wonder how old those encodes are. Netflix should really push to phase those out or re-encode them.....they are giving the service a bad name. Yes, I know that provides a lot of quantity, but man...

I'm sure many of the starz encodes go back to around '05, when they had their vongo service.

OT, but they're apparently also going to do instant-on 1080p24, surround-sound streaming of some of the stuff in their pay-per-view-or-purchase XBL Video Store (which is becoming the "Zune Video Store", or something like that involving the Zune brand, with the introduction of Zune HD, which will be able to play HD-rez videos from an HDMI-equiped dock). No doubt this involves their much-ballyhoo'd Silverlight streaming tech, which hasn't impressed me, at least not on my 3 y/o laptop.
Ben really needs to get that sample up so we can see what kind of quality it will have.... I am interested to see what it will actually end up looking like.

Ben really needs to get that sample up so we can see what kind of quality it will have.... I am interested to see what it will actually end up looking like.Who's Ben and when and where did he promise to give a sample? I should think that any sample would require a release of their streaming player.

It's really not that revolutionary. Vudu has been doing it for at least a couple of years. All of their HD releases--even the lower quality ones--are 1080p24 with surround sound (if the source had surround), which can start "instantly" over a connection of 4 Mbps or more. (Their higher quality "HQX" encodings supposedly compare favorably to Blu-ray, but cannot be started "instantly", no matter what the bandwidth of your network connection. It's variable bit rate with peaks of 20 Mbps and lows of 2 Mbps and has to be completely downloaded before playback. Of course, no Vudu format is true streaming like Netflix Watch Instantly--you cannot skip from the beginning past the point where the download currently ends.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16638381#post16638381

he works at ms and does alot of work with their encoding and silverlight. You can also see a sample of their low bitrate (3mbit) 720p smooth streaming in that post and what I asked was that he take their 1080p profile and put out a video so we can see what it will end up looking like this fall.

I think MS will be in between vudu 4mbit and hdx.... giving you the instant gratification and have quality better than vudu 4mbit but not quite hdx. That said it will be a vastly more successful service imo because the install base is far larger on xbox360 so this could be the first time 1080p comes to "the masses". (those that have 8mbit connection or better)

After checking the Netflix website, I see that they suggest that a computer used for watching instantly Netflix movies should have at least a 1.2 gHz CPU, but since they don't say anything about connection speed, one might suppose that a dial-up connection would be plenty good enough. Should I be surprised if I find that my 3 mbs (minus 20% for overhead) DSL connection would be inadequate, and therefore I might need to upgrade to a $50/month cable connection in order to get good access to the "free" Netflix streaming?
I don't suppose there is any way to completely download the movies over a slower (cheaper) connection before watching them. :mad:

After checking the Netflix website, I see that they suggest that a computer used for watching instantly Netflix movies should have at least a 1.2 gHz CPU, but since they don't say anything about connection speed, one might suppose that a dial-up connection would be plenty good enough.What do you mean "they don't say anything about connection speed"? From this (http://www.netflix.com/Help/TV?lnkctr=yas_wn) page at their site:
Note: Your connection speed matters
To instantly stream Netflix movies to your TV or computer, you need a broadband Internet connection with a speed of at least 1.5 Mbps. A 3 Mbps connection will provide the best performance and picture quality. Some lower cost DSL connections will not provide sufficient bandwidth.I don't see how they could make that any clearer--you need a broadband connection of at least 1.5 Mbps, 3.0 Mbps recommended. You need even higher if you want to get the the high-definition encoding (for those titles which have one), but it may be that you still can't get those on a PC. (BTW--where does it say that you need a 1.2 GHz processor)? You may not have to get cable network service--most DSL providers have at least one speed higher than that (AT&T DSL (http://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=10891), for instance, where you'd pay an additional $5/month to go from 1.5 Mbps to 3 Mbps).

And no, there's no way to download--it's strictly streaming.

As for "free", for people like me who've subscribed to Netflix for many years, it is free. We're not charged any more than our normal subscription fees to access it. You do have to be a Netflix sub, so if you aren't and you subscribe to get this, then I guess it isn't free.

What do you mean "they don't say anything about connection speed"?
When I click on your "this" link, I am directed to a Netflix log-in page and I can't get past the log-in because I am not a Netflix subscriber. Thanks for your info about this though.

(BTW--where does it say that you need a 1.2 GHz processor)?
Go here and click on "What are the system requirements?":
http://www.netflix.com/HowItWorks

I am too far away from AT&T's glass fiber to get their 6 mbps DSL service. I tried that once and could not get much more speed out of it than I now get with their 3 mbps service.

So...you can't sort by genre "HD" anymore in the Watch Instantly section?

???

So...you can't sort by genre "HD" anymore in the Watch Instantly section?

???

Sure you can. Looking at it right now. Click on Watch Instantly, then the Genre Dropdown, and there it is....

Sure you can. Looking at it right now. Click on Watch Instantly, then the Genre Dropdown, and there it is....
Sure. You can search though the list, but once you have something in your queue you cannot tell whether or not it is HD. Also, you can search by HD and Genre. I just wish I could filter on movies versus TV with HD. Netflix just doesn't make it easy to manage HD in the instant queue.

Sure you can. Looking at it right now. Click on Watch Instantly, then the Genre Dropdown, and there it is....

Yeah that's what I used to do...I'm logged in and everything. Weird that yours is still working...

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/7983/14514264.jpg

the roku interface allows you to tell the difference between SD and HD

the roku interface allows you to tell the difference between SD and HD
True, but the Roku movie browser slows to a crawl when you have 100 or so movies in your queue. That is why I use my computer or iPod Touch to browse titles in my queue -- but neither of these tell you which movies are HD.

-- but neither of these tell you which movies are HD.
On your computer, have you tried selecting the "HD" item from the "Genres" drop down menu when you have the "Watch Instantly" tab selected? I use a XP PC and that version of Netflix will show the HD titles available in watch instantly.

On your computer, have you tried selecting the "HD" item from the "Genres" drop down menu when you have the "Watch Instantly" tab selected? I use a XP PC and that version of Netflix will show the HD titles available in watch instantly.
Yes. when you are selecting titles you can filter by HD, but once you put a title in your queue you can't tell whether it is HD or not -- from either the computer or the Touch. You can only tell from the Roku box, but that thing is very slow for browsing.

Go here and click on "What are the system requirements?":
http://www.netflix.com/HowItWorks.That link just gets me to the Netflix Member Home page, which does not have a "What are the system requirements?" link. I poked around the site, but I cannot find it. Apparently the information is not available to members :rolleyes:.

Yeah that's what I used to do...I'm logged in and everything. Weird that yours is still working...

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/7983/14514264.jpg

Just verified mine is still showing. I think it only shows if you have a device on your account capable of showing the HD stuff (I am not sure on that, but pretty sure it wasn't there before I added my 360 to the account).

And yes, it would be great if they'd tell you which titles are HD after you've added them to your queue.

Yeah that's what I used to do...I'm logged in and everything. Weird that yours is still working...

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/7983/14514264.jpg

You have to have a Netflix enabled device capable of HD streams (Roku, Tivo, 360, etc.) activitated on your account in order to see the HD genre.

That link just gets me to the Netflix Member Home page, which does not have a "What are the system requirements?" link. I poked around the site, but I cannot find it. Apparently the information is not available to members :rolleyes:.
Remove your Netflix cookies and otherwise make sure you are not logged in as a member to get to the correct page by clicking the link that I provided.

I am only getting about 4 frames per second on Netflix Watch Instantly. It drops to about 2 frames/sec if I watch full screen (1920 x 1080). My setup:
2.5 Mb/s DSL (actual download speed)
1.6 GHz Pentium 4
512 MB RAM
Radeon 9000 with 128 MB video RAM in AGP 2X slot

What hardware specs would I need to get good results (no skipped frames) with Netflix Watch Instantly using my existing internet connection?:confused:

Remove your Netflix cookies and otherwise make sure you are not logged in as a member to get to the correct page by clicking the link that I provided.Okay--I logged off my Netflix account and was able to get to that page.
After checking the Netflix website, I see that they suggest that a computer used for watching instantly Netflix movies should have at least a 1.2 gHz CPU, but since they don't say anything about connection speed, one might suppose that a dial-up connection would be plenty good enough.Note that that FAQ answer you pointed me to says:
You must have a computer running Windows XP or Mac OS X and an active broadband connection to the Internet.It doesn't mention minimum speed, but that does exclude a dial-up connection. It does include a 768 Kbps DSL connection which they don't really support.

I am only getting about 4 frames per second on Netflix Watch Instantly. It drops to about 2 frames/sec if I watch full screen (1920 x 1080). My setup:
2.5 Mb/s DSL (actual download speed)
1.6 GHz Pentium 4
512 MB RAM
Radeon 9000 with 128 MB video RAM in AGP 2X slot

What hardware specs would I need to get good results (no skipped frames) with Netflix Watch Instantly using my existing internet connection?:confused:Go to this (http://www.netflix.com/WiMessage?lnkctr=wnph_bndwth&msg=52) page. How many bars do you see in the little inset meter at the top?

BTW, your username "SillyConVal"--are you actually in Santa Clara county? If so, there are Netflix servers close to you, so you shouldn't be affected by distance-from-server issues. (Netflix the company is there, in Los Gatos).

[QUOTE=SillyConVal;16732583]512 MB RAM
Radeon 9000 with 128 MB video RAM in AGP 2X slot

QUOTE]

that doesn't seem very powerful.. I'm no computer guru but it seems is you should upgrade to 4 gigs and a better video card

Go to this (http://www.netflix.com/WiMessage?lnkctr=wnph_bndwth&msg=52) page. ? If so, there are Netflix servers close to you, so you shouldn't be affected by distance-from-server issues. (Netflix the company is there, in Los Gatos).
how could the netfix server distance affect video streams?

how could the netfix server distance affect video streams?

Basic Internet functionality. The further away you are from the server, the more "hops" you have to go through. Your connection to the NF server is only as fast as the slowest hop (only as strong as the weakest link, so to speak).

So the closer you are (physically/geographically) to the servers, the less hops you should be going through, and thus the less chance of having a bad/slow hop.

Someone can correct me if I'm incorrect above, but that's my understanding.

how could the netfix server distance affect video streams?mproper is essentially correct. Sometimes distance doesn't have much effect, if the entire path is speedy. For instance, in speed tests, right now I'm seeing about 22 Mbps to LA (TWC Road Runner "Turbo" service, nominally 15 Mbps with burst up to 20 Mbps when there's not much traffic in the cable system network); I get nearly the same speed from here to San Franciso (500 miles, over roads), Dallas (1300 mi) and Seattle (1200 mi), but only about 10 Mbps to Chicago (2100 mi), 12 Mbps to Atlanta (2100 mi), and 7 Mbps from here to NYC (2800 mi). It's more complex than just purely distance. Many factors are involved, some of which can be temporary (like high competing traffic through some part of the path, as well as the network and CPU load on the server that you're connecting to), so speed can vary over time on the same connection. It's possible that sometimes you might get a better speed to a distant server than one in town. Usually the connection to a server nearby will be faster.

Go to speedtest.net and try tests to a few different cities around the country, the continent and the world.

I am only getting about 4 frames per second on Netflix Watch Instantly. It drops to about 2 frames/sec if I watch full screen (1920 x 1080). My setup:
2.5 Mb/s DSL (actual download speed)
1.6 GHz Pentium 4
512 MB RAM
Radeon 9000 with 128 MB video RAM in AGP 2X slot

What hardware specs would I need to get good results (no skipped frames) with Netflix Watch Instantly using my existing internet connection?:confused:
That resolution is way to high for your system. You should run it at a lower resolution. Maybe 1280x720.

Go to this (http://www.netflix.com/WiMessage?lnkctr=wnph_bndwth&msg=52) page. How many bars do you see in the little inset meter at the top?
BTW, your username "SillyConVal"--are you actually in Santa Clara county? If so, there are Netflix servers close to you, so you shouldn't be affected by distance-from-server issues. (Netflix the company is there, in Los Gatos).
Three bars -- High. No, I don't reside there. Clever of you to unravel my handle, though.

Basic Internet functionality. The further away you are from the server, the more "hops" you have to go through. Your connection to the NF server is only as fast as the slowest hop (only as strong as the weakest link, so to speak).
So the closer you are (physically/geographically) to the servers, the less hops you should be going through, and thus the less chance of having a bad/slow hop.
Someone can correct me if I'm incorrect above, but that's my understanding.
I did a trace route (tracert.exe) on the Netflix video server IP address and it took a total of 125 ms. to get there in 8 hops. Several of the more distant hops took 25 ms. each.

That resolution is way to high for your system. You should run it at a lower resolution. Maybe 1280x720.
I don't want to give up my 1920 x 1080 resolution on this computer because it allows me to have side-by-side simultaneous display of two browser windows, or one browser window and Notepad, or whatever.

Since it is now apparent that my current computer is not going to be up to the task, what I would now like to do is to get a new computer that would be able to stream Netflix movies full screen (1920 x 1080 resolution) without dropping any frames using my current 3 mb/s nominal (2.5 mb/s actual) internet connection. I would be satisfied with good performance on SD content considering that I do not want to have to bear the expense of a faster internet connection.

The computer I am considering for purchase has:
Intel i7-920 CPU running at 2.66 GHz
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit (When available)
4 GB RAM
Radeon HD 4850 with 512 MB RAM

So I would be interested in hearing from you-all regarding your opinion as to whether this system would do the job with my modest 3 Gb/s internet connection, and also I would be interested in hearing what computer specs that any of you have that are being successful in streaming Netflix flicks without dropping frames while using a 3 mb/s connection.

The computer I am considering for purchase has:
Intel i7-920 CPU running at 2.66 GHz
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit (When available)
4 GB RAM
Radeon HD 4850 with 512 MB RAM

So I would be interested in hearing from you-all regarding your opinion as to whether this system would do the job with my modest 3 Gb/s internet connection, and also I would be interested in hearing what computer specs that any of you have that are being successful in streaming Netflix flicks without dropping frames while using a 3 mb/s connection.That should be more than sufficient to handle it. One of the biggest problems that your old computer probably had was scaling the video to 1080x1920. The highest resolution that Netflix delivers is 720p24 (and I don't think that you can get those streams on a PC, yet, and you couldn't get them at your network service speed, anyway), so your PC would always be upscaling it. (I'd have thought that it would have used the hardware in the graphics card for that, but in that case I wouldn't expect it to slow so dramatically at 1080 res).

You might want to read the "Encoding for streaming (http://blog.netflix.com/2008/11/encoding-for-streaming.html)" and the "Netflix Trying for Consistent Excellence on Streaming (http://blog.netflix.com/2009/03/netflix-trying-for-consistent.html)" articles on Netflix's blog, for some technical insights into the issues.

...
The computer I am considering for purchase has:
Intel i7-920 CPU running at 2.66 GHz
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit (When available)
4 GB RAM
Radeon HD 4850 with 512 MB RAM

So I would be interested in hearing from you-all regarding your opinion as to whether this system would do the job with my modest 3 Gb/s internet connection, and also I would be interested in hearing what computer specs that any of you have that are being successful in streaming Netflix flicks without dropping frames while using a 3 mb/s connection.
If Netflix the only reason you are going to purchase this new computer, I've got to ask if you've considered a $100 Roku player?

If Netflix the only reason you are going to purchase this new computer, I've got to ask if you've considered a $100 Roku player?

Yes, I've considered it, which brings up the question: Have you Roku owners been able to routinely stream SD Netflix movies with no dropped frames through the Roku player using a 3 mb/s nominal internet connection speed?

Yes, I've considered it, which brings up the question: Have you Roku owners been able to routinely stream SD Netflix movies with no dropped frames through the Roku player using a 3 mb/s nominal internet connection speed?
The Roku box should be fine for SD streams as long as your actual streaming rate to the Netflix CDN servers can sustain close to 2 Mbs.

You can test your Netflix CDN connection speed using the following link:
http://cdn.nflximg.com/us/script/speedcheck.html

These actual CDN delivery speeds will generally be lower than raw speedtest results, because they include CDN edge server delays and capacity limitations. But if the large block test results average about 1800 kbps or better you should be fine for Roku SD. If they hit 2500-2600 kbps you might even be able to get HD on the Roku by locking the bitstream selector to 2.5 Mbps using the Roku debugger screen.

In our experience, the Roku works much better than PC streaming on either our Macbook 2.2 ghz or Toshiba 2.4 ghz dual core notebooks.

Tried to stream the movie "Short & Curly" last night and got a message saying something like "Sorry, this title not available for streaming" even though it's listed as a Watch Instantly title and shows in my queue.

Can someone else try? This was on the XBOX....

Tried to stream the movie "Short & Curly" last night and got a message saying something like "Sorry, this title not available for streaming" even though it's listed as a Watch Instantly title and shows in my queue.

Can someone else try? This was on the XBOX....I tried it and get the same results as you on Xbox. Works fine on TiVo and PC.

The Xbox used to use different sets of encodings than the other devices, WMV3 as opposed to VC1AP. It's possible that there's no set of encodings of that title for the Xbox player.

Thanks. First title I've ran into that wouldn't play on the XBOX. Oh well...guess I could watch it on the PC in the crappy Silverlight player...it's only 70 minutes. Actually, I'll try to play it using PlayOn...that might work.

Oh well...guess I could watch it on the PC in the crappy Silverlight player...That 1080p24 streaming player for the Xbox Live Video Store (soon to become the Zune Video Store) that they demonstrated at E3 sounds like it probably uses Silverlight technology. Hopefully it will have improved some. Of course, the Xbox has some very fast processor with vector processing elements, all of which can be virtually dedicated to the problem, if necessary, unlike a PC, with dozens of background processes running.

That 1080p24 streaming player for the Xbox Live Video Store (soon to become the Zune Video Store) that they demonstrated at E3 sounds like it probably uses Silverlight technology. Hopefully it will have improved some. Of course, the Xbox has some very fast processor with vector processing elements, all of which can be virtually dedicated to the problem, if necessary, unlike a PC, with dozens of background processes running.

Yeah, there's a tech demo here for it:
http://www.iis.net/media/experiencesmoothstreaming1080p

I started a thread a little while ago:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1158084

Yeah, there's a tech demo here for it:
http://www.iis.net/media/experiencesmoothstreaming1080pThanks for the link-im-freakin'-pressive! (Though I was a bit creeped-out by the animation style, at first :D). It'd be great if the Netflix's encodings were able to take advantage of that, and the embedded players able to play it. I assume that it's one and the same Silverlight plug-in that Netflix PC playback uses, since I wasn't asked to install anything.

My computer only has a VGA output and my 1080p Mits panel won't do 1080x1920 over VGA (only DVI or HDMI), so I'm running at 720p. I need a new computer in the worst way and hope to buy one soon (something close to SillyConVal's specs--it's amazing how much you can get now for four or five hundred buck on sale ;)). It will have DVI-D or HDMI out.

If Netflix the only reason you are going to purchase this new computer, I've got to ask if you've considered a $100 Roku player?

I put the entertainment center PC on hold and went for the Roku player, I'm satisfied with the performance(not up to my Verizon FiOS feeds, but watchable without distraction.) We're using it for a Dick Van Dyke Show marathon at this time, I hope Netflix can secure more of this genre.

I put the entertainment center PC on hold and went for the Roku player, I'm satisfied with the performance(not up to my Verizon FiOS feeds, but watchable without distraction.) We're using it for a Dick Van Dyke Show marathon at this time, I hope Netflix can secure more of this genre.

Being able to watch TV shows streaming via Netflix has been SWEET!! Stuff like Weeds, The Tudors, Californication, Rockford Files, Maverick, Swingers.... shows that I have really enjoyed and likely would not have rented otherwise.

Being able to watch TV shows streaming via Netflix has been SWEET!! Stuff like Weeds, The Tudors, Californication, Rockford Files, Maverick, Swingers.... shows that I have really enjoyed and likely would not have rented otherwise.

Ditto that. I am rediscovering the original Battlestar Galactica (through 7 eps). Used to watch that growing up but never really bought the DVDs or anything.

Up next is Jericho, another show that I never watched.

Ditto that. I am rediscovering the original Battlestar Galactica (through 7 eps). Used to watch that growing up but never really bought the DVDs or anything.

Up next is Jericho, another show that I never watched.

The original Outer Limits is coming to DVD, and One Step Beyond is already on DVD__streaming compared to cable is going to be like going from an elementary school library to the Library of Congress.

+1 here..... have enjoyed the tv shows more than anything via the roku but have also found some gems in oddball categories I never would have put in my dvd que.... documentarys, classics and foreign films..

I am very excited about Roku seeking out folks to help test 5.1 channel sound on the roku box. They seem to be pretty speedy with implimentation so maybe we might see this upgrade in 3 to 4 months.

Judy

I watched a bunch of British series that I really enjoyed and never would have thought to rent: all four seasons of the new Doctor Who, the entire run of Coupling, Jekyll (really enjoyed that). I've also watched a bunch of independent film that I probably would have never seen either (I strongly recommend Cashback and Mr. Foe :)).

I am very excited about Roku seeking out folks to help test 5.1 channel sound on the roku box. They seem to be pretty speedy with implimentation so maybe we might see this upgrade in 3 to 4 months.

Judy where did you hear this?

I put the entertainment center PC on hold and went for the Roku player, I'm satisfied with the performance(not up to my Verizon FiOS feeds, but watchable without distraction.) ...
I actually have both hooked-up in our basement theater (Sony VW-60 Front PJ @ 97" screen) and the Roku is both smoother and has better PQ than the HTPC. It really is worth the measely $100 they are charging for this little box.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Judy Y
I am very excited about Roku seeking out folks to help test 5.1 channel sound on the roku box. They seem to be pretty speedy with implimentation so maybe we might see this upgrade in 3 to 4 months.

Judy

"where did you hear this?"

I read about it at the Roku forum.

http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?t=21480

I read about it at the Roku forum.

http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?t=21480That post doesn't seem to mention any specific new features being tested and just asks for test volunteers. Also, if they were testing surround sound I'd expect them to ask for make and model of your AVR.

That post doesn't seem to mention any specific new features being tested and just asks for test volunteers. Also, if they were testing surround sound I'd expect them to ask for make and model of your AVR.

"By the way, on Roku Forums, there's a call out for beta testers for some new Roku software that requires the tester to have a 5.1 audio system, so it looks like at least one of the new channels will be 5.1 enabled."
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16654634#post16654634

"By the way, on Roku Forums, there's a call out for beta testers for some new Roku software that requires the tester to have a 5.1 audio system, so it looks like at least one of the new channels will be 5.1 enabled."
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16654634#post16654634Thanks, but again that's anecdotal--where's the link to that alleged "call out for beta testers for some new Roku software that requires the tester to have a 5.1 audio system" on the Roku forums?

Still, it's an anecdote from a second source, which would lend credence to the rumor :). I'm inclined to believe it. I wonder if the testing is for Netflix or Amazon VOD? Amazon sells some HD downloads with 5.1 sound (to date, only HD television episodes), though I don't think they're in 5.1 for connected devices or streaming PC playback (they are 5.1 in PC downloads).

Thanks, but again that's anecdotal--where's the link to that alleged "call out for beta testers for some new Roku software that requires the tester to have a 5.1 audio system" on the Roku forums?

Still, it's an anecdote from a second source, which would lend credence to the rumor :). I'm inclined to believe it. I wonder if the testing is for Netflix or Amazon VOD? Amazon sells some HD downloads with 5.1 sound (to date, only HD television episodes), though I don't think they're in 5.1 for connected devices or streaming PC playback (they are 5.1 in PC downloads).

How dare you not trust the word of a fellow San Diegan(Chris/Zookster?):eek::D

It's a matter of when, not if: "The Roku digital video player is 5.1 Surround Sound-ready. As movies and TV episodes become available over the Internet in 5.1 Surround Sound from our content partners -- such as Netflix and Amazon -- your Roku digital video player will also be ready."
http://www.roku.com/support/faqs

I actually have both hooked-up in our basement theater (Sony VW-60 Front PJ @ 97" screen) and the Roku is both smoother and has better PQ than the HTPC. It really is worth the measely $100 they are charging for this little box.

I wish I could get the Roku for a "measly $100". Roku won't send me one unless I favor them with another $15 for shipping, and then there's no HDMI cable included. Minor considerations, perhaps, but 25% (or so) additional, nevertheless. Anyone who thinks I should not go wah, wah about this, send me the $25 and I'll stop it.

I wish I could get the Roku for a "measly $100". Roku won't send me one unless I favor them with another $15 for shipping, and then there's no HDMI cable included. Minor considerations, perhaps, but 25% (or so) additional, nevertheless. Anyone who thinks I should not go wah, wah about this, send me the $25 and I'll stop it.

if the roku box was $125 with shipping and 6ft hdmi included it would still be a great deal..:cool: if you want you could pick it up from the warehouse.(its in scotts valley)

I wish I could get the Roku for a "measly $100". Roku won't send me one unless I favor them with another $15 for shipping, and then there's no HDMI cable included. Minor considerations, perhaps, but 25% (or so) additional, nevertheless. Anyone who thinks I should not go wah, wah about this, send me the $25 and I'll stop it.

Roku also sells refurb units, with full warranty, for $89.99 on Amazon.

I wish I could get the Roku for a "measly $100". Roku won't send me one unless I favor them with another $15 for shipping, and then there's no HDMI cable included. Minor considerations, perhaps, but 25% (or so) additional, nevertheless. Anyone who thinks I should not go wah, wah about this, send me the $25 and I'll stop it.
You are contemplating buying an HTPC just for the purpose of streaming Netflix??? (according to your earlier posting) and yet you baulk at an extra $25 for a cable and shipping??? please remember you will still need an HDMI cable and maybe shipping or gas money to get your HTPC home. Your 'logic' truly escapes me...

BTW, my HTPC costs $1300 and the Roku actually provides (slightly) better PQ when streaming Netflix... yes, even in SD on a 97" screen.

I wish I could get the Roku for a "measly $100". Roku won't send me one unless I favor them with another $15 for shipping, and then there's no HDMI cable included. Minor considerations, perhaps, but 25% (or so) additional, nevertheless. Anyone who thinks I should not go wah, wah about this, send me the $25 and I'll stop it.

I don't think you're going to get much simpathy around here about having to buy a cable and pay for shipping.

Sorry, but shipping charges have been a staple of life for years, and nowadays, having to buy cables are pretty much standard. Heck, even my PS3 (touted for BD playback) didn't come with an HDMI cable.


Go buy an HTPC if you're concerned about it. I'm sure they wont' charge you shipping or sales tax and it will come with all the cables you need (and will be much easier to use)


But whine all you want. That's why we have ignore lists!

Well, at least some of you have enough of a sense of humor to appreciate that I was exercising mine in pointing out that the Roku is not available for a "measly $100".

Mine was actually $134 shipped because I had to pay tax and shipping. Love it though, worth the price.

I just checked my VISA statements, $122.73 for my Roku on 12/31/'08. Plus a six foot Monoprice HDMI cable(~$5) and a two foot Cat 6 cable(~$1.) Oh, and the Monoprice shipping!;):D I hardwired mine because I needed to move the router to the entertainment center anyway to connect up my Blu-ray player. You'd have to pay me $5,000+ to do without it.

I've been using the Netflix watch instantly service through my XBox 360. My major complaint (which I see others share) is that a large majority of the titles are not widescreen. I went to watch Terminator the other day and shut it off within a couple of seconds once I realized it wasn't widescreen. I know if I ordered the physical DVD through Netflix it would be in widescreen so what gives?

I've watched a few recent TV shows through the service in widescreen/HD and it was great.

I've been using the Netflix watch instantly service through my XBox 360. My major complaint (which I see others share) is that a large majority of the titles are not widescreen. I went to watch Terminator the other day and shut it off within a couple of seconds once I realized it wasn't widescreen. I know if I ordered the physical DVD through Netflix it would be in widescreen so what gives?

I've watched a few recent TV shows through the service in widescreen/HD and it was great.Unless you've tried to watch almost all of the 15,000+ titles, all you can really say is that "a large majority of what I've found that I wanted to watch is not in widescreen". Conversely, almost everything that I've choosen to watch was in widescreen.

Many of the Starz Play titles are "fullscreen" (and often inferior picture quality). These are a currently a little over 1200 titles (fewer than 10% of all--you can see a list of them here (http://www.netflix.com/WiContentPage?vt=tl&so=1&csid=1&lnkctr=genDdTlyr&st=yr)). Unfortunately a lot of the available streams of really popular thatrical releases--like The Terminator--are from Starz Play (curiously, Terminator 2 isn't, and is presented in OAR, looks like 2.35:1). If the description of the title has the Starz Play logo in the description, lower your expectations.

I've been using the Netflix watch instantly service through my XBox 360. My major complaint (which I see others share) is that a large majority of the titles are not widescreen. I went to watch Terminator the other day and shut it off within a couple of seconds once I realized it wasn't widescreen. I know if I ordered the physical DVD through Netflix it would be in widescreen so what gives?

I've watched a few recent TV shows through the service in widescreen/HD and it was great.

My guess it that's an old StarzPlay title (probably a 3 or 4 year old encode). I am going through my queue now, and watching all these StarzPlay titles first (to get them out of the way). On the XBOX you can tell since there is a small "StarzPlay" logo in the bottom-right corner of the cover.

I've only watched one movie (Tracks) that was fullscreen and should have been wide. I tried to find a place for comments under "Report Problem" where I could say the video sucked because it was pan-and-scan, but could not.

Something like Terminator, I have on DVD. Not sure how many titles that's an issue on, since like I said, I've only ran into one. I wonder if there's a list somewhere.

Also, I see Miracle at St Anna is now available to watch instantly. This is a relatively new release, but I wonder if it's HD. I'll have to check tonight (there website isn't up to date...I don't believe). They really need to make it easier to tell if a title is available as HD (like under the "available formats" it just says "streaming" and not "HD streaming" like it should).

I 3rd the starz play thing.... really hoping they get their releases fixed and start providing hd feeds of their stuff.

And St Anna is SD (imdb says 2.35:1 and the feed on starz was 16x9 full screen)

I 3rd the starz play thing.... really hoping they get their releases fixed and start providing hd feeds of their stuff.

And St Anna is SD (imdb says 2.35:1 and the feed on starz was 16x9 full screen)

Do you mean the feed on NF? So they have a relatively new release in SD and the wrong aspect ratio? Come to think of it, Traitor was SD as well (not sure about the aspect ratio)

Miracle at St. Anna is available on BD, so I have moved it to the top of my disc queue anyways (any Watch Instantly titles that are available on BD get moved to the top of my queue).

I wonder what they're thinking...any licensing issues that would prevent them from having newer titles in HD? Well, NF's version of HD anyways?

As I understand it very few of the movies that air on starz are in OAR. (almost all of their stuff is resized to 16x9). Now the question of who is at fault is debatable (studios or starz). To my knowledge there has not been a single movie to date in HD from starz (that to me is the far more important upgrade)

And personally even the zoomed version of st anna is good enough for me with that movie. That movie is one I dont really care about the best pq/aq available so I will finish it today (only got about 1/2 way through yesterday).

Unless you've tried to watch almost all of the 15,000+ titles, all you can really say is that "a large majority of what I've found that I wanted to watch is not in widescreen". Conversely, almost everything that I've choosen to watch was in widescreen.

Many of the Starz Play titles are "fullscreen" (and often inferior picture quality). These are a currently a little over 1200 titles (fewer than 10% of all--you can see a list of them here (http://www.netflix.com/WiContentPage?vt=tl&so=1&csid=1&lnkctr=genDdTlyr&st=yr)). Unfortunately a lot of the available streams of really popular thatrical releases--like The Terminator--are from Starz Play (curiously, Terminator 2 isn't, and is presented in OAR, looks like 2.35:1). If the description of the title has the Starz Play logo in the description, lower your expectations.

I should have phrased it "the majority of what I've watched...". I would say 75% of the movies I have watched instantly were presented in full screen. Now, most of these were older movies (spent a lot of time recently sick on the couch :o) Off the top of my head, Terminator, Basketball Diaries, White Men Can't Jump, Clash of the Titans, and Batman.

Last night I watched "Love and Other Disasters," which I believe is one that got taken down recently for a short time then put back up (instantwatcher.com lists it as "new" on June 18). I had watched a few minutes of it a couple months ago to test my new Roku (before it was taken down), but when I watched last night the PQ seemed much improved (though not HD)...so perhaps a new encode?

Last night I watched "Love and Other Disasters," which I believe is one that got taken down recently for a short time then put back up (instantwatcher.com lists it as "new" on June 18). I had watched a few minutes of it a couple months ago to test my new Roku (before it was taken down), but when I watched last night the PQ seemed much improved (though not HD)...so perhaps a new encode?It's possible, but unless you're sure that you had as many bars when it started both times it could just be a different encode which existed the first time you watched--your connection to the server just wasn't fast enough to get it, the first time you watched.

It's possible, but unless you're sure that you had as many bars when it started both times it could just be a different encode which existed the first time you watched--your connection to the server just wasn't fast enough to get it, the first time you watched.

Good point. I guess in my post I should've mentioned I have a 9 mbps Internet service and I've never gotten anything less than max dots on my Roku, especially for SD content.

More than likely they have a better source/encode for the movie... I cant remember who (may have been benwagoneer) who said encodes should be redone every 6-12 months because they are constantly improving their settings to get the best possible quality out of the material.

This is one area I am particularly excited about over discs..... just look at how far downloads have come already with the 1080p smooth streaming movies coming this fall on xbox360 and the hdx stuff out of vudu. I have little doubt netflix will be bringing the same tech to their stuff as well (and whatever is next the download services will be able to move to). Kinda scary when you think about it because contrary to what the bluray fans want to believe digital distribution is actually more future proofed than bluray or any form of physical media.

Good point. I guess in my post I should've mentioned I have a 9 mbps Internet service and I've never gotten anything less than max dots on my Roku, especially for SD content.You're lucky--I have a 20+ Mbps connection and I've certain gotten less than the maximum from time to time. Even if you can get the rated speed of your line to your provider or nearby test servers, if there's heavy traffic on the path from where you are to the Netflix server, you can get significantly lower speed on that connection.

There is definitely progress being made.

I read recently where a new standard was being adopted by the studios for sharing digital "masters" as a way to improve the downstream encodes being made by suppliers (Netflix, Vudu, etc).

More than likely they have a better source/encode for the movie... I cant remember who (may have been benwagoneer) who said encodes should be redone every 6-12 months because they are constantly improving their settings to get the best possible quality out of the material.

This is one area I am particularly excited about over discs..... just look at how far downloads have come already with the 1080p smooth streaming movies coming this fall on xbox360 and the hdx stuff out of vudu. I have little doubt netflix will be bringing the same tech to their stuff as well (and whatever is next the download services will be able to move to). Kinda scary when you think about it because contrary to what the bluray fans want to believe digital distribution is actually more future proofed than bluray or any form of physical media.

Sounds to me like Netflix wants to keep the number of encodes to a minimum:

"it takes us about 500 processor-months to make one encode through the entire library"(from The Netflix Blog, Friday, June 12, 2009 Closed Captions and Subtitles http://blog.netflix.com/

Yeah, I don't care if they re-encode things every few months or not, but at least encode them in the correct aspect ratio, please. And why not give us the HD encodes of the newer stuff (I mean, Miracle at St. Anna is a new encode, but in the wrong aspect ratio and not HD).

I was just hoping to see an improvement in this stuff, and was willing to give them some time....I understand the older titles are old StarzPlay encodes and they were probably interested in quantity in launching the service, so I can forgive that. But the new stuff should be correct and HD.

One other quirk I've ran into....I always get 4 bars or HD....except on Inland Empire, which I only get one bar on. Thought it might be a quirk for that day, so I've tried it 3 days in a row now, and it always just gets one bar. Suffice it to say, I'm not watching it with the service, so have moved the DVD up my queue. Maybe that title is on another server or something that I don't have a good connection to.

One other quirk I've ran into....I always get 4 bars or HD....except on Inland Empire, which I only get one bar on. Thought it might be a quirk for that day, so I've tried it 3 days in a row now, and it always just gets one bar. Suffice it to say, I'm not watching it with the service, so have moved the DVD up my queue. Maybe that title is on another server or something that I don't have a good connection to.

I always only get 1 bar as well on Inland Empire...DVD looks much better in this case...it's like going from DVD to Blu-ray in terms of quality for Inland Empire streaming off of Netflix...DVD for the win this time!

I always only get 1 bar as well on Inland Empire...DVD looks much better in this case...it's like going from DVD to Blu-ray in terms of quality for Inland Empire streaming off of Netflix...DVD for the win this time!

Good to know it's not just me. Wonder what the issue is with that title. Maybe they have it stored on an old 486 in the basement or something.

I would bet they dont have any encodes higher than the lowest level quality so thats the max it can use (or its not linked properly to the higher quality versions).

I would imagine they are using a centralized storage solution for all their movies (so they can grow/expand over time) so certain movies should not be on separate servers only.

Hello all,

It maybe a off topic question (please forgive me)...what is the best recommended wireless router to use for Netflix streaming off a Roku box...??

Thanks!

Max

One thing that you can do with some routers is assign priority based off of IP and/or type of request.

For example, with my Linksys router flashed with the DD-WRT firmware my Xbox360 gets top priority in my network when streaming a movie, browsing is second, any p2p type service gets throttled way back.

I almost always get full bars for quality, occasionally 3 instead of 4.

One thing that you can do with some routers is assign priority based off of IP and/or type of request.

For example, with my Linksys router flashed with the DD-WRT firmware my Xbox360 gets top priority in my network when streaming a movie, browsing is second, any p2p type service gets throttled way back.

I almost always get full bars for quality, occasionally 3 instead of 4.

Ive been meaning to set up the priority rules... flashed to dd-wrt a few months ago and havent messed with the priority rules. what are your settings if you dont mind me asking. (and which way are you doing the priority.... there are 4 or 5 different ways to do it in dd-wrt)

Ive been meaning to set up the priority rules... flashed to dd-wrt a few months ago and havent messed with the priority rules. what are your settings if you dont mind me asking. (and which way are you doing the priority.... there are 4 or 5 different ways to do it in dd-wrt)

I'll try to remember to check when I get home but off the top of my head...

The MAC address for the 360 has priority 1, any internet usage from it is online gaming (rare) or watching Netflix. I do not want lag/slowness in either. My OG Xbox running XBMC has priority 2, followed by my server and then the laptops.

Other than that I have priorities ordered by application/port, with p2p having the lowest priority.

i used the hidden menu to get all my streaming to 4 dots. It takes 7 minutes to fill the buffer to start the movie at an "ok" resolution. It takes 8 minutes to start a HD movie at excellent resolution, but it continuously has to re buffer, thus HD for me is worthless. Funny thing is, i have a T1 coming into my home which costs me about $300 per month for a max of 1.5 up and 1.5 down.

My point is - Netflix streaming is almost worthless to me because i want excellent resolution when i watch a movie.

Hey ikeb,
What interface are you using? IE? I found that Netflix through Vista MCE was worthless, but was decent when I use IE (v.7). I seem to remember Firefox worked okay too, but I'll have to doublecheck that...

with roku

i used the hidden menu to get all my streaming to 4 dots. It takes 7 minutes to fill the buffer to start the movie at an "ok" resolution. It takes 8 minutes to start a HD movie at excellent resolution, but it continuously has to re buffer, thus HD for me is worthless. Funny thing is, i have a T1 coming into my home which costs me about $300 per month for a max of 1.5 up and 1.5 down.

My point is - Netflix streaming is almost worthless to me because i want excellent resolution when i watch a movie.

You do know a T1 is horribly slow download speed wise these days.... netflix has stated since the beginning SD content needs a 4.0 down and HD needs 5.0 to get the instant streaming.

Sure the upload is nice but download speed it all that matters to netflix and a T1 is quite lacking in that dept.

i used the hidden menu to get all my streaming to 4 dots. It takes 7 minutes to fill the buffer to start the movie at an "ok" resolution. It takes 8 minutes to start a HD movie at excellent resolution, but it continuously has to re buffer, thus HD for me is worthless. Funny thing is, i have a T1 coming into my home which costs me about $300 per month for a max of 1.5 up and 1.5 down.

My point is - Netflix streaming is almost worthless to me because i want excellent resolution when i watch a movie.

Your T1 is much too slow to stream HD.

BTW I know starz quality comes up here quite a bit.... there is some potentially interesting news in that dept. (potentially)

http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/07/09/starz-jumps-on-comcasts-on-demand-online-trial-promises-hd-on/
Starz is parterning with the new comcast online video thing and are bringing HD transfers "soon". Could be very interesting when HD versions are available if netflix will get them (I am pretty confident they will and it should drastically improve the quality of starz content which is a big deal because they do have the newer releases which most people are looking for)

i used the hidden menu to get all my streaming to 4 dots. It takes 7 minutes to fill the buffer to start the movie at an "ok" resolution. It takes 8 minutes to start a HD movie at excellent resolution, but it continuously has to re buffer, thus HD for me is worthless. Funny thing is, i have a T1 coming into my home which costs me about $300 per month for a max of 1.5 up and 1.5 down.

My point is - Netflix streaming is almost worthless to me because i want excellent resolution when i watch a movie.

You pay $300 a month for 1.5 up and down? Ha! Dare I ask why? Maybe you should pay 1/6 (or less) as much for 4x the speed. Just a thought. I mean, if you can afford 300/month for 1.5Mbps, you could probably afford $40 for 4x that speed, right?

Your connection is way to slow for Netflix streaming.

i may have to bring in a time warner cable connection to get hd streaming - havent decided yet.

BTW - i see you are from TAM - my next door neighbor played for the Bear in the early-mid 1950's at A&M

You do know a T1 is horribly slow download speed wise these days.... netflix has stated since the beginning SD content needs a 4.0 down and HD needs 5.0 to get the instant streaming.

Sure the upload is nice but download speed it all that matters to netflix and a T1 is quite lacking in that dept.

i used the hidden menu to get all my streaming to 4 dots. It takes 7 minutes to fill the buffer to start the movie at an "ok" resolution. It takes 8 minutes to start a HD movie at excellent resolution, but it continuously has to re buffer, thus HD for me is worthless. Funny thing is, i have a T1 coming into my home which costs me about $300 per month for a max of 1.5 up and 1.5 down.

My point is - Netflix streaming is almost worthless to me because i want excellent resolution when i watch a movie.

:eek:Wtf, pardon my French! Roku(hardwired)/Verizon FiOS(20/5)/A Room With A View: Special Edition(four bars HD)/twelve seconds to buffer and start the movie.

Wireless? I was, and someone here fixed me up(post #293) http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15464901#post15464901

wow

i have a t1 line because - i also get 6 telephone lines and 12 static ip addresses. time warner will not give me any static ip addresses. I have 9 computers in my home (4 dell servers) and can contol each of them with pcanywhere from anywhere in the world and people all over the world downloading data every day.. I can run a pretty good size city from my house! i could go to a T3, but it biumps the price up a lot.

Im thinking of getting a time-warner internet connection for 38 per month just for the home theater equipment

You pay $300 a month for 1.5 up and down? Ha! Dare I ask why? Maybe you should pay 1/6 (or less) as much for 4x the speed. Just a thought. I mean, if you can afford 300/month for 1.5Mbps, you could probably afford $40 for 4x that speed, right?

Your connection is way to slow for Netflix streaming.

i have a t1 line because - i also get 6 telephone lines and 12 static ip addresses. time warner will not give me any static ip addresses. I have 9 computers in my home (4 dell servers) and can contol each of them with pcanywhere from anywhere in the world and people all over the world downloading data every day.. I can run a pretty good size city from my house! i could go to a T3, but it biumps the price up a lot.

Im thinking of getting a time-warner internet connection for 38 per month just for the home theater equipment

Don't you have AT&T in Corona Del Mar? What about U-Verse?

dont have it on my street

i can't event get dsl in my house.

its either cable or directv - i chose directv and then a t1 from a company in houston.

Don't you have AT&T in Corona Del Mar? What about U-Verse?

OK.... I found the first piece of programming that is not geared for the Netflix streaming on the 360... 30-second Bunnies Theatre....

Why they need to do the Starz "Feature Presentation" splash screen for each episode, and require you to start each episode (30 seconds) separately is beyond me!! ;-)

Hey guys,
I took some pictures and video of how the roku box works.

please check it out if your thinking of getting a roku box for netflix.

My Roku Box experience (http://www.**************.com/showthread.php?t=831&highlight=roku)

I am great fan of Tv series such as heroes, entourage, weeds and so on. I wonder how much is the rent per episode. There are many torrent sites like bwtorrents, torrentz and sumotorrent why to pay when i can see them for free. Is it have dvd quality view?

I am great fan of Tv series such as heroes, entourage, weeds and so on. I wonder how much is the rent per episode. There are many torrent sites like bwtorrents, torrentz and sumotorrent why to pay when i can see them for free. Is it have dvd quality view?

They charge a monthly rate, check out the post above yours.

I am great fan of Tv series such as heroes, entourage, weeds and so on. I wonder how much is the rent per episode. There are many torrent sites like bwtorrents, torrentz and sumotorrent why to pay when i can see them for free. Is it have dvd quality view?

it's a monthly fee... yes, the quality is quite good...

why? well, for one, that way you aren't stealing.

it's a monthly fee... yes, the quality is quite good...

why? well, for one, that way you aren't stealing.

Also, for people without HTPCs or good front-ends, it's all of your shows in one easy-to-access spot.

Thanks chadmak09 for the pix of the Roku.

I've ordered mine already (late last week) after thinking about it for a while...but I see that Netflix is adding more Watch Instantly content now (including more recent TV show episodes) as well as having access to Amazon streaming content (which also has a LOT of TV show episodes), so finally decided to take the plunge and get one. That's the main reason I am getting it -- to see TV shows that I miss or forget to save to watch later. Also am looking forward to seeing how the HD content looks, as well as the movies and the Starz stuff. Since I had to drop digital cable I don't get Starz now, so it will be cool to have access to some of their stuff again.

I'd watch the stuff on my laptop but it's just not the same as getting the stuff on a nice big 32in. screen (as opposed to my 15.4in laptop)! ;)

Can't wait for the Roku box to arrive. I'm hoping it will be here by week's end so I can set it up and watch on the weekend.

DGK

Can't wait for the Roku box to arrive. I'm hoping it will be here by week's end so I can set it up and watch on the weekend.

DGK
if you ordered last week your box went out today via Fedex around 3pm. Depending on your location your box should be there any day. I'd put my money on wed.

if you ordered last week your box went out today via Fedex around 3pm. Depending on your location your box should be there any day. I'd put my money on wed.

Yep, got the email saying it was shipped out yesterday, so I'm betting on Wed. also. :)

I'm going to start looking over Netflix tonight to see what I'll put into the Q to watch first! Got to pick up an HDMI cable for it tomorrow, though.

EDIT: Nope...I checked the FedEx site and it's being shipped all the way from CA -- so it's not due to arrive until Saturday. :( Ah well. At least FedEx delivers on Saturdays...

DGK

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/16/xbox-live-update-detailed-games-on-demand-netflix-queue-movie/

netflix might be getting a smooth streaming update soon.... and we get the updated netflix player on the 360 which will be awesome.

Netflix Updates
Now you can watch movies with your friends no matter where they are and manage your queue from the comfort of your couch.

* Movie Parties – Xbox LIVE Gold members can sit together in a virtual theater with up to seven friends no matter where they are while your Avatars watch a movie, flirt or even throw popcorn at each other.
* Manage Your Queue – Browse the Netflix Instant Watch video catalogue, choose from the most popular movies and genres and add to your queue all from the comfort of your couch – no computer required.
* Enhanced Playback Experience – Enjoy a smooth viewing experience when your internet bandwidth fluctuates.
* Friends Info – Richer information is now displayed in the Friends channel and in the Guide showing what you and your friends are doing.

* Enhanced Playback Experience – Enjoy a smooth viewing experience when your internet bandwidth fluctuates.


If this works as good as the tech demo does, then I will be extremely happy. I thought this was only going to be for the Marketplace movies, and not Netflix, so I really hope this article is accurate.

Of course, it would be nice if this also means Netflix will be getting good encodes and stop using the crappy StarzPlay stuff (that's not HD or in the correct aspect ratio). I wonder if this will also include 5.1 sound (as the tech does support it). I really just hope if it does, that Netflix actually gets encodes that take advantage of the tech.

Yeah thats what I thought as well and when I saw that description it sure sounded like smooth streaming. I do believe integrating silverlight into the console itself will bring us streaming options for every piece of content on the 360. If you think about it they really should do that (there really is no need to download game trailers, tv episodes, movies, etc if you have smooth streaming and a fast internet connection)

I would bet they will not go 5.1 yet (mainly because players like the roku limit the audio codecs and I believe silverlight still only does wma pro for audio).

At the very least, it will (should) make FF and Rew less annoying and should work more like a DVR (again, if the tech demo is any indication).

I am looking forward to Monday to check it out.

I keep reading that Roku provides better picture quality for Netflix streaming than a PC -- a fact which I just verified myself. I streamed an episode of 30 Rock (supposedly HD quality) through my Roku Player, while streaming the same episode through my MacBook Pro (a two year old laptop with a 2.16 Intel Core Duo processor and an ATI Radeon X1600 video chipset). Both the Roku and the computer were connected to two different HDMI inputs on a 32" HD TV, with the computer connected via a DVI/HDMI cable. Both were sharing the same Qwest 20 mbps connection, which typically gives me speeds between 14 and 16 mbps. Switching back and forth, I'd say the picture off the computer wasn't bad -- better than some standard DVs and a lot better than Dish SD -- but the Roku was significantly better. This leads to me wonder -- exactly why? Is it a Netflix-related issue? Or will any programming source (DVD, etc.) look worse off a computer than other hardware alternatives? If that's so, do I really want to include a computer as part of my home theater setup? I'm also trying to decide, if I want to watch other content off the web (YouTube, Hulu, etc.) on my TV monitor, what's the best way to go? Anybody else have any insights here?

I keep reading that Roku provides better picture quality for Netflix streaming than a PC -- a fact which I just verified myself. I streamed an episode of 30 Rock (supposedly HD quality) through my Roku Player, while streaming the same episode through my MacBook Pro (a two year old laptop with a 2.16 Intel Core Duo processor and an ATI Radeon X1600 video chipset). Both the Roku and the computer were connected to two different HDMI inputs on a 32" HD TV, with the computer connected via a DVI/HDMI cable. Both were sharing the same Qwest 20 mbps connection, which typically gives me speeds between 14 and 16 mbps. Switching back and forth, I'd say the picture off the computer wasn't bad -- better than some standard DVs and a lot better than Dish SD -- but the Roku was significantly better. This leads to me wonder -- exactly why? Is it a Netflix-related issue? Or will any programming source (DVD, etc.) look worse off a computer than other hardware alternatives? If that's so, do I really want to include a computer as part of my home theater setup? I'm also trying to decide, if I want to watch other content off the web (YouTube, Hulu, etc.) on my TV monitor, what's the best way to go? Anybody else have any insights here?

My understanding is that there are different servers (and different encodes) serving Roku, PC and XBox 360. One of the rumors I heard is that they may even make 5.1 audio available on the 360 (via WMA).

I'm also trying to decide, if I want to watch other content off the web (YouTube, Hulu, etc.) on my TV monitor, what's the best way to go? Anybody else have any insights here?
To achieve this you will need a computer. Your best bet is using Zinc (http://zeevee.com/zinc). You can access Youtube, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon VOD, and lots of other sites.

I keep reading that Roku provides better picture quality for Netflix streaming than a PC -- a fact which I just verified myself. I streamed an episode of 30 Rock (supposedly HD quality) through my Roku Player, while streaming the same episode through my MacBook Pro (a two year old laptop with a 2.16 Intel Core Duo processor and an ATI Radeon X1600 video chipset). Both the Roku and the computer were connected to two different HDMI inputs on a 32" HD TV, with the computer connected via a DVI/HDMI cable. Both were sharing the same Qwest 20 mbps connection, which typically gives me speeds between 14 and 16 mbps. Switching back and forth, I'd say the picture off the computer wasn't bad -- better than some standard DVs and a lot better than Dish SD -- but the Roku was significantly better. This leads to me wonder -- exactly why? Is it a Netflix-related issue? Or will any programming source (DVD, etc.) look worse off a computer than other hardware alternatives? If that's so, do I really want to include a computer as part of my home theater setup? I'm also trying to decide, if I want to watch other content off the web (YouTube, Hulu, etc.) on my TV monitor, what's the best way to go? Anybody else have any insights here?

One difference in picture quality between the Roku and computer when watching a program like 30 Rock can easily be attributed to the fact that the Roku will stream the HD encode of the show and your Mac will not. Only Netflix enabled devices like the Roku, Tivo HD, certain bluray players, the Xbox 360, etc. are able to access and stream the HD streams from Netflix. I'm sure someone else around here knows the reason for that, but I seem to recall it has something to do with copy protected material.

One difference in picture quality between the Roku and computer when watching a program like 30 Rock can easily be attributed to the fact that the Roku will stream the HD encode of the show and your Mac will not. Only Netflix enabled devices like the Roku, Tivo HD, certain bluray players, the Xbox 360, etc. are able to access and stream the HD streams from Netflix. I'm sure someone else around here knows the reason for that, but I seem to recall it has something to do with copy protected material.
That's good to know. So it appears if I want Netflix HD content on an additional TV (without running more cables, anyway) I'll need a second Roku (or one of the other Netflix streaming-enabled devices).

It might be getting off topic, but I'm still wondering how a PC (or Mac) compares to other hardware possibilities for streaming content like YouTube and Hulu. I understand there are some other hardware possibilities for YouTube and some of the others --- including Sony's Internet Video Link, D-Link's DSM-520 Wireless HD Media Player, the XBOX and the Apple TV (does YouTube and maybe Hulu with a hack). Also heard that Roku might add YouTube, etc. soon. That leaves me wondering if a PC for streaming this content is really my best option, quality and cost wise, particularly if Roku does come through with some more choices.

Netflix haOf course, it would be nice if this also means Netflix will be getting good encodes and stop using the crappy StarzPlay stuff (that's not HD or in the correct aspect ratio).Starz Play is minor percentage of the available streams, though it includes many of the more recent popular theatrical releases. Of the stuff I've "Watched Instantly" (156 since 05/07, according to my Netflix account info) only a few titles were Starz Play.

I have to think that some of the movies offered in Starz Play wouldn't be available as Watch Instantly streams otherwise. It's stuff that Starz has permission to offer which Netflix would have to separately negotiate for, and most of them they couldn't afford to offer without charging more. There's only so much you can expect from a service offered to subscribers at no extra cost (a distinction lost on many who only subscribed to Netflix to get access to Watch Instantly, unlike some of us who've been subscribers for many years :)).

That's good to know. So it appears if I want Netflix HD content on an additional TV (without running more cables, anyway) I'll need a second Roku (or one of the other Netflix streaming-enabled devices).

It might be getting off topic, but I'm still wondering how a PC (or Mac) compares to other hardware possibilities for streaming content like YouTube and Hulu. I understand there are some other hardware possibilities for YouTube and some of the others --- including Sony's Internet Video Link, D-Link's DSM-520 Wireless HD Media Player, the XBOX and the Apple TV (does YouTube and maybe Hulu with a hack). Also heard that Roku might add YouTube, etc. soon. That leaves me wondering if a PC for streaming this content is really my best option, quality and cost wise, particularly if Roku does come through with some more choices.

Roku has kept a pretty tight lid on what the new channels will be...just that there will be 10 by the end of the year, and some by the end of summer. Speculation is rampant on the Roku forums, but most have resigned to the fact that Hulu won't be one of them for a number of reasons that I won't get into here. Search "Hulu" at http://forums.rokulabs.com/viewforum.php?f=28&sid=830b5b1a16bb2f884ebdd4ac5252f57c if you are interested.

On the other hand, they have "opened" the box to third-party developers who want to create their own plug-ins for the device. Currently only Netflix and Amazon VOD is available.

I'm fortunate that I have a PS3, for which I've picked up PlayOn software that lets me stream Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and others from my PC to my main TV, otherwise I might have to have a computer connected directly to access those. Unfortunately, the CE manufacturers are just getting a channel here and there and not giving customers more options.

If this works as good as the tech demo does, then I will be extremely happy. I thought this was only going to be for the Marketplace movies, and not Netflix, so I really hope this article is accurate.I hope that it's true as well. Netflix' current PC player is Silverlight-based and though I haven't been impressed with it (it's not nearly so good as that demo) it indicates that Netflix has Silverlight encodings, which is a good thing. Hopefully they created them up to HD resolution, which is something that they don't seem to stream to the PC.

EDIT: That information would seem to be from a Microsoft PR, since it's at dozens of sites, most quoting portions of it verbatim. The most comprehensive quote of the PR is here (http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/16/xbox-live-update-rolling-out-includes-games-on-demand-netflix/), at Engadget, where they also have a little gallery of screenshots (of the dashboard update, not specifically Netflix).

Well my Roku arrived this morning, as Fed Ex promised. I hooked it up this afternoon and am now watching an episode of Num3ers. It's excellent quality -- looks like I'm watching a DVD. I'm hoping they'll be adding more episodes of recent TV series, but in the meantime I'll be satisfied with what's available for now. I'm very happy with the Roku so far though -- it was very easy to set up, it's working well with the wireless set-up I've got, and like I mentioned, PQ is great. Next I need to try an episode from Amazon's VOD and see how that looks. I'm guessing I'll be just as pleased with that, also.

Am looking forward to seeing what other channels will be available to Roku soon.

DGK

Well my Roku arrived this morning, as Fed Ex promised. I hooked it up this afternoon and am now watching an episode of Num3ers. It's excellent quality -- looks like I'm watching a DVD. I'm hoping they'll be adding more episodes of recent TV series, but in the meantime I'll be satisfied with what's available for now. I'm very happy with the Roku so far though -- it was very easy to set up, it's working well with the wireless set-up I've got, and like I mentioned, PQ is great. Next I need to try an episode from Amazon's VOD and see how that looks. I'm guessing I'll be just as pleased with that, also.

Am looking forward to seeing what other channels will be available to Roku soon.

DGK

may I sugest some netflix stand-up comedy :D

may I sugest some netflix stand-up comedy :D

Thanks :) I've got a couple of them in my queue, also.

DGK

Thought you guys might find this interesting. Feedflix.com is a site where you can link your Netflix account and it'll provide a lot of stats for you (average time you keep DVDs, average amount/month, average IW titles/month you use, average cost/movie, etc).

FWIW, I am on a 3-at-a-time plan, and here's what it kicks out for me:

You see 28.0 titles by DVD and 9.5 titles by Instant Watch each month
Your cost/DVD rental is $0.75
Your cost/movie (including Instant Watch) is $0.56
You're in the 27th percentile. i.e., 27% of FeedFliksers pay less than you per movie


Anyways, although it's a small sample (only members of the site, so probably your more "committed" or tech-savvy Netflix subscribers), they do provide a chart comparing DVD vs IW activity:

From: http://feedfliks.com/dvd-vs-instant
http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?chf=bg,s,FFFFFF&chd=s:ACFJRZhq9p,AAAAAAAFn7&chco=50A5E8,C90000&chdl=DVD+Shipments%7CInstant+Watch&chs=700x350&chxl=0:%7C2000%7C2001%7C2002%7C2003%7C2004%7C2005%7C2006%7C2 007%7C2008%7C2009&chxt=x,y&chtt=DVD+Shipments+Vs+Instant+Watch&cht=bvg&chxr=1,0,1228749&chbh=a,5,10

About this graph
This chart shows the relative growth of Instantly Watched titles streamed by Netflix compared to DVD Shipments over the past decade. As impressive as the growth in DVD shipments has been for Netflix, the growth in Instantly Watched streams is even steeper. It is likely that 2009 will be the first year when Netflix will stream more titles through their Instant Watch service than they will ship DVDs.


Interesting to see these numbers.

FWIW, I am on a 3-at-a-time plan, and here's what it kicks out for me:

You see 28.0 titles by DVD and 9.5 titles by Instant Watch each month


Wow...do you ever get outside...? :eek:

I am very different between my streaming vs dvd rentals. then again I only have the 1 at a time plan.

Movies seen per month: 2.7 by DVD and 33.7 by Instant Watch

But I live with my brother and we share the netflix account so our real usage for the streaming is about half of that (since we both watch the movies I add to the service separetely). But I also use netlix streaming for alot of tv shows (anything that they have gets its series pass cancelled on media center)

But that graph looks wrong to me.... why would the dvd shipments decrease that much when they have only been growing every year? I still think streaming is growing at a much faster rate than dvd but I dont see why dvd rentals would decline.

Wow...do you ever get outside...? :eek:

Rarely :)

My wife and kid go to bed between 8:30 - 9:00, so I watch TV/movies until 1 or so. Usually they go to bed, I watch a movie, play a videogame for an hour or so, then watch either a recorded TV program or something on the IW service (I'm almost through the BSG:OS).

Those IW numbers of course include TV episodes. For example, if I watch a sitcom, those are only 22 minutes or so, but they count as a title. Just watched both seasons of The IT Crowd, which was 12 episodes, but only ~4.5 hours of content....still it counts as 12 "titles" even though it wasn't a huge time investment. As I said earlier, watching Battlestar Galactica: TOS, and those are ~45 minutes each, so they aren't nearly as long as a movie.

Oh, and my wife is a stay-at-home mom, so she uses it too and will maybe 2 movies a week during the day (I have a separate profile on my account for her). I also travel a lot so will watch movies in hotels/airports/taxis, etc...

In the graph above 2009 DVD data is year to date, not full year. That's the way I read it, anyway. Great info, thanks mproper.

In the graph above 2009 DVD data is year to date, not full year. That's the way I read it, anyway. Great info, thanks mproper.

Since '09 is not over, that's probably a safe bet :)

Regardless, if the trend continues, NF's Watch Instantly service will far surpass the DVD-by-mails service, in number of titles watched, and that will be an interesting development (although the chart is only for Feedflicks users, so it might not be Netflix as a whole). I'm sure NF will release numbers though.

Originally Posted by Zookster View Post
I'm sure someone else around here knows the reason for that, but I seem to recall it has something to do with copy protected material.
=====================================
It does indeed....data viewed on a PC is limited by Microsoft's horrible Silverlight technology; the ROKU box is not! Now they're pushing a new 'smooth' version 3, which is still more of the same M$ DRM bull****, only moreso.

Video streaming is at a critical position right now; M$ is attempting to insure that streaming gets locked into their proprietary technology. Don't fall for their B.S..

LeeB

It does indeed....data viewed on a PC is limited by Microsoft's horrible Silverlight technology; the ROKU box is not!
Smooth Streaming is quite capable of HD media playback:

http://www.iis.net/media/experiencesmoothstreaming

Now they're pushing a new 'smooth' version 3, which is still more of the same M$ DRM bull****, only moreso.
Silverlgiht and Smooth Streaming don't require DRM (the above example doesn't have any).

And rest assured that Netflix's service simply wouldn't exist if they didn't have a platform with DRM.

Video streaming is at a critical position right now; M$ is attempting to insure that streaming gets locked into their proprietary technology. Don't fall for their B.S..
And what's the propritary part?

It's the ISO MPEG-4 file format, XML manifest files (one of which is SMIL), and the MPEG-4 fragmented file format. Codecs are H.264 or VC-1 with AAC or WMA Pro.

Full details:
http://alexzambelli.com/blog/2009/03/27/smooth-streaming-white-paper/

Video of the updated Netflix experience coming to the 360 in August.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coj5P6sgOT8

Video of the updated Netflix experience coming to the 360 in August.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coj5P6sgOT8

here is a full 35 minute preview that's a lot better quality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA6Ca2MdFMU
The Netflix stuff starts at 13 minutes.

Yeah, apparently some stuff isn't included in the August update, and we have to wait until the fall update. Doesn't look like the ability to search or the smooth streaming ability is coming in August. Also doesn't appear the StarzPlay titles are available for the "party" thing (I personally don't care about that at all, but others do)

Oh well...the ability to browse the entire catalogue by category and play or add it to your queue from the dashboard is nice, as is the ability to see that a title is HD or not.

Can't wait for August 11th, but really looking forward to the fall update that will have the smooth streaming.

Question with apologies in advance if it's already been answered:

I have several HD TV shows in my Netflix Watch Instantly queue, specifically 30 Rock, The Office, Heroes, that still stream in HD but no longer show up in Netflix HD title search. How does one find (and queue) ALL the HD titles available ??????

Question with apologies in advance if it's already been answered:

I have several HD TV shows in my Netflix Watch Instantly queue, specifically 30 Rock, The Office, Heroes, that still stream in HD but no longer show up in Netflix HD title search. How does one find (and queue) ALL the HD titles available ??????

HD is a "genre" in the Watch Instantly drop-down menu.

I have several HD TV shows in my Netflix Watch Instantly queue, specifically 30 Rock, The Office, Heroes, that still stream in HD but no longer show up in Netflix HD title search. How does one find (and queue) ALL the HD titles available ??????Tryhttp://www.netflix.com/WiHD?ftr=falseThat "?ftr=false" part is equivalent to going to the HD genre listing and clicking the "Show rated/seen titles" checkbox on the right. By default, if you've seen a title, it won't show up on the list anymore unless you click that. It's the only genre for which that is the default :rolleyes:.

Doesn't look like...smooth streaming ability is coming in August.What makes you say that? At around 10:10 in the clip, he's going through a list of improvements which are present in the dashboard preview that he's running; under Netflix, there's the following item (at about 11:50):Improved Playback Experience

Improvements have been made to ensure a better experience when adapting to changing network conditions.Sounds like smooth streaming to me.

What's not there is the replacement of the Xbox Live Video Store with the Zune Video Store, in which all of the VOD rentals and purchasable titles will be provided as "instant on" 1080p24 smooth streaming (well, some will be 1080p--I can't believe that it'll be all of them :)). Just because that new video store stuff isn't in there doesn't mean that the smooth streaming tech's not there and used by Netflix.

We'll see, in a couple of weeks :).

We'll see, in a couple of weeks :).

Or maybe tomorrow, if I was lucky enough to get picked to get it early. I'm already holding my breath in anticipation.

Tryhttp://www.netflix.com/WiHD?ftr=falseThat "?ftr=false" part is equivalent to going to the HD genre listing and clicking the "Show rated/seen titles" checkbox on the right. By default, if you've seen a title, it won't show up on the list anymore unless you click that. It's the only genre for which that is the default :rolleyes:.

Excellent !!! Thanks, exactly what I was looking for !!!

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I'm still pretty new to the Netflix/Roku experience.

If I want to select just one episode of a TV show, and not the whole season, is that possible? So far I just haven't seen a way to do it...I thought I was selecting one episode, but I got the whole season instead.

Thanks in advance,
DGK

Got the update for the 360.... overall its a very nice upgrade. Browsing the selections is much nicer than trying to do things via the website. There is also a quality setting that shows when you hit the info button (to get the timeline).

But I have to say I am disappointed that it doesnt use smoothstreaming yet. It does switch to lower quality feeds instantly but it would not go back to the higher quality feed automatically when bw was there. I tested this by starting a netflix hd stream and then turned on a linux distro torrent I knew would eat into my connection to force it to drop. It did and as I said it was just a flicker and it was on the lower quality feed but once I stopped the torrent and I could see my connection was running at its full potential (8mbit) the feed never jumped back to HD.

That's disappointing, but I had read elsewhere the smooth streaming isn't coming with the fall update (when the 1080p stuff from the tech demo gets put in as well). Honestly, at this point I'd rather have the message about the connection dropping (it doesn't happen to me often, but when it does, I back out of Netflix and go back in to reset it back to the highest quality).

Can I assume FF and Rew work the same as they did then? Do the movies load any faster? I am guessing it's the same as it was before.

I did not get into the preview program so I guess I have to wait until the 11th :(

I had a different experience with the update and Netflix.

I started an Hi-def movie and my "quality check" was only 2 bars. After about 10 minutes of watching the movie the movie had a slight pause and a message at the top popped up saying "bandwidth quality has increased, changing video quality" (or something like that) and the picture definitely improved and now showing me at 4 bars instead of the 2 when I started the movie.

I had a different experience with the update and Netflix.

I started an Hi-def movie and my "quality check" was only 2 bars. After about 10 minutes of watching the movie the movie had a slight pause and a message at the top popped up saying "bandwidth quality has increased, changing video quality" (or something like that) and the picture definitely improved and now showing me at 4 bars instead of the 2 when I started the movie.How "slight" was the pause? If it wasn't as long as it used to take, that is something of an improvement and the fact that quality does go up with bandwidth is a good thing.

Note that we have no guarantee that the latest and greatest smoothstreaming tech will be applied to Netflix. I don't think that they've said that it would happen anywhere. It might require some major re-encoding of Netflix's streaming library--who knows?

How "slight" was the pause? If it wasn't as long as it used to take, that is something of an improvement and the fact that quality does go up with bandwidth is a good thing.

Note that we have no guarantee that the latest and greatest smoothstreaming tech will be applied to Netflix. I don't think that they've said that it would happen anywhere. It might require some major re-encoding of Netflix's streaming library--who knows?

I thought i had read it would apply to NF as well, but can't find it now. I don't believe the smoothstreaming tech requires any encodes (it's just an enhanced player, AFAIK). Now, to get 1080p probably would....but I don't think that's the plan for NF (but is for the Marketplace)

How "slight" was the pause? If it wasn't as long as it used to take, that is something of an improvement and the fact that quality does go up with bandwidth is a good thing.

Note that we have no guarantee that the latest and greatest smoothstreaming tech will be applied to Netflix. I don't think that they've said that it would happen anywhere. It might require some major re-encoding of Netflix's streaming library--who knows?

Well when I found out I was "in" on the NXE update preview I signed up for Netflix so only had a few minutes of experience pre-update (so I don't know what kind of pauses were there before).

After I updated and went back in to Netflix and was browsing the selections (not my queue) I found an HD title and clicked to watch it. It did the bandwidth test and I was at 2 bars. The movie started.....and as mentioned about 10 minutes later it paused and popped up that my bandwidth was improved and it was adjusting quality.

The pause was enough for me to sit up and go "WTF" and then read the message which at that time it had resumed playing but at a noticeably better quality. I'd say 15+ seconds or so.

I thought i had read it would apply to NF as well, but can't find it now. I don't believe the smoothstreaming tech requires any encodes (it's just an enhanced player, AFAIK). Now, to get 1080p probably would....but I don't think that's the plan for NF (but is for the Marketplace)As a software engineer, I feel reasonably certain that Smooth Streaming is not just a new player. This is a seriously impressive trick, and there's no way to pull it off without help from the way that the video data is stored.

Read the Smooth Streaming Technical Overview, which can be obtained (in three different formats) on this (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=03d22583-3ed6-44da-8464-b1b4b5ca7520#Overview) page. They describe how smooth streaming files are arranged and why. I strongly doubt that the stuff that Netflix serves to the current devices, other than PC, are arranged in this fashion, particularly since the technology wasn't available when Netflix started Watch Instantly. There may be tools to convert what they have to the appropriate form without re-encoding the video, but they'd still have to run it over an already massive collection of video data.

I could be wrong--maybe they've had a long heads-up and already have files arranged in the proper format. Who knows? I just wish that someone would say exactly what's going on.

The pause was enough for me to sit up and go "WTF" and then read the message which at that time it had resumed playing but at a noticeably better quality. I'd say 15+ seconds or so.Sounds as though it's about the same as previously, which is a shame. At least it pauses and rebuffers for bandwidth changes in both directions.

Well when I found out I was "in" on the NXE update preview I signed up for Netflix so only had a few minutes of experience pre-update (so I don't know what kind of pauses were there before).

After I updated and went back in to Netflix and was browsing the selections (not my queue) I found an HD title and clicked to watch it. It did the bandwidth test and I was at 2 bars. The movie started.....and as mentioned about 10 minutes later it paused and popped up that my bandwidth was improved and it was adjusting quality.

The pause was enough for me to sit up and go "WTF" and then read the message which at that time it had resumed playing but at a noticeably better quality. I'd say 15+ seconds or so.
That might be the difference then..... I only gave it about 2 or 3 mins (once it filled the buffer I assumed it would upgrade)

How "slight" was the pause? If it wasn't as long as it used to take, that is something of an improvement and the fact that quality does go up with bandwidth is a good thing.

For me it used to be a complete rebuffer taking 20 or so seconds.... when mine dropped in my initial test yesterday it literally was under a second (the screen flicked and it was at the lower quality setting). I do plan to try to watch a hd movie all the way through tonight and make it downrez again to see if I just wasnt being patient enough with it yesterday. Still its not true smooth streaming but if it will increase bitrate it would work well enough for now.

Anybody else getting the preview to automatically upgrade quality.... just tried it again. stated watching an episode of the office in hd (and started running a bunch of files in the background to drop it to 1 bar) and it never would reup the bandwith. But as soon as I fast forwarded it immediately recognized hd and rebuffered in hd.

BTW also noticed there is an animation on the ff/rewing. its subtle but it looks more like when you first start it comes up from the bottom (it is kinda janky though) and when you select your frame to resume at it expands to the screen (looks like the window goes full screen). this might be me just wanting to see better quality but the hd feeds look a bit sharper as well.

I did again tonight watching a movie. It actually went both ways, starting low (2 bars) then jumping up about 1/2 way through the movie to 4 bars and declaring HD and then another 1/4 way through it dropped down to 3 bars.

Odd.... guess its in there but I cant get it to work for me. Still it should not wait that long (1/2 the movie) to detect it has more available bw. Should be no more than a few mins.

Well it's possible my bandwidth didn't improve until around that time. I have a lot of crap running on my home network and some could have been stealing a good bit of available bandwidth (computers downloading updates, VOIP phone, HAVA TV, FTP server, NAS box, etc..).
Also why it dropped back down again.....

Hey All,

I'm sure its been discussed before, but I can't seem to get above 3 bars on watch instantly, and I was wondering if there were any suggestions. I've tried from my home cable modem (which was getting >10MBPS, probably around 12) and it was just 3 bars. I watched Zero Effect and, while watchable on my 42" Panny, there were a ton of annoying artefacts. Not near the "near DVD" quality that I've seen some people mention getting.

I tried detecting my quality from my work (a blazing fast university connection), and still get only 3 bars whenever I check.

Does anyone know what's up? I'm using an Intel Mac, with either Safari or Firefox, if it matters. Thanks!

Surprisingly, I got the Xbox dashboard preview today--not having gotten it on Monday, I figured that they rejected my application.

So far, I'm loving it. The Netflix upgrade is nice, though as someone pointed out, you can't currently browse the entire Netflix Instant Watching library. For each genre, I'm not seeing any more than 100 entries, and many less for some of them. I wonder if they mean to leave it like that, and, if so, how they choose the titles under every genre that they'll show you?

Unfortunately (or not, depending on how you look at it), I'm having an exceptional network bandwidth day. I watched a few HD streams and could not get it to drop below HD, even after I started a multi-GB download which was running at 20 Mbps. I watched all of Serenity that way (one of two or three films that I can watch over and over again :)). If it switched to a lower bit rate stream and back while I was doing that, it did it seamlessly.

One cool feature of the Netflix app is that if you press the INFO button while playing a stream it shows the current connection speed indicator--the bars and "HD" thing--as well as the progress bar. (That's the INFO button on an Xbox remote or universal programmed for one; I have no idea how you get the progress bar using a pad). Another cool new thing is that while a video is selected from the list, you can start playing it by pressing the PLAY remote button. I was forever doing that, then remembering that that I needed to press the Y button to start playback from the list browser.

I think they do.... its designed to show you the most "popular" movies. Any more than 100 in each category would be too much of a pain to browse imo.

I have noticed its much harder to get it to reduce my bw once a movie is started.... the only way Ive been able to get it to drop is to start 3 or 4 big downloads as soon as the movie starts so the buffer never has a chance to fill. Still Ive had horrible luck getting it to increase bw.

And hopefully it will improve in the future because the new releases section has not been updated and there are some awesome new tv series out there in HD. (Lost season 1, Legend of the Seeker, Gigantic). I was hoping the new releases section would be updated more quickly so I would not have to monitor those websites.

I got it today as well. Didn't know you could press "Play" now.

The FF and Rewind feature is much improved as well.

They need to add a search, and maybe break the movies down into sub-categories (like being able to view a-d, e-h, i-l, etc...). That way they could display those first, followed by the 50 (or whatever) most popular titles in that category.

just came across this.... figured some here might want to know what is "coming soon" on netflix streaming. http://www.streamingsoon.com/ (sadly it only tracks movies and not tv shows)

http://thenowhereman.com/netflix/ (this one I also use because it tracks tv series as well)

I got it today as well. Didn't know you could press "Play" now.I've wanted it to work that way from the beginning, so it was the first thing that I tried.

In addition to a search function, I'd appreciate an ability to reorder the Instant Queue from the Xbox.

I think they do.... its designed to show you the most "popular" movies. Any more than 100 in each category would be too much of a pain to browse imo.TiVo's Amazon VOD app allows browsing the entire catalog, but you have to choose a genre and subgenre. The largest subgenre I could find was Comedy/Sitcoms, having 4880 titles. It let me browse that entire list (presumably, since I could only see 5 titles at a time and didn't page through the whole thing to count :)), and it let me sort it alphabetically, by release date or by popularity, with the 1, 2 and 3 remote buttons, respectively. I admit that it would be painful to browse through the entire thing or any significant portion thereof, especially five titles at a time :rolleyes:. It needs some kind of accelerator, like "show me the next/previous 100 titles, or "go to the next/previous first-letter/release-year-or-month", etc. (In addition to "Browse Entire Catalog" there are a bunch of "browse top 50" options, and a catalog search, so you're not forced to go that route).

If you're in the program you can leave feedback/suggestions here:

http://forums.xbox.com/default.aspx?ForumGroupID=39

If you are not paying the upcharge for Blu Ray disc rentals, can you still stream HD on VOD? My PQ quality has not been that great even though I'm showing almost full bars. Thanks.

I think so, I don't have the Blu-Ray package and it has been working for me.

You can get HD streams without the Blu-ray surcharge.

Not every title is available in HD.

If you are not paying the upcharge for Blu Ray disc rentals, can you still stream HD on VOD? My PQ quality has not been that great even though I'm showing almost full bars. Thanks.

If you have a device (like Roku or XBOX). Not sure what other devices (if any) support the HD stuff now, but I'm pretty sure the PC still doesn't.

And quality varies from title to title (from truly awful to pretty darn good). Just that you saying "my PQ quality has not been that great" doesn't really mean anything without knowing what title it was, what device you're using, and what display you're on (obviously if you have a 110" screen and projector, it's going to look worse than if you have a 42" LCD).

If you have a device (like Roku or XBOX). Not sure what other devices (if any) support the HD stuff now, but I'm pretty sure the PC still doesn't.

And quality varies from title to title (from truly awful to pretty darn good). Just that you saying "my PQ quality has not been that great" doesn't really mean anything without knowing what title it was, what device you're using, and what display you're on (obviously if you have a 110" screen and projector, it's going to look worse than if you have a 42" LCD).

Movie title was Terminator
Samsung 4600 Blu Ray w/ Netfix
Samsung 40B7000 LED Display

HD on Directv is outstanding. Same with Blu Ray. Some standard DVDs look almost as good as HD. Can you suggest something on Netflix that is top notch PQ wise, so I can see how good it can be? Thanks for your help.

Mike

Movie title was Terminator
Samsung 4600 Blu Ray w/ Netfix
Samsung 40B7000 LED Display

HD on Directv is outstanding. Same with Blu Ray. Some standard DVDs look almost as good as HD. Can you suggest something on Netflix that is top notch PQ wise, so I can see how good it can be? Thanks for your help.

Mike

Yeah, Terminator is frequently brought up as one of the WORST titles you could choose (in this thread as well, I believe...too lazy to look). A lot of the old movies are old encodes and don't look the best.

I use The Host as demo material for the service (it's an HD title and looks good). Recently I watched Gonzo (an HD documentary on Hunter S. Thompson) and it also looks really good.

Non HD, try one of the newer titles, like Pineapple Express or Miracle at St. Anna. I thought both looked decent for non-HD titles.

Yeah, Terminator is frequently brought up as one of the WORST titles you could choose (in this thread as well, I believe...too lazy to look). A lot of the old movies are old encodes and don't look the best.

I use The Host as demo material for the service (it's an HD title and looks good). Recently I watched Gonzo (an HD documentary on Hunter S. Thompson) and it also looks really good.

Non HD, try one of the newer titles, like Pineapple Express or Miracle at St. Anna. I thought both looked decent for non-HD titles.

HD TV shows like Heroes and 30 Rock look pretty decent as well. I remember watching Heroes in SD off my PC before I got my Roku box and thought it looked darn near HD. They just added several seasons of Lost, so those might look good as well.

The best quality Ive seen is Harpers Island and Legend of the Seeker.... As far as movies go: Im reed fish, phoebe in wonderland, stargate: continuum are the best Ive seen (even if I didnt watch all those movies completely.... I add all hd movies and atleast look at the quality).

Movie title was Terminator
Samsung 4600 Blu Ray w/ Netfix
Samsung 40B7000 LED Display

Mike

ALL of Arnolds movies are horrible transfers.. In my opinion none of them should be called HD

Thanks for the tips. I will try your suggestions.

Mike

Note that we have no guarantee that the latest and greatest smoothstreaming tech will be applied to Netflix. I don't think that they've said that it would happen anywhere. It might require some major re-encoding of Netflix's streaming library--who knows?About a week ago, I posted an ask on the Netflix Community Forums as to what's going on with the new, improved Xbox Netflix player. Today I got a reply from Adrian Cockcroft, Director of Web Engineering at Netflix, who said:
The Xbox is now using the VC1/AP streams, same as Roku, TiVo, LG, Samsung. See the Netflix blog entry by Neil Hunt for detailed info. Its 480p with 720p for HD. The player is cleverer at buffering than the old Xbox player, and should work better in adverse conditions.So a combination of using the lower-bitrate VC1 encodes as opposed to the WMV3 stuff that the Xbox had been using (the old WMV3 encodes are .5, 1.0, 1.6, 2.2 and 3.4 Mbps (SD), 4.0 and 5.5 Mbps (HD); the VC1 encodes are .375, .5, 1.0 and 1.5 Mbps (SD), 2.6 and 3.8 Mbps (HD), some 25-35% smaller/slower, so you can get a higher PQ encode on slower connections. (don't worry--VC-1 is more efficient than WMV3, acheiving the same or better PQ at significantly lower bit rates). That in combination with improved buffering algorithms yields the playback improvement. No IIS Smooth Streaming.

Smoothstreaming IS coming to the XBOX Marketplace in the fall update (which is not to be confused with the August 11th update), but is the Netflix functionality also going to use it? Not sure if you asked that specifically or if you just asked the difference between the old player and the stuff that's out now/August 11.

But it is interesting...I had no idea the XBOX was using different encodes than the other boxes.

I haven't noticed a difference in quality (have watched maybe 6 movies since the new update), but not sure I would anyways. Playback on the other hand is tons better (almost zilch rebuffering after FF and Rewind).

Smoothstreaming IS coming to the XBOX Marketplace in the fall update (which is not to be confused with the August 11th update), but is the Netflix functionality also going to use it? Not sure if you asked that specifically or if you just asked the difference between the old player and the stuff that's out now/August 11.No, I didn't ask. They do have Smooth Streaming encodings available for the PC, but they don't stream HD to the PC, so they might not have an HD set. I also doubt that we'd see another Xbox Netflix player upgrade anywhere near so soon. I'm sure that it took some time to do what they've done and I don't think that they'd have done it and released it now if they just planned to replace it later this year.
But it is interesting...I had no idea the XBOX was using different encodes than the other boxes.It was discussed in one of the other Netflix streaming threads back at the end of December. You can see an explanation of it by the same guy that I quoted above (Adrian Cockcroft) here (http://community.netflix.com/xn/detail/1993323:Comment:547243) in the Netflix Community Forums:
...there are three different encodes: Windows Media format: The original PC player, original Roku 1.01, Xbox 360, original LG and Samsung
VC1 Advanced Profile for Slverlight: PC/Mac Silverlight Player
VC1 Advanced Profile for embedded devices: Tivo, Roku 1.5, LG BD300 with .480 firmware, latest SamsungEach encode is at up to 4 different speeds for standard def, plus two more for HD on the TV devices. See more details here http://blog.netflix.com/2008/11/encoding-for-streaming.html .([list] tags added by me--I couldn't resist :)). The other embedded players switched to the VC1/AP encodes within a month or two of their launch (TiVo always used them); Xbox 360 is just now getting around to it, 8 or 9 months later :rolleyes:.

HD TV shows like Heroes and 30 Rock look pretty decent as well. I remember watching Heroes in SD off my PC before I got my Roku box and thought it looked darn near HD. They just added several seasons of Lost, so those might look good as well.

Star Trek Season 1 blew me away with the clarity

When you're adding movies/shows, how do you know if its in HD?? I can't seem to see "HD" indicated anywhere.

When you're adding movies/shows, how do you know if its in HD?? I can't seem to see "HD" indicated anywhere.It'd be nice if they put that information in the title description, but they don't. You can see a list of titles with HD streams at:http://www.netflix.com/WiHD?ftr=false(Without the "?ftr=false" part it won't list titles that you've seen or rated).

Note that you won't necessarily get an HD stream--it has to measure your connection speed as being high enough (not the rated speed as quoted by your provider, but the speed of your connection to Netflix's server). If your connection's not fast enough, you'll get one of the title's SD streams.

When you're adding movies/shows, how do you know if its in HD?? I can't seem to see "HD" indicated anywhere.

The XBOX's interface finally started putting this info on titles (yay!) but I don't think any of the other devices do (yet). But since the XBOX has it now, it's probably a safe bet it'll be rolled out to other devices soon (speculation on my part, but it makes sense)

The XBOX's interface finally started putting this info on titles (yay!) but I don't think any of the other devices do (yet). But since the XBOX has it now, it's probably a safe bet it'll be rolled out to other devices soon (speculation on my part, but it makes sense)Since it got the software update to allow it to play HD streams the Roku always indicated which titles in your queue had HD streams and maybe one or two of the others did also. What none of the other embedded devices does that the Xbox now does is allow browsing the Netflix library (or at least part of it) to add things to your queue. Everyone else still has to use a PC for that.

Adding it in the queue on a computer doesn't really bother me. I'd like to know something that I'm adding was in HD would be nice. I went with the roku because Xbox requires gold, 60 bux every year to 100dollar one time fee won me over. I'd rather have my ps3 do netflix though, don't really like having all these boxes cluttering my AV rack.

Since it got the software update to allow it to play HD streams the Roku always indicated which titles in your queue had HD streams and maybe one or two of the others did also. What none of the other embedded devices does that the Xbox now does is allow browsing the Netflix library (or at least part of it) to add things to your queue. Everyone else still has to use a PC for that.

Ah...I misread his thing as the usual post here about knowing what it is once it's in your queue. Sorry.

The Netflix browsing on XBOX sucks and is pretty much worthless as it is right now. Can't believe they rolled it out like that and I'll still be using my PC :rolleyes: Maybe they'll fix it next time so it's useful.

Adding it in the queue on a computer doesn't really bother me. I'd like to know something that I'm adding was in HD would be nice. I went with the roku because Xbox requires gold, 60 bux every year to 100dollar one time fee won me over. I'd rather have my ps3 do netflix though, don't really like having all these boxes cluttering my AV rack.You did see my response to you a couple of posts back giving a link on Netflix's site where you can see a list of titles with HD streams, didn't you?

You can kinda/sorta stream Netflix to your PS3, using a DLNA/UPnP media server called PlayOn (http://www.themediamall.com/playon). It costs $40 for a PlayOn license (they frequently lower the price to $30, on sale). It can be used to view Netflix, Hulu and a couple of other things on your PS3, Xbox or other DLNA/UPnP media client. The only problem is that you can't get the HD Netflix streams, since it can only access streams available to PCs.

You did see my response to you a couple of posts back giving a link on Netflix's site where you can see a list of titles with HD streams, didn't you?

You can kinda/sorta stream Netflix to your PS3, using a DLNA/UPnP media server called PlayOn (http://www.themediamall.com/playon). It costs $40 for a PlayOn license (they frequently lower the price to $30, on sale). It can be used to view Netflix, Hulu and a couple of other things on your PS3, Xbox or other DLNA/UPnP media client. The only problem is that you can't get the HD Netflix streams, since it can only access streams available to PCs.

Yeh, I tried that link but it doesn't work. I used playon for 14day trial period, it was super buggy so I couldn't get myself to pay 40dollars for it.

Yeh, I tried that link but it doesn't work. I used playon for 14day trial period, it was super buggy so I couldn't get myself to pay 40dollars for it.Huh--I just scrolled up to my post and clicked the link and it works just fine for me (as expect, inasmuch as I don't post links without previewing the post and trying them). I've quoted it a dozen times in this thread and it's worked just fine for everyone else who asked how to see which titles have HD streams. What happens when you click it? Are you are a Netflix sub with a registered HD-capable streaming device (it won't let you see the HD genre otherwise)? Are you logged in to Netflix in your browser? (In other words, if you go to www.netflix.com, you end up on the Browse DVDs tab, "Home" sub-tab? If I log out of Netflix, it just brings up the "Member Sign In" page).

In any case, you can go to www.netflix.com, click the "Watch Instantly" tab and pull down the "Genres" sub-tab and select "HD". On the righthand side of the page just above the list there'll be a checkbox labelled "Show rated/seen titles"--click it. Can you see the HD genre list then? If so, what do you see in your browser's URL field?

As for PlayOn, I never could get the demo to work at all; I suggested it because some people swear by it. I use the same 46" 1080p panel for my Xbox, TiVo and PC, which makes 3 devices to which I can stream Netflix titles and I can view Hulu on my PC blown up fullscreen, so I have little reason to use PlayOn.

It seems that every TV or settop box manufacturer is now supporting Netflix for their CE products. Enter the Netflix menu and you can review and select titles in your Watch Instantly queue – from the convenience of your couch.

But the Netflix experience is different across all of the different products. Which is the best?

I’ve been lucky enough to incorporate into my home theater several different devices with Netflix Watch Instantly support:

* TivoHD
* Roku Player
* Samsung BD-P2550 Blu-ray Player
* Windows Vista Media Center plug-in (third-party transcoding plug-ins have been available for some time)

How do they stack up?

http://www.electronichouse.com/article/review_netflix_watch_instantly_on_4_devices/#When:14:39:00Z

It'd be nice if they put that information in the title description, but they don't. You can see a list of titles with HD streams at:http://www.netflix.com/WiHD?ftr=false(Without the "?ftr=false" part it won't list titles that you've seen or rated).

Note that you won't necessarily get an HD stream--it has to measure your connection speed as being high enough (not the rated speed as quoted by your provider, but the speed of your connection to Netflix's server). If your connection's not fast enough, you'll get one of the title's SD streams.

You did see my response to you a couple of posts back giving a link on Netflix's site where you can see a list of titles with HD streams, didn't you?

You can kinda/sorta stream Netflix to your PS3, using a DLNA/UPnP media server called PlayOn (http://www.themediamall.com/playon). It costs $40 for a PlayOn license (they frequently lower the price to $30, on sale). It can be used to view Netflix, Hulu and a couple of other things on your PS3, Xbox or other DLNA/UPnP media client. The only problem is that you can't get the HD Netflix streams, since it can only access streams available to PCs.

Yeh, I tried that link but it doesn't work. I used playon for 14day trial period, it was super buggy so I couldn't get myself to pay 40dollars for it.The link posted above to view HD titles for streaming will only work if the customer has what Netflix deems an HD capable playback device registered on the account.

In my case, I have a laptop and Vista HTPC with MediaCenter, but Netflix does not consider these HD capable, so the link for me says "Page not found" and then redirects to the Netflix home page. My brother-in-law has an XBox 360 (which is considered HD capable by Netflix) on his account so he can use the link and list HD titles to add to his Watch Now Queue.

They do have Smooth Streaming encodings available for the PC, but they don't stream HD to the PC, so they might not have an HD set. I also doubt that we'd see another Xbox Netflix player upgrade anywhere near so soon. I'm sure that it took some time to do what they've done and I don't think that they'd have done it and released it now if they just planned to replace it later this year.I've discovered that there is a difference between the Silverlight encodings that Netflix has for the PC and encodings for IIS Smooth Streaming, so Netflix currently doesn't have any encodings for Smooth Streaming, yet another reason why I wouldn't expect them to start using it any time soon.

I've discovered that there is a difference between the Silverlight encodings that Netflix has for the PC and encodings for IIS Smooth Streaming, so Netflix currently doesn't have any encodings for Smooth Streaming, yet another reason why I wouldn't expect them to start using it any time soon.

I don't know exactly what has changed, but jumping between streaming quality is now vastly improved (takes about 2 seconds).

When will PCs or Macs be able to watch Netflix in "HD"? When I click that link on my Mac, I also get a "page not found." In addition, I don't see an "HD" link in the Genre drop down menu. This is disappointing. Is it just me, or are there a lot of artifacts in the video? (However, I'm only about 2 feet away from a 15" screen.) How is it for you guys?

When will PCs or Macs be able to watch Netflix in "HD"? When I click that link on my Mac, I also get a "page not found." In addition, I don't see an "HD" link in the Genre drop down menu. This is disappointing. Is it just me, or are there a lot of artifacts in the video? (However, I'm only about 2 feet away from a 15" screen.) How is it for you guys?

The Man is pushing their (sort of) proprietary hardware from the participating firms. But I'm thinking, that as with the hacks that were used to record via STB firewire to PCs, (ala tricking STB into thinking that receiver is a HD vcr, etc.) there has to be a way to likewise use PCs...I know there's ways to use xbox devices on a PC (similar to the use of a rock band drumset)...but maybe the xbox s/w for Netflix can't be emulated on a PC? Maybe I just anwered my own question - HW can be tricked, but not SW?...Sorry, too...much...caffeine...

The Man is pushing their (sort of) proprietary hardware from the participating firms.Most people want to watch these movies on their big screen TVs--not nearly enough PCs are connected to such televisions for them to represent any significant competition to the embedded devices. Netflix not streaming HD to PCs is more about the IP holders' paranoia about offering HD versions of their content on PCs. They're afraid that people will capture it and spread it around for free. I think that those fears are starting to abate and that we'll be seeing more and more HD content available for downloading and/or streaming to PCs in the near future.
But I'm thinking, that as with the hacks that were used to record via STB firewire to PCs, (ala tricking STB into thinking that receiver is a HD vcr, etc.) there has to be a way to likewise use PCs...I know there's ways to use xbox devices on a PC (similar to the use of a rock band drumset)...but maybe the xbox s/w for Netflix can't be emulated on a PC? Maybe I just anwered my own question - HW can be tricked, but not SW?...Sorry, too...much...caffeine...It would probably be possible to create a PC emulator of the Xbox, but you'd have to know some secrets, like how to generate the Netflix streaming registration keys, as generated by the Xbox Netflix player, which you have to give to Netflix to enable streaming to an Xbox. Then, of course, you'd have to know the streaming protocol that they use.

I tried to hook my PC up to my HDTV to watch streaming content (an episode of a TV show on one of the TV network sites) -- I even have an HDMI output on my laptop so I thought it would be easy. It wasn't though -- no matter what I did, I'd get the picture but no audio. I tried everything I could think of, and no luck. So that's another reason I went with the Roku -- no messing around with hooking up the laptop to the TV to watch content on the bigger screen. (My laptop's only got a 15.4" screen so it comes in OK, but it's a LOT nicer to watch stuff on the 32" HDTV, of course.)

Now, you can get HD quality streaming on the TV network sites (i.e. NBC, CBS, ABC, TNT, etc.), if you like watching episodes of your favorite TV shows. (Only some are in HD though, not all.) AND their content is free. Just a thought for anyone who might be interested in that option.

DGK

I tried to hook my PC up to my HDTV to watch streaming content (an episode of a TV show on one of the TV network sites) -- I even have an HDMI output on my laptop so I thought it would be easy. It wasn't though -- no matter what I did, I'd get the picture but no audio. I tried everything I could think of, and no luck.
DGK

The HDMI output on your laptop is likely connected to (or a part of) your laptop's video card only, which is why you didn't get audio. You would have to use a separate audio connection to get sound to the TV. If your laptop has a fiber optic output, you could use that, but the most likely (and common) way is to use a cord that has a stereo 1/8" connection on one side (for the headphone or audio out port on your laptop) and two RCA-style (usually red and white) connectors on the other (which would connect to an input on your TV.)

Just thought you'd want to know...

The HDMI output on your laptop is likely connected to (or a part of) your laptop's video card only, which is why you didn't get audio. You would have to use a separate audio connection to get sound to the TV. If your laptop has a fiber optic output, you could use that, but the most likely (and common) way is to use a cord that has a stereo 1/8" connection on one side (for the headphone or audio out port on your laptop) and two RCA-style (usually red and white) connectors on the other (which would connect to an input on your TV.)

Just thought you'd want to know...My laptop doesn't have a TOSLINK S/PDIF connector, but it does have a coax S/PDIF one, which I use. Some of the software can use it to send DD5.1 and DTS to my receiver (a couple of DVD playing programs and the AVI codec that I'm using), but the Netflix player browser plug-in cannot (doesn't matter, since Netflix streaming currently has no surround sound for any player, embedded or PC).

The HDMI output on your laptop is likely connected to (or a part of) your laptop's video card only, which is why you didn't get audio. You would have to use a separate audio connection to get sound to the TV. If your laptop has a fiber optic output, you could use that, but the most likely (and common) way is to use a cord that has a stereo 1/8" connection on one side (for the headphone or audio out port on your laptop) and two RCA-style (usually red and white) connectors on the other (which would connect to an input on your TV.)

Just thought you'd want to know...

Thanks...actually I'd tried that also and it didn't help. I was frustrated with it by then though and maybe gave up too soon. I'll have to fiddle with it more and see if I can get it to work. Heck, the reason I got the laptop with an HDMI connection was so I could hook it to the TV.

Thanks for the suggestion!

DGK

Thanks...actually I'd tried that also and it didn't help. I was frustrated with it by then though and maybe gave up too soon. I'll have to fiddle with it more and see if I can get it to work. Heck, the reason I got the laptop with an HDMI connection was so I could hook it to the TV...DGK

On your laptop, have you confirmed that any audio (movie, mp3 music, etc) can be heard by using a set of headphones connected to your headphone jack?

Thanks...actually I'd tried that also and it didn't help. I was frustrated with it by then though and maybe gave up too soon. I'll have to fiddle with it more and see if I can get it to work. Heck, the reason I got the laptop with an HDMI connection was so I could hook it to the TV.

Thanks for the suggestion!

DGK

The one thing I failed to point out is that you have to make sure that the audio inputs you're using on the TV are associated with the HDMI input you're using. Sometimes there's only one input you can use (it should be marked as such on the back of your TV if this is the case.) Other times, you have to go into your TV's menu and link the audio input to the HDMI input.

All of this is academic at this point, since you have another solution (the Roku player,) but I wanted to make sure you knew this stuff in case you needed it in the future for some other application.

On your laptop, have you confirmed that any audio (movie, mp3 music, etc) can be heard by using a set of headphones connected to your headphone jack?

Most definitely. I use the headphone jack every day for the work I do. :) Thanks though.

DGK

The one thing I failed to point out is that you have to make sure that the audio inputs you're using on the TV are associated with the HDMI input you're using. Sometimes there's only one input you can use (it should be marked as such on the back of your TV if this is the case.) Other times, you have to go into your TV's menu and link the audio input to the HDMI input.

All of this is academic at this point, since you have another solution (the Roku player,) but I wanted to make sure you knew this stuff in case you needed it in the future for some other application.

Thanks. I'll have to check on that and see.

It's true, now that I have the Roku it's not as important to get the laptop/TV connection working...but it's something that keeps bugging me, now, and I just want to see if I can get it to work anyway. ;) It'll bother me until I can solve the mystery, so to speak.

DGK

I use a Roku in my home theater set up, but when I'm traveling the laptop can allow me to stream Netflix movies, depending on the hotel's internet set up. I have a small set of various cables and adapters for connecting the laptop to the hotel room's TV (sometimes it's an HDTV), which makes for much better Netflix movie watching. However, my laptop does not have an HDMI port.