I watched the Wizard of Oz last night via Netflix using my laptop. It used Microsoft Silver Light version 3. The connection was a 15 Mb fiber optic connection from ISP to house, 100 base T to the switch, and 802.11g to the laptop. So the limiting factor is the wireless connection. I saw a few hesitations, not enough to be a problem. The audio did seem to get ahead of the video a little bit by the end of the movie. Overall, I was quite impressed.

I suspect they pulled the stops out to ensure the best performance for the demo. Anybody watch it via Roku or a Samsung Blueray player and want to report their results. Could I expect the same kind of performance via Roku or a Samsung Blueray player on an average day?

We watched on Roku in "HD". Video and sound were great (I did noticed some very slight color banding in a few scenes). The clarity and color as streamed were really quite good.

So how did it compare to a normal day's experience?

I use Netflix's Watch Instantly service everydady through Zinc (http://www.zeevee.com/zinc). I've never had any problems. Quality is always great even though HD isn't available for pc's =(.
Quality seems to be at DVD quality for the newer encodes like Heroes, Older encodes are comparable to SD on Dish Network. I never have any hiccups like the ones i'm starting to experience with Hulu. (I'm sure it's because now more people are using it then before)

I have not seen the Wizard of Oz (the free offering, I mean)

I use the streaming service quite often (around 5 times a week...probably more). Through my XBOX.

I would say the new encodes being released in HD are somewhere around broadcast HD quality (give or take), and the SD material that's being released is DVD quality (PQ-wise). Audio is still stereo, although I hope that changes.

Older stuff (old encodes, I mean) vary quite a bit. Everything from sub-VHS to DVD quality, IMO, depending on the title.

That being said, I have only ran across about 2 titles that I decided the PQ was bad enough not to watch, and they were both really old encodes. I ran across 1 foreign movie that the subtitles were too far off the screen and thus unreadable.

Other than that, I'm probably up around 100-120 titles watched total through the Instant Service, and am very happy with it.

So how did it compare to a normal day's experience?

The video presentation was as good or better than any other Netflix HD stream I've seen on the Roku. The audio was 2 channel stereo. It was hardly high fidelity, but was definitely clear and clean.

I too watch through a X-Box 360....100% satisfied

Why is this not showing up for me as available on Netflix Watch Instantly? I only see the DVD option.

It was a one day promotion.