Netflix Watch Instantly Service - Page 7

the cable box would be the most "convenient" solution, but i don't it happening, unless the providers give up on vod entirely... i freely admit i could be wrong about that...

i can easily live with the roku box though... it's tiny and it works...

i would agree with you, a new release every week and a good catalog, and it's a home run... 9 bucks a month is a STEAL for that alone... plus that ignores the growing catalog of sd that's available...

disclaimer: i have been on the streaming media bandwagon from day 1... so i may be a bit over enthusiastic...

I agree on the question whether ATT for example would forego VOD. But they would not have to. If anything, they can charge for new release rentals as they do now, because I doubt Netflix will ever have free new releases streaming. It would be complimentary services. ATT gives you new stuff for pay, Netflix takes care of the archives for a monthly fee. Its not like Comcast or ATT don't have free VOD libraries of antiques.

That said, I dont think any current VOD would ever supplement discs for me. After watching movies on Bluray with a high quality 5.1 or 7.1 soundtrack, I could not imagine being satisfied with a relatively low quality Netflix offering. I could watch some old catalog movies that way, but experiencing Ironman or Dark Knight, or something like Godfather or Casino Royale, or Matrix or Star Wars in just stereo and low resolution is like robbing myself of the experience. I stopped going to the movies more than once or twice a year and invested in a nice TV and 7.1 setup for a reason.

But yes, a small cheap Roku box like that is perfect, simple and to the point. I am just waiting to buy one until I see if it gets integrated into more devices, one that I may already have perhaps...

they have the public beta optin program for the silverlight player.... its quite a bit better than the old one but it is a one way process for the blog post.

http://www.netflix.com/silverlightoptin

http://blog.netflix.com/ (more info about it here)

What is the cheapest package you can buy to have access to the downloading service?

They actually have a download only package for $7.99 but I think it is limited to the starz play stuff (probably the best known of their instant offerings), but I figure why not get the 1 out at a time plus unlimited watch instantly (everything they offer for watch instantly) for $8.99.

Is there a package where I can get high definition sound with Netflix download?
I want it on my PS3 because I have a 5.1 setup. If it takes a long time to download (like 2 days), then snail mail would be faster actually since Netflix could just mail me a Blu-Ray.
Hopefully they will offer these films with HD audio and not just video.

No plan now for HD audio. And not likely in the future. It takes a lot of bandwidth and they use every bit they can to increase video quality since its more noticeable to more people.

And it wont load over a long time. It just streams on the fly. So if you dont have an internet connection that is fast enough, it wont allow you to stream HD. Gizmodo reports it requires 8-10mbps sustained connection for HD now over the Xbox360. The Roku box is supposedly going to be able to do it with less bandwidth at less quality if that's all that's available.

The best bet is to get Netflix and get Blurays from them for movies you want to watch with full blown quality (think Lord of the Rings), and use the On demand downloads for older catalog titles or stuff where top quality is not crucial (think a chick flick or comedy where 5.1 sound is not needed). This is what I am doing.

I am so excited about Netflix coming to TiVo. A few months ago I upgraded my cable to 10mbps for 5 bucks more. Ill finally have a use for it.

I finally got this up and running yesterday - a few quick observations;

(1) With a fairly new ASUS motherboard, 2gig of ram, nvidia 8600GTS video card, the video quality is very good. (with XP & Firefox 2.0.0.17)

(2) There does appear to be a noticeable a/v sync problem on a few of the videos, altho I watched Blade Runner(Director's Cut) last nite and it was excellent. At this time it's impossible to tell whether the sync problem is from their video DRM encoding or from the transmission/ISP loop somewhere along the line.

(3) The video quality varies from good to excellent, altho I don't see the same 'snap' that I do get from watching HULU.

(4) Audio appears to be straight 2-channel stereo; a 5.1 option would be nice here.

My conclusion: needs some work, but definitely watchable and enjoyable, and it's nice to have another online instant video option.

Now if they could only sack MS and come up with a Linux version....

LeeB

Depends on your area. Mine sustains at 21 mbps and jumps to 30mbps for small bursts.

There is Moonlight for Linux which is being developed under the Mono project and supported by MS. I haven't tried it, but I understand that it will support Silverlight 1.0 by end of 2008 and Silverlight 2.0 by June 2009.

But Silverlight with PlayReady DRM?

I've tried this with the WMV player and the quality is very poor on my 92" screen. It's probably due to my 1.5 mps max data rate. Are there any other PC based streaming programs that have better quality by storing on the disk like VuDu does?

I'm trying to determine if the "Watch Instantly" service is perfect for me...

I receive the major network stations over the air on my HD TiVo. I also have analog Mediacom cable (not digital) for the non-network shows (South Park on Comedy Central, Burn Notice and Psych on USA Network, Family Guy on TBS, 30 Days and Nip Tuck on FX Network for example).
My plan is to cancel my analog cable subscription and utilize either a Roku or the Netflix "Instant Watch" on my HD Tivo to watch all the non-network shows (hopefully in better quality than standard cable).

I understand I may have two concerns;
1. bandwidth (this can have an effect on video quality)
2. bandwidth cap (this may effect how many shows I can download each month)

As for concern #1 I will have to try it when I get it
As for concern #2 I am unaware of any bandwidth caps placed by Mediacom

I also understand that television shows are not immediately available from Netflix. I may have to wait a day or two after the episodes have aired before they become available on Netflix.

My concern (and also something I have not been able to find out) is any limit on the number of television shows I would have "Watch Instantly" access to the device (either my HD TiVo or the Roku not both). There is a limit to the number of Movies but are TV shows limited? Are there any commercials in the TV Shows?

Aside from the two limitations mentioned above (bandwidth and bandwidth cap) this type of solution seems like the perfect answer to those seeking an "a-la-carte" alternative from their cable company.. Am I missing something here?
Thanks in advance.

I'm thinking of signing up for netflix, for the download (and the snail mail rentals). Is the download service a standard VC-1 or AVC file that would work on my PS3 using windows media server or tversity?

No. You have to use Microsoft's Silverlight on the PC. Its one of the reasons streaming is so limited now.

However, you can use playon from playon.org and it will stream Netflix just like Tversity.

Here is a good post on the technical details of Netflix's HD streaming solution:

http://blog.netflix.com/2008/11/enco...streaming.html

Just a warning that the silverlight is NOT compatible with PlayOn. There's some posts over there about people who started using the silverlight version of NF, and it broke PlayOn.

Also, PlayOn won't do the HD.

However it still is a great piece of software. I use it regularly.

haven't been paying attention... have they enabled hd streaming for the roku player yet?

I am relatively sure the XBOX is the only one that HD is available on. HD didn't even show up as an option in the Watch Instantly stuff until I registered my XBOX with it.

But with that said, it's got to be coming soon to the Roku.

thanks...

i'm assuming you've tried it? any comments?

Is there any per month limit on the number of television shows available on "Watch Instantly" like there is on the number of Movies?

Also, does anyone know if there are commercials in the "Watch Instantly" TV Shows?

No, and no.

Found it and now have it running on my roku and Xbox. I just went to the Xbox screen and wrote down the authorization number typed it in at the nexflix website and are good to go

Can someone outline the steps to get the service set up on an Xbox360?

Yes, and it looks great. I only watched The Host though, and it was going perfectly fine for about 20 minutes.

Then I tried to Fast Forward just to see what it did. I don't have a screenshot of it, but when you do that, the picture shrinks and the screen looks like a chapter selection that you can scroll through (looks like about 5 seconds between each chapter....more like bookmarks),.

After I did that, it only played for about a minute, then it came up with a message saying that my internet connection had been interrupted and it needed to re-adjust quality. It did that twice (bumping the quality down twice), then it didn't look so great. Not bad but certainly not as good as it was looking.

I am assuming this was because I FF'd and it couldn't buffer again fast enough. I am going to try again tonight with The Signal but not FF at all to see if run into the same issue.

I only have 3 down though, so that could be the issue, and perhaps the FF was just a coincidence.

vmcNetFlix now has new download for using Sliverlight player. After you download you go to SETTINGS and change to Sliverlight player. Works great.

mark

thanks mproper.... that's good to know... looking forward to getting it here...

Ok, was on the road for a couple days and had my first chance to check out the new Netflix "Watch Now" feature through my XBOX360. I have all my components running via HDMI through an Integra DTC-9.8 to a Pioneer 150FD. I have a PS3 for BD, Toshoba HD-DVD player, as well Tivo HD. Cable and internet is Comcast.

I've had XBOX Live for several years now, and have been a long-time subscriber to Netflix. I decided to torture test my system and added about fifty films to my "Watch Now" qeue on Netflix. Installing the Netflix service on XBOX was pretty simple and straightforward. Once you have it set-up, any changes made on-line to your Netflix qeue are automatically updated when you sign-on to XBOX Live.

PQ for SD and HD was decent. I'm sure the PQ will be different for everyone, but between my Integra and Pioneer with their video processing capabilites, I was pleased. I was able to pause, fast forward, etc., without any glitches (no lost connection or system crashes.) Sound quality is only stereo, but I can utilize some of my non-Dolby Digital surround sound modes on the Integra to somewhat overcome this shortcoming.

I believe the movie and television show selection is around 12,000 titles, but I'm not sure how many of them are HD. I think that between this new feature (which is also coming to Tivo in December), as well as my snail mail Netflix, and Pay-Per-View available via XBOX Live and Sony PS3, I'll be cancelling all of my premium movie channels with Comcast shortly.

That article mentions that there are some technical issues beyond bandwidth for 5.1 sound. Mainly the format they are delivering in. So it may be a while, if ever. Definitely not soon as you can see below.

Many Xbox Video Marketplace downloads (both HD and SD, though more of the HD) have DD5.1 soundtracks. I would have thought that those were delivered as WMDRM-protected VC-1 files. I don't know about streamed WMDRM-protected video though.