Netflix on Wii?? - Page 4

Exactly. I pay for Netflix 'cause it's the only way to watch Blu-rays at a reasonable price, but there's plenty of stuff not on BD yet that I still want to watch. I love me some 1080p, lossless audio action flicks, but I really could give a **** about getting the best possible quality for documentaries or comedies. And when my girlfriend reveals that she's never seen Karate Kid Part II, I don't want to wait several days, I want to force her to watch that masterpiece right goddamn now.

I don't see how anyone can complain about a totally free bonus service that lets you watch movies INSTANTLY without even having to get off your couch, even with the tradeoff of lesser quality.

I still see a ton of CD's for sale in stores. They must be selling well for the stores to still stock them.


If thats true is more likely because of the economy and the transition from DVD to Blue Ray.


A lot of areas in the US still don't have decent broadband access, so I just don't see it.


Not really, I spend about 95% of the time watch SD content on my HDTV. Looks fine too me. I don't even have any HDMI cables yet.


I don't think the greed of Hollywood will allow that. Holographic data storage will be the next big thing after the Blue Ray and 3D fad.

Well, I used to manage a Wherehouse Records about 20 yrs ago - back when record stores - not Amazon, WalMart, etc - were selling CDs like hotcakes, CD burning tech was only for the rich & ultra tech savvy & iPods seemed like Star Trek tech.

Compare that to today - there are virtually no "record stores" anymore. The economy did not cause this. Blame WalMart & Amazon. The music store chains have all but died. Niche/independant shops can be found in larger cities, but they are for the most part struggling. Think about the selection of music you could find in a record store 20 yrs ago & compare it to the handul of racks you see in the avg Walmart (the nations #1 CD seller). It's pretty sad. Yet downloads are cheap (or free if you are into stealing), virtually EVERYTHING is available via iTunes, Rhapsody, etc.

There are still racks of CDs in stores, but those racks have been steadily shrinking year after year as retailers dump products that take up space & do not ove like they used to.

http://arstechnica.com/media/news/20...poor-sales.ars

Uni Music Group recently dumped the retail price of most of it's CD catalog to $10 to combat flagging sales - sales that were in a downturn before the economy did the same.

http://www.nma.co.uk/news/online-mus...011126.article

Granted, this is news from the UK, but across the pond the profits from music/movie downloads has now far exceeded sales of CDs/DVDs.



Partially - but as more people discover other methods of watching movies, they are simply not buying DVDs like they did.

The DVD downturn also led Warner Bros to stop making DVDs for older catalog movies for retail sale. Unless it's a film on the level of The African Queen or Gone With The Wind (examples of MOVIES, not necessarily WB movies), you will not find it on DVD @ your local WalMart. You can however have an inexpensive version made "to order" via WB's website store.

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/res...-12-year-18832




http://tips.vlaurie.com/2010/03/fcc-...overage-in-us/

That is hopefully going to change - esp considering that the US is woefully behind much of the industrialzed world when it comes to broadband coverage. In addition to bolstering wired service, one of the Obama admin's plans/hopes is to also expand Wi-Fi coverage to be like that found in many European countries today. Metropolitan areas often have Wi-Fi hotspots virtually everywhere.



As it is for many people - however, the avg AVS Forum lurker is generally more interested in the "best".



See the above links regarding DVD sales & whatnot. Hollywood knows the sales are down, but they also know that more consumers are using the alternate methods out there to get said media.

W/ BluRay - and HDDVD as well - consumers were presented w/ a familiar looking format that had players that played existing discs. Even so, it's been a bit of a hard sell up until very recently - and BD has still not consumed the home video market (and may never). If holographic stoage does come to pass in a consumer form, would customers be more or less willing to jump into a new & potentially foreign format?


Another format MAY come to pass before physical media is eventually wiped out, but I do believe the writing is on the wall. Electronics makers have had a particular mantra that they have espoused for over a decade - no more moving parts. This is already happening & will continue to advance in the coming years.

In the end, I am not disagreeing with you - I too prefer having an actual disc in hand. But the entire concept of physical media IS on the way out. Do I think discs will be 100% dead in 5 yrs? Probably not....but let's resume the conversation in 10 yrs & see where we are at.

It turns out I was mistaken. They have the "pilot," but they do not have the "extended pilot" available on the Netflix Instant Watch. The extended pilot was listed as "Episode 1--only available on disc," while the pilot was episode 2 and was readily available on demand.

My bad.

In addition to what jwebb points out is the fact that you may be seeing quantity, but you're not seeing variety. Best Buy carries more CDs than most places these days, but good luck finding someone who isn't considered a 'classic' or isn't on the Billboard Hot 100. They don't carry large back-stocks nor a variety like dedicated music stores...which have been mostly driven under. The only place you can find that kind of variety now is online retailers, mostly Amazon....as long as Amazon chooses to carry the CD in question. The number of albums a Walmart or Target carries that is more than a year-old and isn't a greatest hits collection or a landmark album is rapidly shrinking.

Want a copy of Led Zeppelin IV? OK, they got that. Want Physical Graffitti? Whoops, sorry, they don't. Want "Who's Next"? One of the local Best Buys near me has it. But none of three local ones have "Quadraphenia". And don't expect someone like Stan Ridgway, The Art of Noise or even recent popular bands like Owl City, Spoon or Flobots (unless you want their most recent release and only for the first few weeks).


According to this survey, the problem is far less a question of having broadband access as choosing not to have it. Currently over 63% of Americans have broadband (which became the majority Internet Access as of 2005) and of those who don't have it, only 16% said they couldn't get it. That survey was as of April 2009, which showed a rise of 8% in home broadband adoption. We'll have to wait until June for the 2010 study, but I expect more gains.

And that's not even including folks who only have cable, not internet access. On-Demand doesn't require buying internet service from your cable company and many folks are getting movies that way.

You also see movie studios offering new releases On Demand either day to date or even before a DVD/BD is released for sale. Comcast, DirecTv & Netflix all continue to feature certain new releases exclusively - and aside from Netflix having first dibs @ disc rentals for their exclsuive stuff, this is all content delivered digitally.

It's funny how many people feel the need to defend watching inferior quality movies, yet in another forum on thsi same site I got BASHED for saying I don't like so many movies with black bars on 16:9 sets because they said it's so horrible to not want to see it in the original AR. I was like umm then they should film more IN the AR which would fill the screen then it's in the original AR. They kept ignoring that part.

I even had posts deleted and a moderator telling me not to expect help on finding a player with zoom because wanting a zoom feature makes purists mad. So if I want to zoom content I buy I deserve to be bashed on a forum site, but then a majority try to tell me 480p is better than 1080p now. lol

What does AR have to do with this topic?


Who is trying to tell you that 480 is better than 1080? Are you reading anything we are writing? I saw the mention earlier that you are legally blind, but come on!

What we are saying is that there are certain things that are not available in 1080 anyway, so why not stream them? If I stopped watching content that was less than 1080 I would miss an awful lot! You do realize that even HD content from your cable/sat provider may not be 1080 right? There are also some things that don't necessitate the need for higher quality video either. I honestly don't care if a stand up comedian's act is being played at 1080 or 480 as long as the act is funny. I'm watching for the jokes, the fun, and the laughter, not eye candy.

It's worth having Netflix On Demand simply for the complete Monty Python series being a click away.

I've watched plenty of SD material On Demand on my PS3s, and it looks fine. Not as good as the 720p/1080i source material, but who cares for about 80% of the stuff?

You just need to disconnect the logic center of your brain when dealing w/ Basher sometimes.

On of the first selections I watched all the way thru via Wii Netflix was HDNet's Hunter Thompson doc, Gonzo. Obviously, this was a program shot & originally broadcast in HD (1080i) - and available as such, AFAIK, via those w/ HD streaming capailities. While it only gets seen @ 480p max via Wii, the PQ was pretty excellent - about as good as a SD DVD via my BD player.

Any normal person's logic center tells them that you can stream the movies in other ways than the wii and have better PQ so this isn't a case of stream on wii or have no streaming options elsewhere.

No, this is a case of 'not everything on Netflix is a movie and DVD quality (i.e. 480p) is more than adequate for many movies that aren't even available in HD, yet'. For example, my wife wanted to watch 'Bronco Billy' a while back. That isn't on BluRay or HD. I was watching the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes with my son...no BluRays that I'm aware of. And so on. We watched a Bill Engvall concert from last year...no Bluray or HD available, afaik.

Maybe you're assuming we're only talking about the latest releases. No one's saying that the Wii is superior to other implementations...just that the Wii's execution is fine for anything not in HD.

The only thing relatively superior I see in Wii Netflix is that overall the PQ is better in some cases than the same SD programming streamed to my home computers. From what I have read, Wii's PQ is basically equal to SD streamed to 360/PS3 - and is certainly equal to SD content I have seen streamed on my bro-in-law's BD player (Netflix-equipped) & Apple TV. That & navigating w/a Wiimote is kinda cool (and my kids can do it).

That last bit could be disconcerting to parents aware of Netflix's lack of parental controls....but MY Netflix has parental controls.....ME!

Yes and any normal person's logic would tell them that it isn't worth spending more money on another piece of gear when you are content with what you have. I have no desires for a ROKU, 360, PS3, or any other device. I already have a Wii and it provides better PQ than what I was using previously (a HTPC). This thread is not about the best Netflix streaming device. It is about streaming Netflix on the Wii. Do you see the difference?

And it's not like people are running out and buying Wiis and signing up for Netflix solely so they can stream on Wii, which is the only circumstance where Bashey's original statement makes any sense. So basically this is yet another case of Bashey completely missing the point, then irrationally sticking to a nonsensical argument against an assertion that no one ever even made.

Seriously, this is one of those rare times where a consumer offering is above all major reproach, due to being A) free and B) from all accounts, working quite well. Trying to levy any significant criticism against it is completely absurd.

Put another way, I can drive faster in a Ferrari, but that doesn't suddenly mean I own a Ferrari.

People were not saying they personally have only this option. I asked why anyone would want to watch it on the wii IF THEY DO have other equipment already. And also people keep bringing up movies not in HD, well those usually do look better upconverted which obviously the wii doesn't do. So it's not like you're stuck watching it in its worst form if you have something to upconvert.

No, the Wii does not "upconvert" - but chances are about 100% that the video IS being upconverted to some extent if you have the Wii/Netflix combo conected to an HD display. I do think one is probably best served by using a component connection for Wii if you plan on using Netflix at all. But you should be using component anyway.

My kids watched Elmo in Grouchland & Clifford's Really Big Movie on Sunday via Wii Netflix. Both movies had excellent PQ - far better than what a 3 & 7 yr old would have required. This is a killer addition to the Wii.

I go for the highest PQ I can get at the moment I want to watch. If I can wait for the BR, I'll wait. If the title isn't available on BR and I can wait for the DVD, I'll wait. If I want to watch something now that's DVD or streaming only, I'll settle for 480p and stream it. So it's more about the compromises you're willing to make to get instant gratification. The PQ is pretty close to DVD, so I tend to stream a lot.

No, you didn't ask that (except perhaps in your own head) You said:


To which In2Photos pointed out:

When folks pointed out how silly your other options were, you moved the goalposts, in an effort to explain how Netflix was a bad bargain, I guess. A service you admit to not actually having used in 10 years.


At no time did the topic of exclusivity of only having a Wii even get discussed, other than someone pointing out you could get the lowest option, giving you Bluray discs AND streaming. Perhaps you assumed having a BD player meant it was Netflix capable, I don't know. But even when that's true (as it is in my house, where i have 2 Tivos, 1 PS3 and an Xbox 360 as well as a Wii) I still want the Wii disc for use in locations where I have a Wii but not a HDtv. In many houses, the Wii may not even be in the same location as the (or one of the) HDTV(s). And while you may not have considered it, DVDs are still the primary format that Netflix ships, not BDs. And having the option to stream to the Wii is a darned good one.

Amen, brother.

In addition, I can see using the service during some family travels. My wife's family has a cabin located within Kings Canyon Nat Park where we spend a lot of time during the summer. Has all the modern things one might want - sat TV, DVD player & Internet access among them. I took the Wii up there last summer for a weeklong stay. I plan to take it again along w/ our Netflix disc.....and at the same time NOT lug up as large a collection of DVDs for the kids for when nature eventually bores them.

I doubt this applies to many people here, but though I stream plenty on my PS3 right now, I'd like to switch to the Wii stream instead just because it's much less of a power hog (and I almost never get the HD stream anyway on PS3 since my Internet sucks). I'm sure the monthly cost difference couldn't be more than a couple bucks, but if both work about equally well, why not use the greener option?

My disc is supposed to arrive today. I intend to take it to my mother-in-law's house. She has a Wii and I'll set it up so that we can use Netflix on it, so that the kids can enjoy Netflix there when they want to.

The disc, of course, forces you to link the app to your Netflix account.

AFAIK, you could set this up for more than 1 Wii w/ the same account since you can use the service w/ as many Netflix equipped devices as you have. Not sure, though, on registering w/ Wii.

Being disc based, I doubt it's a problem. But if your mother-in-law has her own Netflix account, you might want to link it on her Wii to her account.

Maybe you are time travelers from Leave It To Beaver days and brought all your stuff.

I am using my 4000th post to say that jwebb loves Axl and that Axl alone is gnr.

Actually, that's what I plan to do, too. My PS3 gets all the use for the Blu-Ray and most of my gaming. So, if I can watch my non-HD streams via the Wii, that's what I'll do simply to save wear and tear on the living room PS3 BD drive.

My disc arrived today, but I have yet to try anything out with it.

You can apparently save wear on the Wii as well - not sure on PS3 (guessing no), but reportedly once you have Netflix booted up on your Wii, you can remove the disc & continue streaming/surfing the selections. I imagine even if not being read by the laser, that disc is still spinning inside the Wii.

It's this that makes me think an eventul disc-free Wii Netflix Channel is coming at some point. Likely the same situation for PS3, too.