Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Movies Instantly Streamed from Netflix to the TV Via the XBox 360
Hello. Catherine Fisher here from Netflix PR. I wanted to let everyone know that the New Xbox Experience is available tomorrow, which means current Xbox LIVE Gold and Netflix members can have thousands of movies and TV episodes instantly streamed to their TVs via the Xbox 360. There will also be a modest amount of titles (approximately 300) offered in high definition on the Xbox 360. For now they will play with standard definition audio and we will eventually add multi-channel audio.
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49 comments:
Why don't you talk about all of Columbia Pictures' movies being labelled as "Not available on Xbox"? Is this a permanent situation?
Can we get clarification on why certain films won't stream to the xbox when they available on other platforms?
via:
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/11/18/nxe-netflix-streaming-queues-suddenly-gimped/
I would like clarification on the Columbia Pictures thing as well. Also, a list of the 300 or so titles would be nice, or at least a list of the more popular ones, so far I've only found Heroes (all 3 seasons) and it looks great.
Is HD Streaming available yet? I am unable to get any titles that have been reported on Engadget as HD (Orphanage) to play in HD. I have a 6Mbps connection. Thanks.
How do you define "Standard Definition" audio. Audio doesn't have lines of resolution. Are we talking just stereo? LCR? 5.1? DTS?
What are the bit and sampling rates on stuff streaming to set top?
I'd like to say thank you for the content, however, can you guys work out a better deal with Microsoft so that NetFlix users can pay just a one-time fee for the usage of the NetFlix app? I see no reason why I should have to pay monthly for an XBox Live Gold subscription when all I want to do is watch NetFlix movies.
Not sure if the original poster will read this, but I think this is a great addition to the Xbox service. However, if the movies will remain unavailable for Xbox streaming, I'd like to see an icon or some indication of that. Nothing has bugged me more than queuing up a bunch of movies and then having to remove them. Thanks again.
I can't get the activation codes to work on the site. Is anyone else having problems with this?
How about getting it to actually work for the non-early adopters?! No confirm codes work and 1/2 wait times for Netflix Customer Service!
is there any way of knowing which videos are available in HD?
This is great! Thanks!!
what about playstation 3?
@mezdup
i second this... i'd love to be able to see the list of which content is in HD. So far I've seen 30 Rock and Heroes are available.
will this feature quit working when my xbox live gold membership expires? do i need to keep my roku box for when i don't have xbox live gold any longer?
will the streaming service be available for Puerto Rico? If not will it be available in the future?
will this be available for PS3 in the future?
You need to explain to people like myself who have an HDMI to DVI cable connected to their LCD monitor that they will not be able to watch NetFlix movies on the Xbox 360. You will instead receive a message that states that an HDCP compliant link could not be found. Man, I can't express how disappointed I am.
To speculate on the Columbia Pictures "not available on Xbox", here's an observation. Columbia Pictures = Sony = PS3. Silverlight = VC-1 = Microsoft = Xbox. I suspect there are competitive reasons why the PS3 is not (and may never be) supported, and why Sony/Columbia content doesn't (and may never) appear on Xbox.
So has anyone else tested this yet? I got home last night and installed the update, then I linked up my Netflix account to my Xbox 360.
Some observations. First the good:
1. Setup process was painless and quick. 5 minutes from start to finish.
2. Movies display with nice full cover art, and moving through the list feels very coverflow-esque.
3. Movies begin playing quickly...only takes a few seconds of buffering to begin.
Now the bad:
1. Video quality is poor. I have a fast connection, but the several movies I tested looked significantly worse than a regular DVD on my 42" LCD from about 10ft away. Very blurry.
2. I did test a couple of the HD titles, and they looked fine. Not Blu-Ray quality, but much better than the SD titles and a step up from regular DVDs. As already mentioned though, no 5.1 sound as of yet. At least they said this would be added at some point. I do wish there was a way to see which titles were available in HD before starting to play them, though.
2. Frame rate! This is the only real deal-breaker. The frame rate of each SD and HD movie I tested was so bad it was giving me a headache. The only time the movies were watchable was during dialogue scenes with no movement. As soon as a camera would pan, the movie started to slideshow in a very noticeable manner.
I don't know if these quality issues were a result of so many people trying this last night or if it'll be that way permanently. I sure hope its not permanent. I was very, very excited about this, but I'm going to be really bummed if this is the best it's going to be!
I'd love to try out the service to see if I want to subscribe, however it directs me to the Netflix website to sign up because I have an old account. The only way I can try the service is if I subscribe... which I won't do before I try it. Trying to use the "Contact Us" form puts one into a useless endless loop of "Search for your answer first"... "Contact Us"... "Try searching for your answer"... that never actually leads to a contact form.
Ya, I have a gold membership and a Netflix account. So I was jazzed to stream movies. First, I tried GONE BABY GONE. Unwatchable quality. Then I tried APOCALYPTO. Very poor image quality. Ya, ya, my DSL speed must not be fast enough. Blah, blah, blah. It doesn't work as advertised. I'll do DVDs until you guys work out the kinks. Disappointing. But otherwise, the 360 dashboard update is very good.
Here are my list of complaints and forgive me if i am repeating anyone elses.
1. The movie inventory available for internet(PC and XBOX) viewing is HORRENDOUS. It is worse than any cable package that offers On-Demand content. People want to have access to both new and old, and by new I mean the LATEST RELEASES (Iron-Man, Dark Knight, etc.). I don't see any downside to offering brand new releases via the internet (or 360). You will continue to have those people who order the DVDs and then you will have those people who are more tech savvy streaming the content. A majority of these tech savvy people will more than likely be new subscribers (i.e. 360 users) because of the sheer convenience, the "coolness" factor, and worthy movie selection. Pee-Wees Big Adventure, although a cult classic, is not what people are looking to watch form their netflix subscription.
2. Xbox needs to do something about the quality of streaming. Yes I understand internet connection has a lot to do with it, but something needs to be done about the buffering, the changing of video quality during movies. Even a 3 bar video display on an HD TV looks worse then if you were watching it via a cable box. (maybe it looks ok on a normal def tv though, idk) You gotta think that most people with 360's are housing an HD TV though.
3. What is the purpose of having this available on the XBOX if you can't SEARCH FOR MOVIES via your XBOX console? Again, there is no downfall to adding this as a feature, the internet site is always useful to add movies when not at your consoles, but for there should be the availability to search for movies on the spot via the console. You can search through a boat load of Marketplace Games/Demos/Videos, why not do the same for Netflix.
These are my main complaints with Netflix and Xbox. I think this could have great potential if it is done right and offers MUCH more than it does. You will have a lot of new customers (including myself) subscribing to the service if it is revamped to meet the consumers needs. But for now, I am going to be like the majority of xbox users without a Netflix account...use the free trial, then get rid of it once 2 weeks is up.
P.S. I am sure the company, both Microsoft and Netflix, have enough money to do a joint "post buy" or post xbox launch survey to field the opinions of the current software, obtain feedback, and see what will ultimately drive us to become a Netflix member.
I want an answer on this and I don't know if I should call support here if no one knows. (I also think my original post was lost)
Is HD streaming require that I pay the extra fee for HD rentals? If so is there any talk of making it so HD streaming can be done regardless of physical rental status? The only real difference in streaming's case is bandwidth and that doesn't seem to be an issue.
Why are you not providing HD content to PC users? Many of us have displays offering HD or even higher resolutions, and with processing power that matches or greatly exceeds that of the Xbox 360. If the 360 can handle it, our PCs can (and it wouldn't exactly be difficult to test whether the horsepower required was there).
Come on Netflix, don't artificially limit this to certain devices. Open up HD viewing to PC users as well, pronto!
the video quality sucks on the 360 and the sound only works 1/3 of the time i try to watch anything netflix and xbox need to do something to fix this problem is any one else having this trouble to
It seems as if people are having a lot of trouble with their Xbox's and streaming. As of now, i have not had one problem whatsoever with the quality of video as explained before in posts. Connection-wise for me, i am using a university connection that has to plug through my laptop via USB to Ethernet adapter. Don't know if that would make a difference or not.
XBox 360 support....
When will you offer services to Linux Users?
Yes, I can duel boot, I can emulate but why should I have to put anything on my system that is even close to MS? I find it hard to believe that you choose to support a video game system but will still not put any resources into support for Linux.
I am limited to MS's crappy Media Center if I want to use your service. Is this part of the plan?
When MS finally goes ahead and takes over Netflix I will cancel.
i just cannot find anyone else commenting on this, so maybe you can help me here.
for me, the quality is fantastic (i have a 16 down 2 up connection).
the one issue i have is that the sd movies that i play all play fullscreen (ie 4:3). i have checked the movies in the queue, and they are listed as widescreen. i am using the vga cable on my 360.
What a joke I just started playing a show, after upgrading to gold and getting a netflix account, after a minute or less of great picture it stops and tells me my internet is slow so afterwards I get a youtube quality picture... what a waste of money.
Not sure what's going on, but I think Netflix servers must be getting hammered or something with all the new Xbox traffic.
I've tried the Watch Now on my 360, my Mac, and my XP box. The 360 kept going to basic quality. When I tried it on my computers, it did the same thing. Speakeasy speedtests show my connection rock solid at 15mbps/2mbps as my provider states. Is there just too much traffic for the servers now?
just set this up. way cool. nice stuff, good job!
No complaints here...I love this Netflix/360 setup. People complain about the dumbest things. No matter how good the service is, people will still complain. I have about 70 movies/tv shows in the queue just available to watch at any time for $9/mth...kidding me! How can you complain about this?!?! Sure, new releases would be nice, but any business minded individual knows that you use a phased approach before you unveil the final product...duh. People who complain about picture quality may be having issues with their internet bandwidth speeds. Before you complain, go to speakeasy.com and do a speed test on your network connection. If you get download speeds over 3mb or 3000kbps you should be getting the highest quality available. Thank you Netflix for this service. When the new releases are available for the 360, that will be an added bonus.
PLEASE ALLOW IT IN PUERTO RICO!!!!!!
Its not fair that you can take our money and ship to a US territory which uses the dollar and has the same region codes on the dvd's, uses the USPS, can use the online store of the Xbox and Itunes but we can't stream.....
@anonymous
There's a difference between complaining and giving an honest review of the service.
However, I agree that those people that just bitch and moan need to relax. Unfortunately it seems this blog is filling up with people like that more and more. They get on here to just trash Netflix and to be honest it's getting old. If you want to cancel, just cancel. Don't waste our time coming here to threaten to cancel.
This is a great service and one I hope lives up to its full potential.
Only downer about this service... I wish I had the option of extending the buffer length! I can get HD (6mbps DSL) on many things, but 50% of the time it drops down to SD. If I could buffer more than 10 seconds I could probably keep 100% of the presentation in HD. It's still great, but I'd really love a buffer/quality slider that *I* control.
can i get netflix on my xbox 360 in canada?
Content Creators: "What would ya say...ya do here?"
Netflix:"Well, look, I already told you. I deal with the customers so the Xbox 360 engineers don't have to! I have people skills!"
nice. you guys are on a roll. do the ps3 next, then my iphone and i'll shut up.
http://deepnewsteam.blogspot.com/
please bring this feature to the ps3.
This is for PC users complaining TOO! THANK YOU Netflix for working hard to bring streaming content to us! You are the first company that is doing it RIGHT, and making it available for people who don't want to be tethered to cable or satellite companies.
I am a lifelong Mac user. My first Mac was an SE with 256K RAM and no hard drive. I've owned eight Macs in my life, five of which are still on and working in my house. I was an Apple Student Rep in college and worked for Apple in the summers as an intern, so let no one doubt my love for the Mac or my evangelism for that company.
I get so sick of stupid people griping when a company works hard to offer Mac compatibility. The bottom line is, we represent a *very* small number of the installed computer base. We're a good deal less than 10% of all computer users (in fact, it was 7.8% in June of this year, which is an all-time high). So, when a company works hard to offer a solution for us — no matter how flawed that first effort might be — they deserve our support, respect and help in making it better, and in giving them a reason to develop it further and perfect its functionality on the Mac platform.
For a company like Netflix to work hard to bring online viewing to the Mac community is a very awesome thing. They could easily never offer this for Mac users. Many companies simply don't do *anything* for the Mac... for example AutoDesk which discontinued its support for the Mac (with AutoCad) years ago and they have no intentions of ever bringing it back. During the lean years of John Sculley et. al., the only company that made printer drivers for the Mac was Epson, a company that never gave up on the Mac. Remember that next time you buy a printer! The list goes on and on.
Netflix has NO choice but to bow to the studio's (incredibly stupid) demands of having some kind of DRM for streaming video. Netflix CANNOT use Quicktime, for the morons that keep asking for that. Apple will NOT license it's DRM so that Netflix could use Quicktime. I'll repeat this for the scores of idiots: Netflix CANNOT use Quicktime because Apple will NOT license its DRM.
This is a first effort, and I really, really thank Netflix for working hard to find a solution. I also thank Microsoft for porting Silverlight for use on the Mac. No ONE, and I mean NO ONE gives a rat's ass whether you will install "no Microsoft product" on your computer. The only one that loses out is YOU.
I have no love for Microsoft, but there is nothing gained in being a Microsoft hater. No one cares if you don't like Microsoft, they are here to stay. It's one thing to use Open Office or Pages or something like that, instead of Microsoft Office, but it's entirely another thing to shoot yourself in the foot by losing out on Netflix streaming because you are such an angry moron that you won't have *any* Microsoft software on your computer. Again, no one CARES! You're not hurting Microsoft, you're not hurting Netflix, you're only hurting yourself. And frankly, I laugh in your face for excluding yourself from Netflix streaming because you are so moronically hard-headed.
This is what makes other people hate Mac users. This pompous, whining, complaining, arrogant attitude that does *nothing* but hurt us. Developers don't want to put time, money and energy into offering Mac products only to have Mac users complain and act like petulant children because they won't install any "Microsoft products" on their computers. Do you think they cry in their soup? NO! What they do is say, "well, screw them" and then they don't develop for the Mac platform. Thankfully, the majority of us Mac users appreciate what Netflix is doing, and they know to expect and ignore the small minority of idiots that seem incapable of doing anything but whining.
What did you expect Netflix to do? Huh? Come on, idiots, tell us! What did you expect them to do? Develop their own DRM from scratch so you wouldn't have to install any Microsoft products on your computer? Netflix isn't in the software business, they are in the movie rental business. They worked hard, and spent a great deal of money to come up with a solution. Did Apple help? NO! So they did the only thing they could, they took a DRM that movie companies already approve and they had its functionality retrofitted for the Mac.
And for all you non-Intel Mac pussies whining, what did you expect them to do? Huh? Silverlight isn't available for the PPC, and you wouldn't have been able to run the graphics ANYWAY. This is just like the stupid OS 9 crowd complaining that VLC won't run on their system. GROW UP! Macs outlast any other platform in terms of years of usability, but even they have a shelf life! PPC Macs are simply not powerful enough to do many of the things Intel Macs can do, OR it is too difficult to port the software for PPC. Quit complaining and save your money for an Intel Mac!
Netflix isn't a movie studio. They aren't representing the MPAA. Do you think, for one second that if Netflix didn't have to use DRM that they would?! Hell no! They have no choice. None. The studios control the content and this is what they demand. We know it's stupid. We know that we can rip DVDs and have a digital copy if we want. We know that no one is going to want the low-quality stream that comes from Netflix, when you can get the DVD quality version in the mail! But Netflix has no choice, it's the studio's stupidity.
It's just like how the studios won't allow HD content over component video, because they stupidly think that someone is going to tap into that stream and steal content. How absurd! Instead we rip DVDs, or we rip Blu-Ray disks. Who in the hell is going to try to cut into a component video output when we can simply rip the disks? No one! But that doesn't stop stupid studios from making older, perfectly good HD televsions with component video inputs obsolete. Don't blame Netflix, blame the studios.
Hats off to Netflix for caring, and for working to bring a solution to Mac users. It isn't perfect, but this is an imperfect world. I'm sad that there are a handful of stupid Mac users that only seem capable of complaining, whining and griping no matter what a company does to support them. It's sad that they can't see that Netflix has its hands tied by both Apple (and their refusal to offer the DRM) and the studios (and their moronic demand for DRM in low-quality video streaming). That Netflix has found ANY way to get streaming video to either PC users OR Mac users is a miracle! Thank you, thank you, thank you Netflix for working hard and jumping through some pretty small hoops and bringing the first step to a comprehensive catalog of movies on demand to Mac users. Those of us with class and a brain salute you and appreciate your efforts!
So when can we expect closed caption on the "watch instantly"? We went with Netflix because our cable company updated software on their boxes and made it impossible to turn on/off captions. After joining netflix, We were upsetto learn that CC is not available on these movies. It has been a hard week for the hearing impaired in my household!
I have had a bit of time to play around with Nextflix on the 360 now, and it seems there is a consistent problem of downgrading my video. I have the fastest DSL by Verizon in my area, use a wired connection to the 360, and have nothing else using the internet. I do not use wireless for anything, so it can't be something as simple as someone using my internet. Even when I manage to get 4 bars prior to the start of a video, generally within the first 5 minutes, the video will be downgraded. Out of 10 episodes of Heroes I have watched, I have only gotten 4 bar status once (which was downgraded after), and all the rest 2 bar status. 2 bars looks decently crisp with HD feed, but terrible with older SD movies. From 2 bar status though, at least half the time the video is downgraded from there, which looks terrible. Generally backing out of the movie and restarting seems to get me back to 2 bar status and stays playing smooth after that. I would also like to note that I have watch movies over my computer and have never had an issue at all.
No one's mentioned that the XBox has a PowerPC chip in it. So, how does Netflix streaming work on the XBox unless Microsoft has a version of their Silverlight 2 that works on PowerPC? Obviously MicroSoft have it and won't release it for Mac users.
I have a PC running Vista that's connected to a high definition projector and I watch Netflix' instant watch movies on that PC, at least when it doesn't give the erroneous error that my internet connection speed dropped and stop playing for 10 minutes. But that's another topic.
I do not have an XBox 360 and am certainly not going to buy one just for this feature, so here's 1 vote for PC support for high definition instant watch.
I have been enjoying Netflix on my XBox 360. However, it is very disappointing that there is no option for closed captioning for those who are deaf or heard-of-hearing. It is a very easy thing to implement!
The availability status of a particular DVD had started off as "long wait", to "short wait", to "long wait", back to "long wait", to "short wait", to "now", and finally to "short wait". This has happened several times, is Blockbuster any better?
OK, so basically they have not gotten a handle on the amount of movies available and the have streaming issues. I think the majority expects too much immediately. Just chill and wait. I get a 42" plasma to enjoy movies and I find out that 1080p is not even a factor for that screen size. I get a blue ray player and find out many movies are actually filmed with grain so there is nothing I can do to have a clear picture on certain movies no matter how Hi Def they say it is. Technology is limited, sorry, deal with it. I am sure as time goes by Netflix will get better and more movies will become available (look at what they did for DVD). Most of you are ridiculous with your questions and statements. Relax, read a book, take your blood pressure meds and go lie down....something.
re: "filmed with grain." Actually all films shot on celluloid have grain. Some are shot on fine-grain film stock, and you don't see that grain, usually. Some are shot in low-light situations, or to get a grainy effect, and that's the grain you see. The only time a film is grainless is when a filmmaker shoots digitally. But that can look very funky, as well, depending on how good a production crew shot the story. A clean, beautiful image has more to do with good production techniques, IMO.
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