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Television Media Technology

Netflix Comes To Tivo, AppleTV, Linux 190

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the long-time-coming dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Netflix on Tivo is officially out and leaving satellite users out in the cold. Tivo announced today that if you are a subscriber to both services then you can start receiving many Netflix titles on your Tivo for no extra charge. This is only available to subscribers with TiVo HD, TiVo HD XL and TiVo Series3 DVRs. The majority of Tivo's subscribers are probably Series 2 owners and will be forced to 'upgrade' if they want this new service but it won't be that easy for those on satellite. Tivo's current model lineup does not really offer a solution for satellite subscribers. The HD and HD XL are cable only and there is no sign of the Series 3 on their site." Another reader also writes to tell us that "Linux PC and AppleTV users are about to gain the ability to stream Netflix's movies and TV shows directly to their systems. Although Netflix's instant watch service only officially supports Windows and Mac, Boxee expects to release Netflix streaming support to the Ubuntu version of its free A/V media center software within a couple of days, and says that adding Netflix streaming support to AppleTV asap is its top priority."
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Netflix Comes To Tivo, AppleTV, Linux More

Netflix Comes To Tivo, AppleTV, Linux

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  • Show Me The Titles (Score:5, Insightful)

    by alain94040 ( 785132 ) * on Monday December 08, 2008 @04:39PM (#26038621) Homepage

    That's great in theory, but the problem with Netflix is that the selection of movies that they let you stream is, shall we say... poor.

    At least the good news is that they are opening up and trying to support as many distribution channels as possible. It's a pain to connect my laptop to my TV, just because by definition, a laptop is always on the go, and a TV connection means plugging and unplugging two cables each time (one for video, one for audio). It's just too much of a hassle.

    That's why I eventually got an AppleTV: it's the best way to browse music on a HiFi system which has an HD TV attached to it (that is to say, 90% of the standard geek setup) - and it may even be able to display video content too :-) I wish they had called it iTunes TV, it would not have confused people so much.

    Now my AppleTV will get more content from its Internet connection. All good to me. As streaming movies becomes commonplace, maybe pirates and DRM will not be such an obsession of Hollywood...

    • Re:Show Me The Titles (Score:5, Informative)

      by elrous0 ( 869638 ) * on Monday December 08, 2008 @04:52PM (#26038797)
      Not only that, but about half the time, I can't even get the damn movies I do have in my queue to actually stream to my 360 at all (I just get a vague "Playback did not start" type message). This seems to vary by disc, and doesn't seem to have anything to do with my connection. I was trying to watch some "Forever Knight" episodes this weekend, but could not get any of them to play, whereas eps from other series seemed to work just fine. AFAIK, none of these show the "Not available on Xbox" label that I've seen on some Sony movies.

      • Forever knight? (Score:4, Funny)

        by internerdj ( 1319281 ) on Monday December 08, 2008 @05:12PM (#26039077)
        Your Xbox was just doing you a favor.

        • Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)

          by elrous0 ( 869638 ) *
          The second season was actually pretty good. A lot better than that Buffy crap, anyway.
          • Maybe I just started in the wrong spot. I loved it when I was much younger but started again from the begining and couldn't make it past the first DVD.

      • Re:Show Me The Titles (Score:5, Funny)

        by cayenne8 ( 626475 ) on Monday December 08, 2008 @05:12PM (#26039085) Homepage Journal
        "AFAIK, none of these show the "Not available on Xbox" label that I've seen on some Sony movies."

        Hmm.....I see no mention of this being available for MythTV.

        I'm not really interested in this streaming stuff. I'd much rather get a real DVD in the mail and watch it. Then, I also "back up" a copy for NetFlix too before I send it back. Just a favor to them for being such a great service.

        :-)

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by JCSoRocks ( 1142053 )
        I've never had any trouble streaming Netflix through my XBox. I've watched three full seasons of various shows since the update was released and they've all worked flawlessly.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by LordNimon ( 85072 )
        There was a problem over the past 2-3 weeks with poor connectivity, especially in the evenings. The problem should be fixed by now. It is for me.

    • Re:Show Me The Titles (Score:5, Interesting)

      by blhack ( 921171 ) on Monday December 08, 2008 @04:57PM (#26038853)

      They let you stream a lot of the Independent and Documentary stuff...

      I have a feeling that this is pretty appealing to the Slashdot crowd. /got netflix this weekend.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by fm6 ( 162816 )

        Also a lot of "art house" movies. And a lot of titles that aren't well-known, but are still worth watching. That's especially true since they started rotating old Starz titles.

        When will have the latest blockbusters? Probably never. The same economics that makes Hollywood spend a lot of money on this kind of crap makes them want to tightly control distribution. You may think that's wrong, but a lot of us don't care. There's more good stuff online then I'll live long enough to see (including the 20

    • Re:Show Me The Titles (Score:5, Funny)

      by jandrese ( 485 ) <kensama@vt.edu> on Monday December 08, 2008 @04:57PM (#26038855) Homepage Journal
      But they have Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter [netflix.com] available for streaming, what else could you want?

      • I love zombie movies. Good zombie movies are great, once you find them every few years. Poor zombie movies are the norm. It's rare to find something as painful as JSVH.

        I saw it last week. To support the parent post, the Netflix WatchInstantly selections are pretty bleak. Within a month (this is my first month, in fact), I've already exhausted everything that I wanted to see.

         

    • Re:Show Me The Titles (Score:5, Interesting)

      by JCSoRocks ( 1142053 ) on Monday December 08, 2008 @05:32PM (#26039403)
      For me the streaming is less about movies and more about watching shows / novelty stuff that you wouldn't usually want to waste a rental on. I can watch a whole season of a TV show in a weekend if I want. It's great.

      The movie selection doesn't matter as much because the picture and sound quality aren't as great as they are on the physical media anyway. If I want to watch a movie I'll wait for the BluRay to come in the mail and watch the magical 1008p hotness and hear the uncompressed audio.

      For most TV shows that stuff doesn't matter. Do you really need to see The Office or 30 Rock in HD? I'm perfectly happy streaming those with no commercials to my xbox. I love it.

    • Re:Show Me The Titles (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Ephemeriis ( 315124 ) on Monday December 08, 2008 @05:58PM (#26039785)

      That's great in theory, but the problem with Netflix is that the selection of movies that they let you stream is, shall we say... poor.

      That really depends on what you're looking for.

      No, the recent blockbuster titles aren't generally available... But there's tons of good sci-fi and horror, and lots of independent and foreign films, and tons of documentaries, and lots of old TV... Enough stuff that my wife and I make very good use of the streaming stuff.

    • Boxxee with Hulu. it has far breater selection, easy to use and very easy to install on a thumbdrive. investigate Boxee for the AppleTV oh yeah: and its free

      • Boxee with Hulu (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Sheepmage ( 1310569 )

        I recently installed Boxee specifically to use Hulu. The installation was straightforward, but streaming video from Hulu was not a pleasant experience. The resolution seemed low (I don't think Boxee streams to AppleTV at 480p) and the framerate wasn't great. The video kept freezing up at times. Especially frustrating for action sequences. I read somewhere that the AppleTV doesn't quite have enough processing power to handle Hulu, and maybe that's what's going on. But, if it's not, I hope they fix it. In an

  • Why bother (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Inglix the Mad ( 576601 ) on Monday December 08, 2008 @04:44PM (#26038699)

    I have a PS3 for Blu-Ray and can stream Netflix, Hulu, and other items straight from my PC using PlayOn ( www.themediamall.com ).

    Too little, too late. Why take up the space on my PVR when I can live stream it from my PC?

    Just my two pence.

    • Re:Why bother (Score:5, Interesting)

      by MooseMuffin ( 799896 ) on Monday December 08, 2008 @05:01PM (#26038905)

      How about:
      a. PlayOn isn't free

      b. This is also a live stream that won't take up space on your PVR.

    • Re:Why bother (Score:5, Informative)

      by vux984 ( 928602 ) on Monday December 08, 2008 @05:04PM (#26038967)

      Too little, too late. Why take up the space on my PVR when I can live stream it from my PC?

      Too little too late if you have PS3 or xbox360.

      Millions of people don't have and don't want either.

      • Re:Why bother (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Inglix the Mad ( 576601 ) on Monday December 08, 2008 @06:21PM (#26040117)

        Take the Big 3:

        Nintendo - Wii (Playon is building an interface for the Wii)

        Sony - PS3

        Microsoft - Xbox 360

        Now what we need is numbers of the people that own Tivo boxes that also own any ONE of these three (or two if you just want to go current)

        Realistically Tivo is fighting a diminishing game, and this comes from the owner of a Tivo HD. How many people own one of those 3 units above vs. a TivoHD? Which is cheaper, the PlayOn (30$) or TivoHD (300+ sub)?

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by vux984 ( 928602 )

          Nintendo - Wii (Playon is building an interface for the Wii)

          Wii isn't HD, has limited storage, and has trouble with youtube sometimes. Its a fantastic console, but its not a great media center device.

          Realistically Tivo is fighting a diminishing game, and this comes from the owner of a Tivo HD. How many people own one of those 3 units above vs. a TivoHD? Which is cheaper, the PlayOn (30$) or TivoHD (300+ sub)?

          My parents and their friends, and millions of people like them, will never by a PS3 or Xbox360. The

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by asv108 ( 141455 )
        As an owner of a PS3, an Xbox 360, and a Tivo HD, I think the Tivo solution is the most viable.

        The PS3 and the Xbox are game systems that can play TV. They are not 24/7 appliances like a DVR. A Tivo is on all the time, and everyone I know is familiar with how to use it.

        If you're not a gamer, you will not be purchasing a game system to watch online Movies.

    • it'd certainly be nice if the PS3 would stream from the various DVD rental services, rather than Sony trying to roll their own.
      • I am under the impression that the problem isn't "Sony trying to roll their own" but rather MS buying exclusive Netflix service for Live.

        I may be wrong though.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by BrentH ( 1154987 )
      I don't get that: you have this teraflop machines sitting there (a f*cking CELL in the PS3 or a triplecore 3.2GHz PowerPC in the 360, /plenty/ of horsepower both of them) and still you need to stream stuff to it. Wouldn't it be much more economic to just install an application of whatever on that machine (integrated in the firmware or whatever) and have that do all the work? Streaming media to a PS3 or 360 makes them just a very expensive and overpowered video-out. I'd say: put all those flops to work!
      • I don't get that: you have this teraflop machines sitting there (a f*cking CELL in the PS3 or a triplecore 3.2GHz PowerPC in the 360, /plenty/ of horsepower both of them) and still you need to stream stuff to it. Wouldn't it be much more economic to just install an application of whatever on that machine (integrated in the firmware or whatever) and have that do all the work? Streaming media to a PS3 or 360 makes them just a very expensive and overpowered video-out. I'd say: put all those flops to work!

        Um

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by BrentH ( 1154987 )
          The same place the computer gets it from: the internet (or an networked/external hard drive).
          • The same place the computer gets it from: the internet (or an networked/external hard drive).

            Oh, so you want it streamed over the internet. Guess what--that's how it works already, but for some reason you aren't content with that.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by BrentH ( 1154987 )
              But how it works now you need to put a computer between the internet and the ps3/360, which seems kind of useless to me ...
              • But you don't need to put a computer between the internet and a 360. I seriously wonder where you guys get your information from sometimes....

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by afidel ( 530433 )
          Pretty sure he's talking about the fact that you need a uPnP client on the PC to talk to the services like Hulu instead of having a client available for the console. The fact is thanks to the standardized and open way the PC works it's easy to write a client that grabs internet content and then streams it back out via uPnP vs the difficulty of writing and publishing a client for each of the closed console and media player clients there are out there.

      • Re:Why bother (Score:4, Informative)

        by Dutch Gun ( 899105 ) on Monday December 08, 2008 @06:09PM (#26039937)

        I don't get that: you have this teraflop machines sitting there (a f*cking CELL in the PS3 or a triplecore 3.2GHz PowerPC in the 360, /plenty/ of horsepower both of them) and still you need to stream stuff to it. Wouldn't it be much more economic to just install an application of whatever on that machine (integrated in the firmware or whatever) and have that do all the work? Streaming media to a PS3 or 360 makes them just a very expensive and overpowered video-out. I'd say: put all those flops to work!

        As far as I know, these ARE local apps that are managing the downloading and decoding/playback process. Streaming data from the internet and playing back video won't tax these consoles, but what else is more CPU horsepower going to give you here?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Eil ( 82413 )

      This PlayOn thing you mention sounds neat, but if I'm not mistaken it sounds like a piece of proprietary software that you have to pay for in order to stream free Internet content to your TV? Am I missing something?

      Boxee [boxee.tv] looks to have great potential. My friend had a beta of it running on his AppleTV and was using it to stream Hulu content to his TV. It's not publicly released yet, but they promise that it will be open source and the current feature list outshines every proprietary set-top box so far. I'm h

      • Boxee is still in Alpha right now and is quite a way off from even going into Beta. The last update added a new skin to the interface, but now video no longer plays consistently in fullscreen on my Ubuntu 8.04 box, and Boxee doesn't even install on Ubuntu 8.10. Don't get me wrong, I love the project and am very excited about contributing to the development of it, but it is not yet ready for prime time. The potential is amazing, as even in Alpha, it blows away just about every other media center platform

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mkraft ( 200694 )
      Netflix is currently switching users over so that Silverlight is required for streaming. All users will be switched over by years end. PlayOn doesn't currently support Silverlight so that means PlayOn won't work with Netflix by years end. PlayOn is working on a solution to this, but it's not available yet.

    • Why bother? Because you get the streaming directly to the Tivo, and don't have to run BOTH your PS3 & PC to get it -- you stream directly to the Tivo. (i.e. saving power)

      Plus, it's not taking up space on your PVR, it's streaming.

  • No Series 2? (Score:3, Informative)

    by YrWrstNtmr ( 564987 ) on Monday December 08, 2008 @04:45PM (#26038709)
    Rats. Oh well, it sounded good. But I'm not getting a whole new Tivo box, until I have a need for it (i.e. an HD TV).
    And I expect there are a LOT of people like this.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jandrese ( 485 )
      That's my thought. I still have a SDTV, why would I upgrade to a Series 3 TiVo? Especially since my Series 2 has lifetime service and is still going strong 5 years later. It sure beats having the cable company's "DVR".

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by HTH NE1 ( 675604 )

        That's my thought. I still have a SDTV, why would I upgrade to a Series 3 TiVo?

        For me, my cable company forced me to get the Series3. I'm in one of the Time Warner Cable markets where they were forcing beta "mystro" software on their cable boxes to us. Beta software that could not reliably change channels at the times shows were starting or ending. They'd throw out initial digits, all digits, or crash if you tried to change channels at the moment it wanted to update the on-screen guide data for the channel you were leaving. Not considered a problem if you're a human changing the chann

        • Padding Season Passes on the Series2 by a minute start and end still wouldn't work right for the creative scheduling of the networks. And that option is completely unavailable to Series1 users.

          That's not true. Series 1s have padding just like all of the other Tivos. The limitation is that the end padding only goes (AFAIR) 1,2,3,5 minutes then bigger amounts. While it sounds minor, missing '4' minutes was actually a big deal for a while, when I wanted to be able to Tivo both CSI & 'er' (which needed a

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by dreamt ( 14798 )

      The hardware in the Series 2 simply can't do the work. Netflix is using a codec that isn't supported there.

      • The hardware in the Series 2 simply can't do the work. Netflix is using a codec that isn't supported there.

        Maybe so, but I can 'stream' from the PC to the Series 2, through the same ethernet cable. What would be the major difference?

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by jedidiah ( 1196 )

          The S2 has a pathetically weak CPU and no corresponding dedicated acceleration hardware.

          It just doesn't have the horsepower.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jwilloug ( 6402 )

      Same here. I was interested when I first about the Netflix/TiVo deal, but not so interested as to go out and buy a Series 3. At some point I will upgrade everything to HD, but probably not any time soon on account of how there's no money, anywhere (I've only got so many chickens for barter).

  • Linux? Really? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Jonah Bomber ( 535788 )
    It's about time. We've enjoyed Netflix for years, but those instant movies are pretty worthless when your OS isn't supported.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      No, not really. This story has gotten huge legs on the internet, but if people would actually read the Boxee forum, it tells you that support for Netflix won't be included in the Linux version until Netflix releases a player for Linux, which is supposed to happen some time next year. Netflix support is only in the Mac version of Boxee (they are working on Apple TV, but the 1Ghz processor is just to slow to make it work).

      • That doesn't surprise me, they have a lot of work ahead of them. The thing won't even run on Firefox yet; it requires Windows with IE. So lame.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by mzs ( 595629 )

          Uh no, I have firefox 3 on a 2 GHz P4 running XP SP2 with the latest version of Silverlight and the Netflix streaming works fine.

        • Not entirely true. I stream Netflix Watch Instantly selections in Firefox by using the IETab extension (it fools the server into thinking that you're using IE instead of FF). It works in Opera, too. Alas, only on Windows, though, not Linux.

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by The Darkness ( 33231 )

            Not entirely true. I stream Netflix Watch Instantly selections in Firefox by using the IETab extension (it fools the server into thinking that you're using IE instead of FF). It works in Opera, too. Alas, only on Windows, though, not Linux.

            You aren't using firefox to view netflix. IETAB actually runs IE in Firefox, so you're still using IE. Note the lack of Linux support on the IETAB page.

            IETAB [mozdev.org]

            Excerpt:
            IE Tab, an extension from Taiwan, embeds Internet Explorer in a Mozilla/Firefox tab.

            Emphasis mine.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by asv108 ( 141455 )
          It runs just fine for me using Firefox on the Mac.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by jfinke ( 68409 )
            I had to switch to safari for streaming from Netflix. It kept degrading the signal and stopping and reloading under firefox. Not sure if I have an extension interfering or not. Switched to safari and 0 issues besides netflix having poorly encoded items.

      • Sad, but true. I'm a Boxee Alpha tester and as soon as I saw the announcement on CNET, I tried to update my Boxee install to get Neflix working, but no such luck. Checking the Boxee forums, I found that they can't technically do it just yet, so you have to have Boxee running on the MacOS version to get it working. I'm also a bit disappointed that I have to boot into my Ubuntu 8.04 32-bit version to run Boxee, as there is no support yet for Ubuntu 8.10 64-bit Intrepid Ibex. There are posts on the forums

  • Hurray for Boxee support... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by fragMasterFlash ( 989911 ) on Monday December 08, 2008 @04:48PM (#26038745)
    ...but I wish it were integrated into the MythTV backend as well so I could view it through the front end of my choice.

  • XBox 360 left out of summary completely? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fahrvergnugen ( 228539 ) <fahrvNO@SPAMhotmail.com> on Monday December 08, 2008 @04:49PM (#26038751) Homepage

    Netflix gets it.

    Every streaming media provider so far that has arrived & failed has done so because they try to mimic the rental pricing model. They charge $3 a movie for 24 hours, and then wonder why sales are low. The thing is, people won't pay $3 for access to media they don't physically control.

    Netflix is following the HBO OnDemand pricing model. $20 a month for unlimited access to anything in their ondemand streaming library. This is the pricing model people want when it comes to media they don't physically control. Since I didn't pay per-item, I don't mind that there are restrictions on use.

    I've been using this service on the XBox 360 for the past few weeks and it's been exceptional. My only technical gripe is that it's limited to 2-channel audio right now, but otherwise there is nothing to complain about. Widescreen movies are displayed fullscreen on an HD set, 4:3 content is pillarboxed, the video quality is approximately on-par with DVD. As soon as they work out 5.1 it'll be perfect. The addition of TV series with new episodes that have just aired but are not yet available on DVD is just another perk. Selection is growing every day.

    It's really fantastic if you've got the bandwidth.

    I'm seriously thinking about canceling my satellite TV service / DVR and just running with 360 & Netflix. For just under $300 a year, ($50 xblive, $20/mo to Netflix), as opposed to the almost $1000 a year that most cable/satellite companies charge for HD service, it's a great deal.

    • I'm seriously thinking about canceling my satellite TV service / DVR and just running with 360 & Netflix. For just under $300 a year, ($50 xblive, $20/mo to Netflix), as opposed to the almost $1000 a year that most cable/satellite companies charge for HD service, it's a great deal.

      That's how I've been running. I'm already paying for Netflix and Xbox Live anyway... why pay to get cable and then be forced to watch commercials? My experience with Netflix so far has been that they're an intelligent company. Customer service is amazing and when they get something wrong (like the planned profile "update") they fix it quickly.

      • With DVRs, and VCRs before that, you haven't been "forced" to watch commercials at all. (Mute button + ignore it until the show gets back partially counts even before that.)

        That is, at least for the 'regular' commercials. Of course product placement and the annoying 'banner' ads (even if it's for an upcoming show on the network, it's still an ad) are still ads.. But you've been able to ignore the 'regular' commercials for a very very long time. DVRs just made it a lot easier than with VCRs.

  • Submission inaccurate (Score:5, Informative)

    by hkb ( 777908 ) on Monday December 08, 2008 @05:15PM (#26039139)

    When will submitters like ScuttleMonkey RTFA they are submitting?

    NetFlix isn't coming to the AppleTV version of Boxee, as the AppleTV is not powerful enough, as TFA states.

    • When will readers complaining about Slashdot content learn the difference between a submitter and an editor? And that selective comprehension doesn't help either?

      TFA (actually the link is at http://blog.boxee.tv/ [boxee.tv] ) does state the AppleTV was not powerful enough for this release, but then goes on in the very next sentence to say "we're still working on it, but don't have a solution, yet.. "

      Yes the /. headline is optimistic, if not misleading. The summary is a tad better, but still has a heap o' high hopes.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jedidiah ( 1196 )

        Well then, that makes Boxee a pretty bloated monster.
        An AppleTV should be more than adequate at least for
        any sort of SD content that Netflix might be throwing
        it's way.

  • Silverlight? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by argent ( 18001 ) <peter@slashdot . ... t a r o nga.com> on Monday December 08, 2008 @05:15PM (#26039141) Homepage Journal

    IIRC, this is using Silverlight. You need to install Microsoft's latest "active content" environment on your mac (or, eventually, on Linux) to take advantage of this. After avoiding depending on "active content" even on Windows (and avoiding a number of big virus panics) for a decade, I'm not about to start trusting them now.

    • Umm...you're not depending on it, you're using it for your movies.

      Do you also keep Flash off your boxes?

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by argent ( 18001 )

        Umm...you're not depending on it, you're using it for your movies.

        Don't be picky. If you need it for material you've paid for, you're depending on it for that purpose.

        Do you also keep Flash off your boxes?

        Adobe's track record for security and reliability is not perfect, by any means, but their basic design is not inherently insecure, andI have flashblock so I can control what flash components are given an opportunity to execute.

        Microsoft's track record for security and reliability in this area is so bad th

  • Any way to get Netflix on MCE 2005? I know theres a Vista Media Center plugin, but I haven't got around to reinstalling with Vista yet. That banks on my setup working in Vista in the first place!

    Or, what about a MythTV plugin? Or XBMC?

  • Hackish (Score:5, Interesting)

    by pvera ( 250260 ) <pedro.vera@gmail.com> on Monday December 08, 2008 @05:19PM (#26039197) Homepage Journal

    I got two Xbox 360s, two AppleTVs. One set for myself and the wife, the other for my 10-yr old.

    My options:

    1. transcode content and watch it on the AppleTV. Takes time, and my Turbo.264 hardware encoder is a piece of crap, the new Handbrake works much better without even relying on the dongle. Parental controls are awesome, and content is organized very well.

    2. stream content from the mac into the 360 with Connect360. Looks almost identical to #1, without having to transcode. Only thing that sucks is navigating through a lot of content, and there are no parental controls.

    3. watch netflix on the mac. Not good enough.

    4. watch netflix on the mac on the Parallels 4 side. Not good enough (almost can't tell it apart from #3).

    5. watch netflix on the 360. It frickin rocks. Having to go to the website to add to the queue is a minor annoyance but not the end of the world.

    6. Renting content on the 360. Works very damn nice, only a bit slow to start if it is HD content. Could use more variety.

    7. Renting content on the AppleTV. Also works very nice, but sometimes it takes weeks for new content to show up. They do release at least something every week, but mostly so it looks like they are alive.

    I have also used boxee on the AppleTV, and while in theory it worked, it was sloppy and it screwed up with the menu hierarchy. After an hour of playing with it I was annoyed enough to delete it.

    I like how the streaming on the 360 works because it takes exactly zero tampering with the 360 to make it happen. All you need is a media pc, or a mac running software impersonating a media pc. Adding boxee to the appleTV was simply scary.

    What I really want is for Apple to do exactly the same thing that was done to the 360, add a menu entry for Netflix with a SIMPLE way to authenticate the device (the way this was done in the 360 was just beautiful, just a short, easy to type code) and not a damn thing else.

  • ... due to bandwidth issues. Satellite bandwidth is limited and WAY oversold. A bunch of customers downloading Netflix movies individually (in direct competition with the satellite companys' premium services) would saturate it - along with their individual bandwidth caps.

    A multicast-anything-anybody-ordered / catch-on-the-fly / maybe-fill-in-errors-with-unicast mode would solve the bandwidth problem - and could potentially be integrated with the satellite carrier's own transmission of the same movies to s

    • I believe the idea is to just use the satellite STB as a way to present the video on the TV. The video would not be streamed via satellite. Standard internet connection would be used.

      • I believe the idea is to just use the satellite STB as a way to present the video on the TV. The video would not be streamed via satellite. Standard internet connection would be used.

        I was referring to satellite internet services such as DirecWave, which would normally be packaged with their Satellite TV service. Sorry I wasn't clear.

        Yes, if you have a separate landline internet service suitable for unicast transport of Netflix it becomes a matter of whether the box supports Netflix, not a satellite bandwi

  • It's great and all that they have included so many extra platforms, but can I use firefox on my windows box to view the content yet? Am I still forced to use IE?

    • I generally rail against companies that don't bother to make their stuff work in FireFox but I can't say that I blame Netflix here. It's not like requiring IE is actually preventing anyone from using the service. Everyone with windows has IE and the rest of the site works just fine in FireFox.

      Also... awesome sig.

    • As the other posters have explained, you can use Silverlight in FF, but if you want to have a less Microsofty experience with Netflix, you can install the IETab extension and then Netflix Watch It Now works just fine in Firefox. Of course, it's not entirey Microsoft-free since this only works on a Windows OS. I'm still waiting for Netflix to develop a player that works in Linux, but I'm not holding my breath.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by et764 ( 837202 )
      You can use Firefox on Windows. There is a new beta Silverlight-based player that I know for sure works on IE, Firefox for Windows, and Safari on a Mac. It doesn't work in Google Chrome though. Anyway, you have to opt in by going to some web site that wasn't directly mentioned on the Netflix site, but a simple web search should find it pretty quickly.

  • DirecTV Customers Not Entirely Left Out... (Score:4, Informative)

    by SurfTheWorld ( 162247 ) on Monday December 08, 2008 @06:09PM (#26039927) Homepage Journal

    From a press release several weeks/months ago:

    "DIRECTV and TiVo will work together to develop a version of the TiVo® service for DIRECTV's broadband-enabled HD DVR platform. The product will support the latest TiVo and DIRECTV features and services, including TiVo's Universal Swivel Search and TiVo KidZone. TiVo will develop the new HD DVR for an expected launch in the second half of 2009."

    So right now we're locked out but the landscape will improve in the future.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Monoman ( 8745 )

      I believe that announcement said they would have something out by the end of 2009. DirecTV/Tivo DVR was a nice DVR but DTV had to get greedy and switch to an inferior tech.

  • Tried it Out Last Night (Score:3, Informative)

    by asv108 ( 141455 ) <asv@@@ivoss...com> on Monday December 08, 2008 @06:31PM (#26040247) Homepage Journal
    I tried out the Netflix player on my Tivo HD last night. The picture was very clear on my HDTV, and the sound was pretty good. People want to complain about the selection, but they do have a lot of TV series available for instant viewing. I like the Tivo interface better than the Xbox 360 application. Overall, I'm very impressed, its yet another reason why Tivo is still the best DVR option available.
  • I've been streaming Netflix to my Mac for weeks now (Silverlight, yadda). Am I missing something? Is it just that it's leaving beta at this point or something? Streaming to Linux is a nice addition though, if it wasn't previously available.

  • Linux Netflix support delayed till 2009 (Score:3)

    by __aajbyc7391 ( 1136715 ) on Monday December 08, 2008 @08:06PM (#26041469)
    Latest word from a Boxee spokesperson is that 'netflix currently do[es] not support running on linux, so we can't do it right now. we've been assured they will make it compatible early next year, so rest assured we will.'
  • ...if having signed up for the Silverlight Netflix streaming beta will be an issue with using boxee to stream Netflix to my Linux box (although I do have moonlight installed).

  • I plan on getting my parents a subscription to NetFlix for Christmas. It's like $50 for 6 months.

    What's intersting is that 2-3 years ago people said, "NetFlix will die due to streaming and the web!" Well, that day has not come. NetFlix has innovated. Good for them. That's how it should work... Innovate or die!

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