LG High-Def TVs To Stream Netflix Videos 190
DJAdapt writes to tell us that LG has launched a new line of high definition TVs that will be capable of streaming Netflix videos with no additional hardware. This is just another in a long line of expansions from the once DVD rental service, which has expanded to the Roku set top box, Xbox 360, PC, Mac, and Linux platforms recently. "Piping movies directly to TV sets is the natural evolution of the video streaming service, said Reed Hastings, the chief executive of Netflix. "The TV symbolizes the ultimate destination," he said. That idea -- shared by Sony Corp., which already streams feature films and TV shows directly to its Bravia televisions -- is still in its early stages. Netflix's streaming service taps a library of 12,000 titles, while the company's DVD menu numbers more than 100,000 titles. Hastings expects that gap will "definitely narrow" over time, but he noted that DVDs maintain an advantage over streaming, which is that "they are very profitable" for film studios."
...and TiVo HD (Score:5, Informative)
don't forget TiVo HD and Series 3.
Re:...and TiVo HD (Score:3, Informative)
or the Xbox 360. My wife and I have using Blockbuster the last two years for our movies and our switching to Netflix because of the streaming service (just got a 360 for Christmas). The only thing we're losing is the ability to trade our mailed DVDs in at the store for real rentals. Though we didn't do that often, what's the point of going to the store when they're mailed to us anyway?
Soon it will be what's the point of going to the mailbox when I can stream it. Though the current selection is not that great, I will admit.
Re:...and TiVo HD (Score:3, Informative)
I've been using it quite a bit on my S3 lately (most recently I've been watching Amazing Stories season 1) and I must say I really like it. It's capable of very high quality video (I get almost full quality according to their little display, it looks like HD to me).
I only have two complaints about it. The first is it seems a little buggy. At times when I finish watching something instead of going back to the Netflix menu I'll be booted back to the main TiVo menu. Most of the bugs seem to be something like this. They don't effect viewing at all, which works perfectly.
The other is the "instant queue". You get your movies from your instant queue. That's all fine and dandy, but I don't care. I want to be able to search for a movie and watch it then. I want to be able to browse the instant selections. I don't want to have to use my laptop to find a movie and add it to my queue to be able to watch it. I understand some devices may be limited in their ability to do something like this, but TiVo clearly has the interface for it. Amazon doesn't need an "instant queue" for UnBox, I can search the whole collection.
Either way, it's an amazing feature. I'm really glad they added it. I just with it had more selection (will come with time) and they had added it earlier (like last year).
All that said, having it in the TV would worry me. It would prevent it from being updated easily (such as on the TiVo). The fact it sounds like it costs extra and requires extra hardware makes me wonder if this is just like the special DVD player some Sony TVs can take that just shows up in their crossbar menu and it's not really a feature of the TV at all.
Re:...and TiVo HD (Score:3, Informative)
About 'Instant Queue', it's a security feature. They want you to queue your movies by logging into your account, because they assume you might attach your neighbor's TiVo to the service, but not share your NetFlix account details with them.
I actually use this service ... (Score:5, Informative)
So many comments, so many people who have not tried this feature.
When the XBox 360 update came out, I was one of the first to download it. After the download, I saw the Netflix feature and decided to try the free 30 day offer. I opened my account on my PC, selected a host of movies to stream (Heros seasons 1-3, The Office seasons 1-4, Logans Run, Kelly's Heroes, ect.) and finished the setup with my XBox.
There is some buffering done, I don't know how much is buffered whether it's 3 seconds or 10 minutes - don't know. I do know that my cable ISP had my limit set at 4 Mbps, so almost every time I would watch 2 minutes, then be alerted that my cable speed had 'slowed' so the download was changing to support my lower cable speed. Usually, this wasn't really visually obvious (I have a 120" HD 1080p projector) - the picture quality was what one would expect on an over-the-air antenna. Not great, but certainly watchable.
I later upgraded to a 6 Mbps internet package, and the picture improvement did improve. Sometimes I'd say that it was comparable to a DVD, other times more like a good VHS tape. All in all, viewable by any person who doesn't want to whine about non-Blu-Ray quality.
On my screen, the picture was perfectly acceptable. I wouldn't keep Netflix around if it weren't for the streaming video. I get UNLIMITED streaming with the lowest package they offer (~$8/month). The movie selection on streaming is extensive enough that when there isn't anything to watch on my Dish - I keep myself perfectly content watching something from the 10,000 movie selection. The contents do change every couple of months - so there is always a variety of stuff to stream.
Is it better than owning the DVD? yes and no. No, the quality isn't always as good as a DVD. But, yes in that a great deal of what I watch are movies I wouldn't be interested in buying and storing. Some movies are watched simply because they are 'classics' and you need not own them. Like "Logan's Run", "Clockwork Orange", the original "Omega Man" - for me, watching them once every 'x' years is often enough.
Re:Linux? (Score:4, Informative)
Many news articles about Netflix moving to Silverlight were titled, with "Mac and Linux" in the article title, but at that point (and still), the Silverlight version of the Watch Instantly service supports only Windows and MacOS, not Linux. Linux support was planned but no news on that yet - in theory Monolight provides Silverlight support under Linux but I wouldn't be surprised if the DRM component were missing.
Interestingly enough the Flash-based system used by CBS and Hulu has no DRM (other than some rudimentary anti-ripping features) but the studios still seem to be OK. As a result they work in Linux... Sort of. Flash under Linux has insanely high system requirements for video playback. My old desktop (which is now my HTPC) can't playback directly via the site (incredibly choppy), but if I rip the video on another machine (as I said, rudimentary anti-rip), it plays back happily in mplayer on the aforementioned Athlon XP 2800 machine.
Ripping is a pain in the butt, I wish I could just playback directly on that machine. Hulu's commercials are minimally intrusive.
Re:...and TiVo HD (Score:3, Informative)
You don't want to wait for the mail.
I have netflix, and I've been known to fo to Blockbuster and rent a movie from time to time because I require instant gratification. I have to know what happens next in the series. I've also watched my movies and then had a friend that wanted to come over and watch a movie. In this situation, I've gone to rent a movie. Waiting for the mail was not a valid option to solve my wants.
Re:MCE app please! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Meh. (Score:3, Informative)
Personally I rarely use the Netflix streaming service. Even though I have a 5/30mbps internet service, the movies often stutter or drop frames, the playback often stops to rebuffer (usually at a lower quality level) or just simply quits, and Netflix doesn't offer 5.1 surround sound in the download stream. The movies quality is also not nearly as good as what I get from my upconverting DVD player.
Couple that with a sucky selection of titles and there just isn't any attraction. If this is the world of online streaming it isn't going to replace DVD and BluRay anytime soon.
Re:No thank you (Score:1, Informative)
Just wondering if you are referring to a COder/DECoder of media streams, which is called a codec [wikipedia.org] . So far as I know, a codex [wikipedia.org] is what the first books were called to distinguish them from scrolls.
I'm not trying to grammar/spelling nazi you. When I see things like that I assume that I really don't know whether it is an error (just because it looks like one) or whether it's a term I have not come across before.
Posting anonymously because I don't mean to nitpick or to be known as a nitpicker.