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Netflix Now Offers Instant Online Movie Streaming

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the goodbye-video-store-you-won't-be-missed dept.

An anonymous reader writes "If you're the owner of a video rental store, it may be time to start thinking about getting into a different business, according to ZDNet. Netflix, the online movie rental service, is offering a new feature that allows its subscribers to instantly view movies and TV shows on their PC. From the article: 'Following a one-time, under-60-second installation of a simple browser applet, most subscribers' movie selections will begin playing in their Web browser in as little as 10 to 15 seconds. Movies can be paused and a position bar gives viewers the ability to immediately jump to any point in the movie. In all, the instant watching feature requires only Internet connectivity with a minimum of one megabit per second of bandwidth.' These movies are in addition to the standard DVDs you can have at home, it should be pointed out. You can see a demonstration of the service at the Hacking Netflix blog." Only a small percentage of customers have it available at the moment, but they hope to roll it out to everyone within six months.

6 of 247 comments (clear)

  1. wow.... by advocate_one · · Score: 5, Funny

    the tubes are really gonna get filled up now...

    --
    Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
  2. Scratched? by lpcustom · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wonder if the streaming videos will have virtual scratches that cause them to skip like the real netflix dvd's do......

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    Beer! It's what's for breakfast!
    1. Re:Scratched? by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 5, Funny

      They're way ahead of you. The state-of-the-art disc simulation subroutines will utilize something called "network lag" for much the same effect.

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      Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
    2. Re:Scratched? by edwardpickman · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's an upgrade like their home theater kit. The home theater kit comes with floor gunk, stale popcorn airfreshner and a fake head to put infront of you to give that special visual experience. It also comes with a CD of teen age girls talking and babies crying in case you don't have your own on hand.

    3. Re:Scratched? by Pollardito · · Score: 3, Funny

      don't worry, there's a link to click to say you didn't receive that frame of the video and they'll send it again

  3. Re:Say goodbye to the Internet you knew by gravesb · · Score: 3, Funny

    As long as men can say "My pipe is bigger than yours," Internet bandwidth will never stop expanding.

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    http://bgcommonsense.blogspot.com