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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.

7 of 247 comments (clear)

  1. windows only by mmkkbb · · Score: 2, Informative

    I read an article in the paper this morning claiming that this will be available for windows only. How disappointing.

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    -mkb
  2. Re:We already have it.. by Constantine+XVI · · Score: 3, Informative

    A) You can't put a full 2hr movie on YouTube without breaking it into 20 chunks, which is a HUGE hassle
    B) YouTube looks like crap on my 15in laptop. What about your 42in 1080p HDTV?
    C) Put YouTube on your TV without a device more advanced than a DVD player

    Not that this doesn't have it's own problems:
    A) Ridiculous bandwith requirements for the common person
    B) Can't put it on your TV easily (again)

    --
    "I think an etch-a-sketch with an ethernet port would beat IE7 in web standards compliance."
  3. windows only by bograt · · Score: 2, Informative

    From Netflix:

    System Requirements:
    Windows XP with Service Pack 2
    or Windows Vista

    Internet Explorer version 6
    or higher

  4. Re:What I'm Waiting For by greenrom · · Score: 2, Informative

    358MB file / 42m41s = 139.9 kiloBYTES per second. 139.9 * 8 = 1.1 megaBITS per second. Plus, this is an average bitrate. MPEG video is often encoded at a variable bitrate, so some parts may have a higher bitrate than others. There is also going to be protocol overhead that adds to these numbers -- those IP and TCP or UDP headers take up bandwidth too. Therefore, one would have to assume that Netflix will be encoding at a lower bitrate than what you're used to. Probably at least 25% less. I would expect video quality equivalent to YouTube or perhaps marginally better.

  5. Re:This is SO DOA for me... by dave420 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Score: 1, What-do-you-expect?

    1. If you choose an OS that is not nearly as widely adopted as the market leader, and you have to expect to not get everything released for your platform. Things are improving, but they're certainly not there yet.
    2. Then you're fucked. This service is not for you.
    3. If 1 & 2 were fixed, you'd use an s-video lead, as most graphics cards have s-video outs on them these days. I've not been without one for over 5 years, and I wasn't even trying to keep it.
    4. To watch it instantly, and if the source of the video is HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, and it's encoded using H264, the quality could actually be comparable or better than DVD for those with faster connections. Nothing's stopping people from renting DVDs if they don't want this :)
    5. You don't have to use the smaller window. If you'd watched the video, you'd see that was the plug-in running in a window. It can run full-screen just fine.
  6. Re:*HOW* is the transfer implemented? by AnyoneEB · · Score: 3, Informative
    BTW, I don't think caching and DRM are compatible.
    Sure they are. Company distributes video file encrypted with AES (or another block cipher) and keep the AES key secret. Anyone can download that file. The company has some DRM scheme such that an asymmetric key is generated such that the DRM utility on the customer's computer is only one with access to the private key. The user pays the company and then the company encrypts the key for the video file with the user's key and sends it off. This key may be stored in a key file or may just be put into the video file as metadata along with the title, etc. It doesn't matter because the key is only usable by that one user. (The decrypted key is never stored on the hard drive and is carefully protected when in memory.) As I understand it, this essentially is how MS's WMV (and WMA?) encryption currently works (in terms of process, not specific algorithms). You can look up details on the WMV protection, which is documented to some extent, but, as far as I know, not cracked.
    --
    Centralization breaks the internet.
  7. Re:*HOW* is the transfer implemented? by panaceaa · · Score: 2, Informative

    BTW, I don't think caching and DRM are compatible.

    Apple iTunes Music Store uses Akamai as their distribution network, which caches copies of all of the iTMS tracks across the globe. Apple still manages to restrict their AAC files by using calls back to Apple to perform DRM management and restrict a user to five copies, or whatever their current policies are.

    I hope the grandparent poster reads this too: If Akamai can cache iTMS's files, and Akamai is a large customer of Adobe's Flash Media Server, which can stream video to customers on demand, then Akamai can figure out how to cache Netflix movies. Maybe they'll use a different technology than Adobe FMS, but their network is completely capable of handling both DRM and streaming. And so should any other caching network.

    --
    my blog