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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.

2 of 247 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Say goodbye to the Internet you knew by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Up until now, your typical 1337 torrent freak was pretty uncommon among the general public
    Nonono, that's just what we want the **AA to think!

    Actually, people were saying the same things about MMOs, and before that Usenet binaries, and before the integration of images into webpages. As long as people expect a certain level of service, the industry will grow to provide it, which in turn will make people expect a certain level of service. It's a cycle, you can never "top out" on infrastructure.
    --
    Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
  2. Internet Not Ready by organgtool · · Score: 4, Interesting
    In all, the instant watching feature requires only Internet connectivity with a minimum of one megabit per second of bandwidth

    ONLY one megabit per second of bandwidth? I live in a well populated area and my ONLY option is 768Kbps DSL or a 6Mbps cable connection that is saturated with other users in the neighborhood. Verizon's FIOS is still a few years away from being installed in my neighborhood, so this service is useless to me.

    Hopefully this service will get people to see the benefit of higher speed connections and spark a bigger demand for more speed.