Slashdot Mirror
Nintendo Wii To Get Netflix Streaming
motang writes "Netflix and Nintendo is set to announce Netflix streaming service for the Wii soon. Subscribers who have the unlimited streaming service can watch non-HD version of the movies on their Wii with a special Netflix disc inserted." The thing I can't understand is why the PS3 and Wii have to require a disc. Both are capable of downloading applications and executing them. Why should I be required to dedicate my disc slot to stream a movie? Of course, my netflix queue is half-filled with Ken Burns documentaries, so if I lost the disc, I think that would just make the wife happier.
Microsoft may have an exclusive deal with Netflix to have built-in Netflix support. Simply giving DVDs out with software for the other platforms *without* the possibility to install it may get around this agreement.
No..
NetFlix uses a password. You could give that to everybody and there dog and they could use NetFlix on their PC.
The Wii has limited space for applications it could be that the streaming is too big to store on the Wii.
The real reason I think is that Microsoft got an "exclusive" on putting Netflix "on" a game console.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Rumor has it that Microsoft has an exclusivity contract with netflix for streaming built into gaming consoles which expires sometime near the end of year.
The PS3 will go disc free later this year, but didn't supply details as to why. However, since the Wii has far less storage, this may or may not be possible on the Wii...
http://kotaku.com/5391286/netflix-on-ps3-getting-embedded-solution-late-next-year
Think about it -- why do we have BluRay, which has a maximum capacity of 50GB? They already have solid-state memory devices that only weigh a few grams and have that much storage capacity -- and they don't degrade, scratch, or fall apart after a few months.
They only cost $100 more per unit. Who needs cheap media anyways?
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
You could give that to everybody and there dog and they could use NetFlix on their PC.
Only if "everybody and there [sic] dog" amounts to no more than 6, because that's how many devices netflix only lets you register.
THe problem I have with netflix streaming is that on Silverlight it's buffer is so shallow that on my crappy evening comcast connection the movie frequently chatters and stops to rebuffer and degrade resolution.
I asked comcast why they don't have a large buffer mode. I'd be happy to wait 20 minutes for a movie to start if I could get fluid high res playback. It's far more frustrating to watch for 20 minutes and then have to abandon a movie as unwatchable with all the interruptions.
Netflix told me this has to do with some agreement with the studios on what they can deliver, and also in part do yo what silverlight is able to do.
I've been wondering if Roku or now Boxee might have different buffer rules or if it sucks on Silverlight it will suck on Roku too.
Perhaps if they have some new DRM on a closed hardware system they might get concessions that would allow movies to be pre-downloaded at high res. I'd be pretty happy about that.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
I've been going back and forth on getting a roku player and this makes it a lot easier to hold off. What I like about this is that it pushes the set top box folks to go ruther to justify their systems. Roku has Pandora, that's nice. If they support playing local files that would help too, and I'd be interested in getting one again.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Go go http://www.netflix.com/InstantStreamingDisc?device=Wii to reserve a disc.
...Microsoft has an exclusivity deal with Netflix for the time being. Either due to technical or legal reasons, requiring the disc is a way to get around this. Considering Sony has already said the required disc is temporary, this implies the exclusivity deal is nearing its end. This also implies any disc required for the Wii would be temporary as well.
Calm down people. Jeebus.
Living With a Nerd
I Googled "why no captions netflix streaming". Here is the very first entry listed in the results:
http://blog.netflix.com/2009/06/closed-captions-and-subtitles.html
You're welcome :-)
Living With a Nerd
The real reason I think is that Microsoft got an "exclusive" on putting Netflix "on" a game console.
This is 100% correct.
Netflix has even stated so.
There will be a downloadable application (no disc needed) for the PS3 sometime this year.
Err OK Silverlight is on version 3 so by your arbitrary method doesn't suck.
It has a poor take up rate but does a lot more than flash can do but is generally considered harder to work with.
Windows Media Player stolen from Apple! Blimey something build for a different platform and even different processor architecture and running a different proprietary file format is quite a steal.
Every new multimedia technology Microsoft creates sucks until the second major revision (at least).
While I don't think that's an untrue statement in general, it applies to many technologies, both hardware and software. As for hardware, that goes for many things outside the computer industry (car models, washing machines, whatever have you) as real-world use reveals shortcomings the original design and testing didn't take into account.
For conscience is the wound, and there's naught to staunch it
You mean for gimmicks and population segments? I mean seriously, the 360 and the PS3 fought over the same group of people. the 360 with HDDVD, the PS3 with BluRay, but both cater to more hardcore gamers and didn't really use any 'new cutting edge user interation' like the Wii did. The Wii-mote, the Wii-Fit all were completely new at the time for a console and drove sales. Coupled with the gamer demographics the Wii aimed at (not hard core gamers so much as kids, older adults, etc...) and the game genre's released for the Wii (proving once again that blood and gore are not the only good things in games by warping back to days of Mario and puzzles), the Wii really didn't have direct competition and that fact drove the adoption rates through the roof.
I highly doubt that the insinuation you make (that people don't want to watch movies on their consoles) was the driving force behind the purchase of the Wii.
-=JML=-
It will suck on Roku, too, if you have a crappy/inconsistent connection. If it ever drops below a certain threshold, it will just degrade the quality to the next lowest stream it thinks it can support. Roku is worse than xbox/ps3 in that it seems to remember the resolution you usually stream at so even when the connection gets better (other times of the day, for example), it takes it a while to realize it and start getting the higher quality streams.
But... on the internet, everybody is a dog. Besides, their streaming service is so shitty on the PC that many subscribers of the service still pirate online just because it's easier than trying to convince Silverlight to work.
And that's the real reason for the disc requirement - piracy. If you take a closer look at the disc you'll notice that it has a jagged edge, but an average person wouldn't normally notice the difference when handling the disc. Now imagine someone reporting you for pirating movies and your little disc spinning at 25,000 rpm then being shot out at 200 mph.. DRM now stands for Decapitation & Radical Maiming.
Gee thanks. It's not like I haven't already researched the issue.
No need to be sarcastic or rude, I was just trying to help.
If you read that post, it's a bunch of nonsense gobbleygook and FUD that works out to, we don't want to do it.
I did read the post, and that is not at all what it sounds like. It sounds like they have to figure out a way to overlay a secondary stream on top of the video stream. Obviously, you seem think this is easy to accomplish, so why don't you contact them and tell them how to do it?
He says they would have to reencode the entire library with subtitles enabled in order to stream the captions. This is of course BS because the captions are not video data and do not need to be encoded.
That is the exact opposite> of what he says. He says that reencoding the entire library would be time and cost prohibitive, as well as angering a lot of non-hearing-impaired english speakers. As a result, they are working on laying a secondary stream that contains only the subtitles over the video stream. He also says that they looked around for existing tech to do this, and found nothing.
Did you even read it, or did you just skim over it because you are pissed off?
He says that they are developing special display technology that would display the text as a separate stream in silverlight. Again FUD, I have written programs that display text in silverlight. It's quite easy, as you would expect.
As I said, if you already have the answer, why not stop bitching and contact them with the solution so they can implement it faster?
The data for all of the captions for a movie is usually around 100 KB and is freely available for use on nearly every dvd.
See above comments about submitting your idea.
The bottom line is that they do not care to have their programmers waste even 10 minutes on the Deaf community
The bottom line is that unless they release something RIGHT NOW, you are going to be pissed off. Calm down, read and understand what is written, and stop with the knee-jerk reaction.
They are going to give you what you want, and likely at no additional cost to you. Either submit your grand idea to them or stop complaining.
Living With a Nerd
But... on the internet, everybody is a dog. Besides, their streaming service is so shitty on the PC that many subscribers of the service still pirate online just because it's easier than trying to convince Silverlight to work.
And that's the real reason for the disc requirement - piracy. If you take a closer look at the disc you'll notice that it has a jagged edge, but an average person wouldn't normally notice the difference when handling the disc. Now imagine someone reporting you for pirating movies and your little disc spinning at 25,000 rpm then being shot out at 200 mph.. DRM now stands for Decapitation & Radical Maiming.
Or... Digital Rights Murder...
Bow-ties are cool.
I like my Roku--I've got one of the fancy XR's. I got the PS3 disc, but I have yet to bother going and setting it all up because the Roku already does almost everything what I need it to without sounding like every movie was filmed on the deck of an aircraft carrier.
If Roku would deliver on letting me browse all their movies and add them to my queue, I'll never use my PS3 for Netflix.
I used to have DSL through TDS until I started having problems with nexflix buffering. The movie would play fine for 1 hour and then start to have buffering issues.
I did some network speed tests using dslreports and a local speedtest server. If I was just doing normal web browsing and then did a speed test I would get a decent speed, plenty good for netflix streaming. Then I tried watching a movie, one hour into it buffering started, I shut down the movie and immediately ran a speed test and found that my bandwidth had been cut exactly in half.
I repeated this test a number of times and then switched to cable internet and told TDS to get fucked - they wanted me to switch to a more expensive plan but did not admit to throttling my connection. Now I have higher speed cable(charter) and haven't noticed any throttling or had any trouble with netflix playback(HD).
We have the best government that money can buy.
Just stop the show and resume where you left off, it seems recalibrate the network speed every time you start a show.
That is the exact opposite of what he says. He says that reencoding the entire library would be time and cost prohibitive, as well as angering a lot of non-hearing-impaired english speakers. As a result, they are working on laying a secondary stream that contains only the subtitles over the video stream. He also says that they looked around for existing tech to do this, and found nothing.
Did you even read it, or did you just skim over it because you are pissed off?
What he says is FUD. The reason he says that entire thing is to try and confuse people out of the real issue. Of course reencoding the entire library would be cost prohibitive and expensive. Of course doing it that way would annoy the rest of the population. Of course, that is not the way that captions are done, so his entire point is moot. If the captions were encoded along with the video stream, then they would be subject to compression artifacts and buffering issues and all sorts of other problems. No other captioning technology works that way. You simply read the time encoded text file and display the text on the screen at the appropriate time in the movie. It's easy, most everyone does it. He hasn't found the technology available for what he describes because that's not the way it's done. If he doesn't know that, it's because he hasn't researched the issue beyond a 5 minute conversation with someone who has.
In the tech demo SDK for silverlight there is an example for placing text on top of video. I don't need to submit any grand idea to them. Netflix is not an Open Source company, and as such is not looking for code submissions.
--why?
The reason the PS3 currently uses a disc is that the entire netflix program is written in Java. Specifically a BDJ. So the PS3 treats this disc as a Blue-Ray movie and runs their Java program as any Blue-Ray player is required to do. It really doesn't use any specific PS3 only code. They are working on a version that won't require the disc and will hopefully have it out soon (this year). I would "guess" it might be possible to take the PS3 disc and put it in to some modern BlueRay player and get it to work.
In my opinion this is pretty impressive what they have done with BDJ, and it shows what it is capable of. It also shows exactly why Microsoft didn't want this as a standard.
The more I learn about science, the more my faith in God increases.
What he says, specifically, is:
1) We don't do it.
2) We can't do it the same way we do subtitles for foreign language films.
3) We're going to do it and we have chosen a subtitle format.
4) The subtitle format is not well supported by our various viewing devices/software.
5) It will be done soon anyway.
So maybe it could be done faster. So maybe they didn't even try to do it until recently. Oh, horror!
tl;dr No malice here, calm down and relax.
I want my Cowboyneal
grief! You've really spoiled my day.
"Your Account & Help" -> "Manage Netflix ready devices and computers" will give you a list of registered devices and provide you with a link to deactivate them. I've never deactivated a device, so I don't know how the process works, but it looks like you should be able to deactivate devices in order to free up slots to register others.
Just stop the show and resume where you left off, it seems recalibrate the network speed every time you start a show.
That isn't really a solution to his problem. He wants high-quality, uninterrupted playback. Having a show suddenly stop and stutter because the bandwidth gets thin partway through playyback won't be fixed by stopping the show and hoping it selects a faster network speed. His issue is that the buffers are too small to allow playback at a high resolution on a slow connection.
Unless the buffer issue is fixed, he will run into the same problem even if he resumes playback. (and it is annoying stopping and starting playback)
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
Yes, putting discs in drives is madness!
Your mind is clear / The things that you fear / Will fade with how much you / Believe what you hear