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Disc-Free Netflix Streaming Arrives For the PS3 and Wii
tkdog writes "Netflix has added Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii to the list of devices that can stream their catalog's content without the need for a disc. On the Netflix blog, VP Greg Peters adds, 'In addition to removing the need for discs, we've developed a new user interface on both applications that significantly improves the experience. The new applications will allow you to search for content directly from the device and you'll also be able to view an increasing portion of our content library with subtitles or alternate audio tracks.'"
Well, given I haven't updated my 3.15 PS3, but also have a 3.41 update firmware on my hard drive. And given all updates beyond 3.41 were more of ways to stamp out jailbreaks than actual features (well, there's the crippled 3D Blu-Ray support... but anyone with 3DTVs would probably want a better 3D Blu-Ray player that what the PS3 gives you).
This might be the only real reason to lose the jailbreak...
Anyhow, I wonder what Microsoft has to counter this - their Fall Update is due soon. They need to give Netflix out for free at the minimum, but the 5.1/1080p support is also required. Fun times.
Losing the disk for the Wii is great, and the search function is something I've pined after for many an evening. However, Netflix has yet to address my biggest concern: Bandwidth usage.
I'd like it if I had more control over how much of my pipes Netflix gets to use. Yes, I know I can diddle my router/modem to fix this, but it needs to be in the interface. Y'see, I play multiplayer FPS games (mostly TF2) during my downtime, which is co-incidentally the same time other people in the house have downtime. They'll load up the Netflix streaming player on their laptops, and my latency will double for thirty seconds. Which wouldn't be so bad, if Netflix didn't continue to hog the entire pipe for three quarters of a second every five seconds after the main load to update its buffer. Mix in the weird lag compensation Valve uses for TF2 and the relatively high latency values I get on my favorite server, and trying to use any strategy but sentry-humping turtling becomes impossible.
Needless to say, this kinda ruins my entertainment. I've come a cease-fire agreement with the other parties in the house about usage periods and times, but the truce remains uneasy.
You should turn signatures off.
On the XBox 360 I'd simply take a client was a bit more stable. Heck, I'd probably even be willing to put in a disk. When I use the Netflix application, trying to fast forward or reverse more than a few seconds leads to probably about a 30% chance of being kicked out of the movie and back to the screen you were on when you selected it. What's more, it seems that most of the time this happens the software loses all record of where you were in the movie.
I'm shocked that the player could have such a basic usability problem on known (locked down) hardware used by so many people. Hardware, I might add, where you have to be signed up for an extra pay service (XBox Live gold) in addition to your Netflix subscription and Internet service just to be able to watch the streaming movies.
"You call it a new way of thinking; I call it regression to ignorance!" -- Operation Ivy
Be careful what you wish for, because I am in one of the "test markets" for broadband caps, and from talking to my local cableco they pretty much all will go to tiered pricing in the next year and a half. You are looking at 36Gb per month residential, and 75Gb per month business. Of course that doesn't count for THEIR movies or VoIP, so I hope you like PPV.
That is why I'm saying enjoy it while you can, because thanks to our lack of competition and deregulation allowing the big ISP to gobble up all the little ones instead of rolling out new networks to meet demand they are just gonna screw everybody and enjoy ever higher prices. Kinda also puts a stake in that whole "net neutrality" thing, has who gives a shit about whether you have net neutrality or not when you have 36Gb caps? Download your asses off boys and girls, because I do believe we will look back upon this time as a golden age of pre-dialup level suckitude. All bunches like Netflix and Hulu and Youtube are doing is speeding up the duopoly a little. But hell even Verizon is slowing down their FIOS rollout, so it looks like unless you are one of the lucky ones to be able to get FIOS you will be in the boned boat with the rest of us, sorry.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.