Looks like Windows Media Center, that hub for video and audio which I’ve never used, is getting full Netflix streaming support. This is good news for those of you running HTPCs with Vista on them — no need for an extra layer or frontend, just open up WMC, enter your info and you’re on your way.
If you’re not a member, hit up some free trial action and you could be watching a movie in about two minutes without leaving your chair.
Personally I don’t like the all-in-one media applications like iTunes and Windows Media Center, but for people who don’t want to futz around with codec packs and weird open source stuff like Media Player Classic, VLC, and other stuff, the increasing robustness of omnibus media players must be comforting. After all, you do your queue online, why shouldn’t you be able to open up your default player and watch stuff there?
You can find more info at the Media Center site, or at this post on TV on your PC.
I highly dislike the all-in-one media apps too.
If they could all be made to use one single standard music library with a standard organization they wouldn’t be so bad. But as it is, if you’ve got 3 of them on your pc then you’ve got 3 libraries and associated nonsense.
haha. makes no sense in reviewing and promoting something you’ve never used yourself.
>>”that hub for video and audio which I’ve never used”
same with me. lol
Yes, I agreed with Jorden.
now we feel bore with all-in-one media application.
I’m not much for media center either, to resource hungry, and loaded down with to much fluff on Vista. I can hardly get a slideshow to play without locking up the machine. I do enjoy Netflix and sling.com though.
We cut our cable off a couple months back and to be honest, I have not missed it in the least. I’m not a sports fan though, if I were, I may be having withdrawals.
It’s also good to mention that Windows Media Center comes out of the box with the Xbox 360..
WMC connecting to Netflix is done using OAuth, the open authentication method that supposedly “no one” uses.
http://www.crunchbase.com/company/oauth
This is the kind of report that should make the site editors reach for the delete button. How stupid is it to review something that you obviously do not understand? Just as long as you have a post up with with a title to get you some page hits eh?
I honestly though Crunchgear was better than this.
For all of the “I don’t use all in one solutions…” guess what, they are not for you to sit at yoru PC and do things. These are built for other users. I have a 120 inch home theater running froma projector. I use Windows Media Center in addition to my TiVo and other AV sources. When you are sitting in your chair, 3 rooms away from your PC and media server, what you want is a nice all in one interface to browsing your movies, etc. so that you, the wife and kids can have a consistent user experience that even teh non-techies can access. You think i want to sit in our theater and fumble around for a mouse and keyboard to browse around to find files and launch them in various players?
Sure if you want to sit at your desktop and watch a video you would not use Media Center. But stop assuming that you represent the entire world.
As for Netflix on media Center, it’s about time. There have been third party tools for it for a while, but it’s good to see it built in now.
And for our obtuse “reviewer” ( i had to put that in quotes as this is not review, it is uninformed drivel ) you can view your netflix from your PC without Media Center. The various add-ons just make it easy to view them from within the unified interface. So even your complaint (which is based on ignorance) is invalid.
Exactly. If the he doesn’t like, doesn’t know anything about it, then why the hell would he write about it?? What an idiot.
Did I put “Comprehensive and all-encompassing review by an authority on all things media player” in the headline or something? I thought I was just reporting a bit of news.
Who gives a toss if you’ve used it or not? Just report the news, dumbass.
I am not a PC fanboy. That said Media Center is pretty rock solid, and worth the look. Contrary to some comments here from those who haven’t used it.
I have a music folder (just regular mp3s) and a photos folder (just my regular photos) which is all MC needs. NO special libraries or conversions. It has great performance. At least on my modern machine.
Further (and most importantly) it has a full DVR which works FAR better then the built in cable box versions. I also have it live stream all media (including live tv) to my xbox 360 so I can watch tv on my projector. You also DONT need Vista to use media center. No clue why the netflix option requires it.
In my opinion, media center is about the only thing keeping my pc around. Otherwise I would be using my mac more or go Ubuntu. I can’t understand why Microsoft didn’t push it as a main feature. If Apples solution was any where near as good it would be promoted front and central.
Perhaps the open source solutions have come a long way. I will check them out again. But not that long ago they simply didn’t compare UI and feature wise. If there are some that people recommend please post links here as I would be interested in checking them out again. The live and recorded TV being the important feature for me.
I think this is great because streaming is the way to go. I can’t wait to try this at home.
How’s this going to work in Europe/UK? Or are we screwed, once again, by licensing & distribution contracts from the stone age (see also Hulu, Pandora, AppleTV, etc.)
Netflix compatibility seems to be with everything- Xbox, Tivo, Roku, computer- how can you go wrong for $8.99 month?
Time to buy Netflix(NFLX) stocks and short Blockbuster(BBI)! ;-)
It’s cheaper, easier and more streamlined just buying an xbox 360.
This month I setup a Windows Media Center PC as a DVR (I have two dual ATSC tuners for Over-The-Air TV) because I am tired of paying the ever increasing Cable TV prices and have to say of the DVR interfaces I have used (Moxi and Charter Cable’s Generic Motorola Interface) Windows Media Center has the nicest of all of them, plus no monthly fees. The only question I have is, will this work with Windows Media Center Extenders, even though pretty much everyone has discontinued their extenders :-( . This is not a huge deal if not because I own a Xbox360 and can use it’s integrated Netflix, but it would be nice if it did so I could use it on my TV in the bedroom where I do not have a Xbox360.
WMC is very good and the integration with Netflix is a very welcome addition. You don’t need VISTA for WMC, I run it on XP and it works fine.
From what I read, Netflix streaming will not work with the Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition.
I also read it will not work with Extenders, because the Xbox360 can be used as an extender, and they do not want to step on the toes of it’s Netflix integration. Which is stupid IMO.
I just finally got around to building a HTPC. I’m using Vista Media Center and an awesome add-on called Media Browser. http://www.mediabrowser.tv
It’s sweet. I’m super happy now that Netflix has been added. Now I don’t have to use my Xbox for any of this.
Streaming Netflix movies is awesome and convenient. The problem though is that the library of available movies to download is very poor and lags way behind their availability via mail delivery by Netflix. This is especially true for new releases. I had gotten a Netflix for the streaming option but wound up canceling it due to the poor movie selection.
Then get the movies in the mail, what’s the problem here?
I just said the reason I got Netflix was because of the convenience of the streaming option. I don’t want to have to mess with sending and receiving movies via snail mail. That’s the problem here.
How is this advantageous over the MyNetflix Windows Media Center plugin, which has been doing this for at least a year?
Also, any commenters know how well they stack up?
I just want to try to publish comment with facebook connect
I think you meant to say, “You’ll be up and running in two minutes (right after you spend two hours searching Microsoft’s support site for the right drivers, spend 20 minutes trying to figure out why the drivers won’t install, spend 10 minutes trying to reboot your machine, spend 90 minutes on a support call in which they blame you, your computer, and the anti-virus software.) ”
Should be a flawless experience after that.
The application by itself doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but it’s a total different story when you know the experience in the X-Box or see what Sony is doing with the PS series.
I think this is just a step on the way to standardizing their applications to get them running smoothly in different platforms.
I’ve used the NetFlix streaming with Tivo for several months now and it works great. However, you do not get access to the FULL netflix library. You can only watch the movies on in your “Watch Instantly” queue. If NetFlix is serving up all of their movies, not just the older ones via watch instantly, then I think this could add real value to Media Center users.
This is great news for me. Since last year I use an HTPC with Vista Media Center as all-in-one solution for music-video-pictures-TV-DVD in my living room and I’m very happy with it.
I got rid of all those dvd player, Comcast box, etc… One small PC (Acer x1200), one TV and a soundbar this is all I need for all my entertainment needs now. Even my 6 y/o navigates Media Center without help.
I’m also a Netflix customer, I use streaming so I’m very happy with the integration in VMC.
However we’re not at the ‘appliance’ level yet. It did take quite some tuning to work and I still sometimes face weird behaviors and other glitches typical to software and computers. I would not recommend this setting to my GrandMa quite yet.
The benefit to this plugin is that it allows you to manage your queue and browse/add available titles, whereas, the Xbox app only lets you view or delete what was already in your Watch Now queue.
It does NOT work on Extenders. Netflix is in the process of moving all their Watch Now libraries to the Silverlight player. Extenders can’t support this. It “may” be possible with a firmware update, but seeing as everyone who made extenders has discontinued them, I don’t see this happening.
I have no doubt that Microsoft will release a V3 MCX standard. You’ll just have to run out and buy a new extender box to use that functionality.
I would like to point out that, if you have been a long-time Netflix subscriber, you’ve been using the Watch Now feature for quite some time, and you haven’t “opted in” to use the Silverlight player, you may be in luck with extenders using the vmcNetflix plugin.
Also, I have been testing/using the PlayOn Media Server and the associated vmcPlayIt plugin to stream to my extenders. (developed by the vmcNetflix guy, Eric Luttman) Each beta release fixes some things, breaks some things, but it is maturing. PlayOn costs about $40 for a lifetime registration, not counting a future major release. It also adds HULU, YouTube, ESPN, CBS and other channel functionality on Extenders.
Netflix streaming got really bad when they introduced their Silverlight player. Under plain old Windows Media player, it was rock solid and capable of playing really hi-res hi-bandwidth streams. I was able to get a 3Mbps stream now and again when they offered it for some movies, and they were really HD-quality. The old Media Player played them beautifully. When they forced their users onto the Silverlight player, they found that most current PCs weren’t capable of displaying that high a resolution, because Silverlight is very heavy on processing power. So Netflix is now fairly low down in online video quality. The best they offer is 1500kbps, even if you have a 20Mbps line. I used to have an account with them, but it just got to be unwatchable. Most PCs can’t even play that low-quality stream on Silverlight without dropping frames and jumping around, especially when a lot happens on screen, like a pan. Netflix really sucks now.