Comments on: Windows Media Center gets Netflix’d

By: Johnny English

Johnny English — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:38:06 +0000

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.

By: Video: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings On The Economics Of Movie Streaming

Video: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings On The Economics Of Movie Streaming — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:28:12 +0000

[...] want. Netflix doesn’t care where you watch your movies, whether it is on your TV, xBox 360, Windows Media Center, or other [...]

By: Technical blogs with pictures and videos » Video: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings On The Economics Of Movie Streaming

Sat, 30 May 2009 01:10:17 +0000

[...] want. Netflix doesn’t care where you watch your movies, whether it is on your TV, xBox 360, Windows Media Center, or other [...]

By: TheTechnologySources.com » Blog Archive » Video: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings On The Economics Of Movie Streaming

Sat, 30 May 2009 01:04:32 +0000

[...] want. Netflix doesn’t care where you watch your movies, whether it is on your TV, xBox 360, Windows Media Center, or other [...]

By: The Far Edge » Blog Archive » Video: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings On The Economics Of Movie Streaming

Fri, 29 May 2009 22:38:52 +0000

[...] you want. Netflix doesn’t care where you watch your movies, whether it is on your TV, xBox 360, Windows Media Center, or other [...]

By: Mash123 » Video: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings On The Economics Of Movie Streaming

Fri, 29 May 2009 21:23:39 +0000

[...] care where you watch your movies, whether it is on your TV, xBox 360, Windows Media Center, or other [...]

By: TumbleTech » Video: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings On The Economics Of Movie Streaming

Fri, 29 May 2009 21:04:56 +0000

[...] want. Netflix doesn’t care where you watch your movies, whether it is on your TV, xBox 360, Windows Media Center, or other [...]

By: TechDozer » Video: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings On The Economics Of Movie Streaming

Fri, 29 May 2009 21:00:37 +0000

[...] want. Netflix doesn’t care where you watch your movies, whether it is on your TV, xBox 360, Windows Media Center, or other [...]

By: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings On The Economics Of Movie Streaming

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings On The Economics Of Movie Streaming — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:42:36 +0000

[...] want. Netflix doesn’t care where you watch your movies, whether it is on your TV, xBox 360, Windows Media Center, or other [...]

By: Keiff

Keiff — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:20:45 +0000

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.

By: Keiff

Keiff — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:15:14 +0000

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.

By: Devin Coldewey

Devin Coldewey — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:17:33 +0000

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.

By: JC

JC — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:43:31 +0000

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.

By: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA « Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA « Daily Marauder — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:59:06 +0000

[...] need for an extra layer or front-end, just open up WMC, enter your info and you’re on your way. (http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/05/20/windows-media-center-gets-netflixd [...]

By: Watson

Watson — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:14:03 +0000

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.

By: Julio Col

Wed, 20 May 2009 18:05:04 +0000

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.

By: Up And Running

Up And Running — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:23:45 +0000

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.

By: Alexandre Aumaitre

Wed, 20 May 2009 16:22:30 +0000

I just want to try to publish comment with facebook connect

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:25:03 +0000

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.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:13:39 +0000

Then get the movies in the mail, what’s the problem here?