Netflix Mac Video Streaming Begins Testing

MacRumors · Oct 27, 2008, 07:31 AM

Netflix announced today that they have begun testing Mac video streaming to a small portion of their subscribers, and expects widespread availability by the end of the year.

Quote:

Netflix, Inc., the world's largest online movie rental service, today announced it has begun the deployment of Microsoft Silverlight to enhance the instant watching component of the Netflix service and to allow subscribers for the first time to watch movies and TV episodes instantly on their Intel-based Apple Macintosh computers. The deployment, which will initially touch a small percentage of new Netflix subscribers, is the first step in an anticipated roll-out of the new platform to all Netflix subscribers by the end of the year.

The streaming service is based on Microsoft's Silverlight technology and will only be available to Intel-based Macs. Netflix has been talking about Mac support for some time now, but appears to be on track to deliver it by year's end.

Netflix is best known for its mail-order DVD rental service but also includes unlimited video streaming with their fixed monthly plans starting at $9/month. Netflix recently expanded their content available for streaming, which also includes a number of television shows as well as movie titles.

Article Link: Netflix Mac Video Streaming Begins Testing

ppc_michael · Oct 27, 2008, 07:35 AM

Silverlight? That's disappointing.

SimonTheSoundMa · 07:52 AM

If only Silverlight would work.

Silly licensing on Microsoft's part.

iGary · Oct 27, 2008, 07:40 AM

Huzzah! Finally.

sangosimo · Oct 27, 2008, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ppc_michael

Silverlight? That's disappointing.

everything I have read about silver light says it is alot more efficient and friendlier to developers than flash.

wavelayer · Oct 27, 2008, 07:47 AM

Still glad I got a Roku box. But it will be convenient to check stuff out on the mac once in a while. Now that Starz in in the game, there's quite a selection to choose from.

pismodude2 · Oct 27, 2008, 07:51 AM

It's about time!!!

Mac OS X Ocelot · Oct 27, 2008, 07:54 AM

Well now I feel like crap. A month ago I told my mom, who loves her NetFlix, that she will soon be able to stream it to her Mac only to find out now that it's only for Intels. That sucks. Can someone else tell her for me? I got her hopes up so high.

synth3tik · Oct 27, 2008, 08:01 AM

Well that sucks I wait all this time only to find out I would have to install Silverlight.

That mixed with the fact the the last 6 DVDs I got were scratched makes me no like netflix anymore.

bunch of bastards.

"Sorry your disc was unplayable, we have shipped out a replacement (that is also scratched) for you"

errrr

swingerofbirch · Oct 27, 2008, 08:01 AM

Pretty cool...my parents subscribe to netflix and have a roku box that is pretty fun actually...so now i'll be able to take advantage of the service on my mac too...streaming makes a lot more sense than buying to me....have you gone to the HD gallery on Hulu...it streams beautifully in 720p and no space on my hard disk is eaten up...

MrCrowbar · Oct 27, 2008, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mac OS X Ocelot

Well now I feel like crap. A month ago I told my mom, who loves her NetFlix, that she will soon be able to stream it to her Mac only to find out now that it's only for Intels. That sucks. Can someone else tell her for me? I got her hopes up so high.

Use BootCamp. Oh wait...
Use Parallels or VMWare... damn

Face it, the PPC is getting old. A G4 Mac can't really handle H.264 or anything High Def anyway so it wouldn't be fun even trying.

Supermacguy · Oct 27, 2008, 08:10 AM

Silverlight sucks. Microsoft sucks. I won't install that to watch netflix. I'll keep on getting the DVDs.

synth3tik · Oct 27, 2008, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Supermacguy

Silverlight sucks. Microsoft sucks. I won't install that to watch netflix. I'll keep on getting the DVDs.

I like how they try and blame Apple for it all

Quote:

Apple does not license their DRM solution to third parties, which has made this more difficult,

because iTunes is the only thing that can play video on a mac, besides silverlight.

dernhelm · Oct 27, 2008, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Supermacguy

Silverlight sucks. Microsoft sucks. I won't install that to watch netflix. I'll keep on getting the DVDs.

OK - you're "supermacguy" so I will cut you a little slack, but this is Apple doing, no one else's. So first off, Silverlight does not suck. Silverlight is actually a very nice developent environment. It won't ever surpass Flash for marketshare or anything, but it does have one thing that Flash and Apple's QT/iTunes do not, and that is DRM capabilities that a third party can license.

Like it or not, that is a requirement for NetFlix, and it is something that Apple could've fixed long ago - but Apple doesn't want Netflix competition on movie rentals/sales, so it isn't available.

Kudos to NetFlix for working around it with Silverlight to give Mac users a closer to first class experience. It's also a little gutsy since Silverlight is still pretty dripping wet (even on the Windows side) but they really aren't stressing the capabilities too badly here, so I bet it works OK.

Abercrombieboy · Oct 27, 2008, 08:29 AM

This is a good thing no matter what software it uses. So Silverlight is made by Microsoft? Not a big deal to me. I have Office on my Mac and already have Silverlight installed. I get Blu-rays on Netflix, but for movies that are less popular I use the on-line service on my PC laptop. It works ok, but in the evenings when a lot of people are using the service it seems to bog down. I hope they address their server issues and make sure they are ready to serve a new chunk of subscribers when the Mac service goes on-line.

wavelayer · Oct 27, 2008, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mac OS X Ocelot

Well now I feel like crap. A month ago I told my mom, who loves her NetFlix, that she will soon be able to stream it to her Mac only to find out now that it's only for Intels. That sucks. Can someone else tell her for me? I got her hopes up so high.

Get her a Roku for xmas

Adamo · Oct 27, 2008, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by synth3tik

I like how they try and blame Apple for it all

because iTunes is the only thing that can play video on a mac, besides silverlight.

DVD Player and VLC work fine..

commander.data · Oct 27, 2008, 08:42 AM

What does Netflix on Windows currently use? I don't believe it's Silverlight since they don't list it in the requirements, maybe Flash or just WMP? If it's WMP I can understand them using Silverlight since WMP isn't available for Mac and Flip4Mac doesn't do DRM. But if it's Flash, I wonder why they don't just stick with it. Given the lack of PPC support they are probably using Silverlight 2.0 rather than Silverlight 1.0 which was PPC compatible.

synth3tik · Oct 27, 2008, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adamo

DVD Player and VLC work fine..

Well DVD play is an Apple product, and VLC does not have streaming support (at least I don't think it does), however I think it was kind of weak for netflix to blame Apple. I am sure they could have gotten something done with quicker without blaming.

Keleko · Oct 27, 2008, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by commander.data

What does Netflix on Windows currently use? I don't believe it's Silverlight since they don't list it in the requirements, maybe Flash or just WMP? If it's WMP I can understand them using Silverlight since WMP isn't available for Mac and Flip4Mac doesn't do DRM. But if it's Flash, I wonder why they don't just stick with it. Given the lack of PPC support they are probably using Silverlight 2.0 rather than Silverlight 1.0 which was PPC compatible.

They've been using WMP. Now that they're switching to Silverlight it might even work on Linux, too.

BlairMALL · Oct 27, 2008, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Supermacguy

Silverlight sucks. Microsoft sucks. I won't install that to watch netflix. I'll keep on getting the DVDs.

With Netflix you can do both! I still get the DVDs, and switch over to windows via parallels to watch online during those crazy shipping moments. It's quite cool. I don't know if Silverlight is any worse than switching over to windows to watch a film. I can't wait to watch on my mac.

Blair

Malcster · 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by synth3tik

Well DVD play is an Apple product, and VLC does not have streaming support (at least I don't think it does), however I think it was kind of weak for netflix to blame Apple. I am sure they could have gotten something done with quicker without blaming.

VLC supports lots of streaming options.

This is due to Apple because they won't license the FairPlay DRM out to anyone, so they use Silverlights DRM functionality.

synth3tik · Oct 27, 2008, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malcster

VLC supports lots of streaming options.

This is due to Apple because they won't license the FairPlay DRM out to anyone, so they use Silverlights DRM functionality.

I know Apple won't license their DRM and I am all for that, but this delay was not caused by Apple.

Finding out the VLC can stream video leaves another ave. that netflix could have taken, I just don't like that we wait this long and they say it is totally Apple fault.

iSee · Oct 27, 2008, 09:14 AM

Who cares if it uses Silverlight, as long as it works?

Freis968 · Oct 27, 2008, 09:18 AM

So, the announcement seems quite vague, only a few lucky Netflix subscribers are able to do this until the end of the year when it becomes available? How do you get chosen to participate? I have been looking forward to this feature since I became a Netflix subscriber one month ago!

Oct 27, 2008, 07:35 AM	#2
ppc_michael macrumors 65816 Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: New York, NY	Silverlight? That's disappointing. __________________ -PPC_Michael 17" MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo + 23" Cinema Display // 16GB iPod Touch

Oct 27, 2008, 07:40 AM	#3
SimonTheSoundMa macrumors 6502 Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Birmingham, UK	If only Silverlight would work. Silly licensing on Microsoft's part. Last edited by SimonTheSoundMa : Oct 27, 2008 at 07:52 AM.

Oct 27, 2008, 07:40 AM	#4
iGary macrumors Demi-God Join Date: May 2004 Location: La Villa Strangiato	Huzzah! Finally. __________________ Mac Pro Octophallus 2.8 \| 13" UMBP 2.26

Oct 27, 2008, 08:01 AM	#9
synth3tik macrumors 68040 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Minneapolis, MN	Well that sucks I wait all this time only to find out I would have to install Silverlight. That mixed with the fact the the last 6 DVDs I got were scratched makes me no like netflix anymore. bunch of bastards. "Sorry your disc was unplayable, we have shipped out a replacement (that is also scratched) for you" errrr __________________ Come check out my music! http://www.batteriesarentfood.com http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/BatteriesarentFood

Oct 27, 2008, 08:01 AM	#10
swingerofbirch macrumors 68000 Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: The Amalgamated States of Central North America	Pretty cool...my parents subscribe to netflix and have a roku box that is pretty fun actually...so now i'll be able to take advantage of the service on my mac too...streaming makes a lot more sense than buying to me....have you gone to the HD gallery on Hulu...it streams beautifully in 720p and no space on my hard disk is eaten up... __________________ Blog of Failure After using a PC all day, coming home to my Mac is like a tall, cold glass of peach iced tea.

Oct 27, 2008, 07:47 AM	#6
wavelayer macrumors member Join Date: May 2005	Still glad I got a Roku box. But it will be convenient to check stuff out on the mac once in a while. Now that Starz in in the game, there's quite a selection to choose from.

Oct 27, 2008, 07:51 AM	#7
pismodude2 macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: MacWorld	It's about time!!!

Oct 27, 2008, 07:54 AM	#8
Mac OS X Ocelot macrumors 6502a Join Date: Sep 2005	Well now I feel like crap. A month ago I told my mom, who loves her NetFlix, that she will soon be able to stream it to her Mac only to find out now that it's only for Intels. That sucks. Can someone else tell her for me? I got her hopes up so high.

Oct 27, 2008, 08:10 AM	#12
Supermacguy macrumors newbie Join Date: Jan 2008	M$ again Silverlight sucks. Microsoft sucks. I won't install that to watch netflix. I'll keep on getting the DVDs.

Oct 27, 2008, 08:29 AM	#15
Abercrombieboy macrumors 68000 Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: South Dakota, USA	This is a good thing no matter what software it uses. So Silverlight is made by Microsoft? Not a big deal to me. I have Office on my Mac and already have Silverlight installed. I get Blu-rays on Netflix, but for movies that are less popular I use the on-line service on my PC laptop. It works ok, but in the evenings when a lot of people are using the service it seems to bog down. I hope they address their server issues and make sure they are ready to serve a new chunk of subscribers when the Mac service goes on-line. __________________ Mac: 20" Aluminum iMac Core 2 Duo 2.4 Ghz, Mac OSX 10.6.2 iPod Touch 32 GB iPod Classic 80GB Silver Motorola Droid A855

Oct 27, 2008, 08:42 AM	#18
commander.data macrumors 6502 Join Date: Nov 2006	What does Netflix on Windows currently use? I don't believe it's Silverlight since they don't list it in the requirements, maybe Flash or just WMP? If it's WMP I can understand them using Silverlight since WMP isn't available for Mac and Flip4Mac doesn't do DRM. But if it's Flash, I wonder why they don't just stick with it. Given the lack of PPC support they are probably using Silverlight 2.0 rather than Silverlight 1.0 which was PPC compatible.

Oct 27, 2008, 09:14 AM	#24
iSee macrumors 65816 Join Date: Oct 2004	who cares? Who cares if it uses Silverlight, as long as it works?

Oct 27, 2008, 09:18 AM	#25
Freis968 macrumors 6502 Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Florida	So, the announcement seems quite vague, only a few lucky Netflix subscribers are able to do this until the end of the year when it becomes available? How do you get chosen to participate? I have been looking forward to this feature since I became a Netflix subscriber one month ago! __________________ Mac Pro 2.8ghz [Early 2008] - SL 10.6.2 - 6gb RAM Westinghouse 24" HD Monitor iPhone [1G] and iPod Video [5G]

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