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Netflix App Updated With Retina Artwork, HD Streaming to Come

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Apr 12, 2001
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Netflix's iOS App has been updated with new iPad Retina icons and images. The actual video stream hasn't yet been updated to High Definition.

However, Netflix's Twitter account promises that High Definition streaming is following later.
The @Netflix iPad App now has high resolution icons and images, enhancing Netflix on the new iPad, HD video to follow later. Enjoy!
Click to expand...
Streaming in HD will, of course, use more bandwidth. Usage over LTE data networks could result in users quickly depleting their bandwidth allowances.

The Netflix iOS App is a free download, but you need a Netflix account to use it. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Netflix App Updated With Retina Artwork, HD Streaming to Come
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/03/21/netflix-app-updated-with-retina-artwork-hd-streaming-to-come/
Just out of curiosity, could the studio's release content in higher then 1080p for streaming to those devices with Retina displays?

Notice I said could..... :)
 
I feel sorry for anyone who accidentally runs out their limited data by streaming Netflix over LTE or 3G.

I feel doubly sorry for anyone dumb enough to repeat that mistake the following month.
 
Somehow it seems obvious to me... use LTE like you use your smartphone: to look stuff up and do useful things like emailing and checking news/weather when you’re away from WiFi and the task isn’t well suited to your phone. Then use WiFi for the massive tasks like streaming video. Are there really that many people who watch a lot of video and yet think their LTE plan is a full replacement for WiFi? That seems like an odd mix of being tech-savvy and being clueless.
 
Looks great

Nice update. Makes browsing sharp. Of course, actual HD video is the prize. Glad they teased that was coming!
 
nagromme said:
Somehow it seems obvious to me... use LTE like you use your smartphone: to look stuff up and do useful things like emailing and checking news/weather when you’re away from WiFi and the task isn’t well suited to your phone. Then use WiFi for the massive tasks like streaming video. Are there really that many people who watch a lot of video and yet think their LTE plan is a full replacement for WiFi? That seems like an odd mix of being tech-savvy and being clueless.
Click to expand...

A lot of free wifi is ****. so slow its not worth even trying to use.
 
Wow. Big ***** deal. Retina artwork, just what I've been waiting for from Netflix.
 
jontech said:
Just out of curiosity, could the studio's release content in higher then 1080p for streaming to those devices with Retina displays?

Notice I said could..... :)
Click to expand...

The new iPad is only about 7% wider than most 1080p content, so it wouldn't make much of a difference. IMAX content is narrower so it may take more advantage of the 4:3 iPad screen. Some old 4:3 TV shows are available in HD, but a lot of time you can seen focus and other issues because they weren't meant to be shown in HD
 
Wirelessly posted

doelcm82 said:
I feel sorry for anyone who accidentally runs out their limited data by streaming Netflix over LTE or 3G.

I feel doubly sorry for anyone dumb enough to repeat that mistake the following month.
Click to expand...

Which could both happen in a matter of a few movies lol. If someone had the 1gb plan with VZW and decided to watch a long movie in HD that data would be sucked down and then probably the other 1gb that is automatically added. $40 for a couple of movie streams...ouch.

That's why I'll be leaving my video streaming to Wifi only.
 
nagromme said:
Somehow it seems obvious to me... use LTE like you use your smartphone: to look stuff up and do useful things like emailing and checking news/weather when you’re away from WiFi and the task isn’t well suited to your phone. Then use WiFi for the massive tasks like streaming video. Are there really that many people who watch a lot of video and yet think their LTE plan is a full replacement for WiFi? That seems like an odd mix of being tech-savvy and being clueless.
Click to expand...

I don't know if there are a lot who actually do (in places that have data caps). But there are a lot of people who would like to, including me.

I had unlimited EDGE data on my original iPhone in 2007. I had unlimited 3G on my iPhone 3G in 2008. But due to other limits (there was no Netflix streaming app, for example), I never used more than half a gig in a month.

Unlimited data is coming (if not unlimited, then caps set high enough to only annoy people who are fun to annoy). Until then, I'm going to enjoy my iPad and use my data wisely: Obey the speed limits in town, open it up on the Autobahn.
 
Radio said:
hmm - retina artwork...

anyone else feel like this will lead to fragmentation?
Click to expand...
No. The non-retina artwork is still there. Also the iPhone artwork (both retina and non-retina).

For the near future, I think Apple would reject any "retina-only" apps, while they are still selling non-retina iPads.

The only fragmentation is "iPad only" or "iPhone only" apps, and a few that just require more horsepower than older iPhones or iPads can give. That's more obsolescence than fragmentation.

Even apps that take full advantage of the GPU in the new iPad will probably still work on the iPad 2--just with simpler shading and lighting, and of course, lower resolution.
 
Last edited:
NeroAZ said:
A lot of free wifi is ****. so slow its not worth even trying to use.
Click to expand...

True, but home WiFi isn’t free, and I expect most heavy video streamers are already familiar with home vs. “any old WiFi.” They probably also understand that video uses data, so I doubt very many of them believe that a tightly-limited LTE plan is the solution to watching video better at slow coffee shops/airports....

I have no doubt that SOME people are surprised that video uses up their plan limit, and even people who think they bought a plan with no limits. I just have to imagine they are quite a minority.

Now, the people who WISH for a better LTE plan, maybe even to cancel their home Internet, but who manage live within the cap in the meantime, are probably extremely common! I’d love to do that myself.

Radio said:
hmm - retina artwork...

anyone else feel like this will lead to fragmentation?
Click to expand...

Why would it? Retina apps run on non-retina devices just fine. Apple has sold retina and non-retina iPhone side by side for years and still does, and they don’t need separate apps. So we’ve been down the retina road before.
 
If you want to watch video when you're away from WiFi, you can do what those who have WiFi-only iPads (and those who had the 3G version but never signed up for data) have been doing all along: Sync the video you might want to watch to your device's memory, and then watch it off-line whenever you like. Just not during take-off and landing.
 
jontech said:
Just out of curiosity, could the studio's release content in higher then 1080p for streaming to those devices with Retina displays?

Notice I said could..... :)
Click to expand...

They could. And they do. It's called 4K resolution, content that has about 4000 horizontal lines of pixels. (4096 x 3072 pixels)
There is also something out named 2K resolution. And 8K. :)

There aren't many studios that do, but there are some. There is one I know of; Blender Foundation, which released a short-film named Sintel. It's an open-source movie, free to watch and with the ability to edit.

Note that you shouldn't want to download the original 4K frames, as they are 650 GB in total size.

Here's the download page for all other download possibilities, as well as a YouTube link if you'd like to watch it online instead.

http://www.sintel.org/download
 
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