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Netflix Mac Video Streaming Begins Testing

shervieux said:
Now with some stations already broadcasting digital and with digital sub-channels - I now pick up more programming, looks better than satellite too.

Hence why I may pickup another mini later this year. with all the tv shows and such being available on the internet - I probably will not go back to satellite.
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I don't have rabbit ears (too addicted to time shifting, and not willing to jump into a DVR solution for HD just yet), but am getting all "TV" content through the internet. We had been using an old G4 PowerBook hooked up to the TV (and still do for a few sites like NickJR for the kids), but since we put Boxee on our AppleTV we've been watching Hulu, CBS, and YouTube through that instead of the computer.

I'd love for Apple to put Hulu/etc support directly in the AppleTV. However, there's a major hitch there: they need to go all-out with it and make it "great" support, not half-assed like their built-in YouTube support!

Until then, I think Boxee is the way to go for TV content. For movies: I'd subscribe to NetFlix if they offered downloadable movies through Boxee. I doubt it would happen, but that would be great. Streaming HD isn't a very good idea (too many bits, too little processing power in the AppleTV, etc), but downloadable time-limited versions like what Apple does would be really nice. In the meantime, I'm happy enough with either renting from Apple or (more likely) hopping over to the Blockbuster on the corner and picking up a (non-HD) disk.
 
bwshockley said:
I've been on rabbit ears for over a year now. I went from a nice HD DVR service to nothing but rabbit ears (no DVR). I've saved alot of money and more importantly...time. hehe. Sure, I miss being able to watch TV shows on demand, but I found myself watching less TV now. I know I could get a eyeTV hybrid and record shows, but I don't want to deal with my laptop doing that...now if I had money for a mini with eyetv...maybe.
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bw: hah! the no tv watchers are coming out of the woodwork. time/money savers unite! (i'm NOT knocking the TV watchers, i'm envying:)

now if Apple would just combine the Mini and the AppleTV with a subscription model, i'd throw down some dough for that...
 
aduteau said:
Yes someone please tell us if this service is only for Americains or if you can stream and subscribe anywhere in the world
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Netflix accounts are available only for USians and they block Watch Instantly streaming to IP addresses outside the US, but people report that if you have an account you can use a proxy for (slow) external viewing...
 
Now if Apple will just update the Mini, I'll be ready to roll my own combo player... :D

I'd get an Apple TV, but until/unless they add a DVD player (which probably won't happen) there's no point - I don't need YABConT (Yet Another Box Connected to my Television). With a Mini you've got a DVD player, you can rent from iTunes, thanks to Perian you can play most any format through Quicktime, etc. AND you could hook up a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, if you wanted.
 
Robort said:
Netflix accounts are available only for USians and they block Watch Instantly streaming to IP addresses outside the US, but people report that if you have an account you can use a proxy for (slow) external viewing...
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OMG it sucks to be Canadian ... No netflix .... no Hulu ... no nothing
 
jmerk said:
...and figure out a way to combine AppleTV and the Mini and make HD (real HD) movies available so I don't have to buy stuff from other vendors!

i'm probably the only person in the US who has an HD tv with rabbit ears because i don't use it for television-i use my tv for movies but i've been waiting for an excellent medium for HD.

i don't want to spend $300 on a PS3 just so I can watch HD movies. the thing is, everyone that is waiting for Blu-Ray on any consumer Mac can forget it. it is not in Apple's interest to support physical media-they want you to buy stuff through iTunes. i'm sorry Steve Jobs but movies aren't like music, i don't WANT to own every movie that i've rented-give me a subscription model, give me true HD, and give me the ability to use internet apps with this device and i'll give you the money for the device AND the subscription and Netflix/Microsoft gets nothing.

or, keep dragging your heels and giving me no choice but to go with Netflix...either way.

jm
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I'm right there with you using rabbit ears, as well as wishing apple would give me a subscription model similar to what Netflix is offering. I've held off from getting a Netflix subscription solely because they didn't stream to Macs. As soon as that barrier is removed (and assuming Apple hasn't provided something comparable) I'm jumping on board.
 
Westside guy said:
Now if Apple will just update the Mini, I'll be ready to roll my own combo player... :D

I'd get an Apple TV, but until/unless they add a DVD player (which probably won't happen) there's no point - I don't need YABConT (Yet Another Box Connected to my Television). With a Mini you've got a DVD player, you can rent from iTunes, thanks to Perian you can play most any format through Quicktime, etc. AND you could hook up a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, if you wanted.
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And if you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can skip the bluetooth keyboard and mouse and just get the AirMouse App. It has both. I haven't tried it yet (I'm waiting to get a new tv before getting a mini) but it looks pretty cool.
 
Silverlight doesn't thrill me, nor does the exclusion of my G5 iMac. But Apple itself is likely going to kill off PPC with Snow Leopard, and we can still watch on my partner's C2D iMac. Haven't really followed the whole debate on why it took Netflix so long to accomplish this, nor why they're using Silverlight. But hey, it will be working by the end of the year, and that's happy enough for me.
 
mac-savant said:
... I believe this is a reversion back to the Microsoft that we all know and love. Promise cross-platform capabilities for their shiny new product, then slowly weed out the non-Windows support.

I would not be surprised at all if Silverlight 3.0 doesn't support the Mac at all.
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Yeah, I hadn't thought about that, though I am glad they don't burden web developers with mac IE anymore. Personally I'm more apt to adopt tech from companies that are more platform agnostic, than from those that have a stake in a particular OS or hardware, Apple included.
 
holy freaking crap, it is not that hard to stream video to a Mac! Just use a freaking standard not some proprietary bullcrap.
 
quixotic said:
Yeah, I hadn't thought about that, though I am glad they don't burden web developers with mac IE anymore. Personally I'm more apt to adopt tech from companies that are more platform agnostic, than from those that have a stake in a particular OS or hardware, Apple included.
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IE sucks. I work for a government agency and conduct risk assessment/vulnerability testing. Nearly 80% of the securities holes we have to deal with are IE related. Real IT managers know how badly Microsoft sucks.
 
Do the Netflix streams carry subtitles?

If not, there might be some questions over disability access, especially as 99% of the source material already has subtitles.

In the UK, the BBC is slowly spreading subtitles across its iPlayer streaming TV service (still a few issues with the UI, e.g. you can't search for which programs contain subtitles).

Used to be a Netflix member - if they bring streaming dvds with subtitles to the UK I would seriously consider rejoining.
 
econoline06 said:
IE sucks. I work for a government agency and conduct risk assessment/vulnerability testing. Nearly 80% of the securities holes we have to deal with are IE related. Real IT managers know how badly Microsoft sucks.
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Don't even get me started. To say I loath IE would be an understatement. Though most of my woes are more from a standards viewpoint. In that regard I'm already annoyed that MS has completely ignored SVG standards in Silverlight for no apparent reason.

They have a tendency to pointlessly make life more difficult for developers. I'm glad Netflix will be offering "watch instantly" to mac users, but I seriously wish they would've chosen something other than Silverlight to do it.
 
mac-savant said:
I have no problem with Netflix choosing Silverlight. It works and the Microsoft marketing people sell it very well.

I am pissed at Microsoft, and you should be as well.

Why the ƒÚçX did they bother to make a version 1.0 for PPC if they weren't going to make a 2.0?

I believe this is a reversion back to the Microsoft that we all know and love. Promise cross-platform capabilities for their shiny new product, then slowly weed out the non-Windows support.

I would not be surprised at all if Silverlight 3.0 doesn't support the Mac at all.
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I disagree. When Apple announced that they were not supporting PPC in Snow Leopard, they gave the go ahead for anyone else developing for the Mac platform to ignore PPC. While it sucks that we have to use M$ crap, i think that non PPC everything is simply a short time away (as apple wants you to buy new computers), so, Silverlight 2.0 being non PPC is no surprise to me.
 
sangosimo said:
everything I have read about silver light says it is alot more efficient and friendlier to developers than flash.
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Yeah (as a long time Flash user) I've gotta say that Silverlight has the upperhand in the realms of video streaming. The Euro2008 site from FIFA put together a great interface of both Flash (for web content) and Silverlight (for video). One day I might lower my standards and look into how it works! :p
 
Please knock off the Fan Boy a bit it is tiring!

synth3tik said:
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.
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Do you ever just talk about the subject without getting int the apple love, I have Mc;s and PC and both are very usable and that is all that matters, I don't select which to use on the basis of the LoGo.
 
sangosimo said:
everything I have read about silver light says it is alot more efficient and friendlier to developers than flash.
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I'm still not a fan of Silverlight, but MS did get one thing right by allowing users to code with Ruby, Python, and possibly PHP and Perl in addition to their .NET languages.
 
RedTomato said:
Do the Netflix streams carry subtitles?

If not, there might be some questions over disability access, especially as 99% of the source material already has subtitles.

In the UK, the BBC is slowly spreading subtitles across its iPlayer streaming TV service (still a few issues with the UI, e.g. you can't search for which programs contain subtitles).

Used to be a Netflix member - if they bring streaming dvds with subtitles to the UK I would seriously consider rejoining.
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The subtitles question is a good one -- I don't think they do currently, or they didn't seem to last time I checked a month ago. But I may have just missed them. I am sure they're working on it, in any case.
 
what about us power pc users?

what happened to a time when Power PC was respected in the apple community, now it's like the ppc world is being spat on; i ask you, would you spit on your grandfathers?
 
quixotic said:
I'm still not a fan of Silverlight, but MS did get one thing right by allowing users to code with Ruby, Python, and possibly PHP and Perl in addition to their .NET languages.
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yeah, only problem is that almost all video content creation is done on Macs, and guess what MS isn't bringing to the Mac?
The only way to author Silverlight content is to use MS's Expression Studio or Visual Studio.net, both of which MS is not going to bring to the Mac.
 
i4k20c said:
what about us power pc users?

what happened to a time when Power PC was respected in the apple community, now it's like the ppc world is being spat on; i ask you, would you spit on your grandfathers?
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Yes. Yes I would. I'd spit, and make all kinds of various rude gestures. Now if gramps was a cell processor...;)
 
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