Basically, I want to know why when I watch 30 Rock on my xbox 360 through netflix's watch instantly it looks like a crisp HD picture, but when I watch it through my MBP 2.4ghz it looks like sub-par SD picture. I am using the same external 1080p monitor to display the image too. Is it because silverlight can't do HD or is it something else?
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Why does Netflix Watch Instantly look better on my 360 than my MBP?
- Thread starter helicoptersoup
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I was just talking to somebody about this today. I speculated that the Xbox 360 is probably doing some kind of image enhancement with its powerful processors that the MBP can't keep up with (or isn't coded to do, at least).
Your guess about Silverlight is equally reasonable.
You're macbook pro processor is much more powerful then the old 700mhz processors in an Xbox 360. In fact beta builds of the Xbox 360 actually were using the G5 PPC processor 
You're macbook pro processor is much more powerful then the old 700mhz processors in an Xbox 360. In fact beta builds of the Xbox 360 actually were using the G5 PPC processor
Its actually three 3.2 ghz cores.
EDIT: and they still are the powerPC processors.
EDIT2: i looked it up. The 733 mhz CPU is what was in the original xbox. Not the 360.
My mistake then. I was thinking of the old one. I didn't realize they we're running the PPC 3.2 tri core.
I'm not sure what hte performance compared to a 2.4ghz core 2 duo.
I'm not sure what hte performance compared to a 2.4ghz core 2 duo.
Because Netflix Instant Streaming is NOT available in HD on the desktop (PC/Mac). It's only available on stand-alone boxes (XBOX 360, Roku and TiVo).
It has nothing to do with your processor or graphics card.
Thank you for finding the real reason behind it all. I did a little more research and found out that HD streaming will eventually be coming to the mac. I guess I will be doing all of my netflix watching on my 360 for now.