Nintendo Wii To Get Netflix Streaming 213
motang writes "Netflix and Nintendo is set to announce Netflix streaming service for the Wii soon. Subscribers who have the unlimited streaming service can watch non-HD version of the movies on their Wii with a special Netflix disc inserted." The thing I can't understand is why the PS3 and Wii have to require a disc. Both are capable of downloading applications and executing them. Why should I be required to dedicate my disc slot to stream a movie? Of course, my netflix queue is half-filled with Ken Burns documentaries, so if I lost the disc, I think that would just make the wife happier.
Microsoft (Score:4, Interesting)
Microsoft may have an exclusive deal with Netflix to have built-in Netflix support. Simply giving DVDs out with software for the other platforms *without* the possibility to install it may get around this agreement.
Re:The disc is DRM (Score:4, Interesting)
No..
NetFlix uses a password. You could give that to everybody and there dog and they could use NetFlix on their PC.
The Wii has limited space for applications it could be that the streaming is too big to store on the Wii.
The real reason I think is that Microsoft got an "exclusive" on putting Netflix "on" a game console.
Re:Microsoft (Score:3, Interesting)
From what I understand the netflix streaming API is silverlight. So Microsoft easily implemented this on X-Box. However, ps3 is using the blu-ray live feature to access Netflix and I have no idea what nintendo will use.
I'm assuming Netflix is in the process of overhauling it's streaming system to cooperate with ps3 and wii. Since ps3 is slated as having a software version in the near to distant future (possibly with the implementation of a paid for premium version of the Playstation Network).
However, besides the impending ps3 version...all of this is just assumption.
Re:The disc is DRM (Score:5, Interesting)
THe problem I have with netflix streaming is that on Silverlight it's buffer is so shallow that on my crappy evening comcast connection the movie frequently chatters and stops to rebuffer and degrade resolution.
I asked comcast why they don't have a large buffer mode. I'd be happy to wait 20 minutes for a movie to start if I could get fluid high res playback. It's far more frustrating to watch for 20 minutes and then have to abandon a movie as unwatchable with all the interruptions.
Netflix told me this has to do with some agreement with the studios on what they can deliver, and also in part do yo what silverlight is able to do.
I've been wondering if Roku or now Boxee might have different buffer rules or if it sucks on Silverlight it will suck on Roku too.
Perhaps if they have some new DRM on a closed hardware system they might get concessions that would allow movies to be pre-downloaded at high res. I'd be pretty happy about that.
Re:There goes the market (Score:4, Interesting)
I've been going back and forth on getting a roku player and this makes it a lot easier to hold off. What I like about this is that it pushes the set top box folks to go ruther to justify their systems. Roku has Pandora, that's nice. If they support playing local files that would help too, and I'd be interested in getting one again.
Re:There goes the market (Score:1, Interesting)
I have a Roku box and enjoy it greatly. I regularly watch Netflix movies in 720p. To me, the Wii is a non-factor because it's maximum resolution is 480p (even with component video cables).
What would really do it for me is external USB storage and VLC on the Roku. That would be truly awesome. Short of that, a samba client would let me play off of a local file server. That would be cool as well.
Re:Unless I'm mistaken... (Score:5, Interesting)
You mean for gimmicks and population segments? I mean seriously, the 360 and the PS3 fought over the same group of people. the 360 with HDDVD, the PS3 with BluRay, but both cater to more hardcore gamers and didn't really use any 'new cutting edge user interation' like the Wii did. The Wii-mote, the Wii-Fit all were completely new at the time for a console and drove sales. Coupled with the gamer demographics the Wii aimed at (not hard core gamers so much as kids, older adults, etc...) and the game genre's released for the Wii (proving once again that blood and gore are not the only good things in games by warping back to days of Mario and puzzles), the Wii really didn't have direct competition and that fact drove the adoption rates through the roof.
I highly doubt that the insinuation you make (that people don't want to watch movies on their consoles) was the driving force behind the purchase of the Wii.
Re:Deaf and Hard of Hearing still snubbed (Score:1, Interesting)
Gee thanks. It's not like I haven't already researched the issue. If you read that post, it's a bunch of nonsense gobbleygook and FUD that works out to, we don't want to do it.
He says they would have to reencode the entire library with subtitles enabled in order to stream the captions. This is of course BS because the captions are not video data and do not need to be encoded.
He says that they are developing special display technology that would display the text as a separate stream in silverlight. Again FUD, I have written programs that display text in silverlight. It's quite easy, as you would expect.
The data for all of the captions for a movie is usually around 100 KB and is freely available for use on nearly every dvd.
The bottom line is that they do not care to have their programmers waste even 10 minutes on the Deaf community
Re:As many others have already said... (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, the PS3 currently uses BD-Live to stream Netflix [betanews.com], but other than that I fully agree with what you say.
Looking forward to this, it will mean we will have Netflix streaming on all floors in our townhouse (PCs upstairs, 360/PS3 in the living room, Wii in the basement).
Re:There goes the market (Score:2, Interesting)
I like my Roku--I've got one of the fancy XR's. I got the PS3 disc, but I have yet to bother going and setting it all up because the Roku already does almost everything what I need it to without sounding like every movie was filmed on the deck of an aircraft carrier.
If Roku would deliver on letting me browse all their movies and add them to my queue, I'll never use my PS3 for Netflix.
Re:Deaf and Hard of Hearing still snubbed (Score:2, Interesting)
That is the exact opposite of what he says. He says that reencoding the entire library would be time and cost prohibitive, as well as angering a lot of non-hearing-impaired english speakers. As a result, they are working on laying a secondary stream that contains only the subtitles over the video stream. He also says that they looked around for existing tech to do this, and found nothing.
Did you even read it, or did you just skim over it because you are pissed off?
What he says is FUD. The reason he says that entire thing is to try and confuse people out of the real issue. Of course reencoding the entire library would be cost prohibitive and expensive. Of course doing it that way would annoy the rest of the population. Of course, that is not the way that captions are done, so his entire point is moot. If the captions were encoded along with the video stream, then they would be subject to compression artifacts and buffering issues and all sorts of other problems. No other captioning technology works that way. You simply read the time encoded text file and display the text on the screen at the appropriate time in the movie. It's easy, most everyone does it. He hasn't found the technology available for what he describes because that's not the way it's done. If he doesn't know that, it's because he hasn't researched the issue beyond a 5 minute conversation with someone who has.
In the tech demo SDK for silverlight there is an example for placing text on top of video. I don't need to submit any grand idea to them. Netflix is not an Open Source company, and as such is not looking for code submissions.
Re:Microsoft (Score:4, Interesting)
Nah, I doubt that's a problem. The Opera web browser fits comfortably inside flash memory, and that includes flash; unless they're incompetent, a dedicated media player should be much smaller.
The problem with the Wii is probably just the limited ram to buffer the streaming video itself; it might be more dependent on a smooth and fast connection than the other two console. On the other hand, it's not streaming HD video, so that might not be as much of a problem. Either way, it's better to have the option than not have it.