Netflix Debuts HD Video Streaming Alongside NXE
The video marketplace on Xbox Live has grown quite a bit since its launch almost two years ago. In the two years since its launch, the service has grown from a smattering of titles into a viable avenue for digital downloads of movie and TV content. Recently, Microsoft anounced a partnership with mail-order movie-rental provider Netflix to turn the XBOX into a set-top streaming machine, much like their Roku, which is debuting November 19th along with Microsoft’s operating-system-reboot dubbed the “New Xbox Experience”. However, one rather large detail from this announcement seems to have slipped through the cracks, until now.
According to CNET, the service will offer streaming content in HD. That’s right, for as little as $8.99 a month (plus an active Xbox Live Gold Account), you will be able to stream HD movie directly to your HDTV, without needing to wait for the HD-DVD Blu-Ray Disc to arrive in the mail. Netflix has offered streaming to PC and Mac users for some time now, and interestingly the HD streaming will not be made available immediately to those users.
There are a few more caveats that came along with the announcement. First, Nov 19th is only a soft launch, with merely a smattering of the over 300 titles available for streaming offered in HD. Secondly, the service will be available to all set top streaming enabled devices, not exclusively to the 360 as some sources have reported. And as you would expect, streaming movies in HD is going to require a large amount of bandwidth, with Netflix recommending a minimum 8 Mbps download speed.
So are you going to join Netflix and take advantage of this relatively inexpensive video-on-demand service? Do you have the kind of bandwidth necessary to even take advantage? More importantly, with the price point for the 360 at $199, will this news entice current Netflix subscrbers to purchase a 360? Either way, digital downloading is gaining momentum in the marketplace, which will always be good for the consumer.
dude…
sweet?
omgz will it be in europe or shall i prepare to cry
Wow I actuly thought this was going to be free for gold members! (duh)
get it aswell?
And is this U.S. Only or dose Europe, more importantly the U.K
As regard to bandwidth I’ve seen that netflix will auto detect you bandwidth and streem the appropriate video quality.
Netflix is spelt wrong in the title
Will this service come to the UK?
Fixed.Thanks!
And No it won’t be avaiable in the UK.
nor in canada, usa only
Which is truly lame.
I also saw on 360fanboy that there is currently no way to know if a movie is HD or not until you actually start streaming it. Once you start a little HD icon pops up.
“Netflix has offered streaming to PC and
Macusers for some time now”^ Albeit not in HD.
Why not for silver members? I don’t like online gaming so I don’t see the point in paying for gold.
I for one don’t buy movie disc. This is a game changer and if it takes off, bye bye Blu-ray within a few years
The way forward is in downloadable and streaming content to media players be it XBox or whatever. Hard copies of films on discs are gonna die out eventually. It’s a waste of the planet’s resources anyway. Data across networks is the way to go. “It’s the wave of the future.”
OK. This is great news. My internet company has just doubled my speeds to 8 Mbps for free and I was thinking of diving into Blu-ray but if this works on the 360 and the HD movies are decent and there aren’t a lot of issues I might not worry about getting a Blu-ray player or a PS3.
Dumb people would absolutely love this!
Smart people would figure out how to get HD movies, music, and games for free through other channels.
Dumb meaning those against piracy? If you want to see the movie industry to become a lame mishmash of action movies, rom coms and the like then by all means don’t support the movie industry by paying for a film or renting it. Oh, wait a minute, most movies are already lame ;P
On a side note, don’t be calling those who are against piracy dumb because you are “SMART” enough to use torrent sites.
silence!
well, five hours after launch and it is a shit sandwich.
i would be willing to bet netflix hd streaming is causing lag. either that or the nxe transition is bottlenecking.
NOT ONE LAG FREE GAME OF COD5 ALL DAY!
party system works fine, after what? three years?
anybody else having unacceptable gameplay today?
I haven’t played a Multiplayer match just yet but as for the NXE itself, well gone are the blades but I’m slowly liking the new layout more and more.
It all looks pretty, but I’m still meh on the navigating. I love what the guide button does, seriously, open it up and it’s a mini blade on the dash, open it up in game and it’s the same thing with far more choices than the previous dash.
granted, nxe is head and shoulders above the bare vonews bullshit we have been dealing with, but if this netflix crap is going to be screwing balls to the wall, connection-wise, then fuck it.
yes, the party system RULES, and should have been in place from the beginning, but what the fuck is up with all the bullet sponges taking FULL CLIPS to kill on cod4 and cod5.
this has been confirmed by a ton of people on my friends list. it is possible that it is merely a result of a mad scramble to get nxe, but if it ain’t, then i for one am unsatisfied.