Chicago (IL) - Netflix has begun the first phase of what appears to be a carefully orchestrated roll-out of a major movies streaming service called “Watch Instantly”. Paired with Microsoft's Silverlight technology, Netflix aims to deliver a next-gen platform for HD video rentals over the Internet. If it succeeds, it may give Apple's iTunes a serious run for its money.   

As previously reported, Netflix plans to be offering its movie streaming service to a much wider audience using Microsoft’s Silverlight platform. For the first time, the technology called "Watch Instantly" will be available to owners of Intel-based Macs as well. Following the initial announcement, Netflix opened beta access to the service for qualifying Netflix subscribers on an opt-in basis.

In a blog post, Netflix said that that bugs should be expected since this the software is still in early beta and has an incomplete library. The final version is scheduled to be available later this year.

The beta supports both Mac and PCs with Microsoft's Silverlight, which needs to be installed on all computers used to access Netflix movies. Netflix chief product officer Neil Hunt said the company has opted for Silverlight, because it features Play Ready technology for the delivery of dynamic streaming, with faster video start-up, and encoding quality that auto-adapts in real time to connection speeds of client PCs.

Silverlight also supports a platform- and browser-agnostic copy protection that prevents video stream ripping, something Hollywood studios are very sensitive about.

The second phase of the "Watch Instantly" roll-out will expand from an initially limited portion of the library to a much larger catalog with 12,000 movies and TV shows, which can be streamed through the Roku set-top box, Blu-ray players, TiVo, and the Xbox 360. The “Watch Instantly” feature is free for Netflix subscribers. Available streaming volume depends on individual subscription plans: Unlimited streaming is included in plans priced at $8.99 per month and higher.

Woot

Nov 03, 2008 12:47     

Comcast download cap here we come
Pete report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2

Not bad

Nov 03, 2008 12:56     

Good to see. Thanks for the link to the blog, too! Hopefully they'll be able to get that expanded library soon, too!
Steve report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

the only way to beat apple is free.

Nov 03, 2008 13:50     

nothing beats free movie.
yo report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -3

oh dear...

Nov 03, 2008 13:51     

how dare netflix offer this in microshafts non-open sliverlight when they could use adobe's non-open flash... Don't worry my iPhone doesn't support either. This is what I get for buying a product from apple. Androd supports flash what's the issue Steve!!!!!
Action Jackson report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Good luck with that

Nov 03, 2008 14:19     

Tried to do an instant movie lately? So far their dvds show up faster than there downloads.
me report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -5

Good luck to your mom!

Nov 03, 2008 14:47     

To, "me", the nameless person who says dvd's show up faster than their downloads. You are either full of it or suffering from your own bandwidth limitations. Get off the dial-up and you will see that the streaming from netflix works great. Works just as great in Silverlight for a PC with FireFox as the Flash plug-in did with PC/IE. This is a much needed step by Netflix and I hope they are quick to debug and roll this beta out to all subscribers.

me2 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

netflix

Nov 03, 2008 15:47     

" streaming from netflix works great. Works just as great in Silverlight for a PC with FireFox as the Flash plug-in did with PC/IE. " yea, right, Have you try fast forward a few times lately and wait and wait for the buffer to refill? And also the netflix streaming selection...it's even worse than a mom-and-pop video store. Tons of B movies and nothing new. The studio want to sell movie to get cash and will never let netflix show what they are selling this month on DVD... so yea... The movie does show up in mail faster when it's release this tuesday and will take months or years before it shows up in netflix streaming cataloge. I think that's what the previous guy things... Not that streaming physically take longer... well...for a blue ray disc...20-40G....it might take longer.. I got my three to 5 mailed version blue-ray disc in a day...while download will take me days even with boardband.It's not one disc at a time...most people has 3 disc or above mailed a time.

yo report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Uh no.

Nov 03, 2008 20:40     

You're pretty stupid.When he referred that DVDs showed up faster, he meant the streaming version being available to stream. Those take MUCH longer to show up their disc counterparts.
Re:Good luck to your mom! report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Later, the next morning....

Nov 04, 2008 06:43     

Joined up with the Silverlight Beta, and tried it on Firefox. First off, there were a few "Watch Now" movies that simply wouldn't play; I repeatedly got an 8051 error on some videos, while others seemed to play OK. On the first video I started watching on Firefox, however, the video and audio got out of sync. Kind of painful, that! On the other hand, it played quite well in I.E. (still).
Steve report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0