Sony can add Netflix Instant Watch capability

[WVUFloydFan]

This is from the Netflix Analyst Day 2008 webcast:

On May 28th, from 'Netflix Analyst Day 2008': The other 3 Instant Watch hardware partners are on target for 08/09 releases. Netflix has created an SDK that can be added to existing Blu-Ray players (that have internet connections) to allow them to stream Netflix movies the same way the The Roku Netflix Player does. It is now up to the Blu-Ray player makers to add this feature into their firmware. The same applies to the XBox 360.

It seems as if the ball is now in Sony's court. As a long time Netflix subscriber I would love to see this implemented for the PS3.

[raginranger]

wow i would nut if they did this

[SkullPhyre]

Originally Posted by raginranger

wow i would nut if they did this

Better get a towel.

[Cyorg]

The same applies to the XBox 360.

So the 360 can do this too? It would be nice if this were a PS3 exclusive feature.

[Shin-Ra]

Would any platform holder want to when they have their own service?

[ToonyLoons]

Originally Posted by Shin-Ra

Would any platform holder want to when they have their own service?

Maybe it is something Sony would add to the stand alone players but not the PS3 since they are planing an On Demand service. Or they could just add both to the PS3, although that would most likely hurt overall profits. Same with 360, it would probably hurt their video download service.

[alphapyro]

Originally Posted by Shin-Ra

Would any platform holder want to when they have their own service?

I initially agree with this, but then I'm thinking that Netflix would already get the profit from purchasing the rental - in order to push their SDK and get more profits they'd have to invest a bit to get the hardware developers to include it. Think of Sony as having video on demand, but in order to view the just released titles you'd have to use the netflix service. Kind of like ordering Pay-Per-View instead of waiting for it to show up on HBO or even one of the basic cable channels with commercials.


I could see both approaches but either way it is a pretty cool deal.

[ThePhantomOak]

Originally Posted by WVUFloydFan

This is from the Netflix Analyst Day 2008 webcast:



It seems as if the ball is now in Sony's court. As a long time Netflix subscriber I would love to see this implemented for the PS3.

This is NOTHING new. Netflix has had this service to computers for a while, and with PS3 able to run whatever it wants, it is a shock that Sony has not jumped on the bandwagon to trump Microsoft with movies like this. Hell, Sony could easily let users download Netflix, and iTunes (or any web app the user wants) and it would finally truly live up to its name as the hub of your entertainment room.

I assume the ONLY reason Sony has not added allowed this ability with the pre installed OS, and will not any time soon (soon given that PS3 came out with the ability to do it), is because Sony has not figured out a way to gain some profit from it. Without profit sharing this will never happen, and I dont blame Sony at all. It is still a company, not a charity, but it sure would be nice.



There are two real holdups to Downloading and streaming movies. One is the Studios (The Economist had a good article on that about 2 months ago), the other, more daunting hold up, is bandwidth. Sites like YouTube with very low quality video are already pushing our infrastructure to the brink of being totally overwhelmed. The only way to fix this is have the bottlenecks in the system expanded. Right now the bottlenecks are the copper wires. In the US and developed Europe, the costs to replace copper wire with fiber optic is FAR to expensive to undertake to allow downloadable movies...

MAYBE in developing nations it will catch on in the future, but for HD disks to get pushed aside for downloading something? Not going to happen for a good 15 to 30 years. RIGHT NOW it would take about 16 hours to download a full movie at the same quality that you get with BD. If JUST the early adopters watched movies like that, it would slow to about 3 or 5 times that (copper wire, either with cable or twowire/cat5 can only transfer so many bits a second... and we all share that same wire)...

It aint going to replace BD, at best it will supplement it.

[dk3dknight]

Originally Posted by ThePhantomOak

This is NOTHING new. Netflix has had this servise to computers for a while, and with PS3 able to run whatever it wants, it is a shock that Sony has not jumped on the bandwagon to trump Microsoft with movies like this...

I assume the ONLY reason Sony has not added it, and will not any time soon (soon given that PS3 came out with the ability to do it), is because Sony has not figured out a way to take some of the profit from Netflix. Without profit sharing this will never happen, and I dont blame Sony at all.

What also is not said are how much are the sdk's, and how easily can they be scripted to work for the ps3, netflix may have generated sdks they only think will work for everyone. Its not always true either look at some of the crappy ports.. lol

[TheTenth]

will it be "false" HD movies like XBOX live, 720p with DVD bitrate?

[WVUFloydFan]

Originally Posted by TheTenth

will it be "false" HD movies like XBOX live, 720p with DVD bitrate?

Netflix doesn't offer HD movies for Instant Watching. Just a small selection of SD titles.

[Whatstreet]

Originally Posted by ThePhantomOak

I assume the ONLY reason Sony has not added allowed this ability with the pre installed OS, and will not any time soon (soon given that PS3 came out with the ability to do it), is because Sony has not figured out a way to gain some profit from it. Without profit sharing this will never happen, and I dont blame Sony at all. It is still a company, not a charity, but it sure would be nice.

It aint going to replace BD, at best it will supplement it.

On demand movie downloads would help Sony make profits. Customer delight of the PS3 system would result in increased sales, leading to increased profit from games and the consoles.

I think the problem is it's an extreme effort to write all the software and it's not an open platform like the PC, no huge number of developers like the PC.

None of the movie downloads are in HD, so not a blu-ray challenge. likely more expensive also.