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.

[broganreynik]

if they just allowed you to view the instant viewing on Netflix.com that'd be a lot simpler, but either way I'm game.

[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.

[actionhank]

They don't really have much available for watching instantly....

[CptGreedle]

I would be really happy if Sony did this with the PS3.
But would they? Only if they get some sort of benefit from it.
But if they brought these two technologies together, I think it could end the whole "Blu-ray vs downloads" thing. If most download devices also played Blu-ray, and most Blu-ray also downloaded, it would be the perfect match to promote both technologies together!

Someone tell Sony that this is a good idea! Especially if they got something else out of it from Netflix...

[andyn1080]

wonder if ps3 will add the firmware to do this.......

[Need0fMany]

Sorry people, it still doesn't make sense. Blu-ray is all about picture and sound quality; downloads are compressed even beyond sub HD-DVD standards. Why would we want that? I'm in favor of both buying and renting... Blu-ray discs. Period.

Downloads at most should be reserved for extra features and things like that.

This is just a case of Netflix trying to con the 360\PS3 customer base into accepting an inferior movie experience for the sake of convenience and more profit for them. Just say no thanks.

[dk3dknight]

I do not think you can download blu-rays, there 25gb to 50gb that would take a long time and you would not be able to stream that, the streaming connection would need to be equal to the video and sound together or you would be waiting a long time for each second.

We will joke and say for instance the combination was say 20mbps, and your internet connection is a good solid dsl 3mbps.. it would take 8 seconds for each 1 second of combined video and sound and thats if you get your full bandwidth.

Which would take 16 hours to stream for a 2 hour movie proposing my calculations are right.

2*60 = minutes * 60 = seconds, multiply 8 x seconds / 60 / 60 = hours to stream.

8 is the variable we decided on how many seconds it would take in real time to produce 1 second of video and audio, on some movies this could get much higher or in rare cases lower...

I would sense the version they stream would not be the blu-ray but instead a very heavily compressed version to make it nicer on the bandwidth so really you get a blurry dvd online YAY... fail

And we all know the best is the mimimun requirement not good enough to fit the internet bandwidth.

Oh and I shall throw something at you for sonys take on digital downloads...

http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/05/29/...-life-support/
"Stringer knows that Sony is also supporting digital distribution, but doesn't see optical media being tossed aside for another ten years. To close with an analogy of the PS3 and Sony's current standing, Stringer said that it is "a giant department store competing with companies that are really skillful boutiques." Sounds fair enough. Good to know the PS3 is doing better in Sony's eyes, but what about yours?"

Have a nice day

If you wonder who stringer is and why hes important... "Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer"

[WVUFloydFan]

No one is trying to "con" anyone. Why is it that you can't even mention "download" or "streaming" without people getting agitated.

I agree that the picture quality is bad, and we won't see anything close to BD quality in the near future, if ever. But most of what is available to instant view from Netflix is older content and most likely won't be appearing on BD anytime soon. If something is available on Blu then I will wait for them to send it to me, but if it's not, why not stream it at near DVD quality. This service isn't in competition with Blu-ray, it's just another way to get SD content. I know we all love HD, but if something is only available in SD, why not stream it via Netflix through your PS3.

[dk3dknight]

Originally Posted by WVUFloydFan

No one is trying to "con" anyone. Why is it that you can't even mention "download" or "streaming" without people getting agitated.

I agree that the picture quality is bad, and we won't see anything close to BD quality in the near future, if ever. But most of what is available to instant view from Netflix is older content and most likely won't be appearing on BD anytime soon. If something is available on Blu then I will wait for them to send it to me, but if it's not, why not stream it at near DVD quality. This service isn't in competition with Blu-ray, it's just another way to get SD content. I know we all love HD, but if something is only available in SD, why not stream it via Netflix through your PS3.

I noticed anything coming on the internet was vhs quality or less personally, the reason people get squirmish is because people are telling joe6pack that downloading is the future and all disc media will fail and be replaced by internet downloads, and not to invest in blu-ray.

One such company extremely pushing this is microsoft who spends good time explaining how blu-ray will fail and be replaced by download.

This is a pitched battle called out for the hearts, minds and souls of joe6pack, because in the end of the day they are needed... they just do not know it yet.

[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.