Netflix accidentally exposes "Netflix Player"?

We know it's been a long time coming that Netflix announced that they were hopping into bed with TiVo on a movie download service, but are we finally eking the first peek at their "Netflix Player"? Apparently the user in question who found this noticed a "Downloadable" genre briefly exposed in his Netflix interface, and saw some registration form for the Netflix Player service—but it was nipped before he was able to get any further with it. Anyone seen something similar?

[Digital Dave @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

Man, I'd have a Tivo if they had a dual tuner hd version that could compete with my Cox Communications Moto/Pioneer DVR.

[Ryan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

Any word on whether this will require a whole new box or if this will just be another software update? I am sooo excited about this! My two favorite companies comming together.

[Andrew @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

I wonder if this is legit. I really hope that NetFlivo (hey, you come up with a better name!) isn't vaporware.

[Mike @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

Lets hope it's a dual tuner, HD box with a massive hard drive and the Tivo OS?

[Dave @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

Maybe TiVo will fix the bugs in their current software when they update it for NetFlix stuff. It's SO screwed up and slow if you updated your box for TiVo2Go functionality.

[cptsilver @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

to the FLIXQUEUE guy:
good job posting a 'shameless plug' for a software that asks for a registration key that goes into an endless loop, displaying a cannot connect to server error. I promptly uninstalled it, thank you very much.

[Bootes @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

Hope it works with my DirecTivo, but I doubt it.

[buck09 @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

hmmm... Flexqueue didn't even get that far before it left a steaming turd on my screen. I think it has spyware in it too.

[fathom_flux @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

If you look through the jobs section you will notice they are searching for a "Director, Product Management" whose role includes the following tidbit:

"The Electronic Delivery Service (EDS) will augment Netflix's current DVD delivery model with high quality movies delivered to consumers' home TVs through the Internet, on a subscription basis. "

[Mat @ Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM]

Only way for this to work would be for the tivo to get a software update and then you tell it what netflix movies you want, it downloads them silently in the uncompressed format, then watch a few hours later. No one wants compression of any kind.