Netflix coming to Xbox 360 and PS3?
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Feb 11th 2008 11:46PM
posted Feb 11th 2008 11:46PM
According to a blogged up blog post on the interblogs, a Netflix survey that's supposedly been making the rounds suggests that the service may be coming to both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. If you believe what Seanbajuice has to say, the survey asked, "If as part of your Netflix membership you could instantly watch movies and TV episodes on your TV with your PS/3 or XBOX 360, how likely would you/anyone in your household be to do that?" The survey then goes on to state that both the PS3 and the 360 will be able to play streaming media by using a "special Netflix disc." Here's the kicker: there won't be any extra fees besides the $3 charge for the disc. Of course, nothing is mentioned about how the PS3 will handle the Microsoft-based DRM, and while the whole thing sounds too good to be true, there have been rumblings about this recently, so let's just cross our fingers and make a wish, okay?
Go for it Netflix!
I see your "Go for it Netflix" and raise you a "Bring it on!".
This might make up to me their slashing of HD-DVD this morning. I've been using the "watch it now" service more then their mail service lately anyway. You can't beat instant gratification.
Please do... I was reading this thinking it's way too good to be true. I hope that this actually makes it!
I will get rid of cable if this happens. I'll have no need for it. Public TV is in HD now, and is free. I got my culture, news and kids shows from there, and all the really good TV shows I actually want to waste my time on from Netflix. And of course, the movies.
that would destroy blockbuster if they released prepaid cards you could buy with cash
There is a bootleg store near me which charges $3 for a DVD and the quality is near original DVD quality. I just don't see the use of renting Netflix discs or downloading movies on XBL.
There are legal RedBox kiosks where you can rent movies for $1.00 and since you don't seem to mind about legit discs you can go ahead and rip them. That's even a better deal.
You mean, other than not renting illegal bootlegs?
Does your illegal bootleg store have 70,000 titles? Do they carry high definition bootlegs too?
btw my comment was directed towards Flashpoint - another reply got in while I was writing mine.
@Flashpoint
How about people like you stop ruining it for people like me.
bootleg store that charges for dvd rentals? Hmmm. I think you mean like a mom and pop shop type of store.
Flashpoint probably meant that he "buys" the bootlegs at $3 a pop.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
you actually buy pirated copies?
//uses netflix so i dont have to pirate on the intarwebz
Dude, that is the dumbest idea ever. If you want a pirated version just go to the pirates bay and wait a day. LOL, someone on this website actually buys bootlegs.
You mean, you need to get out of the house? Poor you.
I would so love the Xbox stream or whatever it will be.
That would make me a solid Netflix user.
I used to have a Netflix membership but canceled after a couple months, but if they brought the movies to my 360 I might just consider re-subscribing. I'm always in favor of cheaper content, becoming more accessible. I would be excited to see this come to fruition.
I totally agree. I have often considered Netflix but never did it for one reason or another. THIS, sells me. Heck, I just rented Stardust off of my 360 tonight. Waited 20 minutes to buffer and I watched. I mean, you just can't beat that.
P.S. Great movie BTW!
I called this one several months ago, although for some reason I thought it'd be PS3-only. Well, not "for some reason" - it kinda would compete directly against Xbox Live. I still think it's a lot more likely on PS3 than 360.
But no doubt Netflix would *love it* if they could get themselves on every console out there. That's a potential market of what, around 50-75 million households in the US when all is said and done this generation?
I don't quite get the $3 disc, though. Why can't it just be a download through PSN, like it is on PC?
They proabably need a disk to run their own DRMed streaming media player. Still SWEET!
Probably to limit support hassles.
@Draconis
-if they can make PC software that handles the DRM, I don't see what's keeping them from doing the same with a console... I guess the only advantage might be that you could bring your netflix on demand disc to other people's houses and watch it on any compatible console (not that I know that this is a definite feature).
Call me a couch potato, but I love being able to do as much as possible with a console without having to get up and turn it off and on, switch discs,etc., so I'd certainly appreciate a discless version.
"I still think it's a lot more likely on PS3 than 360."
Huh? If you read the article, Watch Now is currently using Microsoft DRM exclusively. If fact, the service *almost* works on the 360 right now, via the Media Center Extender. I can install the player, but I get an error as soon as the movie starts to stream. I'm sure it's just a small tweak on the 360 side of things, but there's just no way it's going to be that simple on the PS3.
Plus the 360 makes alot of noise when using a disc!
well i hope on ps3 they dont just stream the video but downloads the entire video or atleast part of it to the hdd. ld is working with netflix for a settop box in future bluray players. so it would only be fitting for th ps3 to o this for hd streams and sd streams. also for hd streams if they use any hd sound codecs the ps3 would be best, since the 360 is hdmi 1.2. but most of all i can't see ms having netflix on the 360, only due to ms having their own movie download service. this with the ps3 dvr capabilities only makes it perfrect for when they nounce one with a larger hd .. ( ganted ill just stick in a muc larger drive in mine. well hen i buy ps3 once msg 4 comes out)
Why the hell would Microsoft sign off on this? Who the hell is going to buy movies off of Xbox Live when they can rent via Netflix, a service many users probably already have...
Also, Netflix should be renting GAMES for consoles, not movies. It still blows my mind that I can't rent games via Netflix yet.
Maybe because gamefly already does that.
well if netflix would start renting games that would own, the could easily give gamefly a run for its money
@Gamedude420
Man dude, I totally agree with you. I love being able to download stuff. It's just too easy. The only problem I have is impulse purchases. I almost purchased BioShock but talked myself out of it. If it had been available to download, I would blown $60 bucks in a second.
If Xbox live had more selection I would be addicted. (Last sentence was referring to movies, not games)
Do you want 1,000 downloads at $4 bucks a piece or 10,000 downloads at $1 buck a piece. It's a no brainer to me.
I agree with the fact that Netflix should have games. I've got both services and Netflix is so much more efficient. Usually only takes 2 days to get a new movie once I send the old one in. Gamefly usually takes me about a week or 2, even longer sometimes. I've waited 3 weeks for gamefly to send a new game and that was after having to report the game I sent in missing (it finally showed up at gamefly about a week after I reported it, 2 weeks after I mailed it). I'm literally talking a month without a game. What's even more confusing is I live in LA, and the gamefly distribution center is in city of industry while netflix is farther away in santa ana.
YAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! all my problems are now solved
They can produce a special streaming app for the Xbox 360 and PS3 but can't get it going on the Mac? Someone's got their DRM panties in a wad.
They have already announced that it's coming to the Mac this year.
yes i think it's coming when they switch over to silverlight.
lol 20 minutes? It takes maybe 4-6 minutes to start playing, and thats on the wireless network.
Didn't know Xbox 360 was 56k compatible. =Þ
This is legit. I got the survey today, I hope to god it is true.
The disc thing does seem very strange, it would be much more convenient to have it as an downloaded app. I was thinking that maybe this was to get around problems of competition with XBOX media downloads, - that maybe MS was not willing to allow it, so end run with a disc, but the disc will have to go through Microsoft approval in order to run on an XBOX as well. Still it's better than nothing.
As far as competing with Live, the movie section in Netflix Watch It Now has almost no overlap with Live - it's largely smaller indy movies, some of which look pretty good and I would be happy to watch through my XBOX.
I am already thinking about getting a PS3 for Bluray. If Sony could remove the restrictions they place on Linux so XBox Media Center could run on it (ironic?) and then this I would be all over this. The PS3 is way more useful as a media player than as a game console (I like the Wii much more.)
No thanks. I got a PS3 partly because I wanted to see top-quality HD content. If I wanted to view lower quality content I'd watch it on my Mac Mini which is attached to my TV or on my 360.
I invite any of you fools who modded me down to compare the overcompressed 720p movies on the XBox 360 service to even an average quality HD-DVD or BluRay. Then come back and mod me down for stating quality is what I want foremost.
I've been waiting for Pan's Labryinth on BluRay from Netflix for over a month. You think I'm tempted to punch that "play" button next to it in my queue and view a streamed, overcompressed version? Think again.
Chumps.
You're a fool.
What makes you think that MS has anything to do with this. The disc likely runs their proprietary player and probably has nothing to do with XBL at all. If it uses their Bandwidth and their application to watch the movie, there is no reason that Netflix would need or want to talk to MS or get their OK. They would in essence be competing directly with XBL for your viewing dollar and your eyeballs, that is all.
XBOX or PS3 is not like writing for PC. You need Microsoft or Sony to publish your software. Sony is a movie studio by itself and Microsoft has XBOX live. This sounds just a rumor, not probable.
Reed Hastings (Netflix CEO) is on the Microsoft board of directors. It's almost a certainty that Netflix will deliver content through the 360. There's no reason why they couldn't do this, regardless of Xbox Live. It could be just another app that takes advantage of the video codecs on the 360 and outside of the Live Marketplace or it could replace the Video Marketplace backend.
Newsflash!!!
Microsoft buys netflix exponentially boosting the quality and service of their live rental service.
Netflix will end up doing this as an answer to AppleTV take 2 and the iTunes movie rentals.
I wish their answer to the AppleTV was to integrate Watch-It-Now into the AppleTV.
That doesn't seem likely though. :\
Microsoft wouldn't be opposed to this. I disagree with all of you arguing they already have Live Marketplace so they wouldn't do it. If your Xbox is connected to a MCE machine, you already have access to two third-party movie providers, Vongo and Movielink.
And just think what they'd be up against if they didn't do it as well...a PS3 with both a Bluray player AND Netflix service.
This would force me to buy a subscription. Do it netflix. You'll be rolling in $$$.
For me I'm the opposite. If Netflix can pull this off I'll buy an Xbox or ps3. I'm more of a movie buff than a gamer, but do want to play some of the titles--COD 4, Bioshock--on the consoles.
Not sure where everyone is going with this only being on PS3...if anything it's going to be only on the 360. Not because of it being better, or more accessible to Netflix - but keep in mind that Netflix also only runs on the Microsoft internet browser for streaming content as it stands right now. I certainly don't know the specifics of if it's only MS because of it's market share or if windows media player is the base to Netflix's streaming player and it's part of the licensing. If it was entirely proprietary I'd imagine it work on Safari and Firefox as well...I mean why not? Streaming Netflix to my iPhone and other video phones would be awfully cool as a side note...
and the last time I checked the 360 has Internet Explorer as its internet browser-wait, the 360 doesn't have an internet browser at all.
The disc that is brought up in the article is most likely the software that is designed for the system. You would do an install and it would add a new cross section in the XMB and a new blade on the 360.
Its really not that complicated. The Netflix movie downloads can be possible on both systems. Don't think they are simply porting over the version that is used on their website. Its not that simple. Especially since they are already converting the whole system over to Silverlight which runs on most browsers.
@Luis
I think you are being a little presumptuous about the netflix disc. No where does it say anything about that type of install. If it was just an install disc then there would be no reason for it not to be a download on live. Also, if they're charging you for the disc it's probably necessary to have it whenever you need to watch something. Otherwise it would seem like netflix would just send out that disc when you put it in your queue and you could just send it back free of charge. The 3 dollars spent isn't enough for netflix to be looking to make money but rather to cover overhead costs. If they were trying to make more money straight from this then they would just add to the subscription cost.
In my mind, if a disc is necessary and you're only paying a small price for it, then it's probably not just an install disc but necessary to use whenever you want to play a game.
While this is pretty cool, I wouldn't get too excited. If Netflix is going to be offering the same media they offer through internet streaming, the choices are pretty slim. With exception of some anime and TV shows (Law and Order: SVU FTW), the media offered is 90% crap. Hopefully that will change.
If they put all their older movies including HD in watch now, charge a couple extra dollars a month for the service and let it run on both consoles then they'd make bank. Gone would be the need for Blu-ray. Sony wouldn't allow it though. They've lost enough money trying to push their technology on us. Why aren't stand alone BD players significantly less expensive than a PS3? Gee I wonder...
I just canceled a trial membership with Netflix, due to not being able to use their watch it now, program, on my XP x64 OS, if they added it to my PS3 I would re-sign up with them.
(its stupid that Microsoft doesn't have their WMP-11 on their own OS)
Worked just fine for me. Just needed to to run the 32 bit version of IE.
thanks for the info, I will check it out.
score!! im in for this
And once again we see the problem with the xbox 360 sounding like a minor vacuum cleaner. I really like my xbox 360 for its games but from a engineering POW it's fairly lacking and I still don't understand how MS expects me to use it for watching movies or listening to music when it sounds the way is does. And for those wondering - I have a nice 5.1 setup so while I'm able to drown the sound from the xbox I don't think it's the perfect solution for obvious reasons.
Just to let you know the HD-DVD player is much quieter and when in use the regular drive obviously isn't on. I'm not sure if you'd want to buy it but it's getting a lot cheaper anyway.
This'd be cool, but i'd rather see Netflix watch-it-now on my AppleTV. :)
(probably not happening...)
Welcome to the beauty of technology in 2008.
You seem very naive to the fact that it is entirely possible to 'stream' full 1080P HD movies down the pipeline. All it is, is more size and bandwidth.
Maybe not right NOW you don't want to view 720P 'HD', but then again, it IS on your computer and unless you have a 32" monitor or bigger, you're not going to know the difference sitting only 12 inches away.
20 years ago it would take all night to download a 2MB file from an FTP. And 20 years from now we will be downloading 2EB's of information in a single minute, Mr. Ignorant
I'd use this, but only if I did not have to have a disc inserted in the XBox all the time. A disc makes the service unusable. Also, it would need to support the full standard and HD resolutions, not the little player window they use right now (which is fine for a computer screen, but not my TV!)
XBL Marketplace > Netflix Watch now if you own a HDTV.
Either way though both services don't offer HD content at a high (enough) bitrate to please a lot of HDTV owners. And it's usually streamed over G networks that don't stream the higher than standard bitrate content very well. Anyone ever stream WMV-HD files over their network? Not so fantastic.
If Comcast (and other providers) can offer a larger variety of HD content via VOD and make it available same day as they release as normal rentals - they'd own them all. Comcast VOD is 1080i for their HD content right now and uses less compression compared to Marketplace which is at 720p. Compression playing the bigger role in image quality or lack of.
If you have a Windows Media Center PC and are using the 360 as an extender, this is almost already available. There is a plugin named MyNetflix that can already stream vidoes on Media Center and the developer is going to try to get streaming to media center extenders working hopefully http://www.anpark.com/index.php/2008/02/10/new-vista-media-center-plugin-mynetflix-beta/
If you are a Netflix subscriber, and you like this idea, tell them! If they get a few hundred thousand pieces of feedback from their comment page that says "Yes, we would LOVE Netflix via PS3 and/or XBOX 360", it will keep them moving in the right direction.
Will this mean that Netflix might start renting Xbox-360 and Playstation games? Oh that would be soo sweet!
What about giving some love to Linux?
I really hope that Netflix brings this to Wii!
Netflix doesn't offer HD content, so HD isn't an issue. The only real issue would be whether the movie is truly streaming or if it storage space is needed. If storage is needed, I'm sure they could somehow work it so that you could watch movies if you had an SD card inserted.
What... I have to use the DVD player to view downloaded movies!?!? Just when I was hoping I'd be able to listen to my movies without turning up the volume to MAX in order to overtake the jet engine noise coming from the Xbox...
If Netflix does do this, I will start my subscription back so fast it'll make their heads spin. $3 one-time fee plus the Netflix monthly subscription fee is an extraordinary value!
This is a sign of things to come for television. I honestly believe that the future of TV is choice--what you want to watch, when you want to watch it, not when the networks say you should. Apple is close with this concept but it's too fracking expensive: $230-$330 plus rental fees and TV show/movie purchases, ouch! Many own a PS3 or 360 (hmm what about the Wii? I'm sure if storage is the issue, they could use a SD card... anyway back at the rant...) and have broadband so there's no additional hardware to buy. Then you can watch as many movies as you want a-la-carte... GREAT! This will blow Apple out of the water and seriously force them to reconsider their strategy. The only thing missing from Netflix is on-demand shows (I think they don't offer TV shows... I have not been with Netflix since they started the whole on-demand movie thing).
For those who still would like to "own" their movies or shows (if Netflix ever expands their selection to include TV shows), they should be able to buy it and download it to their PCs, so the consumer can view it on their PMPs and the like.
Well, I'm excited! If Netflix is reading this and couldn't tell from my rant: IF YOU DO THIS, I WILL START MY SUBSCRIPTION AGAIN AND I WILL PURCHASE ONE OF THESE DISCS.
Wow Engadget's reply system is really screwed up.
This was @why not the LS2/LS7? on the previous page.
Damn.
Sounds like a good idea. I would definitely subscribe to this service if it were available. http://www.freegamesystems.info
I already have this, and I don't even have to use my 360!! A dvi to hdmi cable is a bit less expensive than a 360 too if you don't have a 360 already.