Netflix on the Xbox 360 gets demonstrated on video

Can't wait to understand what Netflix integration on the Xbox 360 will be like? Stop daydreaming and click on past the jump then, as Major Nelson takes you through the entire process on video. We could continue on explaining how easy it looks to navigate to one's Queue, press play and pop some popcorn, but we'd rather let the aforementioned expert handle that.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

[collegekid13 @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:24AM]

and all along i thought movies were free. silly me

[Gojulas @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:14AM]

I know what you mean; During E3 they really weren't clear about the fact that you needed both.

[Maeztro @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:38AM]

Yes they were.

[teej @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:40PM]

clarity or not, it's common sense that you would need to pay for a Netflix subscription to attain this service. frankly, whoever thinks they could get this service at no additional cost to their XBL Gold account is dumb.

[who? @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:27AM]

I am getting closer and closer to buying a 360... Not quite close enough though! ;-)

[El Taco @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:10AM]

same

[phinnvr6 @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:01AM]

Don't see how standard def Netflix rentals will persuade you when you can get unlimited Blu-ray through them for the same price (and watch on a PS3 for example)

[Zorque @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:47AM]

Because you have to wait for the Blu-Ray ones to come in the mail?

[Nohone @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:13AM]

@phinnvr6

And how many 1000s of Blu-ray movies are there? Don't get me wrong, I like HD-DVD and Blu-ray (yes, I said it - HD-DVD), but the library is not there yet.

But if NetFlix were on the PS3, would you be saying the same thing?

BTW: On the PS3 movie store, most of the HD movies are only stereo: http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/07/18/hd-movies-featuring-stereo-sound-in-playstation-video-store/

[Saad Rabia @ Jul 22nd 2008 5:45AM]

@ phinnvr6: You do realize that "Blu-ray" is a name for a physical form of disks, while movies that come in it are called "HD". It's not Blu-ray that make some movie look better, in other words "Blu-ray" is not a codec or a software technology. The PS3 video store offers the same quality of HD movies Apple and Xbox 360 offer through online download.

online HD movies are not comparable to the ones in the Blu-ray disk, I mean they are all HD, but there are many other aspects that gives you better quality but with higher file sizes, such as bitrate and aspect ratio (In Blu-ray disks you get high bitrates, better sounds and 1080 HD quality, but in online movie stores they only offer a 720 pixel video with low bitrate, just to make things easier to download).

Online is the future, and I don't see Blu-ray running in homes as much as DVD did. Blu-ray will die very soon.

[SaltyGary @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:45AM]

@phinnvr6

And Netflix is just a compliment to XBOX's other video on-demand service. The library they have right now blows away anything I've seen from Apple or DirectTV On Demand. You can have your $30 BRD's and I'll take pretty much whatever I want when I want.

[XcRuNk @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:16AM]

Yeah, the one thing you will definitely miss with all these downloadable services is full range, non compressed audio.

Audio is half the fun. These download services' audio are all CRAP.

Bluray movies deliver some of the best sound I have ever had the pleasure of playing through my Pioneer Elite amplifier and Velodyne 1012 self powered subwoofer.

[JCA @ Jul 22nd 2008 11:00AM]

There is no sadder form of male overcompensation than when a geek lists all of their awesome equipment for whatever they are into, be it audio, video, photo, etc. No one cares. List all the "vage" you've been into and then we can talk...

[stardash @ Jul 22nd 2008 11:04AM]

@Saad Rabia

While you do share some valid points, the non-digital form of getting movies will not die out for a long time. Movies have been available in digital form for quite some time now. With On Demand and similar services sure some movie sales have taken hits, but people still go out to their local reseller and buy movies. While being able to download and watch your favorite film in seconds is a damn cool concept, people always have and always will want their own physical copy. Look at vinyl we have made leaps and bounds in technology and people still put out and purchase it. People will even buy multiple copies of the same move when it gets "re-released". I mean honestly is there anyone who did not go get the special edition of The Big Lebowski? I thought not. There is too much money and potential physical movie sales for it to ever really "disappear".

[Matt @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:03PM]

@Nophone: Please don't use the library as a selling point for this feature, have you actually seen what's available for instant viewing? It's all crap! The Blu-Ray library might be small, but it at least has good new movies that people would actually want to watch.

[phinnvr6 @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:24PM]

@Saad
Yes of course I realize what Blu-ray is. That doesn't change the fact that all movies on Blu-ray look and sound incredible. It doesn't get any better. I wouldn't want to go back to standard def for movies once I have both.. ever.

Streaming Netflix is nice but as long as it's SD only it's not worth it to me As a compliment to the Netflix service to have both Blu-ray (for the best movies) and streaming for a spontaneous night when I'm bored would be ideal but there is torrents for that. Having a Netflix account and a PS3 for 1080p picture and TrueHD audio is unstoppable. Having both would are ideal.

By the way, the PS3 *can* stream Netflix movies if you install Linux and boot into that which I do for all my emulators, but most people don't bother obviously.

[XcRuNk @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:09PM]

@JCA:

Of course, you could not debunk my main point about the fidelity of audio when comparing downloadable services to Bluray. Right?

OK. Thank you, that will be all.

[Captain Obvious @ Jul 22nd 2008 11:03PM]

@phinnvr6
The issue here is that the instant queue has never been about replacing the regular netflix service, it is just a bonus compliment you get for free, and if you have a 360 now you can take advantage of it without having to sit in front of your pc.

so what do you do when you are done watching your ordered Blu-ray movies?
Do you have some kind of instant mail the only work for PS3 owners?

[Artie Lange @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:32AM]

"March of the Penguins" made me cry. Penguins are so much better than people.

[Saad Rabia @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:45AM]

Then try living with them! It's like hell on earth; they watch some of the silliest movies ever and support bush! And guess what? They don't care about global warming, yeap, they just don't give a crap about it.

[Untouchable4rc @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:20AM]

lmao so true...my cousins a penguin

[Artie Lange @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:22AM]

Luuuucky

[Steve Gates @ Jul 22nd 2008 7:36AM]

http://www.greendayeveryday.com

[Arjun @ Jul 22nd 2008 12:16PM]

One of the reasons I love engadget.

[cliff @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:35AM]

ohh sweet, now I can watch one of the two movies they have available.

[who? @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:52AM]

You are such a sarcastic jerk, you know that? I see at least nine movies there...

[Erik @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:53AM]

LoL!!
Exacly. Like i've said before, not enough people care about x-box for anybody to take it seriously.

[ronald.raygun @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:13AM]

i know right erik!!! now im going to finish playing some bioshock, soo good.

unrelated but are we ever going to get a browser for the 360? all the others have it, why not the 360?

[Zorque @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:02AM]

We're not getting a 360 browser, that's what computers are for.

[Nick Ritch @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:35AM]

Wanna buy my Roku netflix box??? I wont need it once this is released.
:(

[Nate L @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:48AM]

Keep the box. It was only $100 and it will never get a RRoD.

[roach @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:12AM]

Bring it to Canada please!

[JMMGoalster @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:16AM]

Major kudos Microsoft, great idea. The load times look great....can't wait to get this and use it on my college's network....hello streaming HD movies (eventually).

[Andrew @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:44AM]

@ cliff & who?

You do know that that was only his queue...don't you?

[champ22 @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:19AM]

seems cool

[FoxDie @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:38AM]

did any anyone notice that he is using safari web browser

[hiko36 @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:26AM]

Since when did Safari have a blue menu bar?

[SaltyGary @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:49AM]

If you ever go to his blog he talks a lot about Apple products. He'' even give kudo's to Sony if they did something cool.

[bboydru @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:19AM]

Maybe with the 360 using the "Watch Instantly" service from Netflix there will actually be some decent streaming movies now. I've had Netflix for a month now and i've only used "Watch Instantly" three times. Very poor selection of streaming movies.

[TheCow5 @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:29AM]

Well this is the first step toward killing physical media and players.

There are two major problems:
1) You will need a very fast internet connection.
2) I don't think you want to have someone playing online games or downloading a large file while you’re watching your movie.

Good first step for Microsoft however I will stick with my 1.5TB NAS which has all my audio and video files and my Popcorn hour, I only hope they improve the GUI

[Nytrojen @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:58AM]

3) A decent download limit. Stupid Australia and it's archaic "pay per megabyte" caveman download scheme. We're like the only country in the world that gets ripped blindly for exceeding incredibly low download limits. The push for downloadable content has skyrocketed, but Asutralians can't take advantage of it because otherwise we geth throttled down to 64kbps after downloading 4 HD movies.

FIX THIS, RUDD!

[Colin Potter @ Jul 22nd 2008 5:36AM]

Nytrojen I don't know what you expect Paul Rudd to do about it... he's just a simple man with a modest career in film.

[gamerg @ Jul 22nd 2008 5:58AM]

You dont really need that great a connection, I have a 4mb connenction here in the UK and I can stream the previews of Movies's from the Xbox 360 market place well enougth, they are full screen and of a decent quality and the video starts after about 10 seconds of buffering.

[Daza @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:31AM]

Nytrojen, I am Australian but you must understand why broadband is so expensive. Firstly, it's a lot to do with Telstra and their control over ports but secondly, our land is so large that to give everyone high speed broadband access would be a very costly project, which is why Rudd's plan to do that is being projected at $16bn or more for just 10mbps to 98% of Australians.

Backhaul is also very expensive and peering with the rest of the world can be tricky. We have to rely on very long underwater links which are extremely costly. International data costs more money, and we've seen what happens when ISPs try to offer cheap plans, they go into administration and their users are left stranded.

There is no quick fix for Australia. ADSL2+ has helped a lot and I'm now on 16Mbit where as in 2003 I was on 256kbit and paying $20 more per month AND getting about 6% of my download quota now. Things aren't too bad, and at this rate I think we're even ready for VOD.

[kballs @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:49PM]

I see one huge convenience problem with the gamertag being tied to the netflix account: You can't conveniently use Netflix on more than 1 Xbox in more than 1 room... granted you probably won't be watching 2 at the same time anyway (because of bandwidth, at least until they have 50mbit+ cable/DSL/FIOS), but because it's tied to your gamertag, you have to store your gamer profile on a memory card and move it between rooms. While it doesn't sound hard, you can't turn on the TV and go, "hmmm, I feel like watching something from my Netflix queue" without having to get up and go get the memory card.

At least with the [3rd party] Media Center Netflix plugins it "just works" (when you don't run into bugs in the plugin at least).

[ryan @ Sep 18th 2008 4:05PM]

will popcorn hour stream netflix content? I've been trying to find a good answer to this question but so far no dice...

[Greg @ Jul 22nd 2008 5:30AM]

He didn't really show the video properly because then we would've noticed that it was playing in 4:3. Niiiiiiice.

[TomL @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:15AM]

To bad you won't be able to hear the movie over the roar of the 360.

[stygmata @ Jul 22nd 2008 7:22AM]

Now where's the Hulu love? Give me Hulu on the XBox 360 and I may just be able to kill my cable.

[Maninder @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:03AM]

Will this be available outside the US?