Netflix opens 'Watch Instantly' to Mac owners who opt-in

Mac owners who have been waiting for Netflix to open up the 'Watch Instantly' option just got a little something to light up their day -- the service is now available to the public; or at least members of the public who opt in via a web form. It's all based on Microsoft's Silverlight, so you'll need to download and install the plugin for your web browser, but please mind the six device limit if you've got a small cadre of 'Watch Instantly' devices in use. So if you can live with the fact that Microsoft tech is the lynchpin to your Mac streaming enjoyment, hustle on over and sign yourselves up for that non-HD, but ample selection of streaming content.

[Bitman @ Nov 2nd 2008 1:30PM]

I did. It works and better than before. You can get thumbnails when skimming backwards and forwards. Buffering is fast.
BUT beware. This will break the MediaMall PlayOn software so no strreaming to XBOX 360 and DSM-510 or PS3 and such until they get an update out there. They say they are working on it.

[Mike B. @ Nov 2nd 2008 9:05PM]

I'm confused. Why would using this inhibit ur use for the xbox360? Is that without the dashboard update that includes the netflix streaming? Would that issue be resolved with that update? I'm not familiar with the Play On software. Does that enable netflix streaming from your PC to your xbox360?

[brad77 @ Nov 3rd 2008 2:21AM]

@Mike B

"Does that enable netflix streaming from your PC to your xbox360?"

Yes. This has nothing to do with the dashboard update. It's the PlayOn software that is disrupted.

[conCERN @ Nov 3rd 2008 12:42PM]

BEWARE! If you use your netflix instant on a secondary monitor or tv it WILL NOT STAY FULLSCRENED if you click anywhere on the primary screen. i.e. surfing while watching a movie. I was told that I could cancel my account change my email address and I could use the wmp player. Sure hope so because for me it's not much good if it wont stay fullscreened on the secondary monitor. my 2 cents

[shawnmos @ Nov 2nd 2008 1:31PM]

Nice. I'm going to wait though until all the videos are available on the new player.

[dotAaron @ Nov 2nd 2008 1:34PM]

Bah, Silverlight. No thanks :) Not because it's a product of Microsoft, but because its another propriety web standard i don't want to go with.

Flash/Java are fine :)

What do i care, this is US only stuff anyway xD

[josh @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:13PM]

The silverlight specs are published under a very permissible license and the open specificication promise (OSP). They are actively working with the Moonlight project, which is already Silverlight 1.1 compatible and on the way to 2.0 compatible. The Silverlight control pack is OSS under the MS-PL license (which is OSI approved). They even released an open source development plugin for Eclipse so everything can easily be developed with free tools.

For commercially developed software it is about as open and non-propriatary as possible. The only thing closed in the actual MS runtime, but even that is available as a reference implementation under the shared source licensing. Compared to flash it is miles ahead in terms of permissiveness.

[dotAaron @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:45PM]

Thanks for the info!

I really didn't know Microsoft are this open with Silverlight, i wrongly presumed it would be like any other piece of Microsoft Tech :) Maybe the loose nature they apply to Silverlight will spread to other Microsoft stuff in the future, would be nice :)

Although, Id still say the net doesn't need another standard :)

[balls @ Nov 2nd 2008 4:15PM]

Microsoft is closed on many things, but .NET is not one of them.

[Wow @ Nov 4th 2008 2:00AM]

And how exactly is Flash "open"?

[Johan S @ Nov 2nd 2008 1:49PM]

If you go to the Netflix website it's hard to even tell that they offer the option of watching movies online.

Poor marketing.

[EricC @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:10PM]

Yeah, that "Watch Instantly" thing is pretty damned confusing.

[Ian @ Nov 2nd 2008 1:54PM]

It doesn't work with Firefox 3.1

[Aaron @ Nov 2nd 2008 1:59PM]

Yes it does. I watched a movie last night on my mac with firefox version 3.1b1

[aaron @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:03PM]

this also works on firefox now too.... thats atleast as big in terms of news as mac support.

[ethana2 @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:18PM]

...but this is engadget, remember.

[a ham sandwich @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:04PM]

i like netflix. i like silverlight. count me in!

[Hilton @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:15PM]

What's the URL for the opt-in?

[typo phile @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:15PM]

1st paragraph on venturebeat article: http://www.netflix.com/silverlightoptin

[Ryan @ Nov 2nd 2008 9:51PM]

Sweet. Saved me some time! thanks!

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:15PM]

Hey, I'm all about Microsoft when their technologies make my life easier rather than harder. I'll have to sign up and see how it works. I probably won't use it much because I'll end up streaming to the 360 when the dashboard update comes out, but props to Netflix for giving some Mac love.

PS: Oh my god the Brazilian GP was off the hook.

[holycow @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:20PM]

You said it! One of the BEST races EVER!

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:24PM]

To reply to myself..

Silverlight installer was about 7 megs, and the movie immediately started playing as soon as the plugin was installed, which surprised me since obviously the installer in the .dmg is separate from the browser.

I relaunched Safari to get some stats; video is great quality in a window and fullscreened both, on a Comcast cable modem. While playing in the browser window, it takes about 65-70% CPU (so, less than one core) on a 2.66 quad mac pro. Memory consumption for Safari was about 150MB real/700 swap versus 60 real 460 swap on a clean relaunch just to post to Engadget.

For a comparison, I just popped open Quicktime and played a 1500kbps h.264 movie I encoded in Handbrake, and it only takes about 20% CPU, so the Netflix experience definitely takes more CPU. This doesn't seem surprising though, since it has to run a browser, and a third party plugin, and decode the stream (which is probably more highly compressed).

Anyway, if you're interested, go check it out, no show-stoppers as far as I can tell, it works great.

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:41PM]

Its a shame lewis Hamilton had to battle the FIA and the racism. Makes me proud. But without doubt the best race ever. As for silverlight haters. It's a plug in the same size as an mp3 so get over yourselves. Off to watch Top Gear now.

Lewis hamilton FTW

[TheNetAvenger @ Nov 3rd 2008 5:37AM]

>>For a comparison, I just popped open Quicktime and played a 1500kbps h.264 movie I encoded in Handbrake, and it only takes about 20% CPU, so the Netflix experience definitely takes more CPU. This doesn't seem surprising though, since it has to run a browser, and a third party plugin, and decode the stream (which is probably more highly compressed).
>>

Or it could be that your h.264 is being assisted/decoded by your GPU.

Just guess, but the netflix content is probably VC1, even though SIlverlight supports h.264. Also, VC1 can be a little more CPU heavy, as the quality is usually better, and I'm not sure if the Mac Silverlight plugin uses any GPU assistance.

VC1 is the 'other' HD format standard, and is often used on Blu-Ray as movie providers prefer it over h.264 for quality. VC1 is also the public name of the WMV codecs from Microsoft and are inherently supported an virtually all Microsoft products in addition to being an official HD format.

VC1 is also a safer bet for online video, due to its codec standardization, even though in theory changes are allowed to the codec because it is a progressive standard. (i.e. VC1 will work 99.9% of the time, where h.264/MPEG4 can be everything from the Apple compliant codec to the official Blu-Ray HD version.)

As Silverlight matures and gains more traction, you will eventually find most of the Vista WPF features implemented at some point in the future, including full GPU acceleration features and 3D features. (Right Now Silverlight is just a 2D/Video subset of the WPF API set designed and used in Vista.)

[Rob @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:17PM]

Requires Silverlight? No thanks!

None of the machines under my control have silverlight installed and none will for as long as I can. I want Silverlight to fail, and do not want to increase any stats of the number of machines with silverlight installed.

Having said that, so far I have not seen a single site even requiring silverlight, and if I did, and the need was really high to use that specific site I would install it in a VM.

[ethana2 @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:19PM]

I want silverlight to win.
Moonlight >>>> gnash

[81dollar @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:32PM]

nbcolympics.com used silverlight during the summer games. Just a fyi.

[Rob @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:42PM]

@ethana2
Sorry, but that requires trusting M$ not to change the game. I am pretty sure they are just playing along for the moment to gain marketshare and the moment they have it they will find a way to kill or seriously impair the Moonlight project.

[Quikboy @ Nov 2nd 2008 3:12PM]

What a bigot. I'm guessing your reason for doing so is because it's Microsoft (Or M$ as you would probably prefer it?).

If you're worried about openness, it's pretty darn open, considering this is Microsoft. It works on Windows, OS X, and even Linux (through Moonlight). It's much better than Flash so far, and video streaming was great during the 2008 Olympics.

And why would Microsoft undermine its own work with their involvement in Moonlight? If Silverlight ever does become one of those common standards on the web, you'll have the DoJ, EU, or some other administrative body making sure MS doesn't hurt users like that. Doubt if that will happen though.

[balls @ Nov 2nd 2008 4:24PM]

No doubt.

Just like they've undermined the Mono Project.
Just like the IE team undermined the Firefox project.
And the Iron Python project.

Microsoft is the evil empire, but the companies entire strategy isn't based out of evil.

[roach @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:19PM]

@ Rob

Yeah I hear what you saying... MS on a Mac yuck! While getting rid of Silverlight, might as well get rid of bootcamp that runs Window. Or adding exchange to iPhones. Intel was once exclusively made for PC... screw that! Bring back PowerPC and them ads that shows how sucky Intel are compare to Intel. What the hell Steve Job was thinking of!

[Rob @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:57AM]

I have 15 years experience in the computer industry and have personally seen many of the things that MS has been sued for. Be my guest and believe MS is sincere. But I do not believe that as long as Balmer is at the helm this dog will truly learn new tricks, and all this is is maneuvering to make them seem more open.

[Zadillo @ Nov 2nd 2008 3:10PM]

That almost does seem like just as big news, that on Windows you can now use Watch Instantly with Firefox. Not that it was a major inconvenience to have to separately launch IE just to use it, but it's nice to be able to do it in Firefox now. Seems kind of funny though, takes Microsoft Silverlight to make it easier to avoid using IE.

[Eric @ Nov 2nd 2008 3:21PM]

It looks like ass because I can't get anything other than basic quality according to netflix. I have a 10/1 connection ( tests to around 80-90% ) and netflix claims I have less than 1.

Bah, is there some way to force it?

[Brian Stenson @ Jan 8th 2009 10:25AM]

Did you ever find a solution?

[LiqwidZero @ Nov 2nd 2008 3:24PM]

I started using it since last Thursday on my Mac. And it works awesomely. I can finally watch Heroes S3 now.

[Grant @ Nov 2nd 2008 3:44PM]

beware of registering more devices when you get near the 6 limit.
There is no way to unregister them, and if you ever need to make a clean install of your OS, it counts as another install. i had to reinstall 3 times on my home PC because i kept getting DRM error issues, installed on my work machine for watching on lunch breaks and then we had a full office image reinstall and i needed to reinstall it again... and now i don't work there. So now i have 5 installs down, 4 months to go until the year expiration of my first install which is apparently how long they take to reset, and and apprehensive about registering my laptop since if i have a problem with my home PC that's also hooked up to my TV and i need another install, i will be SOL on my main viewing location.
They seriously need a way to deauthorize machines.

[elloh7 @ Nov 2nd 2008 3:46PM]

"Netflix opens 'Watch Instantly' to Mac owners who opt-in"

[elloh7 @ Nov 2nd 2008 3:48PM]

I hate this comment system sometimes... seriously, no "edit" feature? How hard would that be?

"Netflix opens 'Watch Instantly' to [ intel ] Mac owners who opt-in"

[Big Sam @ Nov 2nd 2008 3:55PM]

I opted in on Windows. The new player worked better for me in Firefox than the old player worked in IE.

[sola @ Nov 2nd 2008 4:58PM]

For me, the audio and video are out of sync; sometimes just a few seconds, sometimes 90 seconds or more. So far, not impressed, but beta is beta.

[jccalhoun @ Nov 2nd 2008 5:51PM]

If you make Opera identify itself as Firefox then Opera (at least on Vista) will work with it as well.

I found this out because for whatever reason Silverlight won't install in Firefox on this computer. grrrrr....

[Hunter @ Nov 2nd 2008 6:35PM]

This convinced me to start up my NetFlix account again. The library isn't fantastic, but it's passable, definitely worth the 8.99 a month. I haven't had any syncing issues, and the quality's passable. I watched the whole Zach Galifianakis movie with only two buffers and in great quality, even in full screen.

I guess it's time to cancel my cable TV.

[davebeerman @ Nov 2nd 2008 6:52PM]

Lynchpin... :D
(I shouldn't be happy about it though)

[THizzle7XU @ Nov 2nd 2008 7:58PM]

Yes it does on PC as well. Just used it today. Very cool.

[Cray @ Nov 2nd 2008 8:01PM]

Have they decided to offer close-captions or subtitles to their 'Watch Instantly' viewer? Probably not, screw the deaf community. Obviously Netflix feels the Mac community isn't too small to provide 'Watch Instantly' to them. Do they have a clue of how many deaf people there are compared to Mac users?

If you're a hearing Netflix user, please email Netflix to offer close-caption or subtitles, and yes its technologically feasible. They are just being cheap bastards.

[-N- @ Nov 2nd 2008 9:40PM]

Why can't a deaf user email Netflix? :p

[IYOU @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:18PM]

I'm curious if this will work outside the US? I'm guessing it won't. I had to cancel my netflix sub when I moved to Canada last year. I'm wondering what would happen if I reactivated it. Would I need to use a proxy thing like Hotspot Shield (except with a bigger download allowance) like I do when I want to watch Hulu or the Daily Show?

[JoelW @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:48PM]

Any idea how well this works natively on a Mac versus running it in a virtual Windows XP virtual machine in Fusion? I'm running on a Early 2008 Mac Pro, so horsepower would not be an issue in my case.

With the previously mentioned registration limitations, I don't want to try it in both.