http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/ Engadget Comments for Engadget's Netflix HD streaming shootout http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 11:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 11:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 12:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 12:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
I have a MCPC and just watch them that way on my TV even though it isn't HD. I have my computer connected to the hard line so I always get the highest quality (which equates to DVD quality) and that's fine enough for documentaries and random movies you're curious about. Just like the article said though, you're going to want to get the DVD's and BluRay's in the mail to watch blockbuster titles in HD and surround sound. The great thing about MCPC's is that when stuff like this comes out, you can be flexible and not end up with an entire cabinet full of outdated kit. BluRay 5.25" drives are now in the $100 range and web browsers are free, which is much more affordable than either of the BluRay players in the review.]]>Jan 19th 2009 1:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/From what I have read at various places, the video solution on a chip in the Roku is capable of up to 1080i, but not 1080p. Roku does no scaling, only displays the encode from Netflix. Netflix has apparently standardized on 720p for HD, since it is generally superior to 1080i except for the fastest moving scenes (like football).]]>Jan 21st 2009 2:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
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I think you'll find that none of these devices work outside america, because Netflix is a US only service. That's not a limitation of the 360.]]>Jan 19th 2009 11:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 11:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
I think you'll find that none of these devices work outside of america, because Netflix is a US only service. It's not limited to the 360.]]>Jan 19th 2009 11:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.amazon.com/Linksys-WGA54G-Wireless-G-Gaming-Adapter/dp/B00009X6DT) with my 360, and had pretty decent results with streaming Netflix. Of course I wanted optimal picture quality so I wired Cat5 to a switch for my entertainment center, but it *is* usable.]]>Jan 19th 2009 11:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 11:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 12:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 12:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 12:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
If you actually owned a 360, you'd know that it's not the fans but the DVD-drive that's making the noise. The DVD drive that stays silent when watching Netflix movies.]]>Jan 19th 2009 12:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
Using my Thinkpad I can stream HD from Netflix without a problem. When I try using ICS to share my Thinkpad's connection with my 360, it might say HD is possible, but that'll last about 5 seconds before it blows through the buffer and tells me it's rebuffering at lower quality to allow for smooth/uninterupted playback.

That's with me typically being able to pull down 3-5Mbps via wifi. Of course, if I have the 360 hardwired to my 20Mbps connection, it can play HD Netflix smoothly all day every day.

The biggest thing I want to see from Netflix in the future is CUSTOMIZABLE SETTINGS!!! If my connection is a little on the slow side, let ME choose if I want a bigger buffer so I can still watch something in HD. Don't just automatically chop the quality down and maintain the same ~5-10(?) second buffer. Oh, and adding that little HD icon to the 360 software would be nice too.]]>Jan 19th 2009 1:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
Overall, Netflix is the best deal around. Completely beats the slim pickens of Cable's On Demand.]]>Jan 19th 2009 11:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
Sure you aren't experiencing some overscan on your display? Any decent subtitle job will have the subs high enough to account for at least 5% overscan, but I've seen plenty of poorly done subs that place them at the very bottom of the picture.]]>Jan 19th 2009 2:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
You haven't seen then how many Asian movies/animes are subbed on DVDs.

Sometimes you get impression that they took translation and printed it then scanned then OCRed then printed again and OCRed again then put result as subs on DVD. Most amateur translations (a.k.a. "guesslations") for asian divxs you can find on net are of much higher quality than most official subbing. Often also video quality of divxs is higher (or in worst case you can just add postprocessing) than on DVDs: latter are sometimes plain film to digital interlaced 24fps conversions.]]>Jan 19th 2009 4:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 11:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 8:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
The other really nice thing about Xbox360 is that all the shows you download from other services like Amazon etc are also able to be played on it. ]]>Jan 19th 2009 9:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
Conversely, I can rent and HD movie on AppleTV and it's ready to watch in seconds, without a hiccup during playback. I'm not sure where the hang up is with Netflix & the XBox, but there's a slowdown somewhere.]]>Jan 19th 2009 11:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 11:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 12:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 11:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 11:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/I'm with Time Warner and it is a nightmare. Still fighting with it since the end of summer, but all is working. I do enjoy the streaming movies in my Netflix $9.99 (BlueRay is a buck more than $8.99) package. I only wish they were downloaded similar to the Amazon setup which gives you 30 days to watch and 24 hours after starting. (having the portability for Airline travel would be nice too)

Thanks for the comparison.]]>Jan 19th 2009 11:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 11:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
Of course, this becomes a non-issue if you choose not to comply with copyright laws. I mean, any kind of travel is usually planned enough in advance to either download the movie via bittorrent or rip it yourself and convert to divx, h.264, or whatever your preferred codec is before you leave.]]>Jan 20th 2009 5:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/I will hang back on use my Intel atom box with custom web GUI to get my content]]>Jan 19th 2009 11:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 5:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 23rd 2009 8:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.techdealdigger.com/deals/microsoft-882224058650-29-at-amazon/6150]]>Jan 19th 2009 11:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
I've seen it before and it only happens when I'm rushing to get to my movies.]]>Jan 19th 2009 11:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
I thought about getting one of the Blu-Ray players as the extra quality would be nice but overall I'm pleased only being out $100 and was pleasantly surprised by the quality.]]>Jan 19th 2009 11:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 21st 2009 10:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
Buffering is seconds, always 4 bars. One time I had a "re buffering" incident... not sure why.

I am connected tough a switch via Ethernet over CAT6 to the router.

Are people with problems on DSL or Cable? Comcast in Chicago is notorious for being blazing fast most of the time and painfully slow at 7pm. for brief moments.

]]>Jan 19th 2009 2:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 12:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 12:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
I also never noticed darkness, but I wasn't doing a direct comparison so I wouldn't have noticed it as readily as you had.

Good write up, all the same.]]>Jan 19th 2009 11:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/Jan 19th 2009 11:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
Really the ONLY complaints I have is the Lack of knowing if it's HD or not until the movie starts loading up to play it'll show HD. I think it would be better if there was at least a little HD picture on the Box Cover Art!!!. I also hope they'll get the HD movies with 5.1 Surround Sound instead of the current Stereo. It would also be nice if you could pick out movies right from the device, so you don't have to log in with a PC to pick out your movies before hand.

I am thinking about a ROKU box and a smaller HDTV for the bedroom. Then again a 2nd 360 would be nice as I would be able to access me PC for Media Center and access that content also. Will have to think about it for a while yet.]]>Jan 19th 2009 11:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
(note - fair disclosure: I am a little biased as I used to work for the Xbox group, but I had nothign to do with the Netflix stuff, and am no longer employed by Microsoft.)]]>Jan 19th 2009 11:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
Also, and I'm sure this is in large part the movie studios' doing, is the licensing agreements they have is almost exactly what VOD providers have. That said, you'll see a lot of titles come and go, and if you're like me and have, oh, about 120 titles in your Instant Queue, you'll sometimes see large groups of titles with a set expiration date, so you really have to play catch up.

But again, streaming Netflix to my livingroom is pure awesome. I've only purchased a couple of DVDs in recent memory, and while the large size of HD content and ISP's bandwidth caps are going to have it out for the foreseeable future, I cannot wait until we aren't dealing with physical media anymore.]]>Jan 19th 2009 11:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
The other annoyance is that it doesn't buffer anything. If I press the 8-second skip back button, I have to wait for the video to reconnect. Naturally I've learned not to press that button, but it's annoying nonetheless. Also, I recently had trouble with my internet connection, the cable modem started dropping packets. The Netflix application was totally unusable, as it kept having to reconnect the video. YouTube on the TiVo worked just fine, because I could start a video and let if buffer before sitting down to watch it.

I actually write software for settop boxes for a living. I suspect that the Netflix software is written to take into account cheaper boxes that don't have enough memory to buffer much video. Then boxes that do have sufficient memory are using the same software, so they can't buffer either. It wouldn't be hard to offer buffering as an option, and it'd sure make me happy.

So, Netflix, hit me up, I'd be happy to write this software for you :)
]]>Jan 19th 2009 12:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-Netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/
If you take these things into consideration, the Roku is head & shoulders above the competition, using far less power (even when streaming), emitting far less heat, making NO noise (compared to the jet engine sound of the 360 that's a huge bonus), and comes with one of the most straightforward, easy-to-use remotes I've ever seen.

One more consideration: How much will using the device for Netflix wear out your device? Do you really want to tie up your 360 or Blu-Ray player for streaming videos, and lessen its lifespan in doing so?

Finally, consider price. The lowest-priced alternative outside of the Roku is the Xbox 360, and that's still three times more expensive and requires an additional subscription to Live Gold in order to use it for this purpose. The Roku is ready to use out of the box, costs $99, and doesn't require anything more than a Netflix subscription. That's value for your money. Also, don't forget the fact that the Xbox WiFi adapter alone is almost the same price as the entire Roku, Wifi and remote included!

and @aaron: I think they were referring to the controller because it's what comes with an Xbox 360, and they're not counting extras you'd have to purchase separately. If you want a remote for your 360, you have to spend about $25 to get one, and that's 1/4 the price of a Roku!

]]>Jan 19th 2009 12:04PM