There's a new survey from Netflix making the rounds, asking customers if they'd like to watch Netflix on the Wii. The service would apparently require a $9.99 "Netflix Instant Streaming Disc," which users could pop into the system when they wanted to watch -- far be it from Nintendo to offer a firmware update. While many of the folks we know are already getting Netflix on their Xboxen, the Wii would obviously let Netflix hit a lot more households with those Instant Watch goodies, if this ever comes to pass. As for Sony, it's still denying any plans for
Netflix on the PS3, but perhaps this would help change its mind (and won't involve another $10 DVD -- we only have so many Hamiltons to go around).
posted Mar 21st 2009 1:29PM
$10 for a disk that probably costs them 10 cents to make. C'mon now... it's free to download on the 360, why not on the Wii?
Because they want to make money. They are a business, you know.
Why are the original screenshots showing just $2.99?
They'd also have to go through Nintendo directly via the Wii Shop Channel in order to make it available as a download. Nintendo might not be willing to do that or it might be too much trouble for Netflix to go that way. So, it's very possible that a disc-based solution is easier for Netflix in this case. They're also doing the same thing when it comes to the PS3.
@John B: Too much trouble for Netflix? Have you looked at some of the utter junk for sale on the Wii Shop channel? Some of it feels like a ten minute hack job, and they were still able to host it up for sale there. I seriously doubt that's the reason.
I hate that "they are a business you know" excuse. Yes, they're a business and we are customers. There's an exchange between two parties, and ideally those two parties should keep one another in mind. That's like a good restaurant or something going out of business and everyone being like "well I can't throw my money around to everyone!" Customers should support a good product and companies should respect the customer by offering a fair price. That's a fair exchange.
/end rant
@Patsy:
Did the "might be" in my statement escape your grasp or something? :P
Heck.... after buying the wii and every other accessory, I would of thought this would be nothing to you. Finally something for the Wii that does not cost me 29.99 or 19.99.
@John B: Even with a disc-based game, they still need to go through Nintendo and get a license and SDK, so it's pretty much the same hassle either way, except with WiiWare you don't need to press disks.
lol, no HD
You mean... 480p isn't HD?
Nope, 480p is Enhanced Definition. ED.
I'm pretty sure Zax is joking...lol
::whooshing noise::
"Nope, 480p is Enhanced Definition. ED."
Lier! you are not me!
How many oddball platforms will netflix reach out to before throwing Linux users a bone?
Probably all the ones with a higher install-base in an actual living room. Given that Linux has less than 1% of the PC market, and a large chunk of tha 1% is sales of under-powered, low-cost computers that couldn't serve as HTPC's in their wildest dreams... probably a lot of platforms are going to see some loving before Linux.
@mark
"and a large chunk of tha 1% is sales of under-powered, low-cost computers that couldn't serve as HTPC's in their wildest dreams"
Part of your point about linux having an insignificant market share may be true, but the part about the machines being underpowered is complete bull. First of all, anyone putting together a new PC is almost by definition, some kind of enthusiast. So these machines will be designed exactly to meet the users needs. Second, you would be hard pressed to find any pre-fab system for sale today (short of an atom based net-top with Intel's integrated graphics) that could not serve as an HTPC. The requirements really are pretty low end to get 1080P video.
@nickzny
The only reason Netflix doesn't work on Linux natively is because MS got them to use silverlight 2.0 for their streaming content. The open source Moonlight 2.0 is in alpha now. Moonlight is an open source implementation of silverlight backed by Novell, with Microsoft's support. If we're lucky, Netflix will be supported when this is released in September. In the meantime, Netflix runs pretty well in an XP virtual machine on top of Linux. Or you try PlayOn from TheMediaMall and serve the Netflix stream to a Linux HTPC from a windows desktop.
Boxee actually is working with netflix to work for linux x86 platforms. There was also hulu support but hulu nixed that because of publishers. Netflix should throw windows pc users an hd streaming bone since it is available on all the other devices....
@ian
No, actually, they are not. There were false reports that Boxee had Netflix support back in December. Those reports have still not been corrected and still come up if you search for them. The Boxee guys are pretty miffed about it actually, since they never announced that. They support Netflix only on Mac at the moment. Their position is pretty much, "Boxee will support Netflix on Linux when Netflix supports Netflix on Linux".
The Wii is an oddball platform now?
@glenn
I would say its safe to say that Mark was talking about netbooks when he was talking about underpowered pc's your point would have been better served by saying that those are probably actually a small percentage of linux pc's in users homes rather than barely acknowledging their existence.
hmm. all from a disk...?
i dont know how. i guess,...yea....ok i can maybe see how that would work.
Smart idea, but I agree having to put in a disk is annoying. Certainly another drawback of only having 512MB of built in memory... it sounds like you'd always have to have the disk in if you want to watch something.
I don't think it's a big deal not having HD, considering DVDs are only 480p. For people who only have a Wii, this sounds like a good service.
Couldn't they just release it as WiiWare?
Maybe if Nintendo releases an update that allows you to run WiiWare off of an SD card.
Untill then the Wii only has 512mb of space for software and save files.
@TavisJohn, why do you think Netflix's application would take up more than 512MB? That makes no sense. More than likely Netflix's DVD will consist of 10-20MB worth of application and that's it.
They could easily do this.
Nintendo supposedly has a restriction that WiiWare titles can only be 40 MB max.
But as I mentioned earlier, to make it availble through WiiWare means they'd also have to go through Nintendo directly via the Wii Shop Channel in order to make it available as a download. Nintendo might not be willing to do that or it might be too much trouble for Netflix to bother wanting go that route.
I believe the Netflix app on the 360 is 20MB (which seems like more than it needs to be). Of course, the 360 already has WMV support, but I'd think that could easily fit within 20MB.
I'm lovin' the plural form of XBox.
For people who don't have Xbox Live Gold, $10 is a better alternative if you have both systems ... but putting in a disc every time you want to watch one of these movies is kinda dumb. The whole point of having downloaded movies is so that we don't have to keep putting in discs that could get scratched or lost. And yeah ... it should be a free download anyway since we already pay for Netflix AND internet use.
Netflix just wants to bury Blockbuster in the ground, so they want to soak every electronic hardware piece with their software so that it becomes a brand name for downloading movies like Kleenex is to tissues (or Blockbuster was for VHS rentals).
Its not a better alternative. NO HD FTL
You don't need xbox live at all if you have PlayOn. PlayOn allows you watch hulu, netflix, amazon, you tube, and a bunch more on the ps3, xbox 180 and soon the wii. Check it out: http://www.themediamall.com/playon it's free for 14 days then $39.99 buys it for life.
If you click through to the original picture on Joystiq, it says the disc is $2.99. Anyways, if you already own a 360, this is a moot point. I guess if you are a Silver Xbox Live member, that fee is nothing compared to buying Gold only for Netflix, but why would you need to put the disc in anyways? Is Nintendo being that big if dicks and not allowing Netflix to add a Wii Channel for this? Or is this some ridiculous attempt at DRM? Or is Netflix just bypassing Nintendo's official permission and releasing this on their own(doubtful)?
Either way, I think the experience on the Wii will be terrible compared to the 360 experience.
$30 for 13 months is not that bad. 10+ million people pay that much for two months of WoW.
Well, most people aren't smart and just pay $50 through the console for 12 months. And I'm not being down on Live. I myself subscribe. But if you just want Netflix without online gaming, the Wii is cheaper in that one time. But then again you are missing out on upscaling. For those you say no HD, the Wii could possibly do 720p over component for streaming, but will Nintendo get off their lazy butts to enable it. Probably not since it will cost money and isn't something they already released 5 years ago that just needs some dusting off.
10 dollar disc to enable it. Just fricken beautiful, Nintendo. Turning into greedy bastards you are.
Wouldn't be surprised if they limited the movies to PG either.
what does nintendo have to do with any of it, call netflix greedy because they can easily give the DVDs away for free and just feed of the subscription fees
Most likely they can not just give the discs away. Nintendo almost certainly would be charging them a lic. fee for each disc that Netflix would have to recoup.
i have never heard such whining about $10.
Suck it up! It probably covers Nin's licensing fee.
@tyanney
Xbox 180? I was not aware such a creation existed
I wish there was a streaming only subscription. id be perfect for my 360
THE MORE THE MERRIER!!!!! Welcome Wiiners!
This gives me great hope that the PS3 will get Netflix streaming someday. I always assumed the head of Netflix didn't want to help Microsoft's competitors, but that must not be the case. Yay!
Boo to the disc thing, though.
Part of the $10 could go towards codecs for the video. Isn't that what keeps the Wii from playing DVDs? It's capable but Nintendo didn't want to purchase the licenses enable playback.
Unfortunately, netflix streaming still sucks as the selection is weak.
There's plenty to watch and it's only gonna get better as we get more hardware that can take advantage of it.
id buy it, cheaper than another roku. since I already have a wii
The $10 disc wouldn't bother me much... but I've thought since they announced Netflix on other devices that the easiest way to add the functionality would be a similar disk for Profile 2.0 BluRay players that don't already have Netflix built in.
I don't understand what everyone is talking about. $10 once is far better than the $50 a year for Xbox Live Gold, or the even higher price per month for the service. This is fantastic news.
Obviously you go into Best Buy and pay MSRP for a TV, don't you?
You can buy the 13 month cards for $30 if you pay attention.
I would totally buy this.
Haven't used my Wii in months- this would be wonderful!
least their not as bad as apples $80 heaphone adaptor for a $79.99 ipod shufflle...netflix ftw
kiss it apple
This would be the first internet connected device in my living room to offer Netflix, so I'd be all for it!
And about the whole disc situation...I'm sure someone would find a way to rip it to the homebrew channel, alleviating the need to have the disc spinning (presumably) the entire time that your movie or show is playing.
As for the cost, a one-time $10 fee to watch Watch Instantly programs on my TV would absolutely be worth it, no questions asked.
netflix is a little slow on providing content to video game consoles. this is another survey rumor about streaming netflix to a game console. a similar story was going around last year pertaining to the xbox and ps3. most people who are getting netfilx streamed to a tv have a home network set up. i use "PlayOn" by mediamall to stream netflix and hulu to my ps3. it's painless and i don't have to put in a cd to use it.
Mediamall is supposedly going to be adding Wii compatibility in the first half of this year, which makes netflix late too the party if they are feeling clients out for a new service. after Mediamall releases Wii support, the only thing in question is your home network. i run OSX, XP, and YDLinux on my PS3 for fun. windows XP and PS3 runs all my internet streaming to my TV. i couldn't avoid windows because streaming internet to my TV wasn't available for YDL and i didn't want my mac mini connected to my tv.
the XP machine i got costed $100. it is a much better investment because then you can actually surf the internet and not worry about streaming or connecting anything.
i just think netflix is slow on this. and other companies are going to provide a better option than putting a cd in to watch movies. they already have.
But PlayOn would have to go through the flash player while Netflix could include native WMV support in their app, resulting in better quality.
Is there a reason PlayOn recodes things like Hulu? It can't just pass the H.264 to the consoles directly?
Please everyone stop complaining I have netflix for my 360 and its nothing special the free movies you can watch off your xbox 360 and computer blow big monkey balls ,not to mention they sometimes like to send you scratched dvd's so they skip. I pay 14.99 for two dvd's out at a time and "1960's" movies with the exception of few good newer movies you can watch off 360 computer.Ok next on my agenda cancel netflix.
No one seems to have picked up on the Brian Regan reference, which saddens me.
Netflix should start renting out games.... They coul offer the $10 disc as a rental
seems interesting but the netflix streaming selection is limited. i already have a vudu box, so i could possibly use this as a secondary way to watch movies, but i don't know if it would be worth it to pay $9 a month. if they added amazon vod to the disc, maybe.
yes please. $10 isn't so bad...
I would like to see this. We don't have a 360, so the fact that the 360 can do netflix in HD (for a yearly fee) is moot. No, it wouldn't be perfect, but, sure, it's worth a one-time $10 purchase to me.
You can watch netflix on PS3. It's called Playon and it rocks my socks off. Netflix, Hulu, Youtube streamed to my PS3
Wonder how well the disk would run on the backup loader? :P