Sony's connected BRAVIA HDTVs score Netflix streaming, PS3 left in the cold
By Darren Murph 
posted Jul 9th 2009 8:30AM
posted Jul 9th 2009 8:30AM
NETFLIX ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH SONY ELECTRONICS
TO INSTANTLY STREAM MOVIES TO BRAVIA TVs
Sony Joins Growing List of World-Class CE Manufacturers That Enable Netflix Members to Instantly Watch Movies Streamed to the TV via the Internet
LOS GATOS, Calif., July 9, 2009 – Netflix, Inc., (Nasdaq: NFLX) the world's largest online movie rental service, today announced a partnership with Sony Electronics that will enable Netflix subscribers to instantly watch movies streamed from Netflix on Sony's BRAVIA Internet Video-capable HDTVs and on previous BRAVIA models compatible with Sony's BRAVIA Internet video link module.
In the fall, Netflix members on an unlimited plan can use the Sony BRAVIA Internet Video-capable HDTVs to instantly watch more than 12,000 movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix.
Sony is the latest consumer electronics (CE) company to partner with Netflix. Other CE companies partnering with Netflix are Microsoft (with the Xbox360), LG Electronics, Roku, Samsung, TiVo and VIZIO.
Netflix members pay as little as $8.99 a month for unlimited streaming from a library of more than 12,000 choices and unlimited DVDs by mail from a library of more than 100,000 DVD titles in more than 200 genres.
"Sony has been a world leader in consumer electronics for decades," said Netflix Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings. "We are proud to include Sony Electronics among our CE partners who continue to provide new and exciting ways for Netflix members to instantly watch movies and TV episodes in their living rooms on their TVs."
About Netflix, Inc.
Netflix, Inc. is the world's largest online movie rental service, with more than ten million subscribers. For one low monthly price, Netflix members can get DVDs delivered to their homes and can instantly watch movies and TV episodes streamed to their TVs and PCs, all in unlimited amounts. Members can choose from over 100,000 DVD titles and a growing library of more than 12,000 choices that can be watched instantly. There are never any due dates or late fees. DVDs are delivered free to members by first class mail, with a postage-paid return envelope, from 58 distribution centers. More than 97 percent of Netflix members live in areas that generally receive shipments in one business day. Netflix is also partnering with leading consumer electronics companies to offer a range of devices that can instantly stream movies and TV episodes to members' TVs from Netflix. For more information, visit http://www.netflix.com/.
great - next step is hacked fw on internet connected tvs :)
Just bring back Hulu, ya schmucks.
off topic note - that huge blank wall makes that TV look reeeaaaallly small...
Hopefully this is Sony just testing the waters. I love Netflix on my Xbox... So much that I canceled my cable TV service.
It would make sense, but then again, this is Sony we're talking about . . .
You can watch Hulu, Netflix and more with PlayOn on the PS3. I use it every day.
www.themediamall.com/playon
So. Sony wants everyone to use my Xbox instead of a PS3 for this? Something tells me the PS3 revisions coming this fall will include Netflix streaming. If this is good as claimed, I'll be cancelling all of premium movie channels.
No. The PSN network has their own streaming service (dunno who through). My guess is they get paid more per rental than Netflix. I think what they are waiting to find out is which adds up to more money... few rentals with greater return with PSN rental service, or potentially more rentals due to Nexflix's subscriber base at a lower return per movie rented.
I, too, hope Netflix finds its way to the PS3.
Well, no, the PS3 service isn't streaming. It's more like iTunes; you buy either a non-expiring license or a rental license to a downloaded movie.
Netflix would be quite different... and quite welcome.
Those PSN rental licenses are stupid. You have to finish watching the movie within 24 hours of starting it. That was a deal-breaker for me and my wife. If we wait till the kids go to bed to watch a PSN rental, we HAVE TO watch all of it that night, because if we wait till the following night (after the kids are in bed), we're hosed.
I believe I remember reading it will even stop in the MIDDLE OF THE MOVIE when your 24 hours is up (correct me if I'm wrong . . . I haven't read the EULA lately).
MS have a deal with netflix in the states. the same reason why PS3 won't be able to have anything to do with Sky over here in the UK.
Microsoft's home console exclusivity agreement with Netflix can't have been more than 6 or at most 12 months. I think this is really just the usual problem of different parts of Sony doing their own things without communicating.
Howard Stringer needs to step in here, ask Kaz Hirai why there's no Netflix on the PS3 when it's already been announced for the TV division, and then Hirai needs to get his teams working.
And if cutting the price on the PS3 isn't in the cards just yet, adding value to it might be a good idea to try and sell a few more, no?
Netflix and MS share board members. It could well be exclusive to the 360 indefinately, with no money changing hands, given that relationship.
The 360 has MCE as well, and is just as good as the PS3 in other media areas.
So the 360 has MCE, and Netflix.
The PS3 has Blu-Ray.
Pick your poison.
Don't know about this MCE stuff... But the ps3 has more than just Bluray. It seems pretty capable of playing almost any upnp media server. I use my ps3 exclusively now with pms, mediatomb, playon, and azureus. It all runs pretty good, but native netflix would be much appreciated, with at goto feature!! Although $200 for an 360 vs $400 for a ps3..... (weighs open palms)
EL:
That is something the 360 has as well. I was pointing out what each platform has that the other doesn't.
In the PS3s case, that is Blu-Ray.
For the 360 that is MCE and netflix.
Everything else is the same or has an equiv to the other.
"When your pad looks just a tad too sixties"
who ever the stylist was on this shoot needs to get a bullet in the head. nice choice in rug...
this is glenn quagmires living room irl.
You'd get a soft rug like that too if your TV was so low that you were forced to sit on the floor to enjoy it. IKEA has some good things, but most of it seems like it was designed for very small people.
Bah, the whole setup simply says "optimized for WAF". Puny screen that is also too far away, puny speakers, no sub, two kids but no console... Sony is shamelessly aiming this at mothers with low technical interest, otherwise at least the screen would be of proper size. Really, really blunt and pathetic ad.
For males, the message is "if you marry young and have plenty kids, expect to spend the little free time you'll have left watching a microscopic TV while sitting on the floor with cheap sneakes on for the next 18 years, while she'll spend it all on fashionable tack, SUCKER."
Oh and while my neo-existentialism of course totally forbids a mite-farm/shaggy carpet like that, you could bet your spleen that you would not lounge on it with your freakin' shoes on if I ever had one.
I will never understand why anyone would want Netflix streaming in its current form .. I have it Via XB 360 but the selection is a joke in HD .. or what they call HD .. it really should not be a make or break product in terms of buying new gear
I completely agree here, I tried their streaming service and their selection of movies is shit. Not a single new release but instead they have old ass movies. Tried their service and cancelled the same day.
Who needs Netflix on the PS3? I don't need another monthly service leaching money from my wallet.
If I want to rent a movie, I use the Playstation Network to rent flix all the time. Just rented the Big Lebowski in HD for $4.50. Looked and sounded great.
Remind me again, why I need Netflix?
@xkrunk - you answered your own question there - $4.50 for a rental of an old movie (although an awesome old movie). Netflix has unlimited streaming of old movies (although not so awesome old movies) and one dvd at a time unlimited per month which for me is about 5 to 6 dvds a month for $9.
I use TIVO to stream my Netflix, and with latest update it streams in HD very nicely. Sure selection is limited for now, but as they expand and have more clients it will change, there are a lot of foreign movies that came out last year or this year and are available for streaming, current titles cost Netflix more. Anyway, some of old movies are 10 times better then most of current releases anyway. Whatever happened to good film making?
I think Sony is doing it this way to steer customers to their new TVs. PS3s are selling well enough as it is. They've made it clear enough that they won't even do a price cut on the PS3.
It would be cool though if they added Netflix to their Blu-ray players.
As long as they're behind Microsoft in market share, they're not selling enough to rest on their laurels just yet.
And now I'm no MBA, but it seems to me that if you're not going to cut the price on a product, adding value to it might be a good alternative way to sell some more... So, uh, Sony?
i would definitely become a netflix customer if i could use it on my ps3.
I've had Netflix streaming since it became available......while it works great technically, for the most part what is available to stream is crap. It's all old movies, bad movies or sucky TV shows from the 1970's.
Come on, what wasn't to love about Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter?!
thanks, thats going in my queue!
What's with the sit on the floor to watch this tv photograph? That's like a foot off the ground...
more people have bravia's then ps3's. I don't see this as a missed opportunity
"Hi, business, this is customer; customer, this is business. Business, customer would like to give you money in exchange for services."
There's a kind of irony in adding low res streaming movies in a feature package of an HDTV.... It's kind of an Alegory that personifies the direction of modern video hardware, and it's contrast to the direction modern media providers.
and the PS3's price continues to seem more and more ridiculous...
What gave you that idea from this artical?
If they brought it to the PS3 I would renew my service.
The lack of Netflix streaming on the PS3 was always an odd one for me. The only real reason I could think of why it is absent is due to Sony's reluctance to use a Microsoft product (Silverlight) on the PS3.
but don't most (if not all) Sony laptops/netbooks run Windows, which when i last checked, is also a Microsoft product?
that kind of movements brought Sony to the crysis.
Hasn't the Netflix streaming bandwagon just about run it's course? I'm sure most everyone who wants to stream Netflix is already doing so, or doesn't really care too much about it. Most PS3 owners have moved on I would imagine. The Roku box is pretty inexpensive.
By the way Netflix streaming is pretty lame in my opinion. Netflix makes movies available to stream and then removes their availability for no reason whatsoever. My Netflix instant viewing queue this month is around 80 - it was over 100 last month. Amazon On Demand is very slow to get HD versions of movies up that all the other outlets (DirecTV PPV, Netflix rental, etc.) have made available. Where was HD version of Taken on Amazon the last few weeks when everyone else had already streamed or rented it?
Don't forget teh tht head of Netflix is on the board of Microsoft. It's quite likely that this cushy arrangement will result in the Xbox 360 console exclusivity lasting for a bit longer than you might expect.
Sony's reluctance to make the PS3 what it really could be is starting to look childish!
The PS3 is a fantastic piece of hardware. I use it everyday for movies, music, and games. Why Sony continues to cripple the device is beyond me. If Sony only pulled its head out of its a$$ for 1 sec it would realize its true potential and market the hell out of it. Man, Sony you are soooo stupid. Keep up the great work and you will lose all your customers. Listen up Sony. Your customers are your livelihood. Without them you are nothing. How about you open your ears and deliver content to a wonderful product that has almost too much potential.
"Hon, I really think a 55 inch would look better in that blank space on the wall".
Netflix? Where's the Bravia sync for the PS3.
Per Howard Singer and Kaz they want to expand the PSN. So they bring Netfix to the Bravia Line. Makes a lot of sense. This must be the untrained monkey part of the Corporate Sony Structure.
Then again this is the same company that includes an iPod docking station with certain home theater systems and receivers but nothing for its own PSP, maybe for PSP Go or PSP2. This begs the question to be asked of Sir Howard and Kaz, why can't you support your own Sony products between product lines to build up further brand loyalty? This makes you wonder if this another reason why Phil Harrison left SCE.
Don't worry everyone. Remember Sony is operating by a 10 yr model so they'll add netflix streaming by the end of this console generation. In Sony's own words, "The next generation of gaming doesn't start until we say it does." so they have plenty of time to add this feature later. Think about it, it wouldn't make any sense to give consumers what they want now and lose long-term value on the ps3 in the process.....or whatever bs Jack Tretton was saying yesterday.
why's the guy wearing shoes in his house, on the rug?
Netflix should be trying to get in your home by any means possible. I think that it would be so smart of them to look into giving their customer base the option of having physical media (DVD's/BD's) and/or providing ALL content on a streaming basis as a subscription service. For example, if they were to partner.. or better yet, straight up buy a company like vudu.com (who claims they can provide instant start 1080p movies) and even further down the line could expand into even streamed gaming (if they bought a company like OnLive...pending the tech is as revolutionary as they claim) and they could be a dominate force in media distribution. Although there is are a couple of substantial barriers... hardware and bandwidth... anyway.. ideas for the cauldron.. good day all
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I still like my combo with my Blu-ray player and my 360
So what models of existing Sony BRAVIA TVs will this work with and when?