Without a doubt, the next big thing in the world of HDTVs is internet capabilities. With Toshiba just shipping its own web-enabled sets this week, LG Electronics is making sure it doesn't fall too far behind by floating a few of its own NetCast models out to the open market. Originally unveiled at CES, these HDTVs are the first from the company with built-in Netflix streaming support, and if you're curious about model numbers, it's the 47-inch 47LH50 LCD HDTV and the 50-inch 50PS80 plasma that are available today. LG tells us that the 42-inch 42LH50 LCD and 60-inch 60PS80 plasma should hit later this summer, but if you're looking to buy now, you'll have to pony up $1,999 for the 47LH50 or 50PS80.

Microsoft is busy announcing a slew of upgrades to Xbox Live, and the biggest news so far is relaunch of the video service, now Zune-branded with 1080p instant-on streaming content in 18 countries. XBL is also now integrated with Facebook -- your Facebook account can be linked to your Gamertag, and games will support Facebook Connect for sharing content online. That's pretty huge -- but if that wasn't enough, you're also getting Twitter and Last.fm in the deal. Want more? Netflix users will now be able to browse the entire catalog instead of simply loading their queue, and Microsoft has also gotten its Party Watch system in order, so you'll be able to heckle videos with your online friends. Last but not least, there's now live TV streaming for UK and Ireland gamers, who'll get Premier League soccer live from Sky. All in all, a solid set of updates for XBL -- but we'll wait and see how that "1080p" video looks before we pronounce Blu-ray dead. PR blurb after the break.

Good news, Vista Media Center PC users will soon find a new option under the TV+Movies tile, as Netflix Watch Instantly streaming access is added directly to the interface. The soul crushingly bad news? A post on The Green Button informs that this does not apply to Media Center Extenders, so cheapskates hoping to get around the Xbox 360's Gold Xbox Live subscription requirement are still going to need those plugins and workarounds. This should go over much better than the InternetTV beta 2, but we're disappointed Microsoft's vision of TV on Your PC (as pointed out on its accompanying blogs, videos and assorted paraphernalia indicates) doesn't allow users to stretch their PC back to the TV at will. 'til that changes, check the gallery and after the break to see what awaits in Media Center once the update rolls out over the next 48 hours.

Update: We checked with Microsoft, and confirmed that, at least for now, this streaming only includes the same content as the browser experience - so no HD. As far as Windows 7 and / or RC1 support? No word yet.
[Via The Green Button]

Gallery: Netflix on Vista Media Center

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The plan is to get Flash from every computer to every television screen, and Adobe's ready to take the next step this week at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas. Broadcom, Comcast, STMicroelectronics, NXP Semiconductors, and Sigma Designs join Intel as set-top box makers with chipsets ready to stream widgets and HD video to connected televisions, while content is on the way from Netflix, New York Times, Disney and Atlantic Records. Of course, Yahoo's widgets and Microsoft Silverlight aim to turn up the interactivity and streaming video to TVs and handhelds as well, though Adobe seems content to share with Yahoo! if need be -- Vizio's Connected HDTV demo and Intel's CE 3100 support both -- expect the blades to come out when Flash enabled hardware comes to market in the second half of this year.

[Via Venture Beat]

That's the word, with a small but vocal group of subscribers claiming their discs are repeatedly arriving with small cracks on their outer edges. It's unclear what might be to blame, even with the extra coating to prevent scratches on Blu-ray, they could still be susceptible to automated mail processing machines, manufacturing defects or perhaps a spontaneous game of mail Frisbee. The Mars Box blog experienced this issue back in '07 with the disc pictured above, but in the last few months reports seem to be picking up again. It's really too bad those extra costs can't buy tougher packaging like the cardboard slips GameFly uses, but Netflix told Wired the problem is "infinitesimally small" and changing shipping wouldn't be cost effective. We know plenty of you rent your discs, let us know, have you been afflicted?

[Via Hacking Netflix]

Read - The Mars Box
Read - Wired
Read - AVS Forum

We've heard whispers of Netflix heading to other, non-Xbox 360 game consoles before, and now adding to the susurrus is a job listing from the company for Engineering Lead - Gaming Platforms. The description calls for someone familiar with the technical hurdles of current-gen consoles for building a small team to "rapidly prototype and iterate on a variety of platforms." Whether or not this means we'll be seeing PlayStation 3 or Wii services in the near (or even distant) future is anyone's guess, but with Microsoft's version so far a streaming success, we wouldn't be surprised if the company took a few steps to increase the probability that 3 billionth delivered flick is digital.

[Via Joystiq]

Because everything needs an App Store or central directory of its own, Netflix is preparing to unveil an App Gallery on its website showing what developers have created to get the most out of its service. No word exactly when the page goes up, but until then we'll highlight the Windows Mobile Manager with integrated streaming trailers and the ability to add movies directly from Rotten Tomatoes as good examples; let us know about any others (like the many iPhone apps) in the comments.

2,000,000,000. That's how many movies Netflix has shipped out since coming on the scene in 1999. Lucky number two billion -- Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist on Blu-ray) snagged Clay Shannon a complimentary lifetime subscription (guess he's not too concerned about the new, higher Blu-ray rates.) It took the company eight years to cross the one billion milestone, and only two for the next billion. While there's little indication of a slowdown in the two million movies shipped out every day from 58 distribution centers, we wouldn't be surprised if number 3 billion were just as likely to come as a download than anything else.

Ruh roh. In a move that will undoubtedly cause an incredibly raucous stir, only to fade away as movie renters realize that Netflix is still the best deal going, America's most adored by-mail rental service is hiking the price of Blu-ray rentals once again. If you'll recall, Netflix already implemented a $1 per month fee for Blu-ray customers back in October, and now it's looking to push that premium higher by around 20 percent across its pricing tiers. The company asserts that the increase (slated to hit April 27th and only applicable to BD customers) is due to it buying more titles on BD to "accommodate the increasing number of Netflix members who prefer renting movies on Blu-ray." In fact, nearly 10 percent of all Netflix customers are choosing BD now, and obviously these platters cost quite a bit more for anyone (even Netflix) to procure. Head past the break to see how big of a hardship this will be on you.

Rumors of Netflix content streaming to the PS3 date back to, well, the first rumors of it hitting the Xbox 360. We all know which of those two platforms got some red envelope love last year, and now, soon after hearing the service may be heading to the Wii, we have what seems to be similar confirmation that Netflix is at least still considering bringing their bitstream to the PS3. The screenshot above was captured by a reader, showing a message like that on the earlier Wii survey -- in fact it's exactly the same from what we can see. Given our proximity to that least newsy day of the year on April 1st we can't be sure this is entirely genuine, but it probably is time for Sony to make a little room in its XMB for Netflix.

[Thanks, Jake N.]

After a small but vocal amount of Netflix users got the world thinking that it was pulling a Comcast and putting caps on computer-based Watch Instantly users, the outfit's Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt has come forward to clear the air. He makes clear that Netflix's aspiration is to "deliver to everyone the best bitrate that their broadband connection can support," also noting that congestion "could affect some users, but not others, at some times, but not always." He also notes that different titles and encodes for different playback device types "may come from different CDNs or different servers at a particular CDN, so they may have different paths and different bottlenecks." We'd encourage you to hit the read link for the full explanation, but we're already seeing enraged Roku users bark back by his dodging of the so-called out-of-sync audio issue that's evidently still present. We'll go ahead and warn you, Netflix -- you can't please 'em all.

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).

Depending on your choice of computing platform, possession of dedicated streaming hardware, and love of otherwise forgettable '80s films, Netflix's Watch Instantly service is either a godsend or a gimmick. Regardless, nobody likes arbitrary bandwidth caps, and that's what Riyad Kalla at The "Break it Down" Blog claims to have spotted, finding that Watch streams on his Xbox take multiple minutes to buffer, but that those on his PC (using the same connection) can take hours -- if they work at all. Doing a little snooping he found he was being capped to about 50 KB/sec per download thread on his PC, but if he spawned ten such threads he was able to get over 700 KB/sec. Something, it seems, is issuing a per-thread cap, but is it really Netflix? Or, rather, is it his Qwest DSL line doing a ham-fisted job of managing bandwidth? We've seen similar issues intermittently, but nothing consistent, so we're not quite ready to call this an internet-wide conspiracy just yet, but would love to hear about your streaming experiences lately.

Update: Based on the volume of "It's working just fine for me" comments both here and elsewhere it seems safe to say that if there is a conspiracy at work here, it's not Netflix's.

[Via Slashdot]

Samsung's new value priced Blu-ray player managed to fly under our radar at CES in favor of its better equipped brethren but that hasn't stopped Dave Zatz and others from stumbling into them at retail lately, like this one sitting on a Best Buy shelf. By making BD-Live required 1GB storage and WiFi dongle aftermarket accessories, you can grab a slim, Netflix streaming, fast Blu-ray loading box for $299. Right now we'll probably wait until the whole product line appears and prices slide down a bit more before considering picking one up, but depending on your needs this could be a good option, more pics of this bird in its unnatural habitat beyond the read link.

This news may not be a surprise, given the huge success of Netflix's Watch Instantly streaming service, which had been activated over 1 million times on Xbox Live the last time we checked -- accounting for about 10 percent of its subscriptions. Regardless, word has come from Netflix's CFO Barry McCarthy that the company plans to offer a streaming-only service "in the near future." The Watch Instantly service currently offers about 12,000 movies (around 100,000 titles are available if you order the physical discs), on a variety of devices, including Xbox Live and Roku boxes, so it seems like a smart move, though we don't know the timeline or pricing of the stream-only service. Here's to hoping they expand their offering a little before then... maybe Final Destination? Just a suggestion.

[Via Joystiq]