7 ms·
Netflix streaming video to be available on Wii
- mumrah 17y agoEven if this is true, I imagine the video quality will be less than spectacular. Back when I was trying to finagle the Wii into a media center, I could never get videos to playback above a certain bitrate/resolution. My guess would be 480p at best. That said, I will be very happy if/when this happens. A macbook does not a media center make.
- TheBranca18 17y agoI'm not sure the Wii qualifies any better than a macbook. Struggling to do 480p, which you concede could possibly be the highest resolution it will output, does not make it better than a macbook IMO.
- zachbeane 17y agoThat's pretty cool, but I recently got a HDTV and the Wii is the worst-looking input into it at 480p. The $99 Roku player looks fantastic at 720p, even when the video you're playing isn't specifically in HD.
- brown9-2 17y agoDoes your PC have HDMI-out? This is another easy solution for getting Netflix streaming onto your TV in HD resolution.
- sophacles 17y agoKeep in mind that much of netflix content just isnt available in HD -- because it was never made as such. For this stuff it doesnt matter as much and is very nice.
- kierank 17y agoMost of Netflix's films were filmed on 35mm film, which in most cases has a similar resolution to HD.
- sophacles 17y agoIm not arguing that point. Im arguing that untill Warner Bros, Fox, et al get around to releasing on blu-ray the only way to get that contet is dvd. Netflix is not in the biz of scannning film, so they are stuck with what they are given. Most of that is DVDs
- kierank 17y agoNetflix might be able to get films that are unlikely to make it to Blu-Ray in HD though just like HDTV channels get them.
- zachbeane 17y agoAccording to the Netflix blog entry I mentioned already, DVDs are a minority when it comes to video sources.
- sophacles 17y agoYeah, I see that now. At the time I posted I was operating under incorrect assumptions and info.
- zachbeane 17y agoIt's true that much of the streaming content is not HD, but Netflix goes to interesting lengths to get the original sources and re-encode them for a better streaming experience. http://blog.netflix.com/2008/11/encoding-for-streaming.html http://blog.netflix.com/2008/11/encoding-for-streaming.html has the details. They're not just taking the original SD broadcast signal and digitizing it. So even though it wasn't made in HD, in many cases it looks better than it ever did when it was first broadcast, or even than seen on DVD.
- bioweek 17y agodoes the xbox already have this?
- ryandvm 17y agoYes - and my experience is it works quite well. Like everyone else though, I just wish the streaming catalog were larger. I'm hoping that's what the recent deal with Warner Brothers will result in.
- sophacles 17y agoSo does PS3, and many Samsung Bluray players. My experience with both is: if you have a decent internet connection they work pretty well.
- jcnnghm 17y agoThe real winner this generation is Netflix. They now have streaming video on all three consoles.
- mikeryan 17y agoIf you saw them at CES last week, Netflix is on pretty much any device that will take them. TV's, roku, boxee (more I'm sure). Pandora and Skype seem to be following in the same vein.
- apgwoz 17y agoI can't wait for this. For the most part, I don't care about the quality of it (at best 480p). As long as it's not choppy, I could care less if Burt Reynolds' mustache is pixelated.
- tyujikjhnbgv 17y agoAnd will be available in Canada about the time Avatar becomes technically possible
- Tawheed 17y agoTime to dust off the Wii!