Netflix offers internet to TV set top box
Preparing for the eventual extinction of its DVD-by-mail rental service, Netflix Inc. on Tuesday is introducing its first solution for subscribers who want entertainment delivered directly to their television sets with just a few clicks on a remote control. The breakthrough comes in the form of 5-inch-by-5-inch device tailored for a year-old service that uses high-speed Internet connections to stream more than 10,000 movies and TV shows from Netflix’s library. Although it’s provided at no additional cost to most of Netflix’s 8.2 million subscribers, the streaming service has had limited appeal so far because it doesn’t include the latest movies and couldn’t easily be watched on anything but a personal computer.
At $99.99, the Netflix set-top box is priced like a DVD player and is just as simple to hook up to a television. A high-speed Internet connection can either be plugged into the box or the device can pick up a wireless signal. Similar Internet-to-TV devices made by Apple Inc. and Vudu Inc. cost $229 to $295. “We think this is something that offers a big value at a low cost,” said Reed Hastings, Netflix’s chief executive officer. The Netflix box, made by Silicon Valley startup Roku Inc., is the first of several devices that will pipe Netflix’s streaming service to TV sets. LG Electronics is expected to include the streaming capability in a Blu-ray DVD player that it plans to debut during the second half of this year. Without providing further details, Netflix has said two other major consumer electronics companies are working on set-top boxes for its streaming service.
Source: AP
How is Netflix and others still in business? Seriously, who orders this?
I guess its for people who are scared they will get the electric chair for downloading a movie or those who enjoy giving their money away for free.
I think this will fail miserably (like marceli’s maths) for 2 reasons…
1st reason: most Cable networks already use a similar way to broadcast movies on demand, like filmflex on UK cable. (huge library of movies)
2nd: Hmmm not much of a second reason but i think People will just not use this service.. video quality will just suck and the Digital box is priced damn expensive.
My cable company puts limits on my downloading in size and speed, with more internet providers doing this downloading huge files over the internet becomes expensive and very time consuming with file throttling
Who orders this? Well, I for one. Yes, I download movies, but if I like the movie and want to keep it, I get the DVD from Netflix when it comes out and rip a full-res copy of it for later viewing (and soon will be doing that with Blu-Ray). Believe me, on a 53 inch LCD, the quality of the rip matters quite a bit.
I just ordered one.
I have Netflix and while downloading movies and the like is easy for the latest releases, getting older movies isn’t quite as easy, or at least not at the speeds typical torrent sites offer. Every once in a while someone will up an .nzb of an older movie, but that isn’t common.
Perhaps you want to watch a movie from ages past, right then and there. You wouldn’t have to wait the however long to download it, you just select it from the list and hit play. That easy.
The life of this will come down to the quality netflix puts out and what movies are available.
This is like I’ve been saying for years. It’s all going digital! Soon you can plug a USB device into a “movie box” at your local grocery store, and download and BUY the movie for the price of renting it. Why? Because it will be cheap to have movies digital! WHY BURN THEM TO A DISC AND PHYSICALLY TRANSPORT THEM! THAT IS STUPID! THAT COST MONEY! FuK Bluray! IT’S ALL GOING DIGITAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP!!! MOVIES!!!
Like #3 said, bandwidth caps by providers will be a factor.
But this kind of digital delivery is exactly what isp’s that cap are counting on. Subsidizing their cash grab, after years of advertising so-called “unlimited” services.
@zzh0les..
how much a month? $99.99 for player = POS
If you already subscribe to a Netflix service above $9.95/mo (what is that? 2 DVDs out at a time), you can stream to this box for free, unlimited.
Netflix rules. They need to just allow HD streaming to your PS3. I use netflix for BluRay. The quality is still better than the HD rips you can download. If you want the best bluray is still the best.
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