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Netflix to stream movies right to your television

By Mike
January 4, 2008 in DVD, Features, Movies, Technology

This blog is kind of a follow-up to the one I wrote that told of the likely demise of HD-DVD since Warner Brothers chose to go Blu-Ray only and how I was the catalyst to the entire thing. You might want to read that first, but it’s up to you!

Someone sent me an email when they heard about it and had this to say: “You’re the guy who makes it rain by washing his car.”

So true. At the end of the news portion of this blog below, I’ll talk about why this is a follow-up.

The Netflix News

Regardless of Warner Brothers and their screwing of HD-DVD, lost in the shuffle today is the news from Netflix that they plan on streaming movies right to your television.

Now, they currently already have this kind of technology to stream movies, but the major downside is that it can only be done on your computer. No one wants to sit there and watch Gettysburg for 6 hours on their little laptop.

(Some of you may not watch it on your TV either, even if you had the greatest lazy boy of all time - good movie though)

Since that doesn’t work well for most people, Netflix will be partnering with LG to come out with a “set-top” box that will basically act like a DVD player for your movie needs. No one knows how much it will cost yet, but previous devices like this went for around $299 to $399.

All you will need is that box and a connection to high speed internet. I already have this on my Direct TV HD DVR, where I can download TV shows and movies On Demand. Pretty slick.

Depending on what plan you have with Netflix, you will be able to view between 5 and 48 hours of content a month, all included in your plan. You will still need to use your computer to set your queue, but once you do, the content downloads automatically, you don’t have to go to the TV and browse to some menu to make it happen.

How does this all relate to the high definition DVD war?

I think it’s pretty obvious and it’s something I’ve pondered for awhile now.

I just have this weird feeling that by the time Blu-Ray win the format war and you Blue People all cheer collectively, you’ll start crying a few minutes later when you realize people want to download their movies instead.

If you look at it, while some of us still like to purchase REAL CDs (like my wife and I), a ton of people I know just download that stuff from iTunes.

Why would movies be any different?

Let’s say I wanted to watch Sunshine in HD next week when it hits DVD shelves. I could just set my queue to download it the day it comes out and have it ready to go that night, with no extra work on my part.

Now, I know people love to just HAVE the movies in their possession, for things like special features and just to add to their huge collections. So it may not be for everyone.

But part of me just thinks that instead of buying a Blu-Ray player in the next year, I’ll end up going along with the crowd and get a set-top box that just downloads them for me.

What do you guys think? Do you think this will happen? Can both survive equally?

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DVD, Features, Movies, Technology
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Viewing 6 Comments

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    Wait until the same happens for regular TV...
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    Good thoughts and article. I'll weigh in with my thoughts. I think that it is an inevitable move of streaming more and more content via the internet. My concern is that while it might be billed as "HD" content, that it will be HD of a less quality. What I mean by that is that the file size and bandwidth to support a 1080p movie along with 7.1 surround sound is HUGE and I do not see any way that the current high-speed internet setups can handle that type of data without the HD being stepped down.

    Now, what I did not realize until I read this article is that NetFlix would require a TV-set box that would allow you to download the movie and then watch it. A question now is how can they market it as streaming when in fact they are just downloading it and then playing it later on. I do not see how that is any different that a service like iTunes with music - I would still prefer to go and buy the movie and watch it whenever I choose as often as I wish. However, the upside is that with the downloading to a storage receptor at least they can overcome the HD issues I pointed out above and send you something that is truly 1080p - but the question then is - how long will the download take? If you are talking about a fully loaded Blu-ray disc, you are looking at 50GB of uncompressed data - yikes! You might be able to go to the store, buy the movie and watch it before it was ever done downloading.

    I think it is a great idea and I think sometime in the future that is where we will end up - streaming or downloading content from the internet. But in the short-term, I do not see it as being very feasible or viable due to the technological shortcomings. I hope NetFlix does not put all their eggs in one basket on this endeavor - I love renting from them and I would hate it if they got too ambitious and sunk their own ship.
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    Yeah, all good points. The bandwidth issue in indeed an issue. I think if this was Japan or one of those Asian countries out there, things would be different. Don't they supposedly have like WAY faster internet than we do here?

    Anyways, the set-top box doesn't mean that it can't stream, it just means you use the Laptop to set up your queue to start downloading the movies (I guess) and then you can probably watch them while they are downloading.

    My DTV On Demand is like that now...I find a show, choose to download it and it starts being sent to my DVR. I can immediately start watching too.

    Of course, if I do it TOO quickly, I could end up catching up with the download.

    It's all interesting to me, but I do agree people like to have their movies in hand, especially with the extras.
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    Scott's last blog post..Assigned Reading; Esquire
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    Theaters are going to have to step up there game in order to draw people back. I don't think people are leaving in droves, but from a person who loves going to the theater, the experience has been all but lost for me. The rude patrons, the bad picture quality (yeah, my tv looks way better than those theater screens), etc. - they are going to have to do something special in order to get people to experience movies in a way that they currently cannot at home.

    They had to do that in the 50's with tv's becoming a big seller - which is why movie theaters switched to anamorphic (widescreen) format in order to bring people back. They were able to offer something that the average person could not get at home. Those times are a changin'...
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    They definitely need to get some high definition digital projectors in there so that we can watch the movies in amazing quality on a larger screen than we can even get at home.

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