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New Netflix Instant Movie Player Redefines Television

Order movies and watch them 20 seconds later via streaming Internet connection

By Joseph S. Enoch
ConsumerAffairs.com

June 17, 2008 

For the past few years companies, including Apple and Netflix, have tried to bring to bring instant movie watching to users' TVs through the Internet – a movement that some expect will wipe out cable TV in the future. For the first time, Netflix has successfully bridged the Internet with TV courtesy of their tiny new Netflix Player.

All a user needs is a broadband Internet connection, a computer, the basic unlimited Netflix account ($8.95 per month), Roku's $99 set-top box and a TV before they are on their way to watching as many movies and TV episodes they want each month, as many times as they want.

The tiny set-top box takes about 10 minutes to set up and connects to a user's broadband Internet connection either via a wireless or ethernet connection and connects to the TV through either HDMI, S-Video, analog RCA or composite connectors. It also has optical audio for digital home theater audio systems.

To add movies to the “Instant Queue” one must go Netflix's Web site via a computer, browse the “Watch Instantly” library and add as many movies and TV episodes he or she likes.

Within a few seconds, those titles appear on the device's main screen where a user can choose any one of them to watch instantly. Well, not instantly, but after a 20-second buffer time.

Probably the biggest drawback of the service is the complete lack of high-definition titles. Despite that, many of the films I sampled still looked great, even better than standard definition from Comcast, my digital cable provider.

But Roku's device is capable of receiving and transmitting high-definition feeds and Netflix has promised to start offering high-def titles “soon” according to Netflix's Web site.

Despite the enormous size of high-def files, Timothy Twerdahl, Roku's Vice President of Consumer Products, said that with encoding techniques, they are able to provide high-definition downloads at four to six megabytes per second, which most broadband connections should be able to handle.

Another drawback is the current library's lack of new releases and other popular films. While a user can instantly watch thousands of old TV episodes and really, really bad horror, sci-fi and action movies, the selection of more popular releases are slim. For example, of Netflix's “Top 100,” only two are available for instant viewing.

But that's not to say there aren't enough oldies but goodies to keep even the most avid movie addict indefinitely satisfied. For example, classics such as Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "A Clockwork Orange" can be found along with the '60s favorite Planet of the Apes.

More modern hits such as "The Orphanage" and the documentary "Super Size Me" are in the mix as well.

Even rare hidden film gems such as Trey Parker and Matt Stone's hilarious college film, "Cannibal! The Musical" can be viewed instantaneously.

Netflix has promised to expand the library and in the past few days, new titles have appeared every day.

Even if the film is not available for instant viewing, users still have their normal Netflix account and can receive their regularly mailed DVDs.

Roku so far has had difficulty meeting the demand for these devices and it's no surprise. The player and service are so affordable, easy to use and convenient that there's no reason why anyone with an existing Netflix account should not jump at the opportunity to get one.

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