Welcome to the Party PS3 – Netflix is Arriving
Late last week, Netflix stock made a nice jump after company officials mentioned that they had a big announcement coming this weekend. The announcement was to mention a new platform that they would be delivering instant streaming on starting in a short period of time. Rumors started to swirl that it would be either the PS3 or the Nintendo Wii, but as of this evening, Sony and Netflix have put out a joint press release that the PS3 will have Netflix in the next month.
Basically, the service would work similar to the way it works on the Xbox 360, but instead of it being built into the actual operating system on the PS3, you would actually insert an Instant Streaming disc that would open up a Netflix front end that would allow streaming of movies. The selection will be the same as it is for all other delivery platforms, and their will be no additional costs on the PSN, with the exception of needing a Netflix account. Also, the Instant Streaming discs are to be offered as a free item, although the press release does make it sound like they might charge for them in the future.
So PS3 owners, are we happy, sad or indifferent over this development. I like the idea of Netflix coming to other platforms, but I wonder if Sony could of made it easier by developing an extension to the Media bar that would support Netflix instant streaming natively, instead of using an extra disc to make the magic happen. I can say this – I have already put in a request for a disc.
Tags: blu-ray disc, free streaming, instant streaming, netflix, playstation 3, psn
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I'm 100% on board. I currently use PlayOn from TheMediaMall to watch streamable Netflix. Thanks for the news and link!
Two TVs with Instant Streaming is better than one, I suppose. That's pretty weird that they're making you use an extra disc for it though. I love being able to play 360 games, and seamlessly go to watch a movie or TV show, without getting up.
I recently stopped my NetFlix subscription because I couldn't keep up with it. This would be great for me if the selection of things to watch via download was respectable.
I would say that the instant streaming stuff has been beefed up quite nicely, but it is still lacking new releases. Netflix instant streaming new releases tend to come months after the movies have hit disc based retail.
Normally, the selection via the Xbox Live Netflix categories is good about 20 titles deep, and then you start to get the off-brand stuff that really sucks. Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus anyone? Yeah, that is what I thought.
The bigger picture is that it gives Xbox Live one less item to keep me wanting to pay $50 a year, and it adds to the feature set of the free PSN. About the only real downside is the ridiculous disc based method for streaming, as if Sony had no care to design an embedded approach into the Cross Media Bar.
My guess is the disc is an installer.
Also, this saves me $50 a year—The only reason I got Live.
win.
The disc is not an installer. It is required to be in the drive every time you want to use the Instant Streaming option. This makes me wonder if features like adding to your queue via the console and other items will actually be available to PS3 owners, or if they will just get the same service we had with first generation Netflix streaming on Xbox 360. We could only view our own queue and not much else.
I'm 100% on board. I currently use PlayOn from TheMediaMall to watch streamable Netflix. Thanks for the news and link!
Two TVs with Instant Streaming is better than one, I suppose. That's pretty weird that they're making you use an extra disc for it though. I love being able to play 360 games, and seamlessly go to watch a movie or TV show, without getting up.
I recently stopped my NetFlix subscription because I couldn't keep up with it. This would be great for me if the selection of things to watch via download was respectable.
I would say that the instant streaming stuff has been beefed up quite nicely, but it is still lacking new releases. Netflix instant streaming new releases tend to come months after the movies have hit disc based retail.
Normally, the selection via the Xbox Live Netflix categories is good about 20 titles deep, and then you start to get the off-brand stuff that really sucks. Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus anyone? Yeah, that is what I thought.
The bigger picture is that it gives Xbox Live one less item to keep me wanting to pay $50 a year, and it adds to the feature set of the free PSN. About the only real downside is the ridiculous disc based method for streaming, as if Sony had no care to design an embedded approach into the Cross Media Bar.
My guess is the disc is an installer.
Also, this saves me $50 a year—The only reason I got Live.
win.
The disc is not an installer. It is required to be in the drive every time you want to use the Instant Streaming option. This makes me wonder if features like adding to your queue via the console and other items will actually be available to PS3 owners, or if they will just get the same service we had with first generation Netflix streaming on Xbox 360. We could only view our own queue and not much else.