If you’ve wanted the Netflix Watch Instantly service on your Mac, there’s now a way to opt-in. But, be warned, this is a all-in no-turning-back procedure. Some caveats:
- Once you switch to the new, Silverlight version of the Netflix player, you won’t be able to access the older, IE version.
- You Netflix account will use the Microsoft Silverlight version on all machines.
- Not all movies are currently available to watch using the Silverlight player.
- During the beta, you may notice errors or lesser quality when streaming certain titles.
- If you use a plugin for Netflix Watch Instantly with SageTV, Vista Media Center, Xbox 360 using VMCNetflix or any of the other HTPC programs, opting in will break that functionality. The new version will require a re-write to enable Netflix video playback.
- The new player works on PCs and Intel-based Macs.
- This is a preview release – bugs can and probably will surface.
I’m not opting in through my Netflix account as I use the SageTV Netflix plugin, but I was able to test this out using a friend’s account (primarily a OS X user) and can confirm it works. The streaming quality seemed noticeably worse under the Silverlight version, although fast forward, rewind and skipping around in the movie performed better in the new player. I was able to view Netflix Watch Instaly using Firefox 3 as well, but it doesn’t work in Opera. So, if you’re a Mac-only guy who hasn’t leveraged any of the customer-created plugins for Netflix Watch Instantly, and you’re okay with the above warnings… opt in to the Silverlight Netflix player.
Check out more of Brent’s reflections on tech, gadgets, software and media at Brent Evans Geek Tonic.
I received access Thursday (thanks, Netflix PR!) and shot a Silverlight install video and brief walk-thru of the new player on Saturday. I didn’t get around to blogging it, but the content seems to fit well with Brent’s coverage so it’s attached above. I like the minimalist player – not sure if quality is worse than the previous player, as Brent experienced, but it’s surely better quality than Hulu and I appreciate the uncluttered UI (again, compared to Hulu).
How does this relate to the Netflix on TiVo announcement? I’ve read on some of the Mac blogs that the new Silverlight version has less content available at the moment than the old Windows Media version of the player.
Does anybody know what content will be accessible to TiVo users?
I assume Netflix wants to phase out the Windows Media version of the player eventually, since once you switch to the Silverlight version you can’t go back.
Michael, the web browser player technology should have no bearing on the TiVo announcement. Other than the video, in both cases, is protected by Microsoft DRM. Think of Silverlight as a Flash container equivalent in some ways, while the video content is based on Windows Media. I assume the entire Watch Instantly lineup will ultimately be available to all players/hardware.
@ Dave: Roku said that when they’ll release HD at the end of the year, they’ll be using a different encoding than 360 and that library will be “same as or greater”, so perhaps there are going to be different catalogs for different devices/encodes.
Dave,
I installed this on my new MacBook Al 2.0. It works, but the show I watched (30 Rock) had noticeable sync issues with sound (not a lot, enough to be jarring :p ) This was in a window (full screen had tearing/sync issues as well)
Does your SageTV experience have any issues with sound sync?
Totoro,
That would be me with the SageTV setup. And I can’t try it within SageTV since the new Silverlight breaks the functionality in SageTV.
When I tried it out on a mac though I didn’t have any sound sync issues.
I used this last night to watch a movie with the kids on my Macbook Pro hooked to my 61″ dlp. Overall, video quality seemed higher than previous uses of Watch Instantly. The 61″ viewing clearly exacerbates any quality issues. I had no issues with sound. At about 10 minutes in, it stopped streaming my movie. I went back a screen and relaunched the movie and it picked up from where we left off without issue. Overall I was very happy for usage #1.
I just signed up for the beta and it sucks! The video quality is horrible. The screens are really choppy it drops thevideo feed. I have a 40MB connection on fiber so I know it is not my connection but the quality of netflix’s silverlights video. I wish i could go back to the original version. I had no idea that not all the videos are available on silverlight yet.So in short, i just shot myself in the leg until they can get their beta up to speed.
By the way this was on a dual core vista machine with 4GB of ram.
Everything David Smith says happened to me too. I thought it was some problem with my computer or internet connection speed….. Glad I read this
I do not have a TV so watch movies online through netflix. This ended up in me being forced to opt-in with Silverlight. Almost two weeks later after this forced transition, movies are still pixilated and sound and images are out of sink.
Most interestingly, though, Silverlight dumps the instant viewing movies as *.wmv and *.wma files on your harddrive by the gigabyte, ignoring the space limitation settings of the internet explorer.
Yes, this probably implies that Microsoft is making Netflix break the copyright laws with every movie studio that it distributes movies for.
Disappointed to the point where Netflix and I have parted ways – it feels like a breakup. Silverlight does not work in our area yet cannot switch back, logged on through another person’s account half way across the country, that does not used instant watch and their system too has been flipped over. This type of behavior is a death knoll to a company. Bad decision Netflix. Bye bye I’ve gone to Hulu.com Abc.com cbs.com. tnt.com, pbs.com and so many others that offer what you do, for free! As for the broken disks, don’t need em. A flash in the pan industry, say goodbye to paid tv
Hate the Silverlight version. I only use the instant viewing when I’m in hotels, and the connections at most hotels aren’t fast enough to run any movies without spending about 30 minutes buffering, and then have to rebuffer every 20 minutes into the movie.
Good bye Netflix, I’m cancelling my subscription
I’ve used the older Netflix streaming player for years without an issue. In fact, I found it quite impressive how the video quality was excellent and no skipping. Last night I tried to watch using the new Silverlight player and it’s TERRIBLE. And to make matters worse, there’s no path back. Netflix has made a poor choice in buying into the silverlight hype. It’s junk.
By the way, my Windows XP install is only about 1 month old with no apps running in the system tray or background so don’t go blaming my PC!!
Is there a way to NOT instal this Silverlight? I’ve been watching instantly on Netflix using IE for months now with no problem. I try to watch something today and it tells me “Your almost ready to watch XYZ, click here to install the Silverlight plug-in”
So if you don’t want to install this you can’t use Netlix instant watch anymore?
I’ve been watching online with Netflix for nearly a year and have been happy. So when they suggested I upgrade for a “better experience” I trusted them. Ouch. The new Silverlight version tears like mad, and drops zillions of frames. I hate it…. but wasn’t sure if I was being too picky. Then my wife and kids complained about the same thing (without me telling them anything changed). It’s now un-watchable. I’m SOOO mad at Netflix!
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