Nintendo Wii to Get Netflix Streaming Too

[mowston]

[citation][nom]KawiNinjaZX[/nom]Netflix streaming on the PS3 takes about 8 seconds to buffer an HD episode of LOST and never skips.The Wii can not put out 720P.[/citation]

It seems like the known specs for the Wii GPU are at least as good as those of the original Xbox GPU, which can output at 720P and 1080i. So what is holding back the Wii?

Personally, I use the original xbox (at 1080i) to stream Netflix, Hulu, etc., and rarely see any problems.

 

[alextheblue]

[citation][nom]mowston[/nom]It seems like the known specs for the Wii GPU are at least as good as those of the original Xbox GPU, which can output at 720P and 1080i. So what is holding back the Wii? Personally, I use the original xbox (at 1080i) to stream Netflix, Hulu, etc., and rarely see any problems.[/citation]The Wii is not capable of outputting anything higher than 480p. It appears to be a hardware limitation, not something correctable in software. In contrast, the update for the 360 (for 1080p) was made possible by the hardware scaler/output chip of the 360 supporting 1080p.

Anyway, the original Xbox will seriously struggle with higher resolution and/or higher bitrate H.264 videos. Even at more moderate settings, complex scenes can cause XBMC to crap out. The Wii might fair a little better if they really code to the metal, but its still not enough for high bitrate or 1080p, especially with complex scenes. It could probably do OK at 720p for *most* content, if it could output 720p.

 

[mowston]

Well, I really don't see many problems with XBMC and Netflix; I doubt they are using high bitrate movies. I haven't tried streaming high bitrate movies directly to my Xbox from my PC.

Anyway, I still think the Wii hardware could output 720p in 2D (PC video cards have been able to output 2D at over 720p for a long time), but the high-bitrate video decoding and game graphics are more likely the problems. And because the games cannot output at that resolution, then you would have to switch your TV resolution every time you changed modes (video playback -> games) on your Wii. That problem with switching is one hypothesis as to why they only allow 480p anyway.

It does seem a little funny that my DVD player can output at higher resolution (1080p) and with mpeg-4 files, and the Wii can't even come close to either...

 

[movierentalfreak-steve]

It looks like some Netflix customers have received their disks and are streaming movies already.

Some have complained about the setup being confusing, and others are saying that they are quite pleased with the quality.

I think the best thing to do is just wait to hear from those who are testing the service. Eventually, we'll get more feedback from Wii owners and that will help others decide on whether or not they want to give Netflix streaming a try.

 

[Guest]

I have started using the Wii for streaming Netflix and it is great and no hassle to hookup just do it folks and quit whining about it.The Duke