What Microsoft Does Not Want You To Know About Netflix Streaming

[Guest]

Opinion - Earlier this week, Microsoft and Netflix announced that movie streaming will be coming to the Xbox 360.

What Microsoft Does Not Want You To Know About Netflix Streaming : Read more

 

[Guest]

How about because some people don't know how to stream netflix, or want to do it on a 360 rather than an original xbox? Just because you get your news via your mobile rss feeds and think 'ppfffttt' doesn't meant everyone else does.

Hell, you have been able to play games online for years via PC. But some people didn't want to do that on PC, now look at the market. Seriously, get over yourself.

 

[evilshuriken]

Wow, you sound like a real nice guy. Dave.

 

[magicandy]

[citation][nom]Dave the rave[/nom]How about because some people don't know how to stream netflix, or want to do it on a 360 rather than an original xbox? [/citation]

Since it seems like you missed it entirely, they were originally talking about doing it on the 360, not the original Xbox. It was mentioned that you can do it on an original Xbox as well, but the 360 is what the article is original referring to.

[citation][nom]Dave the rave[/nom]Just because you get your news via your mobile rss feeds and think 'ppfffttt' doesn't meant everyone else does.Hell, you have been able to play games online for years via PC. But some people didn't want to do that on PC, now look at the market. Seriously, get over yourself.[/citation]

Speak for yourself buddy. Do you realize how ignorant you sound when your main defense for MS is "some people don't know how to do it"? Have you taken a single step at all at finding out yourself and realizing just how easy it is to do this sans-MS? This person is coming here and informing people on how to save money and letting people know this can be done without MS, and you come here and tell them to "get over" themselves? I think you might want to take your own advice.

 

[eklipz330]

wait, they are charging a fee for netflix over xbox live? I coulda sworn they said there was only the subscription cost, not including the xbox live fee.... is that what the author is trying to consider? Because that's kinda dumb, and they're just trying to integrate more stuff into the 360, which i don't think is a bad idea[it keeps things fresh, or at least shows their trying]... if you don;t like the netflix on the 360 idea, you dont HAVE to get it... you can stick with your pc.. but some people still like their Xboxlive, and might want to add netflix to their console, which i might do... i still think it was a great idea to add a plethora of media available over LIVE, even if it is at a seperate cost... might actually be cheaper than what MS charges already =P

 

[sanityvoid]

I believe that it may be totally missed by all of you guys, that the xbox 360 is, for most people, attached to a TV rather than a PC. This gives the 360 a large advantage, as most people don't have a sling box and or a different way to get the movie from their PC to their TV.

For us tech nerds getting the movie from PC to TV is/will be easy but the mass/mainstream public with 360's will find it easy to get movies.

 

[noneed_1]

@magicandy, you wrote "Do you realize how ignorant you sound when your main defense for MS is "some people don't know how to do it"?"

You're right, we should never pay a single cent for someone else to make our life easier or to do a job for us. I'm sure you've never paid a plumber/hvac specialist/electrician/mechanic/etc to do something you could have done yourself if you had just invested your time to figure it out, right? Computers/gaming is the same as a car/sink/air conditioner, it's something the average person uses everyday and has no interest in learning more about. I seriously, doubt that you're and expert on every single item you use throughout your day.

Time is money, and if MS says, "this is now faster and easier to do with our new tool..." people will jump at the new convenience, and with good reason.

 

[tkuhl87]

This is quite possibly one of the most ignorant articles I've ever read at Tom's Guide. I'm disappointed.

I have a Media Center PC, and I've been streaming Netflix over my media center for a while now too. Saying that, I still am excited to see it directly on the xbox. It'd be faster and easier and the new partnership allows for Netflix to pursue streaming HD content and adding to their database. Why? because Microsoft NEEDS this. They lost the HD DVD vs. Blu-Ray battle so this is the means to combat sony. Netflix being on the board at microsoft means a close cooperation between the two companies and a likely influx of microsoft funding to support this new Sony-combative feature. I look forward to the day when I can throw away my dvd cabinet in favor of a $170 a year fee for unlimited movies on my tv. ($10 netflix a month x 12 + $50xbox live)

Please, can we stop arguing about the $50 xbox live subscription? It's the only thing Microsoft is making money on when it comes to the xbox and they havn't made money at all since they sell the xbox under cost. You can't blame them since many things are moving towards subscription based items in this world. Also, who honestly has shelled out the $400-$500 (after games, controllers etc) and can't afford another measly $50 a year? If you can't afford the xbox live Gold subscription, you can't afford an xbox and you shouldn't have bought one.

Anyone stop to consider that a majority of people might use another form of dvr like comcast's or tivo. If this is the case they can hardly justify buying a media center pc just for netflix streaming when they can do it now over their xbox.

 

[justsomeone]

Gheez, why all the hate here? This place has become an outlet for people to rant and prop themselves up with petty arguments and bashing of articles when there is no need. If you don't like the article or don't have something constructive to say, then how about sparing the rest of us.

 

[Guest]

Dave you sound like a product to me. Sounds to me like you don't know how to feed netflix live to your xbox cuz you cant get any xbox from the girls at school.. I think its great that he posted that you can do it for free. Now smart people , unlike you, can google something like "stream netflix to my xbox" and oh look whats that? That my friends is the World Wide Web kicking Dave in the gonads.. Please dave shut your trap and go work for apple. They can use a dolt like you. There full of them..

 

[ram1009]

I'll steer clear of the urinating contest in progress. For you PC gamers who don't own or want to own an X BOX 360, Netflix is now offering a set top box to subscribers that allows streaming to any TV it's attached to. The one time cost is $99 plus shipping. It's easy to setup works great with wired or wireless ethernet and is an all around good deal IMHO. I can hardly wait for someone to find something to criticize about this.

 

[tkuhl87]

@ram1009
That's true, I'm curious to see how things will go forward with these units...whether Microsoft will try to limit the sale of these units in order to sell more 360s. Also, how soon HD content will be available and a new HD unit as well. That seems to be the real selling point IMO.

 

[jukebox_johnny]

Yes you can stream netflix but you can do a lot of things with the 360 media extender using windows media center that it's not designed to do. Divx is the same way. The problem is is that it's not intuitive and requires unnecessary steps.

Like most people who own a xbox, I already have xbox live so this feature isn't going to cost me a dime. What it will provide me is the ability to access my netflix account (or better yet the ability for my wife) from the front end xbox 360 UI. That's a big deal. Not having to go into Windows media center is huge for me, because right now Windows media center is a pain in the butt when trying to use it on the 360.

What I would love to see is some support from Microsoft on making things work without hacks on media center through the 360. It doesn't make a lot of sense that I can watch divx and mp4 movies through the 360 UI without needing to run an encoder, but in order to have the same movies run in WMC I have to press extra buttons and run windows media encoder in the background. And extra buttons just means my wife and kids are unable to utilize these features, because they aren't going to want to have to press extra buttons.

So I applaud the announcement, because adding features is never a bad thing. You don't want netflix, then don't get xbox live or a netflix account. I don't really see what adding this feature is hurting, so I really don't understand this article.

 

[gm0n3y]

[citation][nom]justsomeone[/nom]Gheez, why all the hate here? This place has become an outlet for people to rant and prop themselves up with petty arguments and bashing of articles when there is no need.[/citation]

Welcome to the internet.

 

[JonnyDough]

Nobody has yet asked "what if you don't own a PC?" It voids the argument for those who ONLY have an XBox 360 and want to use it to watch downloaded movies. The real issue I have with this is whether this might end up like MSN Music, where they shut down NetFlix some day and due to DRM you can no longer access your movies.

 

[martin0642]

Since the sale, the quality of this site has declined, and it seems like 20-somethings from Wired are taking over, from bad reviews to posts like this. If it keeps going, it'll be like Napster and AOL, empty branding.

That being said:

"But it is somewhat ridiculous on Microsoft’s part to act as though they have stumbled upon some miracle. Why would someone want to pay for a service that has been readily available for use? It’s a prime example of a corporation merely taking advantage of the public with an attempt to charge for something that should be available to customers for free."

This is the kind of stuff people don't like reading. Microsoft didnt "act" in any way, they just added a zero-effort feature for subscribers. People want factual, accurate news reports, not fan-boy commentary about the "evil bloodsucking corporations". Leave that on the forums, you aren't as hip, trendy and rebellious as you wish you were.

This planet is full of things that are free to do, yet can also be purchased, because convenience has intrinsic value. Condoms are free from some places, paid for in others. It's not about if it *can* be done, its about a persons willingness to do it themselves, irrespective of how difficult it really is.

Microsoft always knew you could stream Netflix, but there are licensing issues and branding issues that go above people wannabe 1337 hacker skills for a company sponsored roll out. Maybe this was Netflix's stipulation for official support, ever consider that?

There was a demand for a turnkey solution involving Netflix, and Microsoft did something they didn't have to and delivered. They aren't going out of their way to force people to do it their way, or disabling peoples hacks. People aren't flocking to X-Box Live because of this. They are giving less technical people more value for their subscriptions, and that's it.

So please just stick to reporting the news and spare us your "take" on the situation.

 

[ram1009]

[citation][nom]tkuhl87[/nom]@ram1009 That's true, I'm curious to see how things will go forward with these units...whether Microsoft will try to limit the sale of these units in order to sell more 360s. Also, how soon HD content will be available and a new HD unit as well. That seems to be the real selling point IMO.[/citation]

A company called ROKU markets the STB for NETFLIX. They claim their unit is HD compatible whenever NETFLIX decides to begin streaming HD content.

 

[spwatkins]

I've been aware of the media extension stuff for a while, but I still see a *lot* of value in having media capabilities built into the Xbox360. In fact the Xbox (or the PS3 to be fair) would be incredible HTPCs if they simply supported a web-browser and all the required plugins so that I could run Hulu, Unbox, and flash video decoders.
The main reasons I wouldn't want to use media extender:
- Don't want to fork out for Vista and hardware upgrades ($500, easy)
- Don't want to run my power-sucking PC in my office while I'm watching TV downstairs.
- Don't want to double load my home network bandwidth transferring the data from the website to my PC and then from my PC to the Xbox.

 

[Leetgeek]

Streaming HD movies? See you in 2025 when that doesn't take 5 hours. BD for me till then.

 

[gm0n3y]

PLEASE REFRAIN FROM POSTING ON 6 MONTH OLD ARTICLES