Netflix on TiVo arrives
December 8th, 2008, 1:41am by JakeSo Netflix, including HD content, has finally arrived on TiVo! I haven’t tested it out since I’m not a Netflix member, but I’ll give it a whirl soon either through the free trial or alternative arrangements. Every day that goes by, it becomes easier & easier to live without cable. In related news, Amazon HD content isn’t here yet, but it can’t be long. It’s all good.
Oh, I would be remiss to end this post without a review of the long history of the TiVo-Netflix alliance. Like the eary rumors. Posts that take it for granted. Netflix begins streaming. The Roku Netflix box. And the XBox 360 entry.
December 8th, 2008 at 3:34 am
FYI, here’s the original Newsweek article about the 2004 TiVo/ Netflix partnership.
December 9th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Cool, I think you would be very happy with netflix streaming– the movie selection is pretty poor, but actually, quite a few TV shows become available (in HD) the day after they air. It’s actually quite odd to me, since that part of it really isn’t analogous to the DVD rental model– it’s more like a Hulu, but of course, not free.
For us, netflix streaming is disappointing in that we are only getting 500 kbps bitrate, which are pretty much unwatchable. Nice discussion of the available bitrates at the Netflix Blog (you need 3800kbps for the highest HD quality).
December 9th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
I don’t really want the DVDs. I’m thinking I might get the minimum package ($9/month) and sublease the DVD rental part of it.
December 9th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
My buddy, Danny, is a long time TiVo user and has a Netflix account. He told me that you can add up to four playback devices to on Netflix account. Seems like some savings could be enjoyed with a shared account. Though, it seemed that you can only have one quickplay queue, which might pose some extra coordination overhead.
December 9th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Don’t tell anyone, but I’m using my brother’s netflix account with my XBox. He only cares about his DVD queue, so I have full authority over the separate Instant Watch queue. Of course, what I watch affects the personalized recommendations for his profile, but I actually haven’t used it that much, due to the technical limitations.
In practice, it’s fairly easy to move a program to the top of the queue on the website so that it appears on the device, then remove it after it’s been watched, so sharing accounts is totally doable. There might be a conflict if two people were trying to watch the same movie, since the service bookmarks where you left off, no matter where you were watching it.
December 9th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Oh, sounds convenient. My Mom has a Netflix account. I doubt she’s ever used the online features. Sounds like a plan!
(Don’t tell anyone.)
December 9th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
It’s easy to set up if you can log into her account. For the XBox, you launch the netflix player and it generates a code– once you enter it on the website, whatever’s in your Instant Watch queue shows up on the player on the Xbox, and it can be changed practically in real time.
December 10th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Nice. Watching the Pilot from 30 Rock in glorious HD!
December 11th, 2008 at 12:18 am
FiOs is FaST! I’m also downloading 2 movies and a TV show from the iTunes Store for tomorrow’s flight.
December 11th, 2008 at 2:22 am
How’s the interface during playback? Is it TiVo-like? Does it fully support 8-second replay? I wouldn’t expect it to. On the XBox, when you fast forward through the movie, you see a series of still screencaps that give you a sense of where you would be in the movie. Actually pretty cool, but very different than TiVo’s normal 2-20X playback. Of course, when I resume play, I have to wait like 20 s for rebuffering…
December 18th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Anyone remember Moxi, the 2002 or 2003 CES product of the year? Well, you can now buy one, making it the 2nd or 3rd cable card DVR available. $800 with no fees is a $200 premium over TiVo.
December 20th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Well, there are some serious issues with TiVo/ NetFlix integration, to the point where some boxes are getting bricked. Not good. They claim this issue occurs if there’s a network connectivity issue, but since the TiVo is hardwired and I’ve been watching NFL online the whole time, I really don’t think that’s it.
December 21st, 2008 at 3:02 am
Are you having issues?
December 21st, 2008 at 3:32 am
Yeah. I have a couple posts there.
February 18th, 2009 at 12:59 am
So after continuing problems, finally decided to give Netflix on the 360 a shot. Works fine, the playback controls aren’t nearly as intuitive. But it works well, and doesn’t crash my TiVo, so this might be the new streaming option. Thanks to FiOS, no problem seeing it all in HD.
February 18th, 2009 at 2:50 am
You need to get the remote. well worth the $20. or get the HDDVD add-on, which also comes with the remote. Personally, i’ve given up on the netflix streaming. the quality is awful at
February 18th, 2009 at 3:00 am
less than 1 mbps, which is my pathetic download speed.
March 1st, 2009 at 10:04 pm
According to Wired, Netflix is planning to offer streaming-only plans. I wouldn’t pay more than $5 a month for that, but I’d be interested to see what they offer.