It can't all be sweet, right? So Netflix is
indeed coming to PlayStation 3, but there's a catch, and that is a disc (badly photoshopped into the picture above) will be required for use -- not just for a one-time install, but every time you want to stream.
Joystiq shot some questions off to the company, who justified this as being "fastest and easiest way to let PS3 enthusiasts get Netflix on the PS3" and that an embedded software solution through XMB will be coming late next year. It denies this has anything to do with
Microsoft's exclusivity agreement, but frankly we're a bit bummed by this perplexing hurdle in convenience. At any rate, be sure to go reserve your disc now if you want to start streaming -- assuming, of course,
PlayOn hasn't already satisfied your Netflix needs.
Read - Netflix interview
Read - Disc reservation page (must be logged in to see)
posted Oct 26th 2009 7:34PM
um, sure you could just use playon, if you're not interested in hd streaming, and if you somehow think setting up streaming, and paying a larger electric bill, is somehow easier than putting a free disc in the ps3...
The disc indeed equals a better way.
has HD streaming for the PS3 been confirmed? I read the press release and didn't see it. Anyone?
Patrick, Richard Lawler said that it was confirmed on the podcast. I have found an article that says that it will support HD.
http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/700212/More-Netflix-On-PlayStation-3-Details-HD-Streaming-Eventually-No-Disc-Required.html
Since it uses BDLive then it should work in any BluRay player with BDLive
After you receive the disc and are done with it, return it in the pre-paid envelope.
This is probably going to keep me using the 360 until the software solution is out. Then I may reconsider as I like my PS3 as my "all-in-one movies" machine, in addition to some fine games in the recent months.
Some people really need to read the fine print the first time. But anyways, the disc is a Blu-ray "movie" and will leverage BD-Live. My guess is that Netflix has been working on a BD-Live player for some time, and a great way of turning BD2.0 players into Netflix streamers. A deal between Sony and Netflix must be fairly recent, and developers are busy writing a native app. While not the greatest situation, it's better than none.
The photoshopping was actually pretty good
Except a chunk of the PS3 is missing behind the disk.
Hmm. Pay monthly for an X-Box Live Gold subscription (in addition to the monthly Netflix subscription), or insert a physical disc for no added costs. Point to Sony.
Sorry dude, you still need to pay for the Netflix subscription...just like the 360.
You don't have to pay for a subscription to get on-line for the PS3 like you do the Xbox 360 - that's why Sony gets the 'point'
@ Peabods,
Thanks Captain Obvious. He was referring to XBL Gold, so no, it not just like the 360.
Inserting a disk to play streaming material is a joke. Streaming movies is supposed to eliminate the need for physical media, not require it to play. Everyone who is justifying this by bringing up xbox live costing money is in denial that they are getting the short end of the stick. Cost isn't the issue here, Its requiring physical media to stream....
Nick Clark & Tukom,
Agree with your points. Inserting a disc to browse an online library is a pain-in-the-ass.
I'm guessing they decided to use bd-live (thus forcing you to use a blu-ray disc) either because (A) they needed to use bd-live to get around the exclusive console streaming deal that Netflix offered Microsoft or (B) Sony was desperate to justify bd-live with an application people would actually use.
My thinking for (A) is that PS3 won't be streaming via the consoles interface -- but a bd-live interface on the disc which makes it the equivalent of "bonus content". Such that Sony is exploiting a loop hole in the exclusivity deal.
But I have a PS3 to play blu-rays. Failing that, I have DirecTV HD DVR's and PPV.
I ain't gonna be streaming any compressed crap on my US 8mb cable line anyway. Not till they invent Mpeg-5 or something that can get me blu-ray quality at well below blu-ray bandwidth. Or if I lived in Japan with 100mb downloads and Netflix streamed blu-ray there without compression.
Sure, having to put in a disc to stream Netflix is going to be a pain, but would you rather wait a year for the software solution? I'm perfectly happy using a disc for now. It's not like it'll kill me to walk from couch to PS3 a little more often.
Anyway, I despise the XBL Netflix interface. I have a ton of movies in my queue, and I would like a way to sort them instead of hearing that godawful flipping noise 300 times to get to a movie I added a few months ago. PlayOn does it just fine, so I don't think that's too much to ask.
This reminds me of the first edition Xbox Windows Media Centre extender that needed a dvd in the drive at all times to work....bit of a clunky way for it to work but guess the PS fans will take it however they can get it...
Maybe this plays nicely in to the 360's hands though as an advertising angle...'Netflix made easy...only on the Xbox 360'....
So I guess the disc is not $10 anymore as mentioned earlier. It would be nice if we could download an image and burn to a DVD now. I need to weigh the convienience of going to a blockbuster to get a new movie the same day (3 times per month) vs the convienience of streaming a lower quality version of the movie through netflix. It may be better as long as my movies are bluray and the kids movies are streamed.
I thought the same thing. Burn an image and be on our way. However I believe the disc will be BluRay since it seems to leverage BDLive. There's probably very few people that could take advantage of that situation.
I have to agree with one of the above posters that said it seems this release was hastily announced. I'm sure there'll be a software solution in the future. Late 2010 seems rather far off though.
This is a good example why PS3 is still a compromise solution rather than all in one media center. PS3 has all the needed HD video playback capabilities, but it is not enough if the overall media experience is not made easy or comfortable. E.g. in this case you wouldn't like to get up and find the disc and insert it in to see if there are any interesting movies to watch. Or maybe I have just become lazy.
http://mymediaexperience.com/ps3-slim-ready-to-digital-living-room/
Not sure why having to use a disc is such a big deal. You have to insert discs to play PS3 games or to watch movies on Blu-ray, so it shouldn't affect you too much unless you're really that lazy.
Is it an elegant solution? No, but as long as it works it will be just fine until a software solution comes around. Netflix streaming is a supplement to receiving DVDs/Blu-ray by mail, not a replacement, and since my standalone player does not support Netflix streaming, this is a welcome addition as a PS3 owner.
I'm looking forward to using this when it becomes available.
I too am of the opinion that this BD-J implementation can probably be run on any BD Live 2.0 player and thus avoids violating any console exclusivity agreement Netflix has with MS, inasmuch as it's not embedded and console-specific; the PS3 just happens to be one of a number of BD Live 2.0-compliant Blu-ray players 8^). Clever.
Netflix has talked about a Wii version of their streaming player, but I'm betting that it will have to wait for MS' console exclusivity agreement to expire (presumably "late next year", when Netflix claims that the PS3 embedded player will appear). There's no facility with which they can do this on a DVD.