You know, when we first heard rumors that Netflix was going to offer video downloads, possibly even partnering with TiVo, it sounded pretty exciting. But that was in 2005.Now everybody and his grandmother has a video download store. Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, AOL etc. Still, Netflix has been an innovator in movie delivery and product recommendations, so when I heard today that they would be launching a limited trial of their service, I was still excited.
And then I found out that the company has a DVD catalog of over 70,000 titles, and what are they making available online? Older movies that don't get rented very often, like Amadeus, Chinatown, and The Bridge on the River Kwai. That's right, Netflix is competing with basic cable here. All told, about a thousand movies should be available online at launch, so I'm hoping there's some better ones in the mix somewhere.
So how does the service work? Well, as you're making selections on the Netflix website, some movies will have a little "watch now" button. The first time you click on it, you'll have to install a browser applet, which is supposed to take about a minute. From then on, any time you click watch now, you'll be able to start watching a movie within 10 to 15 seconds.
The movie opens inside of your browser (I hope there's a full screen option), and you can pause, or jump around in the movie using a position bar. You'll need an internet connection of 1Mb/second to take advantage of the service, and the higher your connection speed, (up to 3Mb/second), the higher quality your video feed will be.
Unlike most movie download services, which charge you per download, Netflix will stick with the subscription model. That's not to say your $17.99 a month will give you access to unlimited movies. For $5.99 a month, you'll have access to six hours of online movie watching per month, while for $17.99 you'll get access to 18 hours. I think that's on top of your usual DVD rental services, rather than in addition to, but it's not entirely clear from the press release.
Right now, only a small number of Netflix users have access to the download service, but there are plans to roll it out to all users by the end of June.
[via The Mercury News]
1. Is that a typo in the last paragraph or is it really something only for Netscape users?
PS - The site is being hammered right now. And "My Account" page has a link for "How can I watch movies instantly on my PC?" When clicking the link it opens a blank page ... for now.
Posted at 12:06PM on Jan 16th 2007 by md