Filed under: Multimedia, Internet Tools
Opt-in to get Netflix Watch Instantly Now
We noted a little while back that Netflix is finally bringing its Watch Instantly streaming TV and Movie service to the Mac. They began by rolling out the service slowly and it wasn't initially available to all Netflix subscribers. Now, however, it appears that there's a way for all Mac-using Netflix subscribers to get in on the action.The Netflix blog has instructions that will allow you to activate Watch Instantly on your Mac via Microsoft's Silverlight browser plugin. It is worth noting that if you switch over to the Silverlight player you must use that on any Windows machines you might have as well, which means that you'll have access to less streaming content (at least at the moment) than the old Windows Media option. Also, as VentureBeat notes, you're limited to a total of six devices for streaming content, which includes both computers and stand-alone set top boxes. Nonetheless, if all you want is to get Netflix's Watch Instantly on your Mac, there's pretty much no reason to wait.
[via Engadget]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jack said 10:05PM on 11-02-2008
...but is it really worth installing Silverlight? Ewwwww. :-P
Just kidding; nice to see Mac OS X included...
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waiownsyou said 12:04AM on 11-03-2008
Yeah but we can use FireFox! Windows users are stuck on IE... that's even worse than Silverlight!
G said 10:05PM on 11-02-2008
I'm not hugely excited about watch movie-length video on my Mac, but would definitely be interested in getting it on my TV via the Mac (for control and organization) and something inexpensive and/or already at the TV & networked (like my PS3). I've played with a media server app for OS X but half the local videos weren't recognized and it wasn't worth buying the app at the time. I doubt it would work with DRM'd or streaming media at all. This is great news for the Mac, but it feels like we're only halfway there.. unless I haven't been following this landscape close enough lately. Is it possible with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon VoD (sans TiVo or Bravia Internet Video Link), etc.?
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Lunamoth said 4:02PM on 11-13-2008
Why not just get the $99 Roku box that connects to your TV for that? It's cheap, it works (even with wireless), it's pretty small (fits on top of my stereo speaker) and available right now.
comctrl6 said 10:21PM on 11-02-2008
The supposed "cross platform" Silverlight plug-in only works in Safari and only on Intel machines. Camino, for example does not work, even though it's plugin structure is the same as Firefox and Flash works just fine there.
One of the reasons I started using a Mac as my primary machine was to get away from crap like this from Microsoft, where one great thing is promised, but another terrible thing is delivered. I'm not a Microsoft hater, but as long as the product doesn't work as advertised, I won't buy into it. I refuse to install Silverlight because it's a subpar product. Both from developer stand point and from end user perspective.
Too bad Netflix will probably not change their strategy and use a technology that is more mainstream.
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john said 10:36PM on 11-02-2008
Which is strange, seeing as it works on Firefox on my Intel machine.
Just saying.
Carl said 9:39AM on 11-03-2008
I just watched Superbad in Camino v1.6.4 and it worked perfectly fine.
David said 11:05PM on 11-02-2008
Very pleased to finally see the watch now option for OS X. For the past few months I was using vmware to run windows just to take advantage of the watch now option. Any chance of seeing this option added to the Apple TV anytime soon? Or more importantly the iphone!??! (ok that may be a bit much but there's always hoping) Imagine the drain on the battery on that....
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freshyill said 12:10AM on 11-03-2008
I think I just opted in to an empty black screen. No movies playing over here.
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freshyill said 12:12AM on 11-03-2008
OK, black screen in WebKit, which makes no sense. I get an error with every movie I try to watch in Safari.
SUCKS.
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Jon said 12:27AM on 11-03-2008
I'm not a current netflix subscriber, but with this announcement I'm now considering it. Could someone give me an idea of what kinds of movies/tv shows are available for streaming?
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netflix subscriber said 11:20AM on 11-03-2008
You can sign up for a free trial for a couple weeks and check out the entire library of discs (which is awesome) and the smaller library of watch instantly titles. From my experience, watch instantly works in a pinch, but the real value of the subscription is in their vast selection of DVD titles.
Bakari said 1:15AM on 11-03-2008
Unless you're movie freak, the selections of movies for instant movies is really not all that good. None current or really big box office hits show up in the selections. Pretty much the same movies you get from your cable service.
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artifex said 3:29AM on 11-03-2008
Will either choice affect my ability to watch on my 360 when it rolls out? Because I suspect the 360 may require the older Windows Media stream.
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Cecil said 5:33AM on 11-03-2008
I've watched three movies this weekend on my Mac, in Safari, full screen on a 21" dell monitor. Great picture. Good sound. Good movies. Not a single glitch in the whole matter. I'm happy. Finally. Thanks Apple. Thanks Netflix. Thanks Microsoft.
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JJ said 8:12AM on 11-03-2008
I assume you can only subscribe to Netflix if you are a US resident?
I'm located in Spain.
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William said 9:06AM on 11-03-2008
Important Note: There is no way to OPT OUT!
I just got off the phone with NetFlix and this is a one way street. You can NOT go back to Non-Silverlight streaming after you opt in.
Don't opt in if you use PlayOn with your PS3 (or other player) as you will not be able to use PlayOn once you opt in as it's not compatible with Silverlight streming yet.
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Double Crown Records said 5:05PM on 11-03-2008
I just get a black screen - it still works fine with IE in Parallels, but I just get a black screen that says "done" at the bottom of the browser screen (in both Firefox and Safari). I tried to redownload and reinstall Siverlight, but it still doesn't work - any ideas (also Firefox and Safari are both updated).
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iyou said 10:17PM on 11-03-2008
@JJ: I'm wondering the same thing. I'm in Canada. A former Netflix subscriber when I lived in the States, so I'm wondering if I can just reactivate my account and start using the service. My guess is that it won't work unless you use a IP spoofing proxy service like the Anchorfree.com's free Hotspot Shield that gives you a US IP address. The problem with that service is that you're limited to something like 3GB bandwidth per month. I think there are services out there that give you a bigger download allowance, but they ain't free.
I asked this question yesterday at Gizmodo but didn't get a response. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
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