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Netflix Streaming officially comes to the Mac

by Christina Warren Dec 4th 2008 at 10:00AM



Update: As the commenters have noted -- this service is currently only available for US customers. I truly apologize for my US-centric slant.

Last month, Netflix finally started to roll out its Watch Instantly service to Mac users. You needed to opt-in to use the feature, but it was available for those who wanted to access it. Today, Watch Instantly is available for Mac users without having to opt-in -- as long as you meet the minimum system requirements (Intel Mac running OS X 10.4.8 or higher, and at least one GB of RAM).

Watch Instantly is a great way to catch up on a movie, TV show or documentary without having to wait for the movie to come in the mail. You don't get the extra features or super surround sound, but it's fast, the quality is good and it is free to use. If you have a Netflix Unlimited plan, you can watch as many movies a month as you want. If you have a limited plan, the number of films you can stream is also limited.

You can access Watch Instantly from the tab on the main Netflix page and browse through the selection of movies and TV shows. You still need to install the Microsoft Silverlight plugin, if you don't already have it installed. Watch Instantly works in Firefox 2 or higher and Safari 3 and up.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

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Update: As the commenters have noted -- this service is currently only available for US customers. I truly apologize for my US-centric...
 

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Erwin Dink

5% is generous. Based on actual usability it's probably closer to .05%. Who can watch any program that has to stop and rebuffer every 1-3 minutes? Who can watch a show where the sound is delayed a second or two resulting in incongruous lip synching? Who can watch a program that has so much visual noise that characters faces are unrecognizable? This service aint ready for prime time, unfortunately.

December 04 2008 at 11:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Erwin Dink's comment
CZ

Wow. Your ISP must really suck.

For me, on 6 mbps DSL, I never have stalling, rebuffering, or stalling problems. I've been using Watch Now via the Roku player, and Boot Camp for a while now, and I've only had one movie stop in the middle (because my ISP flaked out for about 10 minutes). I watch movies and TV shows on Netflix very frequently, too... At least a few each week.

As for visual quality, mine looks pretty damn good. I'd call it somewhere around the quality of a 4GB DVD. It's not chunky or pixelated in any way. There are very few- if any- artifacts. There's no "noise" in the picture at all, except in heavy black areas or scenes, and then it's not that noticeable if you've calibrated your screen contrast properly for movies. All in all, I'd say the quality is better than satellite television or movies on standard-definition cable, and it will improve once Netflix adds HD content.

Maybe you're watching on a slow computer, or with a 768kbps connection... But anyone who drops by HackingNetflix.com will see a lot of happy Watch Now customers, as will anyone who swings by Roku's forums for their Netflix Players.

December 05 2008 at 4:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dorv

I guess I would care more if the selection in the "watch now" library didn't suck.

December 04 2008 at 9:48 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Gray

As a Canadian, I am someone who truly appreciates when sites like TUAW specify where the news relates to.

December 04 2008 at 3:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Allan L.

And we port this stream to the AppleTV simpy by . . . .?

December 04 2008 at 1:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jbrown510

I'm confused. Does netflix deliver outside the US? Does netflix streaming on windows work outside the US? I'm not being sarcastic,btw.

December 04 2008 at 12:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Hank Hauffe

They chose to do it using Microsoft's Silverlight and that's enough to keep me away.
I'm sure it'll be a big boom for the proliferation of Silverlight though.

December 04 2008 at 12:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Hank Hauffe's comment
alex cutter

The word is "boon", but what would you expect from someone that thinks that all Microsoft products are icky.

December 04 2008 at 2:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Bob S.

Er, Josh. Sorry; I knew that -- but my boss John stopped by as I was typing.

December 04 2008 at 11:51 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
colouroflight

Ewww, Silverlight.

And for those complaining because they're outside the US, Transmission+any given torrent tracker is your answer. As a bonus, it's DRM-free!

December 04 2008 at 10:33 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Bob S.

It's thrilling to know that some UK readers are as entitled as their whiny American counterparts. You're reading a US site, ferchrissake. You're presumably intelligent enough to understand the iron grips of DRM that every little bit of entertainment is wrapped in. You should be able to put it together to understand that "in the US" is the default for every single posting here, and if it isn't, they're intelligent enough to let you know otherwise.

(DIdn't TUAW actually have a writer in the UK whose job was to let UK readers know when something actually applied to them? What happened there? Maybe one of these whiny readers can take that over. Oh, wait... they have, and for free.)

December 04 2008 at 10:27 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Bob S.'s comment
Khyros

a US site? does it say ANYWHERE that this is the Unofficial North American Apple Weblog? I don't think so.

December 04 2008 at 10:52 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Bob S.

John, you aren't just whiny; you're working too hard at being whiny. The correct question is "Where is there any indication that a site written by U.S.-based writers about a U.S.-based company is global in scope?"

TUAW's very good about mentioning when news *does* apply outside the U.S. So if it doesn't mention that, readers outside the U.S. reading articles about U.S. companies providing services that could only possibly apply to the U.S. can safely assume that they aren't included.

December 04 2008 at 11:50 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Josh

Actually, this is what the headline should have been...

"Netflix Streaming in the USA officially comes to Intel Macs"

-
Too bad for me all 3 of my Macs are G5s.

December 04 2008 at 10:15 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Josh's comment
Christina Warren

Yeah, that's a bummer -- too bad they use Silverlight in that regard.

December 04 2008 at 10:26 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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