Want to check your Netflix stream bandwidth?

Simple. Search for the title "Example Short 23.976". There are a handful of slightly different named clips, but this one has embedded bandwidth metering.

I WOULD GO AHEAD AND MUTE OR TURN DOWN THE AUDIO. IT PLAYS A FREQUENCY SWEEP THAT IS FAIRLY LOUD AND ANNOYING.

http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php...392c2449743383

Netflix Picks Up Four Marvel Live-Action Series & A Miniseries For 2015 Launch

The companies call this an “unprecedented deal” and “Marvel’s most ambitious foray yet into live-action TV storytelling.” Disney will provide Neflix with live action series and a miniseries featuring Marvel characters Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage set in the gritty world of heroes and villains of Hell’s Kitchen, New York. Netflix has committed to at least four, 13-episode series over “multiple years,” beginning in 2015, culminating with a miniseries, The Defenders, that “reimagines a dream team of self-sacrificing, heroic characters.” The arrangement, which involves some 60 episodes produced by Marvel TV and ABC Studios, grew out of the deal that will give Netflix exclusive rights to Disney films in the premium TV window beginning in 2016. It is “unparalleled in its scope and size, and reinforces our commitment to deliver Marvel’s brand, content and characters across all platforms of storytelling,” says Marvel Entertainment President Alan Fine. Also unprecedented was the secrecy surrounding the package. As we reported last month, breaking the news of Marvel shopping the four series and mini to Netflix and a couple of other VOD and cable players, no one was allowed to breathe a word, with the seller and all potential buyers all allegedly bound by strict confidentiality agreements. Committing to 60 episodes off the bat is a big undertaking but would help a new to scripted programming player like Netflix that is looking to quickly build up a slate and want to capitalize on the Marvel brand. Said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos, “Marvel is a known and loved brand that travels.” There had been talk of another Daredevil movie while Marvel TV first developed Jessica Jones as a series for ABC but it didn’t move past the development stage. The company’s first live-action series for Disney, ABC’s Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., premiered this fall and has been picked up for a full season.

Netflix updates Xbox 360, PS3, Roku and Smart TV apps with unified interface

As much as we love Netflix, we've always found it a bit odd that the browsing experience is fragmented between platforms. Jumping between PS3, Xbox and Roku devices can be a jarring experience, each offering its own spin on the Netflix queue with an inconsistent distribution of the service's best features. Even Netflix is put off by the mixed ecosystem: which is why it's launching a new, unified television experience today.

"About a year and half ago we took a step back to think about Netflix's television experience across devices," explains company director of innovation Chris Jaffe. "What we saw was a mismatch in how Netflix worked relative to how regular TV works, where you just turn it on and things are happening." Jaffe explained that compared to the active browsing experience of traditional channel surfing, Netflix seemed static. "We also looked at the devices and realized that while we've got a great experience on the PS3 and some smart TVs, we've got an Xbox 360 experience that's very different." Fixing these problems required the company to rethink its interface from the ground up. We met up with Netflix to see the results.

Jaffe explained that one of the first things Netflix did away with was the old, movie-poster shaped title cards - they just weren't a good fit for today's widescreen HDTVs. Seeing the new interface boot up, we're inclined to agree: the queue is now displayed with shorter (but wider) tiles that span across the lower third of the 10-foot display. The selected title headlines the horizontal scroll with a brief description of the program and three splash images, rotating every few seconds to foster a more dynamic experience.

"What you see is an experience that's much more visually rich," explained Jaffe, pointing to an area just below the title summary. "We broke out this new area that has something interesting about each title personalized for you." Here, Netflix will tell you if any of your friends watched the title, or if it might be a good fit for you based on your viewing history (recommending Doctor Who because you watched Lost, for instance). Diving into a TV series populates episodes on the left, showing a screenshot, a viewing progress bar and an episode synopsis at a glance. Even search makes better use of real estate, offering a graphical list of title results on the right side of the screen while simultaneously listing actor results in the lower left. Oh, and search is predictive too, which saves a ton of time when using a hunt and peck on-screen keyboard.

The new interface is certainly an improvement, but it's probably more notable that it serves as a fresh start for Netflix and its apps. "If we came out with a great new feature" Jaffe explained, "we'd have to write it for PS3. We'd have to write it for Xbox -- we have to write it for all these platforms." Bringing Netflix Max or voice control to multiple platforms meant rewriting the code over and over again. The latest update introduces apps built on the same foundation, a new platform Netflix created to streamline its development processes. Now, Jaffe told us, they can code the feature once and distribute it to all platforms.

All if this backend innovation will have one casualty though: Jaffe told us that Xbox 360 users who update to the new interface won't be able to use Kinect gesture control anymore. Even so, it's a minor loss - apparently the company's statistics show that it's almost never used. All in all, it seems like a solid, forward thinking update to Netflix's TV apps, and it's available now for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 (at launch), Xbox 360, Roku 3 and an assortment of recent Smart TVs and Blu-ray players, and older Roku boxes and other devices will be updated in the coming months. The only device guaranteed not to be on the docket? The Xbox One. Jaffe says it's too deep in Microsoft's design language to participate.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/13/n...TV-experience/

Introducing the New Netflix Experience on Roku

Today, Netflix introduced a new look for their television viewing experience and we are pleased to announce that the Roku 3 is one of the first devices where you can get it. This is a completely new design that features stunning program images along with increased personalization to help you find just the right movie or TV series.

The new Netflix experience will launch worldwide on the Roku 3 starting on November 14th (continuing through the end of the month), and we are exploring the possibility of making it available on additional player models. The updated channel brings the Netflix “Just for Kids” feature to Roku users for the first time, and also supports “Profiles,” which makes it easier for everyone in the household to get the most out of Netflix. This feature lets customers create a separate “profile” for each family member, who will each see a personalized set of recommendations. Each account can have up to five profiles, included at no extra cost in the basic Netflix subscription price.

For users of the Netflix app on phones and tablets, you can now browse on your mobile device and then start playback on your Roku player automatically. You can even pause, fast-forward and rewind right from the Netflix app.

http://blog.roku.com/blog/2013/11/12...tflix-on-roku/