Netflix "watch now"
 

Has anyone tried Netflix's Watch it now feature? I really enjoy it. The quality isn't the best due to my connection, but it's nice to be to jump on and watch an episode of Red Dwarf whenever I want to. Plus it lets me watch movies that I want to see, but don't want to take up precious queue space for.

The two main complaints I have about it are that it requires IE and the fact you can't (yet) create a "watch now" only queue.

Lucky! I wish I had the Watch It Now feature, it'll be nice to have...

Red Dwarf is available? DAMN! This may make me subscribe for a month!

You'd have to wait until June (at least) to see it.

I've used it and love it as well. I only get 2 dvds per month for $5.00 so I get 5 hours of viewing. However, say your first two movies are each 2 hours long, that leaves me with 1 hour remaining -- I was pleased to find out you can finish your last movie even if it is longer than the total time you have remaining. In other words, as long as you start the movie with a minute or two left in your "available viewing minutes" you'll get watch the movie all the way to the end. Make sense?

I also agree about the "watch now queue". I'm sure they'll get that up to speed at some point. I wonder how Ballbuster will try to compete with this...

I think they already are w/ their turn in the envelope and get a free rental thing. If anything Netflix's "watch now" is a reaction to BB doing that.

Nope...its available to me right now. All I needed to do was click a special link and it was enabled.

How could they not if they wanted to? All it takes is servers and bandwidth and a couple weeks.

It's not like Netflix has some special infrastructure, like Blockbuster does in their B&M presence.

I also like it. It's allowed me to watch a lot of older classics, where quality isn't as big of an issue to me. I have a great connection, so everything looks excellent.

I also would like a watch only queue, but I'm sure that will come along soon. I laugh every time a Blockbuster commercial comes on, stating that instead of mailing my movies, I can drive to a store and get another one. Well, now, I don't even have to go to the store.

I have Netflix, but don't have it enabled yet. Do the streaming movies count against your number of movies out in any way?

No, here is a chunk from the FAQs on Netflix that explains how it works:

Q:How much does it cost to watch movies instantly on my PC?

A: There is no additional cost to watch movies instantly on your PC, and there is no change to your DVD plan. To watch movies instantly, you need to install the free Netflix Movie Viewer, special software that runs on compatible computers.


Q: Is there a limit to the number of movies I can watch instantly on my PC?

A: Watching movies instantly on your PC is limited by viewing time each month. The limit is based on your plan size.
For each $1 of monthly plan cost (excluding taxes), 1 hour of instant watching is included. For example, if you are on our 3 at-a-time (unlimited) plan, you pay $17.99 a month, and you have 18 hours of instant viewing time per month.

Nifty. Can't wait until mine kicks in.

Do a search for "watch now" on the Netflix site and click on the link that comes up that says "Looking for our instant watching feature?" You stand a pretty good chance of getting access to it.

When I do that it says that Netflix will enable instant movie watching for my account by June 2007.

:(

It doesn't kick in immediately. Keep checking. Just don't get obsessive about it, because it's not really worth it.

I just signed up and it kicked it within 20 minutes of clicking a link.

Do a google search for "hacking netflix gizmodo"it goes to a Gizmodo.com website which gives you a link you put into INTERNET EXPLORER. After that it pops up within 10 minutes.

I've had it for about 5-6 weeks and actually only watched one movie to date. While the quality was watchable, my biggest complaint is the content. They are slowly but surely adding to their catalogue though.

I suppose a "Watch Now Que" could be helpful, but I think the regular que is just fine for that. If you do a search for a movie/show outside the "Watch Now" menu (use Gone With the Wind as a test case and you'll see) you have the option of Buy, Que, Watch Now - depending on what is available for any given title of course.

noticed that mine has had this for the past couple of weeks but have never really bothrered with it, because to be honest I didn't realise that you get 'x' amount of "free" viewing time. Since I'm on the 4 a month plan I guess I'll get 24 hours free viewing.

Could be a good way to test the water on some of the TV shows I'm not 100% sure about.

I have the option showing. I had not noticed it before today.

I've also been using it for documentaries lately. It's really nice when I am up late at night, and don't have any new movies from Netflix laying around. Since I don't have cable tv, I can't watch any late night movies.

I've probably watched 10 or 11 discs worth of stuff over the past few months. Some of them have been terrible, so I'm glad I didn't have to waste the mailing process on them.

I wrote a nasty email to them and they gave me access to watch it now they next day :)

Sorry if this isn't the most recent thread...blame search.


Someone has finally created a search engine for the instant viewing section:

http://netflix.softworksdevelopment.com


You can search by director, actor and movie/show title. The titles are also listed in alphabetical order.

oh my god. I love red dwarf and haven't watch the last couple of season yet.

dammit all to hell

Thanks for this. I've been thinking if the move to Netflix from Blockbuster would be worth it. After seeing that list, the answer is no.

The only thing I would watch online would be TV shows and there are not enough TV shows available on there for me to watch to make the switch worthwhile.

Netflix has finally added a separate Instant Queue. It automatically imported all 45 of the instant titles from my main queue.

Nice. :up:

too bad this only works on PC.

No kidding. Any news/rumors on Macs?

I hate how you cant use it with Firefox

Box announced today in partnership with Roku.

http://www.reuters.com/article/hotSt...29162520080520

I'll likely put another thread in DVD talk and/or home theater area.

No word on HD capability.

EDIT: Discussion on the box rather than the service side of "Watch Now":
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....94#post8696394

Here's a link to the product page at Roku.

http://www.roku.com/netflixplayer/

i could be wrong but it seemed like in the Roku faq on this, they were implying that once Netflix adds HD content to the Watch It Now feature, the Roku box will be able to output that to HDTVs. no clue what level of HD that means, but i guess a firmware update would take care of it

it's true that the selection in W.I.N. isn't HUGE, but it's respectable.

i always seem to find stuff i want to watch

then again, i don't really go for new release big budget titles very often