netflix streaming coming to the ps3
- Thread starter JamesJ
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Already reserved mine, very easy. And for the PS3, it won't cost me a nickel more than I already pay for my Netflix subscription. LOL 
I signed up for netflix with my tivoHD units and found it pathetic in HD offerings. An absolute joke for HD watchers, IMO
I'd rate the HD a little below what Dish and Direct offers, definitely better than DVD, but nothing like OTA.
I had Netflix streaming to my 360 for over a year. Great concept. but the movies they stream are either a few years old, B movies, or TV shows on DVD. Unless they changed, the extra blu-ray fee that they charge made it not worth it for me.
We've been using a Roku box for months and over the weekend I received the PS3 disk, so did a quick comparison last night by streaming the same movie (Short- Circut) to each unit. I believe the PS-3 may have been up-converting because it definitely had a better picture. Then watched Gattica via the PS3 and it looked great. Neither was in HD.
One disadvantage the PS3 has is you apparently have to insert the special disk that netflix gives you each time. That surprised me, because the Roku is like always on and your queue instantly available BUT PS3 (IMHO) makes up for that inconvenience by giving you access to the entire list of available "instant plays" instead of just what's in your queue.
I think where PD3 shines (above the Roku at least) in streaming and general VOD from the PN is their SD picture quality. Roku is pretty good but recently we rented a couple of "House" episodes from PN that we'd missed via regular network and decided to save a buck and picked the "SD" version. I could hardly tell the difference between it and when we watch the HD network version. The quality is so good it's not worth paying extra for the HD.
One disadvantage the PS3 has is you apparently have to insert the special disk that netflix gives you each time. That surprised me, because the Roku is like always on and your queue instantly available BUT PS3 (IMHO) makes up for that inconvenience by giving you access to the entire list of available "instant plays" instead of just what's in your queue.
I think where PD3 shines (above the Roku at least) in streaming and general VOD from the PN is their SD picture quality. Roku is pretty good but recently we rented a couple of "House" episodes from PN that we'd missed via regular network and decided to save a buck and picked the "SD" version. I could hardly tell the difference between it and when we watch the HD network version. The quality is so good it's not worth paying extra for the HD.
I have a Roku as well and was really impressed with the PQ of the pilot episode of White Collar, which Amazon VOD was offering free. They didn't have it available in HD, so I settled for SD and didn't mind a bit. Forgot I was watching SD after a minute or two and decided if I ever have to pay for a TV episode my DVR failed to record (and can't get it on Hulu), I would save a buck and go with SD. Good to know about the PN option as well in that regard. Sometimes I forget about their video offerings.
Just got my disc today and am watching as we speak. This is really pretty darn cool. Especially the fact there are like 100 kids movies that you can stream, so I can get rid of all the tapes and DVDs so the kids can watch Barney. Setup was easy. I am actually very pleasantly surprised.
I'm watching The Office season 1-5 on the original roku box that has HD thru HDMI connection. I am very impress with the picture quailty. It look so good that I had to check my tv to verify the signal was 720p. The picture look like it was 1080p. A lot whole lot better than dish quailty. You can truely tell the difference between dvd and HD. Like a night and day comparison.
I'm happy to have the ps3 version. I was in thought for another roku box for my living room for a long time. Now I can save $100 bucks
I'm happy to have the ps3 version. I was in thought for another roku box for my living room for a long time. Now I can save $100 bucks
I believe this is the plan. I heard there is some exclusivity clause that MS has with Netflix which requires that competitors are not allowed to have a firmware based application. I believe that expires in 2010 and the plan is that as soon as that expires, PS3 will have a firmware based application.
How is the picture quality of the HD on the PS3 vs. the Roku box? I realize the interface is clunky, but once past that how's the picture?
I would say the PQ between the Roku and PS3 is comparable, however, as my PS3 is hooked up to better TV (46" Panny 800u plasma vs. a 32" 720p Samsung LCD), I give the edge to the PS3.
I've also noticed when I hit the Display button on my BD remote, the bitstream rate hovers between from 3.0 to 5.0 mbps. On my Roku the highest bitsteam possible for HD content from Netflix is 3.8 mbps. I don't know if this makes a difference PQ-wise or it's just a factor of how the PS3 receives and buffers the stream.
I've also noticed when I hit the Display button on my BD remote, the bitstream rate hovers between from 3.0 to 5.0 mbps. On my Roku the highest bitsteam possible for HD content from Netflix is 3.8 mbps. I don't know if this makes a difference PQ-wise or it's just a factor of how the PS3 receives and buffers the stream.
I can't speak on the PS3, but I do have the XBox360 and Roku to compare against. Watching the bandwidth usage on my router between the 360 and the Roku it looks like the 360 pulls more bandwidth, so I'm not sure if there are different streams for the Roku and 360. From what I remember hearing from the Roku guys they use a slightly different codec stream for the HD...not sure if it is good or bad. It is hard to tell though on the screen between the two. Bandwidth wise it is hard to tell on the router as they grab the movie in chunks, and both have different size buffers.
I can tell you this though, I prefer the size of the Roku, power consumption, and there's no fan on the Roku, not that I hear the 360 since it is in the other room. Another big plus for the Roku is what is coming to the Roku in the next couple of months. Lots of screen shots floating around the web with Pandora, MediaFly, Revision3, etc. shown on the screen.
