Netflix streaming to TiVo boxes
Netflix and TiVo are linking up to stream the video renter’s Watch Instantly service to DVRs.
Testing will begin immediately. TiVo customers with HD-ready set-top boxes will have the streaming movies service by the end of the year, the New York Times reported. An eligible subscription to Netflix is required.
The Watch Instantly service will not be available to those using DirecTV boxes with TiVo.
Netflix has been on the move with its online video service, as slowdowns in its traditional mail rentals have battered the company’s bottom line.
Netflix just announced availability of its streaming movies and TV shows to Mac (Intel) users, as well as to owners of some new Samsung Blu-ray machines.
Recent content deals include partnerships with Starz Entertainment, CBS and Disney. A lot of the films offered on Watch Instantly are catalog titles and indie fare.
Macs get Netflix streaming movies
Netflix’s streaming movie and TV service Watch Instantly has spent the past year irritating the red envelope crowd for not being compatible with Macs or Firefox.
Meanwhile, the Mac community founded more reasons to hate Microsoft when its Silverlight media player became the “official” Olympics online media delivery system, leaving Apple users to the leftovers on broadcast TV.
Here comes a break in the case: Silverlight now is streaming Watch Instantly movies to Macs — assuming they’re the newer-generation Intel-based machines. This move comes courtesy of the recent release of Silverlight 2 and Play Ready DRM, a digital rights management technology that allows the app to protect copyrighted content on any browser.
Mac users, of course, aren’t entirely thrilled because they would be downloading a Microsoft plug-in onto their computers. A non-Apple DRM with unknown potential issues isn’t exactly welcome, either.
Still, somewhere between here and the end of the year, Netflix expects to deliver its streaming content to subscribers with the Intel Macs. Some subscribers reportedly have the upgrade now. Both Safari and Firefox browsers can handle the job.
Netflix’s product unit chief Neil Hunt provided this bit of canned quotery in the Watch Instantly press release:
“Silverlight with Play Ready offers a powerful and secure toolkit for delivery of dynamic streaming, which offers faster start-up, and higher quality video, adapted in real time to users’ connection speeds, Members who enjoy watching movies and TV episodes … that can be instantly streamed at Netflix will be thrilled with this next generation improvement of access and quality, on a broader range of platforms, including Intel Macs and Firefox.”
Meanwhile, Samung agreed to provide Netflix movie streaming via some of its recent players, the BD-P2500 and P2550. Terrific. Now if Samsung can just get its players such as the notorious BD-P1200 to play major studio Blu-rays. Like, say, the highly anticipated new James Bond releases like “Dr. No.”
This means delivery options for Watch Instantly include some LG Blu-ray players, the Roku black box and, coming soon, the new Xbox 360 media delivery system.
Update: Jason Snell of Macworld.com reviews the Watch Instantly stream on a Mac, noting that the quality and quantity of the movies and TV shows has improved since the Starz deal. “Still, where Instant Watching shines is in its collection of documentaries, classic movies, and TV series.”
Also, Dan Frommer of Silicon Alley Insider weighed in. Bottom line: “The movie and TV streaming service from Netflix is “a good start and worth checking out if you’re a Netflix subscriber with a Mac.”
‘30 Rock’ debuts a week early on Hulu
Sarah Palin says no one watches “30 Rock,” but we know better. The Tina Fey show should emerge from ratings purgatory following the comic’s brilliant Palin imitations on “Saturday Night Live.”
The Fey-Palin clips are hugely popular online, so it turns out NBC made a smart moving sending the season premiere of “30 Rock” to Hulu for streaming a week ahead of the network broadcast. The early season premiere actually was announced back in early September, part of a package that included the new “Knight Rider” as well as the moderately rated “Lipstick Jungle,” “Chuck” and “Life.”
Props to NBC for following through on the sneak, instead of worrying it would dilute ratings for the network broadcast.
“30 Rock” co-star Alec Baldwin appeared on the “SNL” show with Palin, telling the governor she’s even hotter in person. Ain’t synergy grand. The Hulu display for the “30 Rock” sneak preview (episode “Do-Over”) features Fey, of course.
Networks have used online video sneaks for season premieres before, but this is a first for Hulu, which officially launched just as the ‘07-08 season was ending.
Wang’s ‘Princess’ premieres on YouTube
Now showing: Director Wayne Wang’s new movie, “The Princess of Nebraska.” The opening weekend screenings are exclusively on YouTube, where the youth drama is streaming for free and at full length in the new Screening Room.
Wang’s decision to put his indie art film up for online viewing is more or less unprecedented for a major director. (Michael Moore did let fans view his latest docu “Slacker Uprising” for free for a couple of weeks.)
Yes, there’s a catch. Part of the strategy is to drum up publicity for Wang’s “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers,” now trying to find an audience in traditional cinemas. They are companion films, based on stories by Northern California author Yiyun Li.
“In France they actually were shown side by side,” Wang told the San Francisco Chronicle. “We were trying to figure out how to show them together (in the U.S.), and (distributor) Magnolia said, ‘Why don’t we show it on the Internet?’
There are, of course, many feature films on YouTube — some authorized, some not — but this looks like a major coup for the online video sharing service. As of Sunday morning, almost 130,000 people had watched some of the film, not bad numbers considering.
On YouTube, the film looks good at its original size (about 480 pixels, widescreen, on my monitor). Blown up to full screen, image quality becomes an issue. Audio is just OK. YouTube uses a better quality player for its Screening Room, billed as “a platform for top films from around the world to find the audiences they deserve.”
“Princess Nebraska” tells of a hip young Chinese woman who finds herself in San Francisco, pregnant and wobbly under the weight of the decisions ahead of her. It’s shot with tight frames, using various hand-held digital devices. The New York Times called it “beautifully shot and awkwardly acted.” I thought it was well worth movie lovers’ time.
Like Wang’s breakthrough indie film, “Chan Is Missing,” the action is mostly down at street level. “A Thousand Years,” meanwhile, has the look of a studio film.
“The Internet’s ability to provide free streaming video is going to radically redefine independent film’s access and availability to its audience,” said Magnolia’s Ray Price. “It provides a new platform, which can free us from the ‘Top Ten’ mentality in the same way that FM radio did for the music business.”
Wang pointed to Radiohead’s free online album, which has since gone on to success via traditional distribution.
iTunes adds Fox to high-def lineup
The iTunes store has added Fox network programming to its high-definition fare, meaning Apple’s online video service now stocks HD primetime shows from all big four networks.
The new Fox shows include “Bones,” “House,” “Prison Break” and “Sons of Anarchy” (from FX).
Apple said more than 1 million HD episodes have been purchased since the launch of HD programming on iTunes last month. A total of 2 million were viewed, including the package of freebies from NBC Universal.
Unimpressed, TV by the Numbers crunched some of the numbers and found that with iTunes’ catalog of 30,000 TV episodes, the total figure translates into an average of 6,666 downloads per episode sold. We’re a bit more generous, subscribing to the long-tail theory.
Here are some numbers from the TAMi measuring service: The new “Knight Rider” (given away free on iTunes) ranked as the biggest NBC show, with more than 97,000 downloads (includes minimal Amazon figures). Mega-hit “Heroes” was close behind with 94,000 for the same number of episodes (three). Props to NBC for releasing the data.
Of course, most of these shows can be found elsewhere on the Web for free, even in HD. Ads can and will dilute the viewing experience.
iTunes episodes go for $2.99 an episode ($1.99 in standard definition). “Season passes”on selected shows offer volume discounts.
Here comes that canned Apple quote, right about here:
“We’ve got an incredible Fall 2008 TV lineup with over 70 primetime comedies and dramas, including many of the most popular shows on TV in stunning HD,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services. “With over 200 million episodes sold, iTunes customers have proven they love watching television on their computer, iPod, iPhone and TV with Apple TV.”
The list of HD programs now available on the iTunes Store includes ABC’s “Brothers & Sisters,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Dirty Sexy Money,” “Eli Stone,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Life on Mars,” “Lost,” “Private Practice,” “Samantha Who?” and “Ugly Betty.” CBS programming includes “CSI,” “CSI: Miami,” “CSI: New York,” “NCIS” and “Numb3rs.” FOX shows include “Bones,” “House,” “Prison Break” and “Sons of Anarchy,” which airs on FX. NBC shows include “30 Rock,” “Heroes,” “Kath & Kim,” “Knight Rider,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Life,” “Lipstick Jungle,” “My Own Worst Enemy” and “The Office,” and SCI FI Channel’s “Battlestar Galactica” and “Eureka,” and USA Network’s “In Plain Sight,” “Monk,” “Psych” and “The Starter Wife.”
