How Would You Rate Netflix's Watch Instantly Feature?

Mike writes, "I've been using the 'watch instantly' feature of Netflix a LOT, especially since they made it unlimited. I have been having problems lately with my laptop being hooked up to my TV. It was working fine for awhile, but lately has just started petering out 10-20 minutes into something, sometimes sooner. My specs are:

HP 97000 Pavilion Entertainment PC Windows Vista, 32 bit 2GB Ram Nvidia 7150M graphics card with 128MB dedicated S-video out

The movies/tv shows play fine if I am not hooked up to my TV. My feeling is that it is the graphics card talking to the s-video out. Anyone else having these kinds of problems lately?"

Have you had any problems with Netflix's Watch Instantly?

Comments

[Brian]

My problem: Windows only. I can't wait for the Silverlight version. And it will be nice for Windows users too, because you won't have to fire up the terrible IE just to watch a movie.

[MikeHunt]

I won't use it until it works natively on a Mac.

[Zach]

One problem I have is that a lot of the time, the movies are too quiet. In order to hear I often have to plug headphones into my laptop.

[NetflixFan]

I've had major problems getting it to play on my Vista machine. I literally spent an hour on the phone with customer care and they couldn't fix it. So I can't use it, and I'm pretty disappointed.

[Yvonne Hernandez]

Zach-- I'm with you. Movies ARE too quiet. My only true complaint. But, can we remove the old view software from our machines with Silverlight's release?

[jedipunk]

THe movies are quite but I stream the vista Media Center so I have two volume levels (TV, PC) that can boost it.

myNetflix and vmcNetflix work great (however, myNtflix recently had problems).

Currently watching Sliders season 1. Hopefully Doctor Who season 2 comes out in Watch Now soon.

[Dave]

They need mac & linux support. its bullsh*t that you NEED Windows, IE and WMP. until this changes, this "feature" is just hot air.

[nospam]

Your problem is more than likey Vista. It would use/eat as much memory as it can. By default that number will start between 512mb and 1 gb. Now add your browser which can take anywhere from 15mb to 300mb+ depending on your application and then add in all of Vista's ancillary programs and you are problem not seeing Netflix lag but machine lag.

[Donuts]

I'd rather be able to download a high quality version of the whole movie, and watch it at my leisure. The streaming qualities are too low.

[jimofoz]

It's useless to me until they let it run on a Mac.

[ZeroCorpse]

1. The Netflix Player by Roku is a better solution, needs no special connections, operating system, or software, and only costs $99 for the best Watch Now experience available.

2. On the Netflix Player, there's no problem with the movies being "too quiet".

3. "The streaming qualities are too low." - That's just not true, if you have a decent ISP. I run at four dots (full quality) on a 5 mbps DSL connection, and I never have a hiccup or stall. The quality is better than what I used to get on standard-definition Satellite or Cable. I'd call it somewhere in the neighborhood of a slightly-upscaled DVD on my 32" Samsung HDTV.

4. You don't NEED windows, IE, and WMP. Add the cost of those up, plus the computer, and then consider the $99 cost for the Netflix Player, which plays the movies flawlessly, and you'll see that the computer version is not the best deal.

5. Yes, it would be nice if it worked on my Mac, but then I'd be tying up my Mac with a movie. With the Roku device, I can watch a movie on my TV, and work on my Mac at the same time, without have to worry about performance hits.

[Susan]

I like the options, but I've had trouble staying connected, the sound is erratic and I really miss the closed captioning/subtitles on DVDs (my hearing is not very good). I much prefer hulu.com because it loads faster, the controls are better and many of their choices do have a CC option.

I do NOT see this as a viable alternative to DVDs yet.

[ubuntu]

I won't use it until it works natively on Linux. I might use it with Windows if it didn't have DRM.

[lifterus]

"I might use it with Windows if it didn't have DRM."

Do you even have the slightest clue as to what you are talking about? How on earth can a subscription-based all-you-can-eat streaming service exist without DRM? What planet do you live on? The whole "DRM sucks, rah rah" is an argument against DRM for purchased media (like iTunes purchases). For streaming services like Netflix, you have to have DRM. Otherwise you'd be able to download and keep every single movie they have in their WatchNow library - which BTW would be a totally worthless library if there was no DRM.

[Michael T.]

I used to have problems with Watch Instantly, and was quite vocal about that fact. However, over the last few months things have settled down and I'm now very happy with the feature. Sure, the selection could be better, but I see that as down to Hollywood's licensing issues more than to Netflix.

I am running on Windows Vista Ultimate on a two year old notebook, and have ZERO problems with viewing Watch Instantly on my TV via S-Video. I also no longer have the problems I used to with buffering etc.

I did for a while have problems with quiet movies, but that came down to a problem with my notebook's Realtek audio drivers. Disabling audio enhancements completely ("disable all sound effects" button in the Enhancements tab of Speaker properties) cured that, albeit while preventing me from using the equalizer, environment or other effects for the sound card. A small price to pay for decent audio volumes, though.

Now that the most important feature - the ability to sort Watch Instantly movies within categories by rating, year, etc. - has been added, I have to say I LOVE WATCH INSTANTLY.

[dAVe]

I tried to use the then-named "Watch Now" feature when it first came out. The experience wasn't even close to tolerable. It didn't matter if it was viewed on a TV using S-video out or on the laptop/desktop monitor. I kept trying now and then over the next several months, the experiment (no longer an experience) only got worse. I even took one last step and call Netflix Tech Support. No joy. I even went as far as trying it out on my friends laptop at their home. Still no joy.

Then along comes the Roku Netflix player. Now I'm watching streaming video without any glitch, quirks or stutters. I haven't changed my home network equipment or ISP. And the bonus - not having to deal with Microsoft Windows OS or drivers or any upgrade/patch/security BS. It's a beautiful thing.

My rating (0 - 5 stars) for Watch Instantly on PC is zero stars. My rating for Watch Instantly on Roku Netflix player is five stars.

My only concern for the future is Netflix is using Microsoft DRM with the wmv format - which probably helps the studio suits to sleep at night. From what I'm reading, I think the H.264 format from Apple is going to crush the competition and possible be the first to deliver HD-like quality in either download or streamed fashion.

[dAVe]

I tried to use the then-named "Watch Now" feature when it first came out. The experience wasn't even close to tolerable. It didn't matter if it was viewed on a TV using S-video out or on the laptop/desktop monitor. I kept trying now and then over the next several months, the experiment (no longer an experience) only got worse. I even took one last step and call Netflix Tech Support. No joy. I even went as far as trying it out on my friends laptop at their home. Still no joy.

Then along comes the Roku Netflix player. Now I'm watching streaming video without any glitch, quirks or stutters. I haven't changed my home network equipment or ISP. And the bonus - not having to deal with Microsoft Windows OS or drivers or any upgrade/patch/security BS. It's a beautiful thing.

My rating (0 - 5 stars) for Watch Instantly on PC is zero stars. My rating for Watch Instantly on Roku Netflix player is five stars.

My only concern for the future is Netflix is using Microsoft DRM with the wmv format - which probably helps the studio suits to sleep at night. From what I'm reading, I think the H.264 format from Apple is going to crush the competition and possible be the first to deliver HD-like quality in either download or streamed fashion.

[phil]

I love the watch instantly feature. I went to the trouble of installing Windows on my iMac for the sole purpose of playing Netflix rentals.

Now my only question is why my instant queue isnt more closely linked to my regular queue. I think it would be obvious that if I add something to my queue, i might be interested in watching it instantly at some point.

[astroworf1]

I have no trouble with volume (it's actually louder than dvds played on my system) I have only two minor complaints--I can't use Firefox to access WI and it takes forever to find something that strikes my fancy.

[Im Not A Turnip]

Instructions for using Watch Instantly on Firefox:

http://community.netflix.com/forum/topic/show?id=1993323%3ATopic%3A10599

[Tom]

Is "Mike" the same person as "Route66"? Sounds like the same problem, but reversed -- in this case, hulu.com doesn't work, but Netflix does. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=229836

There's probably been a system change. Driver update? (Perhaps auto-update through Windows Update?) Update to Netflix Watch Instantly viewer? etc.

[lynn]

i was just required to download silverlight to watch a preview on netflix. does that mean sometime in the near future i might be able to finally use watch it now on my mac?

[Amanda]

Hi, Just another person that is waiting for Watch Instantly to work on Macs (just in case Netflix decision-makers are reading these posts.) It's really frustrating that non-PC users pay the same amount per month, but can't use this great feature. (I'm able to stream movies and TV episodes through Hulu on my Mac, so hopefully Netflix isn't far behind?)

[Chad]

Nope, no issues. Use the Roku player. Thanks for asking.

[thetechguy]

anyone heard anymore on the xbox i hear we will have o pay for xbox live gold to use it makes the roku sound better all the time but i already own a xbox just wrong to make us have to pay to use a service were already paying for

[Del]

Use XP and the Roku box all the time and have had no problems. I did try the latest IE8 beta and it did not work, went back to IE7 and it works fine.

[kh]

I haven't used it a lot, but the times I have used it I had no problems with sound level or video quality (I use Windows XP). Sorry, I don't have much sympathy for whining Mac and Linux users. No matter what you think of Microsoft, Windows is the de facto standard. If you're going to refuse to use it on principle then you have to expect some inconveniences.

[jobo]

Mostly it's great. Occasionally it's terrible. I have the Roku and for the last couple of days have only been able to get 1 dot and it keeps rebuffering.

Speedtest gives me a much higher result but the Roku has no place to change how netflix tests the connection speed. Hulu or other streaming has been working fine.

[Kris]

Roku, Roku, Roku!

I watched all the old Kojaks on it, for starters.

[Lee S]

My problem with the Netflix "Instant" feature is that it will only allow me to use the "basic" quality.
I tested my speed on several different websites (including the Netflix test, Speedtest.net, etc, etc) and my speed is always greater than 2000kb/s (2mb/s). On the Netflix website it says any speed greater than 1.5mb/s should have the "high" quality. I don't even get the medium quality, only basic. :(

Really peeves me, I wish they would let you set it yourself. I like to let the movie download completely before I watch anyway, so it's not like it matters what connection speed I have...

[Peppers]

I have downloaded IE 8 Beta and now I can't watch the Instant Viewer Movies. Netflix says they doen't intend to fix the issue in the Beta Version.

[Big Skinny]

I love it, used it a ton for a while until my vid card need a driver update and wham S video no longer worked. After a month of trying got it back. Ya never know how much ya like something till its gone.

will try link so i can view movies online through Mozilla Firefox.

I to have low volume problems. but only on netflix. I have double checked all controls. So now I use headphones.

[Megan D]

My problem is that there's no captions available.

I suspect the same is true for streaming to a box.

There's laws out there requiring captioning support via normal broadcast methods. Wonder how long it'll take to get them to cover the internet/streaming methods too?

[RisDnalor]

Waiting for Netflix to work with Firefox. No, I don't want to install a 3rd party patch distributed by someone I know nothing about... Cross-browser compatibility is a must. Not having it is like McDonalds refusing to serve people who drive red cars through their drive thru. "Sorry, no frys for you today, Sir. You can always repaint your car and then we will sell you frys"...

ridiculous.

[VB]

Hi, I can't watch instant movies on my PC. When I press play, it looks like it's going to work, then just stops - page done loading. I tried: uninstall/reinstall Silverlight, windows uninstaller, registry fixes, etc., all no good. Netflix and MS support were absurdlynon-responsive. Thanks for any suggestions. -Val

[Kurt]

The trouble is, no choices. It reminds me of laserdisc or betamax. no choices. Since it's basically on-demand, where are all the classic shows? where's ALL the Star Trek series? Let's see ... Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman (old one) I Love Lucy, Mother's In Law ... I would like ALL content to be there. In one place. Hulu gives you McHale's Navy and some other variety, but not much else in the classics. I had this naive thought that it would all be there. What else are we missing? Get Smart, M*A*S*H, Hogan's Heroes, All in the Family, Benny Hill, The Carol Burnett Show - I could go on and on. We need more content. The providers need to get some balls and force the studios to just DO IT!

[Talos42]

Anybody know a safe proxy server in the USA? Living in Japan, I can't use the Watch Instantly feature. It affects such a small percentage, I'm willing to bet that Netflix wont change this any time soon.

[Alex]

They are TOO QUIET!!! ZeroCorpse, maybe you are not experiencing this problem, or maybe you just have some LOUD speakers, but on my laptop I can barely hear anything with volume turned all the way up! Please don't say "there is no problem", clearly you have no idea what you are talking about.

[Joshua]

It is an absolutely horrible setup. It looks like shit, it lags, and it stops several times in the process to buffer. I would stay away from this service. It is horrible. I don't recommend it to anyone. The selection of movies is also very bad. I wish the buffer was more memory but whatever. If they want to screw up their business. Then that is their problem.