New Netflix App on Xbox 360: Updated UI, 5.1, Voice Control, Kinect Gestures & More

Update: Microsoft told IGN that the Party feature was removed because, "The new app platform on Xbox does not support the video party mode feature at this time, so will not be available in any existing app partners that have updated their app, like Netflix, or any of the new Xbox app partners." Thanks, Chris.

Netflix formally announced the new redesigned Netflix app for the Xbox 360, with several key new features:

• New browsing experience with more titles on screen when browsing (see below).
• Enhanced Kinect voice and gesture controls for hands-free movie-watching.
• Easy way to view the next title in a series.
• Adaptive streaming to adjust for bandwidth changes.
• Support for 720p and Dolby 5.1 audio. 
• Netflix on the Xbox is now available in Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Columbia.

Netflix quietly removed the Xbox 360 Party feature, which enabled people in different locations to watch movies together. Netflix's Joris Evers, Dir. Communications, explains: "While the party feature on Xbox is great for gaming, it was very little used with Netflix and for this update we decided to focus more on the interface and other features that make browsing and viewing instantly easy."

I'm having trouble updating my Xbox 360, and have been trying on and off since last night. I'm working throught the suggestions on the Xbox Software Update Error page, but I wonder if Microsoft servers are just jammed.

Thanks to Gabe @ Tech of the Hub, Chris, and everyone else for sending this in.

Comments

[Ben Pike]

What does "Adaptive streaming to adjust for bandwidth changes" mean exactly?

How is it different than how it currently handles changes in bandwidth?

[medievil]

adaptive means no buffer... if you connection slows the picture will just suddenly be crappy... it also means they removed the buffer from the beginning so HD content will start out at the lowest bitrate and will take 30 + seconds to finally reach HD level...

[Mark]

@Ben As of last week the Xbox would stop the video and adjust the quality. For a connection like mine this would mean the movie would stop 5-6 times. Now with the adaptive streaming it will start off at a low quality, and actively adjust the video quality depending on your bandwidth without dropping, pausing or stopping your playback. So far, I love it.

[Btoy]

I don't like the new one. Few things about it bug me. First I hate the auto play feature. I hate that when I select a show it goes ahead and starts playing the next available episode and then while it is playing you have to pull up episode list to choose the one you are interested in.

Also RB and LB used to jump forward or backwards a few min. that functionality is gone and when you fast forward and rewind the image is static and only the clock moves giving you know visual clues to where in the movie or tv show you have fast forward or rewind to.

They did add closed captioning though.

[N3uRo]

Finally we have subtitles!!

Also I like when I'm watching an episode of a TV Show, when it finishes (I mean the episode, not the video with the credits) it goes to other screen where it tells you if you want to watch the next episode.

[Pennmu]

If their justification for removing the Party watching was that they were focusing on the interface, why is it such an absolute mess? Are they simply admitting that they suck?

Auto Play when you are trying to see a list of episodes is flat out BRAIN DEAD. And I suppose because they are playing things constantly now without being asked they had to remove the Recently Watched list, which was actually quite useful.

"More like This" seems OK until you realize there is no way to add an item to your queue from that view. Really guys, you didn't notice that? Or better yet since you were focused on the interface, you consciously thought this was a good design choice?

The 'rows' remembering where you are in the list is one of the few interface improvements, and even that acts wonky.

Oh and they no longer show they year the movie was released. Kind of important info there kids.

Better luck next time.

[It already had 720p]

1080p support****

[FedUp]

FYI :new update means agreeing to not sue Micro$oft.
And after updating I can see why they put that clause in;Netflix is now a nightmare experience.Everything is auto play,movies have lost the ability to restart and a long queue takes an eternity to sroll thru.Epic fails for Netflix & Microsnot.

[Chevelleman]

I like the look of the UI and love the addition of 5.1.

Bummer that it will not support 1080p. It's crazy that a big powerful console can't support it while the little tiny Roku 2 boxes will.

[ohmygoshthenewuisucks]

my gosh the new UI sucks!
you touch anything and you get bounced out of the episode.
you can't watch closing credits
much less info on each episode than before
harder to navigate through a series
show starts automatically: why? i want to select an episode first

what a disaster!

[Esky]

You used to be able to sit on a title and if it was going to be leaving Netflix instant it would show that date available until. Now you have to scroll down past description to see it. Like "Constant Gardener" right now for example.

This feature is nice because a lot of times I'll see that something is leaving long before it shows online in my queue.

[a]

Do they offer computer support for 5.1 audio? If not, have they mentioned it at all?

[Doctorworm1]

It does offer 5.1 audio it should show if it's available under the description of the movie. I've been watching LOST and it is in 5.1 audio. Also in the space for audio/subtitle options.

[young grandpa]

i cant find the restart of the movies
my grandson likes watching cartoons over and over but not to the end
so we cant find the restart for them
anybody else or am i just missing that opition

[c4pt41ntrip]

this sucks. i dunno about anyone else but mine is buffering every minute or so then takes about 2-5 minutes to buffer. i have a great internet connection and only have my computer and xbox on the router. never happened with the old netflix. and yeah, the UI is just terrible. why did they take features out that were very useful and added crap that is essentially worthless?

[Rena Plumley]

Absolutely the WORST application interface I have seen in my 23 years of IT experience. Whoever designed this one needs to be fired on the spot. They doubled our cost per month and took away half the features. You can no longer set the video to fullscreen or zoom. We have lost the ability to FF by chapter. No resume on movies and the autoplay is highly annoying.

[loboy]

The new xbox360 Netflix UI is terrible. More clutter, noisier, slower, and the text information is hard to read. Episode selection is by far the most painful with it auto-playing the first episode. What is with the terrible gradient in the background? When selecting a movie title, and pausing on it, a film still is inserted where the box title was, crap. Just too flashy. The reason I used Netflix was to rid myself of the crappy UIs in cable boxes. I want the old UI back.

[Noah]

Where's the option to opt out of the new interface? Putting in more design doesn't make it better; it makes it slower. I thought the new interface would be great, but it's awful. Auto-play, tv show lists, slower searching, awful scrolling... I can't think of a single thing I like about the new interface!

[online calculator]

such a nice starting blog.. i like your blog..

[ScottZ]

@Rena Plumley
Not only do I doubt you have been making co-workers miserable for the past 23 years in the IT industry, their is absolutely no way this is the worst application interface of the past 23 years.

Furthermore, Netflix simply started charging for streaming, get over it, the free ride is over. Streaming content costs money. Besides, since I use streaming only my Netflix bill went down.

ps, thank you for forcing us to look at comments in bold.

[corplhicks]

@ScottZ
Rena did not state that it was the worst UI of the past 23 years, but that it is the worst UI SHE HAS SEEN in the past 23 years...it's her opinion, her life, her perspective, and I don't think you can effectively make bitter arguments against that. She's worked the job, she's seen more than you have, and out of all her years, this is the worst UI she's seen. How many more ways can I explain this?

And it's common knowledge that the sudden, abrupt, and fairly large price increase was a poor move for Netflix. It's made customers either angry, annoyed, or passive like yourself, and good for you, but people like Rena and I have every right to feel at least annoyed. I feel a condescending attitude in your post and it's a rather low method of making a case for Netflix. We never wanted a "free ride." We just expect consistency.

Yes, this is a horrible UI. I'm surprised that few are discussing the lack of an option to restart and ep or movie. Actually having to rewind/ff to watch something from the start is about as logical as looking forward to a VCR this Christmas. That age is over, and it was pretty inconsiderate to leave it out. I pray to God they put it back in.

And ScottZ, it makes no sense to me why you would complain to high hell about a sudden shift to bold text (God forbid) after attacking someone for complaining about a massive shift in how valued customers control content that they pay for.

[ScottZ]

@corplhicks,
So you are saying Rena can express her opinion but I can't? Blasphemy!

You go on to claim "she's seen more than you have", obviously not if she hasn't seen worse than this. I think she needs to revisit her days DOS/ASCII interfaces and much of the IT user experience before it was mainstream.

Netflix previously charged nothing for streaming. It was not a model they could sustain as content costs increased significantly. Some people wondered why they were paying for DVD rental when they only used streaming, others were wondering why they were paying for streaming when they only used DVDs. It made perfect sense for Netflix to separate and charge for the services individually. The other option would have been to actually double the price and not let their customers opt out of the service the do not want.

In my opinion, Netflix is still the lowest cost and best video streaming and dvd-by-mail provider available today.

Lastly, I thanked her, I didn't "complain to high hell", and thank you for your response.

[DG]

Wow.....I thought the PS3 UI was bad. Chris Jaffe, the corporate stooge responsible for Xbox, PS3, and Wii UIs, should be fired and replaced with almost anyone. Because almost anyone would have enough common sense to know that people wouldn't like this garbage.

For those who only use the 360 to watch Netflix, I'd suggest investing in a roku. The roku Netflix UI is nothing special, but its better than the 360. Plus, the idiots at Netflix might understand basic math, so maybe if enough people call and complain, and stop watching on 360, it'll get fixed.

[DG]

I found this topic on gamefaqs on how to switch to the old UI. I'm not sure if it works as I'm at my job, but people are claiming that it does.

1. Go to http://netflix.com
2. Sign in and click "Your Account" in the top right corner.
3. Scroll down and click "Manage Netflix ready devices and computers"
4. Click the "Disconnect Devices" button. Confirm decision when asked.
5. Push the guide button on your 360 controller, then go left and click the "Quickplay" option
6. Go two spaces to the right and it will list all of your available Quickplay choices. Scroll down and click Netflix.
7. Netflix will give you a code which you must enter here https://account.netflix.com/Activate
Enjoy.
Also after activating you need only do steps 5-6 to reach Netflix again.

Thanks go to original author.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/927749-xbox-360/61276582

[ncmacasl]

Captions finally work!!!!! (MIKE - Please add this to your post!!)

[loboy]

Does anyone know what is the best way to complain to Netflix?

[Anonymouse]

I actually kinda like this new interface. Once I figured out how to operate it correctly (yes, some of the controls changed), I think they did a good job with it for the most part.

[J. L.]

Thank you so much for posting that thing from Gamefaqs. I detested the new UI. Netflix was crowded and ugly enough as it was. The new one just made everything more clunky, crowded, and generally awful. The text is hard to read and small, the videos starting on their own was insulting, and it just felt like something made for people who actually hate movies and TV. Anyway, hopefully I can hold on to the old one until they inevitably change it again.

[Josh]

I don't mind the design so much, it's not horrible (But not as functional as the old Netflix), But the change in some of the features/controls is just app breaking.

My controller has a dedicated PAUSE button. Controllers have been like this for YEARS, That button ALWAYS PAUSES THINGS. Why does it bring up a menu to give me the option to pause now? I shouldn't have to hit it twice to pause as I run to answer the phone!! You can't tell me Netflix ran out of buttons to use on the controller....

And don't even get me started on the beyond broken Rewind/FF, episode selecting, and the fact I can't restart a show/movie.

Netflix streaming used to work so well, and now it just feels broken.

[YOUR MOM]

WHAT A BUNCH OF WHINY BUNCH OF BABIES!!!!! GROW UP AND MOVE ON!!!!!

[Kale Barton]

Why is everything in BOLD type?

[just me]

No clue about the bold

[ixoxeles]

To say that I'm merely disappointed with this new UI would be an understatement. If they were going to update the UI, shouldn't it be an improvement, rather than a step back? I would've expected this UI back in 2008/2009, not today.

CONS:
It's too busy: The rows of movies being right on top of each other like that is distracting.

It's now clunky when browsing: I have a 400-title-strong instant queue. It used to be that I could hold down the FF button and quickly breeze through my queue to the organized section I was looking for. But in this new UI, pressing the arrow button trudges through, seemingly dragging along at one title per second. Pressing the FF button causes the queue to lurch forward by ten titles...without even loading the damn covers. I have to let it sit there for 3 seconds to load the covers (to get my bearings) before lurching on to the next 10, hoping that I'll eventually get to the TV series section, which Netflix has auto-magically sorted at the very end of the queue.

Like other posters, I feel it's frustrating that I have to start a show before being able to access the "more episodes" option.

PROS:
There are some good features once you're in the series page. You can more easily navigate to separate seasons' episodes than in the previous UI. I like the option to toggle on/off subtitles and I really like that when the closing credits of a series episode is running, it now gives you the option of immediately starting the next episode.

FEATURE WISHLIST
The things I'd hoped for that I feel the UI is really missing (besides the ridiculous omission of restart and prev/next chapter jogging) is the addition of:

- Trailers: I would've preferred it if I could go into a movie page and (similar to Zune Video Marketplace) see a preview of a movie (or episode) on the right side (with movie details beneath it), and on the left have the seasons/episode list and beneath that, the ratings/similar movies section)

- Sub-queues within the instant queue: I really don't understand why we're still unable to have custom sub-queues to help better organize/navigate our instant queues.

- Pinned Genres: I don't understand why this is missing either. The updated apps for both Zune Music and Hulu Plus now feature Favorites/Pins sections where you can add favorite shows, artists, or genres (in addition to the standard playlist queue), why doesn't Netflix?

- Playlists: I would still like the option of setting up a playlist so that I can watch different shows/movies back-to-back without having to navigate with the remote. If it's a bandwidth issue, then they should just set it up with a 3-4 hour play limit.

[=)]

Seriously it looks like they changed it to look like the rest of the new Xbox UI to make it more Kinect friendly sure there's a few bugs like anything else new but I think it looks pretty cool and u can quickly press the start button twice to pause mines I can also read the descriptions just fine so I really don't get what everyone finds so wrong with it

[ScottZ]

Netflix used to Beta test stuff like this before the rolled roll it out to the masses. I wonder if the bypassed this step or if the beta testing didn't have negative feedback.

@Kale Barton
Rena Plumley and her 23 years of IT experience made everything bold.

[Ha!]

she didn't close her bold i wonder how it can be stopped

[=)]

Idk but for having 23 yrs of it she failed epicly with the bold

[ScottZ]

@just me
Nice job with the italics!

[gir]

Did that work?

[gir]

Apparently it does - just put a closing tag in a comment.