marketing: November 2008 Archives
Rejoice! Macintosh users can finally instantly view Netflix movies on their computers. For the past year or so, this feature has only worked with Windows computers. The Mac viewer is in Beta, so there may be little hiccups here and there.Here's how to get access to instant viewing with your Mac. First, you must be a Netflix customer. If you are on an "unlimited" plan, you can use this feature all you want. Other plans have monthly limits.
You'll need to download Microsoft Silverlight 2 software and install it. Then, follow this link to opt in to the beta test. Restart your browser. Then you should be able to view available Netflix titles instantly.
For high quality viewing, you'll need a fast Internet connection. Here's how Netflix sees it:
- High quality: 1.6 Mbps or faster
- Medium quality: 1 - 1.5 Mbps
- Low quality: less than 1 Mbps
Not sure if your Internet is fast enough? Test your connection speed here.
Netflix is also in the process of rolling this service out to selected devices that are more at home connected to your television set. These include the XBox 360, newer Tivo boxes, the Netflix Roku player and combo players (which include a Blu-Ray drive) from LG Electronics and Samsung.
You don't have to be a futurist to know that the days of the shiny disk are numbered. This multi-platform approach, combined with Netflix's vast catalog (more than 100,000 titles and growing) and excellent customer service, position Netflix to be a leader in the post-disk era.
Crave more Netflix information? Visit Hacking Netflix, an unauthorized blog that covers the service in great detail.
