CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[Kiev Savoie]

I wasn't sure which forum to post this in, so sorry if this is way off topic.
I got my copy of the Netflix instant streaming disc for PS3 yesterday. I just popped it in and thought I would report on my first impressions. I'm really pumped about this because now I don't have to get an Xbox 360 and pay an $8 monthly subscription to Xbox Live just to have a convenient way to stream movies. I was seriously considering having both consoles, but now I can get bluray and quality video streaming in one console, Sweet!

The way it works is anytime you want to stream, you have to put your streaming disc in, just like playing a video game, so for convenience it loses out to the 360 which works from a program in the updated OS. There is supposed to be an update coming for the PS3 which will embed the streaming program, but I don't know any details. The first thing that comes up after inserting the disc is instructions to go to netflix.com/PS3 with a computer to activate streaming on your console with the provided on screen code. This step took less than 60 seconds. After that was taken care of, the menu came up with everything that was in my streaming queue. The interface is a very plain, no frills, 2D affair. You can see nine titles at a time with the center one magnified and ready for selection. I have 70 or so titles in my queue and scrolling one by one to the end tested my patience, until I figured out the trigger buttons allow you to skip left or right seven titles at a time, but then you have to wait a few seconds to let the title graphics load up. As far as I can tell the PS3 has all the same functions and options the 360 has, including the ability to look at program descriptions, stop and resume content and the same clunky fast forward/rewind thumbnail frame sequence. The 360's interface is by far more sleek and refined and appears faster as well.

I selected Anthony Bordain's No Reservations to test playback. The video quality is about what you would expect for streaming Netflix. The resolution varies from rivaling standard definition in scenes with very little motion to extremely blocky and hard to follow in fast moving/fast panning scenes. I'm using the wifi connection on the console right now and it is very apparent. Just like the 360 you will get your best playback with a network cable plugged in to your console. I found no real difference between the two consoles on playback. They look pretty much the same.

Overall, I am very enthusiastic about the PS3's first shot at Netflix streaming. The interface needs refinement and looks like quite an ungraceful beast compared to the Xbox 360, but it works well enough and playback is indistinguishable between the two consoles. Oh, and of course, it does beat the Xbox in one important way, It's FREE!
Two Thumbs Up!

[ecrabb]

Interesting. Thanks for the report. I hate to support Netflix with their "Blu-ray tax", but the streaming might be a reason to come back. I'm interested in what you said here:

[greg_mitch]

I honestly think using the PS3 in a dedicated theater JUST for BR and Netflix is completely unnecessary now.

There are a ton of devices that don't make you put in a disk to stream online. And many out now that are just as fast as a PS3 at loading content. Throw in analog 7.1 outputs, Blockbuster On Demand, Pandora, Cinemanow, etc. and you can start to see why you don't need it.

[drice1234]

I received mine yesterday as well but when I went to the website to register that they told me to on the screen it said it was not available yet. How did you get yours going?
Thanks
Dan

[ecrabb]

Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah, Greg. For those of us who like to play games occasionally, play YouTube AND other web content, download and play movie trailers, and who already have an HDMI-based AVR, there's no sense replacing it.

I'll buy a dedicated BD player eventually, but so far I'm totally underwhelmed. It's either way more than I want to spend (Oppo/Denon), or cheapy-looking Best Buy glossy plastic faceplate and chrome buttons (LG, Samsung). Nothing so far has had held any "gotta have it" appeal whatsoever. Can't one of the manufacturers build a BD player that's actually interesting or exciting in SOME way?!!?!?!?

SC

[Nashou66]

Crab you should have a look at a used LG Bh200, nice player with great playback quality. And they now added BD live.

Athanasios

[HaydnG90]

I was a loyal PS3 fanboy up until I tried a friends OPPO BDP83. Whilst I hated the interface using the controller, I stayed with it purely for the firmware upgradeability and the PQ. I was amazed how bad the sound is via the optical output (not sure how audio compares on HDMI as I don't have a sound processor with HDMI inputs) when I tried the OPPO. PQ is marginally better being slightly sharper but in the audio dept there's no contest. Why spend thousands on a nice processor, amp and speakers to hear crappy, compressed AQ.

[Kiev Savoie]

Yeah Ecrabb, I have a standard 1.5 mbps cable connection. It's good for SD only and it gets bogged down occasionally with out a network cable. The blockiness in fast scenes goes down significantly with a better connection and if you are using your CRT projector it's very enjoyable. Watching it on your laptop or a flatpanel, however, is a whole different story. They tend to make it look like a crappy youtube video. It is my understanding if you have a faster connection some of the selections can be streamed in HD. I know what you mean about the bluray tax, but as a cable/sat replacement, I'm pretty happy paying my $23.00 a month for 3 disc's so long as I have instant streaming. It's great to have when nothing is on the air and you don't want to stay up all night watching a movie. You can put entire seasons of some shows into your queue that you would normally only have access to through a cable/sat service and watch them when ever you feel like. There are a bunch of movies available as well and occasionally we watch one, but mostly I stream tv content. If you get it, check out Steven Speilberg's Amazing Stories series from the 80's. It's great, every episode has at least one actor in it that became a big star later on.

[Kiev Savoie]

[greg_mitch]

They do have a lot of content in HD and it is pretty nice to watch. A noticeable step up from the SD offerings. The only complaint about the netflix streaming interfaces so far is that they are just your instant viewing queue and not searchable (except for windows media center which rocks).

So if you don't go update your queue every few weeks you are missing out on the new releases.

You should try one of those cheapy glossy best buy players before you knock them. You might just be surprised.

I was.

[Kiev Savoie]

[Kiev Savoie]