[Macworld]

Post your comments for Netflix offers unlimited movie streaming in advance of Expo keynote here

[Ronald_Schoedel]

Yawn. Netflix Watch Instantly has about 3 movies that I am actually interested in, and I already watched all three of them. This was great when I was travelling and was willing to watch a movie on my MacBook Pro, but at home there's no way I'd settle for watching a movie on my computer, not when I have a DVD player and a 32" LCD TV and a comfy sofa.
But...Netflix does say that their service will work with the soon-to-be announced "LG Media Hub!" Woo hoo! A bunch of crappy movies streamed over a "media hub" that something like 8 people will ever buy. Now, how can I not be excited at that prospect!?!?!? (sorry, didn't mean to wax too sarcastic there)

[danviento]

I have Netflix now, and am fine with just having 3 movies out at a time. There's enough to fill my day and weekends that I don't particularly need to have instant access to a buttload of movies.

However, it'd be tempting if they made a better Apple TV and do the rumored rent-then-buy scheme with iTMS. In fact, we could all watch the streaming Netflix if Apple TV let you use a mirrored video signal out to your TV. If they can make a widget to pick up certain pieces of webpages and sent them to your dashboard (Web Clip), why should you be able to have Mac OS pick out a certain video portion and send it through to the Apple TV which directly converts it to a fullscreen vid to watch in the living room? If anyone can, Apple could make a seamless method for this to work. And if the Apple TV remote isn't enough? Check this out:

Remote Buddy

[afriedma]

6 months ago, Netflix stated that they would come up with a Mac-compatible streaming video option, but they have not yet delivered. Granted, Windows users represent a much larger market, but I don't think Netflix is ready to supplant iTunes until they can figure out how to stream to a Mac. If they can't manage to do it soon, they'll lose me as a once-loyal subscriber!

[pairof9s]

Yeah, afriedma, I'm already there depending on what Apple announces tomorrow. If it looks good, I'll cancel my Netflix on Thursday. This is not a rash decision; I noticed in the last 3 months that I've only seen about 2-3 movies per month. So I'm not giving up much, and I might actually save a couple of bucks going w/ Apple ($12 vs $14).
Once again, it all depends on what Jobs delivers at the Expo.
/

[alansky]

Windows users probably represent a much smaller segment of the home market, which is the primary market for streaming movies. NetFlix isn't really serious about streaming movies until they are Mac compatible.

[MacGod]

Does anyone know if the video streaming works internationally? I love DVDs, but I watch them all on my Mac anyway (I'm a student). If there were an international and Mac-compatible version of this service for anything close to the $9 price point mentioned in the article, that'd be great!
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Apple could do it better, but I think the concept in general is very appealing.

[jmeredith]

Many first adapters have Macs and are affluent enough to subscribe to Netflix. A much greater percentage than the 7% and growing market share.
Streaming only to a PC and I know PC junkies who even hate Media PCs is a deal killer. We can't watch it with our families or on the sofa.
I tried Amazon Unbox and like some things about the service including that it broadcasts to your Tivo. The web based interface is clunky compared to a dedicated program like iTunes but I might use it again.
DRM Laden streaming to a PC. Fuhgetaboutit. Streaming to a Tivo or Apple TV, now we're talking.

[folklore]

The nice thing about Netflix's Watch Now is that they had a few currently running shows, like Heroes, on there. So if you missed an episode on NBC, you could watch it via Netflix.
I didn't, of course, since they don't have a Mac client, but still.

[AlanCE]

But you can watch Heroes on the NBC web site for free on your computer...
I'm pretty yawnie about this whole thing. It seems you have content companies like Netflix with a large number of streaming movies but no way to watch them on your TV really, and then you have Apple with its aTV unit but not very many movies to choose from.
And on top of this you have people like me with so-so DSL getting fairly mediocre download speeds. Seems like a really clunky idea overall right now.

[MarkZebra1]

Netflix "announced"... like a dog barking. What the hell is wrong with Netflix? They can't get their streaming movies to work on a Mac. That's retarded. It makes me question the mentality of those in charge at Netflix. I don't think they're equipped to handle the transition from disc to download competently. And that comes on top of their inability to foresee demand for Blu-Ray and HD movies (if you try to rent anything in high-definition, the wait is endless).

[folklore]

OTOH, they know what platform most of their users are running, and the developing a Mac client was probably cost prohibitive. The video client they have now automatically detects the download speed and adapts video quality accordingly. I'm not sure why they went with the codec they did, but I'd be they didn't simply ignore Mac users. They made a business decision to not support us.

Don't get me wrong - I want Netflix to offer its services to Mac users. But I can see a rational business case for not doing so.

None of that changes the fact that iTunes rentals are likely to seriously chew into Netflix's user base. And has anyone actually browsed their site lately? Netflix has made it increasingly difficult to simply browse movies, seemingly preferring it's predictive model (since you liked this, you'll like that) instead. Browsing new releases is painful at best. Once it's fully operational, I'll definitely give iTunes rentals a chance - at least it's easy to both search and browse at the iTs.