Netflix today announced it has begun the deployment of Microsoft Silverlight to “enhance” the instant watching component of the Netflix service and to allow subscribers for the first time to watch movies and TV episodes instantly on their Intel-based Apple Macintosh computers. The deployment, which will initially touch a small percentage of new Netflix subscribers, is the first step in an anticipated roll-out of the new platform to all Netflix subscribers by the end of the year.
The new Netflix player takes advantage of PlayReady DRM, which is built into Silverlight, for the playback of protected content on both Windows-based PCs and on Macs. That had not been possible with previous generation technologies.
“Silverlight with PlayReady offers a powerful and secure toolkit for delivery of dynamic streaming, which offers faster start-up, and higher quality video, adapted in real time to users’ connection speeds,” said Netflix Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt, in the press release. “Members who enjoy watching movies and TV episodes from the growing library of choices that can be instantly streamed at Netflix will be thrilled with this next generation improvement of access and quality, on a broader range of platforms, including Intel Macs and Firefox.”
“Instantly streaming from Netflix directly addresses the needs and wants of today’s Web users by providing on-demand, high-quality online video,” said Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft Corp. in the press release. “By using Silverlight, Netflix can deliver to its subscribers a higher quality video experience on the Web, on more platforms.”
According to Netflix, “Silverlight was tried and proven this summer as NBCOlympics.com streamed thousands of hours of live and on-demand online video for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.”
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah. And then, after the check cleared: NBC dumps Microsoft’s Silverlight after Olympics; goes back to Adobe’s Flash for NFL – September 08, 2008
For Macintosh users, the Silverlight player will work only on Intel-based Macs, which currently account for roughly three-fourths of Mac units operated by Netflix subscribers.
Source: Netflix, Inc.
AppleTV…get a browser. BAM
Way to tie yourself to Silverfish, an albatross the size of Ballmer’s shit-stained underwear, Netflix.
Aaalbatross! Aaaaaaaaaalbatross!! who will buy my Aaalbatross!!!
Next M$ advertisement, featuring Monty Python! at least that would be a hilarious ad.!!!!!!
Netflix, yet another cool tech I will probably pass on. I have learned the hard way, over the years, to just avoid MS crapware and keep my Mac clean and running smooth.
crickets…
Cancelled my Netflix the minute I bought my Apple TV. It was nice while it lasted.
I would never install Silverlight non on my Mac or my PC… Never…
SilverFish, and hence Netflix as well, will never find its way onto any of my Macs.
I guess I am in the 1/4 of netflix Mac users still on PPC. Are they going to give me a discount? Why should I have to pay for a service I do not get to use?
Who would want to pollute his/her system with SilverLight bloatware ?
Unfortunately I will have to pass on this one like many other Mac users. Netflix doesn’t understand the trend yet.
I had terrible experiences with NBCOlympics on both Macs and PCs. Didn’t work, worked poorly, frequently broke…I ended up only watching a couple key events that I really wanted to see, and those only on PC.
@mrboma:
well this is a service that Macs users have never had. We haven’t received a discount yet, and we aren’t likely to. The “Watch Instantly” service isn’t presented as something that subscribers are paying for; you’re paying for DVDs delivered to your door. Watch Instantly is just a little extra. (And a VERY little extra if you’ve ever seen the quality of it, or how often it just craps out in the middle of watching a movie.) Trust me, you’re not missing anything.
@Crabapple
“Aaalbatross! Aaaaaaaaaalbatross!!”
Do you get wafers with it?
Netflix has constantly blamed DRM for the reason that Watch Instantly has to be as shoddy as it is. It’s because they’re using Windows Media Player as their DRM engine. And here’s the result. Can’t streaming media in a browser be good quality? Yeah, it can. Check out Amazon’s video on demand if you need proof.
Great. I’ve been waiting for this. I’ve had to use Parallels in the past. Don’t own a television and don’t want one. Just the occasional movie is enough. Would rather not load Windoze to enjoy it. I hope it works better than Media Player.
I’ve got Silverfish crawling around the bathroom floor at night. What’s the best remedy?
and this is why QuickTimeX will have some type of built in DRM mechanism to allow for this kind of protected streaming
@mcfly
stop being dirty
Support another format from MS? No thanks.
Hopefully the OSS community will find a way of hacking this so I don’t have to install silverlight.
?
Note to any and all retailers.
Those of us who chose to buy a Macintosh largely went out of our way and do not wish to use Microsoft anything. Base your webb app or plug-in on Microsoft and it will NEVER be installed.
No sale.
Nada.
No Way, No Day.
MacDailyNews, STFU. Your take is totally FU**ED UP BEYOND BELIEF. It is Apple’s COMPLETE STUBBORNESS & REFUSAL to LICENSE THEIR DRM that FORCED Netflix to turn to Microsoft’s Silverlight technology instead! If Apple would have licensed their DRM years ago to Netflix, we would have had instant watching on our Macs a long time ago… like PC users have already been enjoying for years. Unlike you, MDN, some of us actually WANT to watch Netflix movies instantly on our Macs, and WE APPLAUD NETFLIX AT FIGURING OUT A WAY TO BRING THIS TECHNOLOGY TO MAC USERS!! THANK YOU, NETFLIX!! NO THANKS TO APPLE COMPUTER. AND NO THANKS TO MDN EITHER.
Fanatic bigotry isn’t pretty.
Netflix found a solution to offer Mac users access to a service which was only available for PC users.
Now, instead of being happy that you were recognized and included-you cry, whine and rant about how evil they are.
Idiots.
I used it for the Olympics on a Macbook. It worked fine. What would users rather have Flash or Silverlight? I’d prefer neither, but until Apple gets them to stream H.264, I’d rather watch, than not-watch.
Ah, quit hating on MSFT for Silverlight. It’s not perfect, but neither is Adobe Flash. It’s a plug-in, and proabably built for Mac by Redmond’s Mac Dev team.
except for Silverlight, my Mac is msft free. MLB 1.2 mb video looks great. If Silverlight affords the DRM that the studios so desparately want, then fine. MacBill may be right, Apple’s reluctance to have a better policy for DRM/Streams will continue to be an issue for them, perhaps one of their biggest strategy issues going forward…