Please remove that last comment, and this one.

ian320

there are

ian320

wow, this is great, i was just thinking last night how great it would be to have a plugin for Netflix on my vista media center

prospero

Netflix Watch Now feature is GREAT. I just wish they would expand their movie selection a bit and make it compatible with Firefox. Right now, that's all I use IE for.

Mizzle fo Shizzle

Mediaportal [www.team-mediaportal.com] has a plugin similar to this called NetflixManager.

sgtsloth

Windoz ONLY! This is why I went back to Blockbuster. When will they learn that there are a lot of people using other operating systems, e.g. Ubuntu Linux?

Frank

Finally: one reason to upgrade to Vista.

Rodriguez

Now that's an incredible feature... I'm quite impressed.

The How-To Geek

Is there a similar plugin/whatever for LinuxMCE?

USBman

@Frank: Besides,less than 4% of computer users use Linux/Ubuntu, so "a lot" of people are not using them. I think when that number rises, you'll see more applications and support. Windows still dominates 80% of the market.

COLDBLOODED_BMC

@Frank: Why would they make a Windows Media Center app. for another OS? Do Ubuntu or Linux have a media center that they could even make this for?

COLDBLOODED_BMC

So I can view the "Watch Now" movies in my browser at my computer or I can view them through Media Center, again, on my computer. If this was compatible with extenders, then it'd be worth something.

c0dek

People are running Vista? Anything similar for an OS people actually use like XP?

hansonc

@Rodriguez:

So Vista can act as a Media Center? Which version do I need to get?

monkeyboy

@Frank:

Frank, does Blockbuster have a "Watch Now" feature for Windows, Linux, or Mac?

monkeyboy

@c0dek:

For people that have PC's hooked to their TV's this is a great advancement.

Now they just need to offer Netflix in Canada, and support Mac's. Then I'll be set.

Myles

@monkeyboy: Believe that Home Premium and Ultimate provide Media Center features. Check out this comparison over at Microsoft.

jarmod

I'd rather have it work on XP (MCE) than on Vista, but hey its free.

rdldr1

So this seems pretty slick and it looks like someone put a lot of effort into it, but what exactly is the advantage of it? I can already hook my computer to my TV and play it within my browser. I'm not sure what this does that we couldn't already do.

gpzbc

@hansonc: You underestimate the number of Vista users due to the hype that it isn't a good OS. The fact is, Vista is fantastic if you're using new, powerful hardware that is specifically mentioned as being Vista compatible. I am very please with my new system. It is actually more enjoyable to use than XP for me. People need to get over XP. It is a 7 year old operating system and showing the last signs of a dying product. I'm not a Microsoft fanboi (I use and support Linux in my day job), but they deserve a bit more credit than they're getting.

jtimberman

I'll be giving this plugin a whirl on my new HTPC here pretty soon. Some of the other sites that have mentioned this plugin have complaints that it doesn't do playback in full screen by default. I'm sure the developer is working on that :-). Now if there were a WMC plugin for CBS Innertube...

@gpzbc: For those people with dedicated media center systems (HTPCs), this integrates the Netflix Watch Instantly feature directly into Windows Media Center (WMC), including using one's remote to control the software. It is a big pain to use a web browser based viewer when most media enjoyment is done in WMC.

@jarmod: That is correct. Only Home Premium and Ultimate include Windows Media Center.

@Frank: I'm sure that Netflix is aware that there are other platforms out there, but really, they don't have even a fraction of the market that Windows does. It is very costly to do cross-platform development and provide technical support for it. Also keep in mind that Netflix uses Windows Media Player for playback, because of the DRM support. Not a lot of people who write free software are fans of DRM (kind of goes against the grain of Free Software, eh?), so they don't support it well, if at all.

jtimberman

Seriously, I want this for the mac.

mw2006

Sweet Jesus this is awesome. Now to just wait for it to be compatible with Media Center Extenders (ie Xbox 360).

booticon

@MIZZLESFOHIZZLE: You can use the IE tab plugin for firefox and still use firefox to view the movie. That works for me :)

However the picture clarity on a computer screen with 1200x1080 resolution is not that great. Is there any suggestions to improve the netflix pic quality on the computer screens?

KC Desi

KCDesi

Sweet! I have been hoping to see something like this come around. I've got an HTPC with Vista/Media Center, and recently I've been really enjoying Netflix's "Watch it Now", but I hate having to switch over to IE.

I hope it supports play/pause & skip commands from MCE.

ahawks

@gpzbc: Um...not everyone has laptops buddy.

Tony of TonyandJuan.com

Yeah, unfortunately this doesn't work through Xbox 360 as an extender, which defeats the entire purpose of the plugin for me. If I'm going to be at my computer, I might as well just go to Netflix.com...

drewkkake

This is enough to make me want to restart my Netflix....

rennyn

It kinda works on my Xbox 360 connecting to Media Center PC.

M1K3Y