My experience with Netflix VOD
In case you haven’t seen the recent news, Netflix has moved beyond shipping little red envelopes of DVDs. They are now slowly rolling out a Video-on-Demand (VOD) solution. If you have a Netflix account but don’t yet have the option, try this clever trick to get it working. Here is my experience to date.
The service is a snap to setup on your computer. If you have a broadband connection, Windows, and IE you simply follow the instructions on the screen and everything downloads just fine. In a few minutes - and on the first try - I was able to get “Jackass” running on 3 different computers in my house. On future business trips where I can find a broadband connection, this service is a no-brainer.
Seeking a bigger challenge, I wanted to see how easy it was to get Netflix running on my 32″ CRT HD TV. My expectations were low: I expected a lot of frustration with limited payoff. Actually it was lower than that. I didn’t really expect to get it running at all before giving up. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised.
I didn’t buy any new parts or components and used the following:
- Dell laptop (~3 years old),
- 80211g wireless network,
- Broadband cable connection through Comcast,
- An old S-video cable,
- My linksys wireless game adapter (just to boost the signal - my laptop and wireless router are 3 floors apart).
- A pair of old battery-powered external speakers.
After making sure my broadband connection was up, I connected my laptop to the TV via the S-video cable. I also connected the laptop to the external speakers. After flipping through the selection, my wife and I picked Sherrybaby and sat down to watch the flick.
The picture was as good as DVD quality - really. I don’t think I would have believed it myself, but it was amazing. The sound was ok - I didn’t bother to try and hook it up to my stereo system, but this would have improved it greatly. Since this is a relatively easy problem to solve, it doesn’t concern me much.
The only problem was a slight line that scrolled through the picture from bottom to top, an error from the refresh rate I assume. Certainly nothing worse than the quality I get from cable.
The experience was good enough that I’m motivated to finally create a media PC. I don’t relish the thought of dragging my laptop to the TV each time I want to watch a movie, even if the setup was a snap.
Was there a downside? Well, yes, actually. A big one. The selection is currently horrible. I know all VOD offerings have suffered from this problem because studios are still unwilling to release a lot of titles to this channel.
Netflix is definitely on to something, and it is a matter of time before the word-of-mouth starts spreading and entrepreneurs begin selling devices to overcome the hardware challenges. For the service to truly take off it needs an appliance as simple as a DVD.
Given the cost of Netflix, I can’t wait to ultimately dump Comcast and begin watching the movies I want to see, when I want to see them. I suspect it will take several years for Netflix to get the license rights, but the service will be compelling when they get a larger selection.
Comcast should be really, really scared.
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