Netflix Teases Console Owners with 1080p Streaming Announcement, then Pulls the Rug
Netflix Teases Console Owners with 1080p Streaming Announcement, then Pulls the Rug
Posted 02/10/2010 at 9:00am
| by Paul Lilly
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Hey, did you hear? Netflix plans to bring 1080p streaming and 5.1 surround sound to its streaming HD video service to later this year. Pretty rad, right?
It would be, except Netflix is taking a mulligan on the recent announcement, and now says that it incorrectly acknowledged 1080p streaming in the company's 2010 roadmap. Boo, hiss! Netflix didn't say why it pulled the about-face, though it probably has to do with bandwidth. While not official, Netflix says the requirement to stream 720p HD content on an HD-compatible box is "typically" 5Mbps. It's a safe bet that 1080p would require more, and maybe Netflix feels there aren't enough streaming subscribers with fast enough broadband speeds.
That means for the foreseeable future, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 owners are stuck with "underwhelming" 720p. That's right, in somewhat related news, Steve Swasey, VP of Corporate Communications for Netflix, downplayed the streaming service when discussing what Wii owners are missing.
"PS3 and Xbox users have 1 in 17 titles available in HD, and it's streamed in 720... it's not in 1080, and it's not in 5.1 surround sound or anything," Swasey said during an interview with The Wire. "So the HD experience at Netflix Instant Watching isn't that overwhelming. It's a little bit underwhelming. So the Wii folks aren't going to miss that much."
What a sales pitch!
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dvd1138
February 10, 2010 at 4:52pm
The quality difference between standard and HD Office is very noticeable. While it could be better, I'm glad I have the option. And I have the bandwidth for 1080, so I hope it comes sooner rather than later.
Mark17
February 10, 2010 at 10:13am
I don't really care and neither should anyone else. I agree 100% with the speculation in this article that it was most likely because of the bandwidth speeds of subsrcibers. Almost no one has the broadband speed to stream 1080p at a reasonable bit rate to begin with. Their "typical" requirement of 5mbps for 720p is hardly HD quality. 720p video at that bit rate does not look very good at all. To stream 1080p at a reasonable bit rate I would think it would need to be at least 12 to 15 mbps at the minimum. I don't think there are many people that have broadband speed that high. That's why I stick to blu-ray for HD movies, not to mention the lossless audio they provide. Until ISPs provide faster speeds at a reasonable price and Netflix can stream HD, let alone 1080p at a reasonable bit rate I'll stick to my PS3 and blu-ray.
Velox
February 10, 2010 at 9:47pm
Until ISP's get with the times and offer faster service for a "reasonable" cost, who cares.
fry
February 10, 2010 at 9:57am
I hope they're not counting the stretched & upconverted "starz play" movies as HD.
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