Netflix To Stream Videos To Microsoft's Xbox 360
Date : 16 Jul 2008 Category : Technology
NewsFactor Network"Watching movies at home will never be the same," Schappert said. "We are creating a completely new social-entertainment experience, and Xbox 360 will be the only video-game system where you can access your library of instantly streamable movies from Netflix and turn any room into a virtual movie theater."
On In 30 Seconds
Mike Goodman, director of media and entertainment at the Yankee Group, thinks the new partnership has strong potential. "It's a nice deal for Microsoft if it drives some of the Netflix subscriber base over to the Xbox," Goodman said, but "is even more important for Netflix."
Last May, Netflix unveiled its new Netflix Player by Roku -- a $99 device for enabling Netflix subscribers to directly stream movies and TV episodes to TV sets. "With 12 million subscribers, Xbox Live is a much bigger base than Netflix is going to get with its proprietary box," Goodman noted.
Xbox Live requires no PC to enable movies and TV episodes to be viewed on TV sets. Xbox Live Gold members will be able to use their Xbox 360 controller or media remote to fast-forward, pause and rewind the downloaded movies and TV episodes.
Netflix intends to make its library of 10,000 movies and popular TV episodes available when it launches on Xbox Live in late autumn. Netflix members will simply add movies and TV episodes to their queues at the Netflix Web site.
Their choices will be automatically downloaded to the Xbox 360 for...