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Netflix Instant Movies on Xbox 360 / PS3 / Roku


Nitrousbird

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I have Netflix, and decided to try out the Instant que.

 

Sony doesn't have the deal Microsoft has w/ Netflix, so the only way I've found to use Netflix with the PS3 is using a program called PlayOn. The program was simple to setup, and seems to work fine.

 

My question is video quality. It deems my internet connection high (stuck w/ an 8Mbps Warner connection :( ), but that doesn't seem to be an issue. I'm not even close to maxing out my CPU when streaming, everything is hardwired for the network connection...plus I regularly stream ripped Bluray movies without any network issues, so the LAN bandwidth is there for sure.

 

The issue is the video is just slightly choppy. You notice it a lot in action stuff, where it isn't as smooth as it could be. Audio is fine (lame 2 channel audio), but the video just seems over-compressed. I wanted to make sure this is a Netflix thing, and not something PS3 related.

 

I ask because when I streamed w/ their browser player, it looks like total dog-crap, and looks a lot better through the PS3 on our TV. I want to make sure there isn't anything else I may be missing, or if it is an issue with the PlayOn software vs. a Netflix issue.

 

The video quality is watchable, but honestly I could only see me using this for like a comedy DVD or something like that...a movie is just not good enough quality for me to watch it without constantly noticing. The quality to me looks like taking a movie and compressing it to 300 Meg...just too compressed.

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I totally forgot about your PM, I will respond tomorrow when I get in the office.

 

So what is your video quality on the 360? DVD quality, a little less...what?

 

I just played with it a little more. It seems that Stepbrothers was a bad example to test on. I tried Hancock on both the PC and the PS3, and they looked similar.

 

But the issue is still it looks really compressed. I have the movie on DVD, and it looks a LOT better; video is a little smoother, sound is better of course, the colors are more vibrant, the picture is more crisp. And that's just DVD. The movie just looks really compressed on Netflix. Does anyone have any idea how big the movie files from them are? That's a really easy way to tell how good the video is going to be.

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No idea on sizes, but the system runs on Microsoft Silverlight, if that really even tells you anything.

 

Quality...Well, that really seems to be inconsistent, based on how my connection is running that day. Lets take Heroes for example, streaming it in HD on the 360 looks just as compressed as a regular digital cable broadcast, which means that it still looks good for what it is, but not quite, say Blu-ray quality.

 

However, Sliders Season 1 looked just like how it did when it originally aired, which who knows if thats the source material or the stream, but it was very clear.

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I've been thinkin about getting either netflix or roku.....I don't know to much about Roku yet except my friend has one but I haven't been able to check it out. I have a xbox 360. Is there anyway I should be leaning?

 

http://www.sugarsays.com/.a/6a00e54ff18131883401053497806b970b-800wi

 

Joe, I wouldn't say I've ever seen it look as good as a good SD signal, even at full res and their 'HD'. But I've never seen what you say. I've seen it look compressed in the resolution, but never choppy. I've only ever streamed via 360 so I can't say about what it looks like compared to PC streaming.

 

Suposedly you can't get their 'hd' at full bore until around 6-8mbps if that tells you anything. DVD video bit rate, IIRC max's out at 12 or 15mbps, with the average probably being well below 10mbps (around 8). Audio for DVD is shit small, like .5mbps max, so the 2 channel stream for netflix is nothing.

 

Do you still work for WOW? I'm having some issues and thought you might be able to steer me in the right direction.

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Do you still work for WOW? I'm having some issues and thought you might be able to steer me in the right direction.

Yes, just PM me your issue.

 

Watching Heroes, it looked pretty good (DVD quality), with network utilization of 3-4Mbps.

 

Put on Hancock...same network use, yet that little bit of chop I was talking about.

 

Broken Arrow didn't use nearly the bandwidth (1-2Mbps), didn't have the chop of Hancock, but didn't look that great.

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