Netflix Player Hack To Force 2.2 Mbps Streaming

Got a little extra bandwidth just lying around the house? If you do, you might just want to force your Netflix player to use that bandwith with a little hack at the Roku forums that sets your player from automatic to 2.2Mbps. According to Mark12547 at the forums:

Using the remote, hit Home Home Home Home Home Rewind Rewind Rewind FastForward FastForward (that's 5 Homes, 3 Rewinds, 2 FastForwards), keypresses about 1/2 second apart. You may have to try several times and the trick is to make the keypresses spaced out far enough. (Remember, the last two are <<< Rewind and Fast Forward >>>, which are on the bottom row of buttons, not the < and > keys to the side of the select button.)

There's a lot of debate whether ayone even needs to do this since the "automatic" setting keeps everything in line. We here at NAV has used our Netflix Player everyday for months and have almost always had the top stream speed using the automatic setting. So unless you have issues, you may want no want to mess with your settings. Don't you love it when someone gives you a hack and tells you not to do it?

At HackingNetflix.com

Netflix Hires Video Streaming Pro to Grow it's Streaming Business

We here at NAV are firm believers that with more content and more marketing, Netflix will be the leader of streaming movies and tv. It was evident with the introduction of the Roku Netflix Player, Netflix was serious about being competive in the streaming market. Now there's signs that Netflix is heavily investing in streaming media with it's recent hiring of Bill Holmes, a streaming media professional. According to HDTV.biz-news:

Netflix has hired Bill Holmes, a five-year veteran of digital-media company DivX, to help build its video-streaming business.

Holmes is to head its business-development efforts as it continues to try to boost sales from its video-streaming service.
His appointment is the latest in various moves by the company to build on its 8.4 million subscriber base with it's streaming services.

It has entered onto a partnership with LG to produce a new Blu-ray Disc Player with direct internet access to the Netflix film catalogue.

Netflix, the largest U.S. movie-rental service via mail, said that it brought on Holmes to help embed software into more devices that will allow customers to stream content from Netflix

Pretty impressive news! It won't be too long till we have Netflix in our toasters (hey, we can dream can't we?).

At HDTV.biz-news

Netflix Streaming to Stay Subscription Based

While the news may dissapoint some Netflix streaming users, we like the news that Netflix has no plans to be a pay-per-view model. According to Gizmodo, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings states:

"We don't plan to enter the pay-per-view segment, where Apple, Amazon, Sony and others focus, or the ad-supported segment, where Hulu, YouTube and others compete,"

While Netflix does need to work on more streaming content, we here at NAV like the current concept and simplicity of the Netflix streaming model. We can always get pay-per-view from other sources if we really want it.

At Gizmodo.com

Roku Neflix Player Believed to be at 100K Units Sold

Over the last few days, there's been a lot of unverified claims that the Neflix Player by Roku has surpassed 100K units sold. According to the WashingPost.com:

The Roku-Netflix ( NSDQ: NFLX) movie delivery box, which went out of stock soon after it was launched, has apparently sold close to 100K units since its launch in May, a seemingly high number considering its limited application and selection of Netflix movies for now..that number comes from Dan Rayburn on his blog. The price point of the box is $99 (and then Netflix movies are free for most of its subscribers), and 100K is only 1 percent of total Netflix user base of 8.2 million customers, so it is possible.

Here at NetworkingAudioVideo we're not surprised and actually believe the number may actually be much higher. The one thing the player always takes a beating on is the lack of content (about 10,000 titles to stream). The key is at a $99 price point if you're already a Netflix subscriber at say $8.99 at month you're only paying .02 cents per show or movie the first year. Even if you only find 1000 shows or movies to watch thats only .20 cents a show or movie.

The whole point is there is no other type of "legal" content out there that is that cheap. As Roku adds more providers and Netflix and more streaming content, we predict that the Netflix Player sales will surpass all the other streaming media devices out there. The biggest issue for Roku right now is there isn't a lot of promotion for the product going on and we only have to assume that's because they've had a tough time fufilling the orders they alreay have. Once they fix their supply issues, Roku will definitely want to look at an all out media blitz.

At WashingtonPost.com

TiVo to Deliver YouTube Videos To TV Sets

We've known this was coming for awhile but you should see YouTube videos on certain TiVo boxes within the next few weeks. According to NewsFactor.com:

TiVo says it has completed the technology to make YouTube videos available on TV sets connected to its digital video recorder (DVR) boxes. As part of an agreement with YouTube announced in March, TiVo expects to roll out a software upgrade over the next few weeks.

Broadband subscribers with TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD DVRs will have access to the YouTube video universe. Viewers will be able to search by keyword or browse for content under categories such as featured, most recent, favorites or most viewed today.

It's amazing how YouTube is becoming available on all types of streaming devices. Hopefully YouTube will be on the Roku Netflix Player soon. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

At NewsFactor.com

Apple TV vs. Roku Netflix Payer - Can They Really be Compared?

Lately there's been several articles on Apple TV vs. the Roku Netflix Player. The strange thing is that almost all of them come Mac based websites which usually clues you in to which way the article is going to lean. MacNewsWorld has an article that pits the two against each other that actually doesn't slant too far in the Apple TVs favor. The problem is article starts by stating the services can't really be compared by saying:

Comparing the Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) TV to the Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) Player by Roku is like comparing two wildly different kinds of automobiles -- like a Chevrolet Camaro vs. a Ford F-150 pickup.

Sure, the Camaro and F-150 are both automobiles, and they can take you places you've never been before, but it's their differences that define them more than their similarities.

Then the article goes on to comparing the two devices and finishes up:

Basically, it comes down to this: If you want fresh HD quality content downloadable for immediate TV viewing, your best choice is the Apple TV, hands down. The only catch is you have to be willing to pay for it each time you rent or buy a movie or TV show.

If you gravitate toward an all-you-can-eat buffet, Netflix, with its mail-order DVDs and bigger streaming library, will at least keep you full.

We'll start by saying that we think both the Apple TV an the Netflix Player are incredibly great products. Our concern is that the last sentence in the quote above is never keyed on enough when you compare the two products. Comparing a service that charges for every download against a service that gives unlimited downloads for as low as $8.99 per month just doesn't work.

Anyway, we still suggest reading the article because it does point out the key features of each device.

At MacworldNews.com