The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Netflix puts the Net into Flix

Instant playback for 1,000 movies, TV progs

Regcast training : Hyper-V 3.0, VM high availability and disaster recovery

Netflix, the online movie rental business, is to offer films and TV episodes over the internet. Subscribers download a browser applet, which lets them watch stuff using a real-time playback technology.

According to Netflix, this immediate viewing feature means that customers can watch films on their PC within 10-15 seconds of pressing 'select'. Better still, instant watching requires a minimum of one megabit per second of bandwidth. A three Mbps connection will get you DVD-quality viewing, Netflix says.

The Los Gatos, Calif. company is kicking off with 1,000 movies and TV series for subscribers to watch - at no additional cost - on their PCs. More online movies will come on stream, as and when the company secures download delivery rights.

Customers will have to wait in line, as Netflix is rolling out the service at a fairly leisurely pace, opening up to 250,000 subscribers a week through to June, to ensure that it can cope with demand. Mac users will have to wait somewhat longer - the browser applet is Windows-only.

Netflix today claims about six million customers.

Press release here. ®

Cloud storage: Lower cost and increase uptime

More from The Register

 breaking news
BBC-featured call centre slapped with hefty fine for unwanted calls
PPI pests: Swansea-based firm stung for £225k by ICO
Microsoft to open Windows Stores inside 600 Best Buy locations
Product showcases 'must be seen to be believed'
Author Iain (M) Banks falls to cancer at 59
Misses the release of his final work
 breaking news
What did the Lehman Brothers implosion look like to a techie?
Insider tells all about the Gnab Gib at Lehmans
It's official: 'tweet' an English word – not just in the avian sense
If the Oxford English Dictionary says it is so, then it is so
 breaking news
The only Waze is Google: Ad giant tipped to gobble map app 'for $1.3bn'
Pac-Man-satnav-ish upstart in bidding war with Apple, Facebook
 breaking news
1-in-10 e-tomes 'are self-published'... most are 'rubbish' says book ed
Publishing man scoffs at go-it-alone writers, ursines still fouling in forests
 breaking news
Facebook RSS reader said to uncloak June 20
Secret event scooped by Scottish developer?