I can only wonder how quickly my bandwidth limits would be exceeded by such a service, in which case would I get one of those $32,000 bills in the mail for excess bandwidth usage?

"And for nearly a year, it's offered a "Watch Instantly" option that allows all seven million to stream flicks straight onto their desktop PCs and laptops."

Um, Not quite.

http://www.netflix.com/WatchNowMessage?msg=51 :

"Your computer's operating system is not compatible with watching instantly... Try again from a computer running Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista."

No Macs allowed.

No mac or Linux - still it did offer it to 95% of US PCs and laptops... which is pretty much MOST of them.

The answer doesn't seem to be in your version of their press release (well, that's how it reads from here).

Or are Register readers expected to already know answer to trivia questions like that?

The more the studios and distributors muddy the water, with more and more incompatible DRMs and formats, the more people will go "Sod it, I'll switch to Apple - at least everything works together."

We're not talking mass migration here, just a steady increase in market share year on year.

Ah, no service for Macs? And I wondered why I did not remember that thing...

Anyway, maybe they get past that. What's the quality of their instant service? Personally, I think DVD renting via mail is full of hassle, and also quite wasteful, so an online variant would be most welcome. Nevertheless, the online variant would have to offer at least DVD quality in both sound & picture as well as features. This is why I have zero interest in the iTunes movie service up to now, even if they did offer it in Europe.

..for Apple was up to about 7% in November 2007 (from an earlier 4%), so add in Linux flavours and 95% seems a trifle eggzagerated.

I think I might buy an AppleTV when they are being sold-off.

did anyone else pick up on the news that the international Number One Torrented TV show in 2007 was Heroes, followed closely by BBC Top Gear!!!

Think again! Netflix bragging about their wish for "a wide range of options" and they cannot even support the second most popular consumer OS? Pardon?

Also - remember that those market share figures include the millions of PCs bought to sit in call centres and offices. I suspect if you looked at HOME users the Mac market share is probably somewhat higher.

It doesn't take much to bury the Apple TV, really -- just deliver actual HD quality content, rather than the crappy "quality" and limited formats that iTunes is capable of.

Whenever I've actually found something on there I want to watch (So far it's mainly been old Dr Who episodes, when I'm in a retrospective mood) it's worked really well.

I have a media center PC setup, and I have to say the on demand stuff is good quality when viewed on a TV, watching on a monitor at typical high PC resolution makes it look a bit worse, but on a TV I'd say it was comparable to DVD quality (Not quite as good, but not so much worse as to be an issue)

The two main issues I have with the service at present are a lack of selection in the watch now category, and the fact the player only runs in a browser (Yes it has to be IE, and on a PC, but hey, I have both of those, so ner ner to the MAC lads)

I'd actually love it if they would produce a plug in to make the service available natively in Media Center, and / or at least work with the media center remote control, as it is I have to open up the browser, dig out my wireless mouse, and click on the full screen option, but as I say, after you do that, the viewing experience is not bad at all, and certainly fulfills the 'I want to watch that, and I want to watch it now' urge you get from time to time.

If they made it available in set top boxes, I'd say it'd be a good service (so long as they increase the selection)

"The two main issues I have with the service at present are a lack of selection in the watch now category, and the fact the player only runs in a browser (Yes it has to be IE, and on a PC, but hey, I have both of those, so ner ner to the MAC lads)"

Mate, that's REALLY nothing to be proud of.

should realise that they are being robbed blind.

It's nothing but an overpriced unix box.

The only good thing that Apple make is the iPod.

... I would be very nervous about this. Netflix has the possibility to create a business model where all of your video 'content' is 'on-demand'. Something that, here in the states, is a premium service that can push your cable bill up to approx US$100 per month.

I use the Netflix service, and the most annoying aspect is that only a small portion of their catalog is available for streaming. I can imagine that none of the media companies want to stream their product unless DRM can be assured (IE6-7, XP, WMP, etc...) hence the 'Windows Only' option.

Although the cable companies also deliver Internet via cable, I can imagine a time, not too far in the future, where the media compaines (VIACOM, DISNEY, etc...) give you direct access to all of their shows for a fixed or sliding fee. All categorized and targeted ads by Google, of course...

Oh please, it's time to move out of the 90s dude. Your Mac FUD is not true and people are tired of listening to the misinformation. Educated individuals are switching in droves to the Mac these days. People just laugh at you now. Heck, it's not even worth trying to change your thinking so why don't you just keep quiet and move along.

>> the iTunes-centric device hasn't exactly set the world on fire. And it's the most popular of the lot. <<

I think there are a whole lot more Tivo's out there (Amazon Unbox service) than Apple TV's. And they don't require a High Def TV to watch a Standard Def only movie catalog like the Apple TV does (Apple TV's principle failing, no High Def movies for a High Def TV only box, in my view).

"Mac users ... should realise that they are being robbed blind.

It's nothing but an overpriced unix box.

The only good thing that Apple make is the iPod."

You're so right! Those boxes Sun sells are soooo cheap in comparison. No, hang on. You're wrong.

Macs seem expensive compared to a bunch of crappy PC components slung in the cheapest case you can find (which you still have to put together) with the ugliest blurriest display yiou can find but they're not really - not if you try to build one as quiet and unobtrusive (if we're talking iMac it aint gonna happen!). You won't get anywhere near close. Also to call one 'unix box' is selling it a little short as they're a whole lot more than that.

It's the iPod that's an overpriced mp3 player.

Intel macs aren't exactly the pinnacle of consumer quality, mate. OS is on, but hardware-wise is now the computer version of Bose... shiny, trendy case, shite components.