Watching movies - the Netflix way

Tired of waiting for your Netflix DVDs in the mail? The wait is over. Netflix has the new "Watch Instantly" feature now that allows you to watch unlimited hours of movies and TV series on the Netflix website. This feature is basically free, since anyone with a Netflix account can use it, regardless of the type of plan the user has. Just this past weekend, I watched the whole first season of "The Office" using my dad’s Netflix account.

Below is a laundry list of all the things I like and dislike about the new Netflix streaming feature:

The Good

Unlimited viewing time online, which is good for watching TV series episodes or previewing movies.

The embedded Windows Media Player in browser is pretty neat, can also go to full-screen mode if needed.

Quality is decent if you have good internet connection, but isn’t so great on slower connections. For example, I use Yahoo! Basic DSL service at home, and I can only get one bar on Netflix’s network connection quality indicator.

You can pause a movie in the middle and Netflix will remember the position, so the next time you watch the same movie again, it will start from where you left off.

Decent collection of movies and TV episodes for you to choose, and this collection is growing everyday.

The Bad

Currently, you can only watch stream the movies if you have a Windows XP or Vista PC. I guess Mac users are left out of this one.

Not all the movies can be watched online, but Netflix is adding new titles constantly and hopefully soon all of the Netflix library will be watchable online.

Of course the quality of online viewing is not comparable to watching on your 50" HDTV. If movie quality of utmost importance to you, then you will likely be disappointed.

Netflix Player

This set-top box will cost you $99, and it works similar to the Apple TV. You can stream the Netflix library directly to this box and hook it up to your big-screen TV. For more detail this player, visit their website. Apple TV will cost you money for each movie you want to rent or buy, Netflix Player let’s you watch all the movies free of charge.

Conclusion

A thumb’s up for Netflix "Watch Instantly". Online movie watching will be the norm in a few years, and its good to see that the people at Netflix understand this, and is putting their resources on this great new technology.