DracoFelis
Premium
join:2003-06-15
edit:
May 28th, @04:45PM
| reply to DracoFelis
NetFlix Player arrived yesterday
Well, the NetFlix player arrived yesterday. So here is my initial review. 
My initial opinion is mixed. Overall, I think it was a decent investment in the family's entertainment, and it does seem to work as advertised. However, there are also some things I wish they had done better (although since the unit can apparently auto-update its software from NetFlix, some of those limitations might be fixed at a later time).
The Good:
The thing is reasonably easy to setup (although I did have to wait a couple of minutes for the unit to download a firmware update before I could do the normal setup). And I also had to go to a special NetFlix web page (with my computer) and enter the setup code the unit gave me (to link the unit to my NetFlix account).
Once you get used to the interface, it is fairly easy to use, as well as being fairly powerful. The interface lets you choose which entry from your NetFlix "Instant Queue" you want to watch and where in the program you want to start (at the beginning, where you last left off, or some arbitrary amount into the program). And for TV shows (anything with multiple episodes), it even lets you pick which episode you want to start with.
The interface also has photos (they look like pictures of DVD cases), and short descriptions of each entry. So you can fairly easy tell what you are picking to watch. Also, you can reorder your "Instant Queue" entries (from your computer, but not from the interface itself) by visiting your normal NetFlix account.
Anyone on a NetFlix "unlimited" account, also gets all movies via the player for no extra cost (beyond the initial cost of the player itself). So if you already have an unlimited NetFlix account, and "unlimited" broadband internet, this player is "free to use" (beyond the initial purchase cost) as much as you like.
The thing is small and quiet to leave by a TV.
The not so good:
The initial buffering (which can take a minute or more) is a minor PITA. And you have to go through that buffering every time you pick a new entry from the remote.
Even with a normal TV (I don't have an HD set yet) video quality can suffer a little bit (i.e. a little bit of a "pixelated picture") if/when the unit thinks you don't have enough bandwidth, and therefore puts you on the lowest bandwidth setting. And for some unknown reason, the unit often seems to pick a quality setting one lower than my PC software NetFlix client does. OTOH even at the "lowest quality" setting of the unit (and the unit would often do better quality than that), I found the picture to be viewable (the lowest quality of the unit, reminded me a little of the picture quality of an older VHS video tape).
There is no way to set the quality/bandwidth used by the unit. It will auto-pick it (just like the PC based NetFlix client), based upon how much internet it sees. And if/when the unit decides in the middle of a program that the bandwidth has changed (either down OR up/better) it will stop and do its initial (~ minute long) buffering thing again, before resuming the program!
As expected, the unit only does the same list of movies/TV you can already stream via your PC. This is only a fraction of NetFlix's total library, and mostly older stuff. OTOH you still get the NetFlix DVDs in the mail, so this TVoIP offering is a bit of a "bonus" to a normal NetFlix subscription. Just don't expect to find new blockbusters on this service.
You probably want a lot of entries in your "Instant" NetFlix queue, as only things you have in that queue can be viewed on the NetFlix player (there is no way to add entries from the player itself). OTOH when you have a lot of entries (I've currently got over 200 in my queue), it can be a minor PITA to scroll through the queue list to find the program you want to watch. So it probably helps to organize your queue to find things easier. Still, even with an organized queue, you might have a long scroll, to find the movie/TV you want to watch.
And finally, the unit seems "locked" to NetFlix. Which means that if/when you decide to cancel NetFlix, the unit becomes an expensive door stop. Also you can't use the unit to watch other streaming (HULU.COM won't work, for example). So this is just a NetFlix toy (although it does seem to do a decent job of interfacing to my existing NetFlix account). |
