Netflix details PS3 disc distribution for November, 'confident' it'll have ample supply
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Oct 28th 2009 at 9:30AM } 
Netflix is confident that it will have ample supply in November for every PS3 user who requests a disc for its recently announced streaming service. Speaking with Joystiq, Netflix Vice President of Corporate Communications Steve Swasey wouldn't disclose the number of reservations the company has received for the free PS3 Netflix disc since the company announced the program on Monday, but did emphasize, "We're confident we've produced enough discs." Distribution centers apparently already have the units.
Swasey told us that the company is still hammering out the distribution details, but the plan is to send out a press release sometime in November announcing that the discs have shipped. Customers should receive the red envelope in about the same time it usually takes for a Netflix shipment to reach them. He expressed that "there's no VIP list or special circumstance list," so everyone should be receiving it around the same time.
Asked if there were any points he'd like to clarify about the recent announcement, Swasey told us that the disc was the best solution currently available in getting PS3 users the Netflix service, downplaying the need to always have disc in the tray. "They put the disc in whenever they play a game." When pushed on why an integrated solution wasn't implemented, he said, "We haven't given any reason. The key thing here ... it's very easy and no different than playing a video game. We'll have an update in time." The integrated solution is expected in late 2010.
Netflix doesn't like to discuss HD content in nitty gritty detail yet, but confirmed that the PS3 will have a similar offering to the Xbox 360, which outputs 720p and stereo sound.
Keep an eye out for an announcement in November for when the discs ship, then put that eye back in when the disc arrives. You'll need both to appreciate those episodes of Dexter.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Orion @ Oct 28th 2009 9:36AM
I'm really on the fence about this.
Is Netflix really worth the monthly fee? And for 360 users who have Netflix, is streaming pretty seamless? I don't want to try to watch a movie while seeing a "buffering" message pop up every 10 seconds. Btw, I have Roadrunner internet, so connection speed isn't a problem.
InvaderDem @ Oct 28th 2009 9:40AM
My connection downloads a steady 1MBPS from the PlayStation Network. My guess would be that if you download at that speed or faster and give it about a 10 minute buffer time, you should be fine.
sonicspike41 @ Oct 28th 2009 9:40AM
A friend if mine in CA uses it. Not sure what his internet speeds are, but from what I've seen it didn't lag at all. He uses it at least 3-4 times a week on his 360 and keeps telling me I should also get it.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 28th 2009 9:40AM
its worth it if you watch movies....I have the 4 movie play for $26/month....and the wife and I watch SO many movies...we watch a movie every nite, stick the envelope in the mail and get another that same day from the one we sent the previous day.....so in 30 days we will have watched anywhere between 30-50 movies....but even if you go with the $9/month 1-movie at a time plan with the unlimited streaming you should still get your moneys worth out of it if you watch more than 2 movies a month....I mean to rent a new release from Blockbuster for a week is like $9....Redbox is $1 per day but has not streaming service, and if you forget to take that back it ads up fast as well
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 28th 2009 9:45AM
oh yea...the picture quality varies on a lot of factors. if you are downloading something on a PC that is on the same network that you are watching a Streaming Netflix movie and its bandwidth heavy then the quality will decrease....if you are streaming over Wi-fi and you signal fluctuates the picture quality will decrease
Orion @ Oct 28th 2009 9:46AM
Ok guys, thanks for your help. I need to look over their plans and see which one is right for me. The whole mailing it in and getting one in the mail never appealed to me as I usually don't know what movie I want to watch until the day I want to watch it.
However, the streaming to the PS3 bit is quite appealing. And since Blu-Ray movies are so pricey, there's a lot of recent movies that I missed in the theaters and can't readily afford at the moment that I still need to watch.
Player1 @ Oct 28th 2009 9:50AM
It works great on the 360, it's very rare that a movie/show will completely stop to rebuffer. Sometimes it does change quality (just takes a second) and it will either go up or down depending on what's going on with your download speed. It's never bothered me.
However, my 360 downloads content WAY faster than my PS3. I ordered the disc to see the difference between the two. I imagine I will continue to use the 360 to for instant streaming. I honestly expect the PS3 to not handle it very well considering the differences I've seen in download speeds.
sonicspike41 @ Oct 28th 2009 9:55AM
Just be careful if you don't plan to use the dvds by mail option as not all of the movies they have can be instantly streamed. Take Religulous for example, it's only available through the mail.
You should be able to search their site and easily find out if what you want is stream-able or not. I'd suggest you look up a few movies or shows you like to get a good idea if they'll have what you like available for streaming or not.
Orion @ Oct 28th 2009 9:58AM
I think it's more about PSN than the PS3 itself. Though I could be wrong.. I hope I'm wrong lol. Either way, downloading anything from the PSN, I'll agree, is very annoying. One thing I liked about Live that PSN still hasn't perfected (that and the annoying installation time that was non-existent with Live).
ANYwho, I just called and ordered my disk. They will start my free trial when the disk comes in the mail to me. It's kinda hard to tell if I really want this as you can't see the movie/show list unless you're a member, but I think it should be pretty broad.
As long as the PS3 works as well or similarly to the 360's Netflix service, I think I should like this quite a bit. Thanks for the help again, guys.
Orion @ Oct 28th 2009 10:00AM
"Just be careful if you don't plan to use the dvds by mail option as not all of the movies they have can be instantly streamed."
Yea, the sales rep told me about that. When I get the free trial started I'll look at the list. I'm hoping that it's not most new titles that are DVD/Blu-Ray only. If that's the case, honestly I don't know how interested I'll be in this as when I want to watch a specific movie, I kinda want to see it that night.
We'll see. I have high hopes.
Vidikron @ Oct 28th 2009 10:10AM
I actually get download speeds equal to or in excess of XBLA on PSN. I get somewhere between 1 and 2 MB per second, which is as fast as my connection goes. However, I used to get speeds that were quite a bit slower. For some reason some people get poor speeds when downloading on the PS3. Oddly enough, there's a fairly simple workaround that has proven successful. It involves simply running your connection through another computer on your LAN (with a proxy program). Why it works, I have no idea, but my download speeds 10-20x when i did this. Then after doing this for a few months I forgot to enable the proxy one day when doing a big download and my speeds were fast without it. I don't know what changed, but I get super fast speeds from PSN now.
Anyway, read here: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=79&threadid=2284460
Neon @ Oct 28th 2009 10:16AM
I've had very good experience streaming Netflix here in Atlanta, GA. I do not experience any buffering issues (or at least I haven't had any memorable issues) and have watched probably about 50 movies. They don't have EVERY movie, but I have enjoyed Heroes in HD and a number of indie or classic 80s movies :)
jason w @ Oct 28th 2009 10:42AM
It really depends on your connection. I have a 5meg and LOVE netflix on the 360. Ive already ordered my PS3 disc to use it on there. I have some concerns about 80211G and netflix but we will see how that works. I dont think 720P will be seamless over 80211G.
Professor Lario @ Oct 28th 2009 10:49AM
I think it is worth it. We use it on the 360 all of the time. We have the 'one movie at a time, unlimited per month' plan and I think that is close to $10. That also gets us into the streaming stuff. While the entire Netflix catalogue isn't available through the 360, there is a lot of great content out there. As far as buffering times - we wait maybe 30 seconds for an HD quality stream.
XBL: xGeneral DEATHx PSN: Deeth82 [Planeteer | Power of General Hostility and Angst] @ Oct 28th 2009 10:52AM
@ Jason W:
If it's feasible, go wired. There are a lot of helpful people and articles out there who can help you configure your wireless router so it's nearly-seamless, but there will always be a ton of factors that can make your wireless connection hiccup on any given day. If you can't go wired, then I strongly recommend finding someone (or some site) to help configure your router to stream as seamlessly as possible.
pax copia @ Oct 28th 2009 11:23AM
yes, they send you blu-rays nearly instantly (I usually get a new one the day after I send back the old one) and stream content that you can watch anytime (and I'm guessing anywhere if you have a PSP) for under $10/m
Tiptup300 @ Oct 28th 2009 12:18PM
10 bucks a month? For unlimited online video watching!? Plus one movied sent to you at a time, sometimes they even send you 2 at random. I never see "buffering", sometimes it's like "Your internet slowed down, the video feed will now go down very slightly in quality", but it's not noticable quality.
davidw @ Oct 28th 2009 12:46PM
I have it on my 360 and love it, it's varies quality depending on your connection speed so you rarely have buffering issues. This is coming from someone with pretty bad internet service.
nick @ Oct 28th 2009 2:56PM
I've never noticed lag or buffering messages. it seems to work well in that respect.
My only complaint would be the selection of movies that are capable of being streamed. It's a subset of the overall movies that can be rented from Netlfix, plus some movies go in and out of availability.
arkweld @ Oct 28th 2009 3:06PM
"I mean to rent a new release from Blockbuster for a week is like $9"
No it's not. BB by mail is the same and actually cheaper than Netflix. 3 blu-rays at a time is only $17 on BB compared to $21 on Netflix. Since I swapped over to BB I actually get new releases now instead of having to watch them as "very long wait" in my queue for a month.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 28th 2009 9:37AM
as long as said disc doesn't take up one of my 4 movie slots I'm good....my guess is they will get this out by the second week of November, I've seen some Black Friday ads that have Netflix as a bullet point for the PS3
InvaderDem @ Oct 28th 2009 9:38AM
I'm not gonna' lie ... when the discs are available, Netflix will get +1 subscription.
Louis @ Oct 28th 2009 9:39AM
LAME.
This is going to sound really, really lazy, but a lot of times, I'm sitting on the couch, and I don't want to go get a game or DVD out of the closet. I have played a lot of matches of BF1943 because I couldn't decide what I wanted to play and I'd rather just lay on the couch. I have watched Netflix movies many times simply because I didn't want to find anything else to watch.
Get an integrated solution Netflix.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 28th 2009 9:41AM
they are getting one...next fall....this is what we call a temporary solution....that some are wagering may work on any Profile 2.0 BD player
Orchard Pear @ Oct 28th 2009 9:48AM
Lazy ass.
Just get up off of the couch for 10 bloody seconds and throw in a disc. People always have to find something to piss and moan about.
XBL: xGeneral DEATHx PSN: Deeth82 [Planeteer | Power of General Hostility and Angst] @ Oct 28th 2009 9:57AM
You're right, Louis...that does sound really lazy. Get the fuck up off your ass and change one disc, for God's sake. It's not like they're asking you to do 20 push-ups or anything (Heaven forbid).
Platinum_Skeet @ Oct 28th 2009 9:58AM
I honestly think they put a limited # of discs to control numbers. Remember last year Netflix was slowed to a crawl overnight when a couple million new users flooded the instant queue..
I just think Netflix doesn't want that to happen again so they're giving a temporary solution until their systems can supply the demand...
Vidikron @ Oct 28th 2009 10:02AM
I don't think anyone really prefers a disc over an integrated played for Netflix streaming, but as Chris says this is merely a temporary situation... very likely due to an agreement between MS and Netflix. An integrated solution is expected "late next year".
JeezWhiz87 @ Oct 28th 2009 11:04AM
I actually agree with Louis. I'm a fairly active individual, but I don't really feel like getting up to put a disc in either. It would be one thing if I'm getting a Blu-Ray or even DVD quality experience out of it, but I'm not. It's streaming, on a technical level this could be done just as easily as an integrated solution, and as lazy as it sounds I'm holding out for that. I want my content on a disc, or on the web, not on the web that requires a disc to get to.
I guess it should also be noted here that I'm rather frugal, and I frequently hold out on things until I feel they're of optimal value.
Louis @ Oct 28th 2009 11:51AM
A whole bunch of video game nerds vote me down for being lazy. What has the world come to?
Next you guys are going to tell me you get off the couch to urinate.
eNrique @ Oct 28th 2009 1:13PM
You better start thinking on a solution before FFXIII comes out.
*chuckles*
laser beams @ Oct 28th 2009 2:48PM
what does FFXIII have to do with it? it's coming to both systems. Netflix stream is coming to both systems. the PS3 version is free. i don't think the disc issue is as big a deal as you think. for anyone who has both a 360 and PS3- unless they play a lot of games online, the PS3 solution to Netflix is looking a lot nicer than the 360's...
laser beams @ Oct 28th 2009 2:59PM
in fact- now that i think about it: by your own logic- FFXIII is going to suck on the 360 because of disc swapping. what a moron...
Barkley610 @ Oct 28th 2009 9:44AM
I'm really intersted but pending the monthly fee and movie availability netflix has. I'm not sure how many (different) and what movies they have
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 28th 2009 9:51AM
$9/month for the 1-disc @ a time unlimited streaming plan....they have a few thousand shows and movies for streaming and over 12,000 disc titles
XBL: xGeneral DEATHx PSN: Deeth82 [Planeteer | Power of General Hostility and Angst] @ Oct 28th 2009 9:55AM
I use Watch Now mostly for the TV shows...I've burned through seasons 1 & 2 of Dexter, as well as almost 5 seasons of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It has some great movies added every now and then, as well as some real stinkers that are so bad they're good. (My Name is Bruce)
Orion @ Oct 28th 2009 9:47AM
"if you are streaming over Wi-fi and you signal fluctuates the picture quality will decrease"
Ok, that sucks...
Orion @ Oct 28th 2009 9:47AM
Stupid comment system, sorry guys.
wii60dsgamer @ Oct 28th 2009 9:48AM
I think I'll stick with the integrated version on my 360.
Orchard Pear @ Oct 28th 2009 9:49AM
Good idea.
I'll stick with it on PS3...
..and not have to pay for a Gold subscription.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 28th 2009 9:53AM
do you even own a PS3? if not then you sir.....are trolling
Asmerom (PSN: neon6plz) @ Oct 28th 2009 10:32AM
@Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO:
I think that was kind of obvious from his ID as "wii60ds".
You should check out Digg. Those guys are still saying the PS3 has no good games like it's 2006.
RiccochetJ @ Oct 28th 2009 5:15PM
I think I'll cancel my gold subscription and go with the free offering that Sony has.
In fact I just did. 1 more month and I'll be silver after 5 years of being a subscriber.
Honestly, the only thing that Live has now over the PSN is the fact that I can talk to people who are playing other games.
And if you say custom soundtracks, I just load up LastFm on my laptop.
ducttapeBigSexy (PSN&XBL: ducttape12) @ Oct 28th 2009 10:02AM
If the disc is just a Blu-Ray, shouldn't this also work in every Blu Ray Live (or whatever it's called) enabled player?
If that's the case, I wonder why Netflix isn't selling this as working on almost every Blu-Ray player, and not just the PS3?
zefur @ Oct 28th 2009 10:08AM
Is every other Blu-Ray player connected to the internet?
Stormbarrier @ Oct 28th 2009 12:32PM
Well I guess with that kind of logic a Samsung Blu-ray player can play Uncharted 2, also. Hmmm...
ducttapeBigSexy (PSN&XBL: ducttape12) @ Oct 28th 2009 2:25PM
Okay, you guys are both idiots:
1. Upon further research, this is in fact a Blu-Ray movie disc that uses the BD-Live feature of Blu-Ray movie discs to stream movies from Netflix. As in, it takes advantage of the PS3's ability to connect to the Internet and the fact that the PS3 is a Profile 2.0 Blu-Ray player.
2. If it's a Blu-Ray movie disc built to Profile 2.0 specification (as in, not using any PS3-specific features), I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work in other Profile 2.0 Blu-Ray players that are also connected to the Internet.
I don't mean Blu-Ray as in describing the disc, I mean Blu-Ray as in describing the format the movie is in. Or do you also think you can run a 360 game in a DVD player because the former is a DVD?
arkweld @ Oct 28th 2009 3:10PM
Netflix streaming is already fully integrated into many Blu-ray players for free. They don't need a disc.
TONY @ Oct 28th 2009 10:04AM
I really wish they wouldve just done a subscription to the PSN with a certain number of downloads a month. That wouldve been so much better, this way you could have a service similar to Netflix but have the ability to download newer episodes of your favorite shows
EncodedNybble @ Oct 28th 2009 11:45AM
While I agree with you that an unlimited rental service for the PS Video Store would be nice, there are some advantages to this netflix situation.
1) Brand name recognition. Humans are generally stupid. If I have a service which is slightly better than Netflix people will go "meh", but if I say "my PS3 has Netflix" people go "omfg Netflix!!!!!!!" and thus more people would be apt to go buy a PS3. Sad but true.
2) Having a monthly unlimited streaming access to the video store would probably require a lot of changes to the PSN or at least the PS3 firmware. The video store is currently set up so that every video downloads to your HDD, you can play it while it is downloading, but ultimately you end up with the video on your HDD.
Now, with an unlimited model, the video would never expire (like you own it), but would need to expire when you cancel the service. Thus, Sony would need a way to know much movies you've downloaded via this unlimited rental service, as opposed to those you actually bought.
3) The work Sony has to do is minimal. No changes to their PSN video store billing structure or any of the changes I mentioned above, just some help developing the PS3 software for XMB integration.
So, in the end, easier and better name recognition, but worse selection of movies.