Netflix promotes Wii streaming with 'underwhelming' HD argument

If you've been following the Wii Netflix saga, you're probably familiar with Nintendo's stance on HD movie streaming. The company's Reggie Fils-Aimé recently went on record saying that the average Wii user won't care about the Wii's inability to push HD Netflix. That's expected though, right? He works for Nintendo, after all. But get this, now Netflix itself is deemphasizing its own HD streaming service.

Speaking to TheWiire.com, Netflix VP of Corporate Communications Steve Swasey recognized that the Wii can't handle HD streaming, but stated that Netflix doesn't believe that to be a problem for Wii households. Swasey noted that only 1 in 17 titles are available in HD, adding that HD content is only 720p -- not 1080p -- and that it's not available with 5.1 surround sound. "The HD experience at Netflix Instant Watching isn't that overwhelming," said Swasey, adding, "It's a little bit underwhelming."

So there you have it. There's absolutely no reason for anyone to even want HD streaming. Ever. Now go order your Wii Netflix disc.

Reader Comments (74)

lol

"See what you [did]? That was meant to be 800 BC, not 8000!!"

Fixed.

"Our customers are morons."

- Reggie

Wait, so you have to be stupid in order to not give a crap about whether your movies are in SUPER SPARKLY HD?? I don't give a shit about the resolution stats of my movies; I'm fine with just being able to see what's going on on the screen, and millions of other people who aren't hardcore tech nerds feel the same way. HD is one of the most overrated technological "innovations" of the last decade.

won't care?? you guys kidding me... SD movies aren't even worth glancing at... my eyes would burn off geeze...

Um, I'm pretty sure "do" is perfectly fine. The present tense implies a habitual action of screwing things up.

Unless he was referencing something that happened in the past (which it looks like he was, seeing as he followed that with a typo he made in... the past).

Hilarious, because in any other instance, they would be trumpeting their HD capabilities from the rooftops.

Pfft. Bendok is right, but only on accident. There is no "past" or "future". Everything is either "present" or "sideways". Mwahahahahaha!!!

Consider my mind blown.

This is EXACTLY how i see the Wii, even when my tv is HD.

My condolences to you sir.

I'd question the quality of your TV, then, because Wii looks pretty clear on my HDTV. Sure, not as sharp as my 360 or PS3, but nothing like the pixelated mess that is the post's image.

I totally agree, I stopped using my Wii entirely due to the low quality of the image. It gathers dust now.

I agree with this VP completely. Which is why I'm upset Netflix made a deal to delay the date upon which Blu-rays become available to rent through their service in favor of an earlier (but still far from simultaneous) streaming date.

Maybe this isn't what some of you want to hear, but he is right. To the general populous, HD still isn't a big deal.

And HD streaming... I can't see it being fully feasible until the broadband situation improves (at least, HD streaming in America). High speed services are still pretty pricey (especially compared to other countries), and the speeds are slower than elsewhere... hell, we still have people using DIAL-UP. GODDAMN.

I was under the impression that Netflix has a limited amount of HD content. I could be wrong (more likely than not), but with regards to this post, who gives a flying eff? Honestly, if your panties are in a bind because Netflix can't and/or won't stream HD content to your Wii, it's time to re-evaluate. If you own a Wii, it's likely that you also own other equipment that can accommodate your HD needs. If you don't, I seriously doubt that you expect your Wii to fill that gap.

But slightly off-topic: I feel like I'm the only person who feels cheated when an (allegedly) HD channel takes SD content and squishes it out flat to fill a 16:9 aspect ratio. It's sorta like the opposite inverse (redundant much?) version of watching old CinemaScope movies squished up vertically. If you're old enough to remember watching, say, a Clint Eastwood movie on TV in the seventies, you know what I mean. Everyone got taller and thinner, but these days everyone gets shorter and fatter. Sadly, no one seems to care or even notices the difference.

End of line.

"...stated that Netflix doesn't believe that to be a problem for Wii households."

uhh obviously. How could it be a problem when wii owners don't even have the option for HD. Duhh.

I go to college for filmmaking. Everything in the industry is moving to HD and digital, and I've had a 46 inch LCD 1080p for 4 years almost that was 1300 dollars at the time at Walmart. I was in Best Buy the other day and saw a 50 inch plasma 1080p for 1000 dollars with crazy specs. Small 720p TVs can be 200 or less. The fact that people are still neglecting HD at this price-point is amazing to me for gamers. 720p is at least 30% sharper of an image.

All I'm saying is that you Wii users seem to be giving in to an excuse from Netflix and Nintendo to not "care" about HD because your hardware won't support it anyways. Nintendo doesn't want you to care until they figure they like HD. I don't even know anyone who plays on a NTSC TV anymore.

With a comment as ass backwards as that, I see why you are making minimum wage.

So I was going to disagree on your last point, but then I looked it up (cause of the whole switch to digital lately) and you're right. NTSC was killed off in favor of ATSC. Funny I suppose, since NTSC was such a widely used term and probably will continue to stick despite not being in use anymore for broadcasts.

I think it's more than just being sharper though. I mean you could play a DVD and increase the sharpness in a program like VLC and it won't look as good as a Blu-ray will. There are also slight color advantages to HD, so colors appear more true to their origins.

Also noticeable is the higher resolution I think. It makes text so much easier to read. I remember playing FFX back in the day on an SDTV and being pissed that some of the smaller menu text was blurry and appeared to be interlaced, but now I can perfectly read everything in games. The switch really was night and day. Whenever I see someone playing an HD game in SD I can see the difference.

@Cody,

He's mostly right, unless you're strictly referring to the one comment he made about Wii owners and Nintendo. If that's the only thing you were talking about, then you really should have clarified that.

*raises hand.

I still play on a NTSC TV. Never made the conversion to analog, since I live in an area so rural we don't even get TV signals. Why bother improving something we don't even have? So yes, I play my Wii on one of those great big, heavy picture tubes still... and yes, I'm looking forward to being able to watch Netflix in all its non-HD glory.

I'll probably get one of them "new-fangled" TVs when this one gives up the ghost, but until then, why bother spending the money?

Strange, isn't it? No cell service, no TV signal... but I still have high speed wireless Internet access. And yet I don't feel like I'm missing anything....

I've really enjoyed the 720p stuff streaming on my Xbox 360. It may not be 5.1 or 1080p or whatever, but it still looks and sounds perfectly good and is a lot better than SD.

So just to be clear, you're saying this is like only 1 in 17 titles are on DVD, when VHS was the standard.

Uh, that 1 in 17 is all of the new content, isn't it?! You can't neglect that!

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Netflix promotes Wii streaming with 'underwhelming' HD argument

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Posted: Feb 9th 2010 5:23PM joevill said

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