Netflix native app for PS3 available on Oct. 18

by Alexander Sliwinski on Oct 14th 2010 10:00AM

The disc-free Netflix application for PlayStation 3 will be available in the States next Monday, October 18. Sony has said the PS3 system will be the "first consumer electronics device" to support 5.1-channel surround sound for Netflix's streaming library of movies and films. Some media will also be viewable in 1080p and "an increasing number" will feature subtitles or alternative audio tracks. The app also features a fancy search option that allows users to update their regular queue.

Canadians began enjoying a native app a couple weeks back, albeit with a significantly less robust library compared to their southern brothers. Xbox 360 owners will also receive an update to their Netflix app whenever the fall update goes live. Check out Sony's Eric Lempel giving a tour of the new app after the break.

Source: PlayStation Blog

Tags: Netflix, playstation, ps3, psn, Sony

Reader Comments (59)

Finally! I was getting tired of having to swap out the game disc just to watch a movie! Also, the promise of faster load times is a big plus.

@BigBadBob113

I never realized how lazy I was until I got my Netfilx disc. There has actually been days I didn't watch a movie because I was too lazy to walk 3 feet to my PS3.

But now I can be as sloth as I want to be! Thanks Netflix streaming!

@BigBadBob113 It's the same one available to Canadian PS3 users. I do like a feature on the Xbox, it give a quality level when the stream starts. This is not on the PS3 app.

This is awesome news!

I wish I could "like" this more than once on Facebook.

The only downside is the app LOOKS LIKE SH!T

@DarkHeroZark

What are you talking about, it actually looks better then the Official Netflix site.

And didnt anyone see "Beta" on the icon.

@DarkHeroZark

Depends what he's talking about. I have noticed that non-HD streaming content on my projector looks like ASS w/ the PS3 because it won't upscale the video. It forces the display to show it in 480i and it looks awful. My PS3 is my main movie device, BUT if I want to stream non-HD content, I have to hook up my 360 because it "upscales" everything to whatever resolution you have the console set to instead of switching to 480i. The result is a huge difference, mainly because colors aren't muddied (which makes them bleed - which ultimately makes the image look very blurry and dark on the PS3). HD steaming content looks great on both consoles, however.

@Chibi Chaingun

I must say that I have either never experienced or never noticed this. My old roommate and I use to watch movies instant streaming from his 360 before the PS3 disc but switched to just using the PS3 when the disc came out. We never noticed any difference in the shows and movies we watched.

I don't think I have ever had anything output in 480i on my PS3.

yeah, we always get screwed... Eh!

The Warriors ? the fast and the furious i don't think we have those titles to chose from here in Canada. anyways, happy for the Americans to get it Discless now.

Welp. Goodbye "Other OS" feature. This will be what pushes me to finally update.

@Kenaf

Its a hard step but it had to be taken some time. I am sorry for your loss

Me too, 1080i and 5.1 surround is surprising and very much appreciated. Even more reason to not renew Xbox Live since Netflix was really the only thing I used it for. I was on the fence about updating since I was going to wait and see what jailbreak stuff would come but these new features seal the deal.

Awesome !!!

yayyyyy finally an app - toook them long enough

@ohheysean well they already had it in Canada, the biggest delay here was the exclusivity agreement with Microsoft in the US. that is now expiring.

so basically, they did it as fast as they could!

Console Wars... go?

@Ashitaka

At this point, sadly it seems he who has the best streaming wins. As much as I want a console to be for games, I watch movies on them probably even more these days.

Good timing! My disc went bad last week

Welcome to 2008 Sony!

It's about time! Switching out the disc was fine, but I'm more a fan of things like this running internally. Oct. 18th: Laziness takes another step forward with Technology's help!

Wow, nice.

It already loads up movies faster than the 360 app does, for me at least, though more speed is always very welcome!

To all those who question the cost of Xbox Live, this is a perfect example. It took Sony 2 years to impliment this feature, while XBL had it from the beginning. Timeliness IS worth something, whether you agree or not.

@Fermie Prime

What does paying for Xbox Live have to do with Microsoft drumming up an exclusivity agreement to keep other consoles from having it for the first year, and then forcing other consoles to use a disc for the second year?

Is Microsoft so poor a company that the revenue they get from Live subscriptions is the only reason they were able to secure this deal?

I'm confused.

@Fermie Prime You're off by about a year. Netflix on PS3 came out last November...also MS had discless exclusivity otherwise we wouldn't have Netflix on PS3 and Wii until this month.

Knowing is half the battle, so you lose.

@Fermie Prime

Only because MS paid for an exclusivity deal

@sammo21
Yeah, I'm talking about the disk pal. Ya know, having to load a disk instead of it running natively on your system? Thats what I'm talking about. And exclusivity means money, and thats where the fee comes in. Got it?

@Fermie Prime Broseph, Microsoft requires you to have Gold to watch Netflix to sweeten the deal, not to pay for R&D costs for a Netflix app.

Believe it or not, Microsoft can afford to create a Netflix app without your $50.

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze
We all know its not an issue of Microsoft "not having enough money". Its probably due to maintaining a bottom line in the Entertainment and Devices division. Of course, it is preferrable to have each of your divisions stand on their own and not have to syphon off from more profitable divisions to prop up the money-losing divisions. In XBL's case, it makes a good profit, so your $5/month allows them to pay Netflix for exclusivity.

@Fermie Prime The Xbox division is still not in the black, even though the entire system has been profitable since 2008. Yearly revenues look good, but don't forget about the 7 year period the gaming division spent sucking billions out of Microsofts admittedly well stuff coffers.

@Fermie Prime
So... yea, you just don't make any sense.

MS bought disc-less Netflix exclusivity. So you're arguing you don't mind paying for that? Me, I'd rather get all my online gaming for free and watch as Sony and Netflix laugh at that restriction and provides a free disc to all customers until the deal runs out. And as of monday, we all have it without disc... and I still don't have to pay for any online features. Nice, huh? You're still paying for it though. Sorry.

Woke up this morning and this was the first thing I saw. Today's gonna be a good day!

Sexy looking UI. Pretty excited for all of this.

"Canadians began enjoying a native app a couple weeks back, albeit with a significantly less robust library compared to their southern brothers."

In Detroit we're actually directly NORTH of Canada. ;)

WIN!

So how many more years do PS3 users have to wait to pay $50 a year to watch netflix? Because even though we will get the build in software next Monday but the paying $50 extra to watch netflix is still xbox exclusive. Oh will be $60 in November too, right?

Finally! I am so sick of the disc! I never remember to make sure it is in until I am already in my recliner and comfortable. I shouldnt have to get up and walk the five feet to my console to make the change. I am an American, I shouldnt have to work that hard.

Anyone have an input on which system is better to use netflix on 360 or ps3? I'm planning on getting netflix and I'm a PsWii60 owner, I just wanted to know which system people prefer to use netflix on.

@Danny51990

I've got the streaming discs for both Wii and PS3 and in all honesty don't really notice a difference. I'd recommend downloading the app or getting the disc for each console and seeing which one you like best for the interface and so on. Streaming quality seems to be pretty consistent.

@Danny51990
As far as the programs themself there's not much difference. 360 requires Gold membership in addition to Netflix subscription but if you already have Gold that's a non-issue. 360 had the advantage of being integrated into the system but that obviously will change next week. 360 has things like Party and being able to chat with other people whether they're playing a game or whatever but then who wants to talk through a movie unless you're MST3King it, lol.

@Danny51990

We have the Netflix streaming discs on both PS3 & Wii as well. I'd say all things being equal their virtually identical but considering the PS3 can output at a higher resolution than Wii that it sets it over the top. This is especially true now with the native app and the new audio support mentioned in the video. I can't speak for the 360 Netflix experience .

Didnt people read the article? The PS3 app will support 1080i and 5.1 surround sound. The 360 version doesnt support that, or any other device, they just do stereo and 720p (if that, it seems more like 720i because the framerate sucks). The PS3 app also lets you search for movies, on the 360 you have to log into Netflix on a computer and add stuff to your queue. The PS3 one is by far the best, not to mention the PS3 controller doesnt turn itself off after a few minutes like the damn 360 controller.

@aughscreennames

Prior to these new features in the article, the only big thing for me is that the PS3 doesn't upscale the SD content (at least on my projector) and the result is a fugly, muddy picture when compared to the 360 since it upscales SD content to whatever res its set at. This may be limited to certain displays, I'm not certain. If I have the 360 set at 720p, the SD content plays over that res while the PS3 will actually downstep to 480i and your display will only output at that.

@Chibi Chaingun

i'm no expert on this, but have you checked all your video settings? there's all sorts of upscaling options in 'video settings'. I don't know if any apply to netflix though... but i watch netflix on a ps3 via hdtv and it looks stellar (except Starz stuff, but that's because they upload lower quality versions).

Sweet, now I can watch things without having to change the aspect ratio on my TV.

I think it looks good... It looks easy to use and better then the xbox version IMO.

@Dayvido I do agree. The grid pattern looks much easier to browse through than the LOOONG line on the queue on the Xbox.

"a significantly less robust library compared to their southern brothers"
That right there is a MASSIVE understatement!

Although, it is a pretty cool feeling to get something before the US for once...

So is there going to be a downloadable Wii channel at some point? They've really been promoting it on Wii with the commercials.

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Netflix native app for PS3 available on Oct. 18

Reader Comments (59)

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:02AM BigBadBob113 said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:40AM NaeemTHM said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:46AM SmokemeaKipper said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:05AM DreaDDoctorG said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:05AM Andrew Yoon said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:07AM DarkHeroZark said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:25AM Viglin said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 11:25AM Chibi Chaingun said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 4:49PM golfs4panzys said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:18AM zigie said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:19AM HardBoiled2009 said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:21AM Kenaf said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 11:16AM zefur said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 12:07PM aughscreennames said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:27AM Barkley610 said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:28AM ohheysean said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:36AM danthe57 said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:33AM Ashitaka said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 11:29AM Chibi Chaingun said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:35AM Drew327 said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:35AM Fermie Prime said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:36AM xGeneral DEATHxDEETH82 said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:39AM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:44AM Fermie Prime said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:55AM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 11:00AM sammo21 said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 11:05AM Carl1412 said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 11:06AM Fermie Prime said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 11:07AM noyesa said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 11:13AM Fermie Prime said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 2:17PM noyesa said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 3:04PM ferret said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:52AM Ospov said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 10:55AM sammo21 said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 11:02AM noyesa said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 11:05AM glamajamma said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 5:18PM Korwyn said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 11:06AM natepetedmb said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 11:06AM Danny51990 said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 11:10AM quiggy said

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Posted: Oct 14th 2010 12:20PM aughscreennames said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 12:45PM Chibi Chaingun said

Posted: Oct 14th 2010 3:08PM ferret said

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Posted: Oct 14th 2010 11:38AM Dayvido said

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