AppleInsider Staff
The world's largest online rental service said it developed the device in conjunction with consumer electronics maker Roku. It's available for purchase starting today and is priced at $100, considerably less than the cheapest Apple TV box which retails for $229.
Measuring 5 inches square and 2 inches high, the device ships with a 9-button remote and includes HDMI, Component Video, S-Video, Composite Video, Digital Optical Audio, and Analog Stereo Audio ports. It also offers both wired Ethernet and 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi.
By comparison, Apple's set-top-box for streaming iTunes content is 7.7 inches square by 1.1 inches high, and includes all the same ports with the exception of S-Video and Composite video. However, it offers faster 802.11n WiFi support, includes a built-in hard drive, and also streams photos, music, podcasts, and YouTube videos.
Netflix said its new player will initially offer subscribers instant access to more than 10,000 movies and TV episodes from its vast catalog of over 100,000 videos. However, subscribers will need to be enrolled in an $8.99 per month "Unlimited" monthly subscription plan in order to use the device, which does not serve up same-day as DVD releases like Apple TV.
Apple doesn't offer a movie subscription service through iTunes for use with Apple TV and instead serves up rentals on an a la carte basis with prices ranging from $2.99 for standard definition rentals to $4.99 for new HD-quality rentals with Dolby Digital sound. Netflix currently offers only standard definition streaming video and stereo sound.
Another difference between the two companies' offerings is that the Netflix device still requires users to queue up movies on a computer, which the company touts as an advancement over the direct-from-the-sofa ordering method recently enabled by Apple with the release of Apple TV: Take 2 (Review).
"The key breakthroughs of the Netflix Player are simplicity and cost," said Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings. "[It] allows consumers to use the full power of the Netflix Web site to choose movies for their instant Queue, and then automatically displays only those choices on the TV screen. That's a major improvement versus the clutter of trying to choose from 10,000 films on the TV."
Netflix said each Netflix player includes its video streaming technology, which eliminates the need for a hard disk drive. Like Apple TV, it also includes built-in connectivity for automatic software upgrades, which will keep the device current with service enhancements.
Charles Martin
Marko Zivkovic
Mike Wuerthele
Malcolm Owen
Andrew Orr
Christine McKee
William Gallagher
92 Comments
I think the AppleTV still has key advantages but it would be nice to see this progress from "hobby" status in the R&D department. I prefer being able to navigate from the TV for rentals... I also like having access to the whole digital library on my network from one location.
This will offer a decent competitor to Apple but hopefully it will inspire further innovation and more efforts on tweaking it toward perfection.
lets see the interface, and ease of connectivity to your network hmmmm for apple users.
now if my netflix subscription allows many views per month even of the same title this could be a great system and cheaper. but the devil is in the details. if this is only pc setup then no way will i do it. time will tell and SJ will get one and try it out, maybe atv will get cheaper and more options. e.g i don't want to buy, but when i rent i should be able to view for a longer period of time, especially for my kids, they view the same barbie dvd 25 times.
i just want something simple and gives me flexibility. if netflix can give you many streams of product apple should be also able to do so. but this won't sync with my future iphone to take on trips.
lets see the interface, and ease of connectivity to your network hmmmm for apple users.
now if my netflix subscription allows many views per month even of the same title this could be a great system and cheaper. but the devil is in the details. if this is only pc setup then no way will i do it. time will tell and SJ will get one and try it out, maybe atv will get cheaper and more options. e.g i don't want to buy, but when i rent i should be able to view for a longer period of time, especially for my kids, they view the same barbie dvd 25 times.
i just want something simple and gives me flexibility. if netflix can give you many streams of product apple should be also able to do so. but this won't sync with my future iphone to take on trips.
no computer's needed for this model ... you stream your existing broadband network. no harddrive ... so no putting your home movies or old dvd's on unit to view. It is simply a box to view netflix rentable movies. also no search function from what I've read... no hd content yet. But for people who want to rent movies ... the price blows appleTV away. I love my apple TV, but $9.00 per month I will consider this also. Apple is at about 1,000 movies and they are at 10,000 movies ... apple needs to fast track selection ... that is the biggest problem with apple tv now.
Interesting stuff. It sounds like NetFlix has some good thinking on this matter.
And their entire market cap is a cool $2B. Apple could buy them with a little over 1/5th of their cash-on-hand. A fusion of Apple design (both UI and hardware) and NetFlix's market concepts, agreements, and distribution network could be interesting.
what is netflix afraid of ... this launch is not on their home page? you got to dig deep to get the info.