Netflix now available on Windows Media Center
Forms of entertainment, be it television, movies, music, or games, is increasingly moving towards being delivered digitally via the Internet. Microsoft is at the center of this move away from physical formats, as is Netflix. Which is why it makes perfect sense for the two to team up to bring Netflix content to Windows Media Center.
Windows Media Center is Microsoft’s attempt at making its Windows operating system part of the trend towards home-entertainment hubs. These are a mixture of hardware and software which are designed to work together to give users everything they could ever need – television, movies, music, games – through one integrated system direct to the living room.
Media Center first appeared on Windows XP Media Center and Professional editions but most current users of the media extending software will be users of Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate, both of which include it.
Netflix’s core business may still be in the delivery of physical format movies via post but the company is increasingly pushing its streaming online video service in an effort to make inroads in the emerging market. Netflix has already rolled out its ‘Watch Now’ collection of over 12,000 movies and TV shows to multiple devices, including the Xbox 360. Now, according to the Windows Team Blog, it’s the turn of Windows Media Center.
Netflix on Windows Media Center is, of course, not quite as big a deal as it is on the Xbox 360. The latter allows Netflix subscribers to watch those 12,000+ titles on their high-definition televisions without any fuss whereas it will take a bit of technical knowhow to make the same thing possible using Windows Media Center. However, it’s surely a positive move as it’s yet another living room device that has secured Netflix.
There are only two complaints I have about this deal. The first is that it requires a Netflix membership in order to work, which is obvious but still a little disappointing. And secondly that as with every Netflix-enabled device, it’s only available in the United States. It’s as if the rest of the world doesn’t exist in the minds of these companies.
Related Posts:
May 22nd, 2009
MS is “at the center” only because they bet on the wrong horse where HD media is concerned. Does anyone doubt that if HD-DVD had won the “format war” MS would be doing anything it could get away with now to block out the like of Netflix etc.???