Why are Mac users always the last to get picked on the playground? Even today, there are so many apps and devices that won't run on Macs. Oddly enough, this time, it's Microsoft who's picked Mac to join their team.
Microsoft's Silverlight allows Intel Macs and Windows PCs to run Netflix's new (2nd generation) media player for Watch Now capabilities. This gives Macs the ability to instantly watch movies and TV shows, plus it includes fast-forward and rewind capabilities.
With Play Ready DRM, Netflix can use copy protection that wasn't possible before with dynamic steaming. Notice that it also includes Firefox support. Woohoo!
"Silverlight with Play Ready offers a powerful and secure toolkit for
delivery of dynamic streaming, which offers faster start-up, and higher
quality video, adapted in real time to users' connection speeds," said
Netflix Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt. "Members who enjoy watching
movies and TV episodes from the growing library of choices that can be
instantly streamed at Netflix will be thrilled with this next
generation improvement of access and quality, on a broader range of
platforms, including Intel Macs and Firefox."
This new service is a peek at what the rumored new platform might be like for all Netflix subscribers that should be out in a few months.
Keep reading for the complete press release on the new Microsoft Silverlight player.
NETFLIX BEGINS ROLL-OUT OF 2ND GENERATION MEDIA PLAYER FOR INSTANT STREAMING ON WINDOWS PCs AND INTEL MACS
LOS
GATOS, Calif., October 27, 2008 – Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), the
world's largest online movie rental service, today announced it has
begun the deployment of Microsoft Silverlight to enhance the instant
watching component of the Netflix service and to allow subscribers for
the first time to watch movies and TV episodes instantly on their
Intel-based Apple Macintosh computers. The deployment, which will
initially touch a small percentage of new Netflix subscribers, is the
first step in an anticipated roll-out of the new platform to all
Netflix subscribers by the end of the year.
Silverlight is
designed for delivery of cross-platform, cross-browser media
experiences inside a Web browser. It is expected that Netflix members
who watch movies and TV episodes instantly on their computers will
enjoy a faster, easier connection and a more robust viewing experience
with Silverlight, due to the quality built directly into the player.
Among the viewing enhancements with the new player is a breakthrough in
timeline navigation that vastly improves the use of fast-forwarding and
rewinding. The new Netflix player takes advantage of Play Ready DRM,
which is built into Silverlight, for the playback of protected content
on both Windows-based PCs and on Macs. That had not been possible with
previous generation technologies.
"Silverlight with Play Ready
offers a powerful and secure toolkit for delivery of dynamic streaming,
which offers faster start-up, and higher quality video, adapted in real
time to users' connection speeds," said Netflix Chief Product Officer
Neil Hunt. "Members who enjoy watching movies and TV episodes from the
growing library of choices that can be instantly streamed at Netflix
will be thrilled with this next generation improvement of access and
quality, on a broader range of platforms, including Intel Macs and
Firefox." —Leslie Shapiro
