When MS came out with their new user interface on November 19th 2008 I was first reluctant to upgrade the XBox software. But you don’t really get an option with MS and after a couple of raving reviews by some friends of mine I took the leap and upgraded 2 days later. MS has partnered up with Netflix and has added a plugin to stream movies out of the Netflix Instant queue. Although the selection is currently limited to 5000+ older movies or TV series it was an interesting offering, especially because I already had a netflix subscription. When I watched the instant movies on a PC I was already impressed by how stable and mature the netflix player was. It got even better on the XBox. On the big screen (I’m projecting with a 80″ diagonal) I was scared of  visible artefacts from the compressed stream. Also at the PC I had problems keeping periodic interrupts from disturbing the frame rate. No such thing on the XBox though. As long as the bandwidth of the Internet service provider (ISP) holds up the movie quality is first grade (I have a suspicion that netflix is throtteling its bandwidth, too, though when too many people access the same stream). TV series are even streamed in HD quality (720p I believe).  They look crisp and vivid on the big screen. A delight to watch! How far have we come from the 486 days, when I saw the first movie streamed in a Saturn Media markt, just 15 years ago…

After the first viewing of a “Heros” show I went: Wow, I just saw the future. Sorry cable providers, you better come up with a good plan, ’cause I ain’t payin for your service any more…

Yieeeha!