Microsoft has announced today that it will be bringing all 12,000 Netflix “Watch Instantly” streaming content videos to Windows Media Player in Vista.
Unfortunately for XP users, the on-demand service will not work with XP Media Center.
To use the content, you must be running Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate and be a monthly subscriber to Netflix. The videos are available through the Netflix app in Windows Media Player, under the “TV + Movies” category.
First time users will be asked to log in using their Netflix username and password and from there you can arrange your queue as well as search the vast library. You will also need Microsoft’s Silverlight video/animation plug-in to run the app if you do not already have it installed.
The move also allows Xbox 360 users to playback movies via streaming.
Adds Ben Reed, senior product marketing manager for Windows Media Center:
“The [lack of] of familiar controls, of pause, fast forward, rewind, that’s one of the pain points we hear from consumers about the myriad ways you can consume TV shows and movies online. Each one has a different search and discovery experience; each one has a different player; some work great full screen, some don’t.”
Result for: vista media
Yesterday we reported that NBC had sent off broadcast flags thus causing Vista Media Center users to not be able to record TV episodes of “American Gladiators” and “Medium” on Monday night.
After these reports surfaced around the internet, The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) announced that the same exact thing was happening to over-the-air (OTA) programming, something it had not seen before.
One individual report shows a man attempting to record TV shows from NBC’s Raleigh affiliate, WNCN HD, and having an alert tell him “the broadcaster has disabled recording of the programming.” The man was recording from an antenna signal and EFF confided that it was the first it had ever heard of OTA programming being restricted.
Broadcast flags, which come part of the upcoming 2009 DTV standard, were challenged in court two years ago by the EFF and the court ruled in favor saying “that using the flags to restrict copying was not appropriate”. The law was subsequently thrown out. The panel of judges said the FCC did not have the authority to enforce a law of that nature, which is a clear violation of fair use laws.
The EFF then added that Microsoft was voluntarily adopting broadcast flags into its software, as other similar programs now ignore them and have no trouble recording programming even if it is flagged.
“If it is a deliberate ‘feature,’ they have some explaining to do,” EFF international outreach coordinator Danny O’Brien said. “That would amount to putting the desires of content holders above the best interests of its customers.”
Result for: vista media
This week it was reported that NBC was sending out broadcast flags with its Monday night programming thus blocking Vista Media Center users from recording the programming. At the time both Microsoft and the broadcaster argued they did not know what had cause the interference but were investigating.
The incidents caused uproar on the internet especially considering that broadcast flag laws were thrown out and therefore no software needs to abide by them, even if they are sent out by the broadcaster. NBC has made a new statement today, saying the interference were purely a mistake.
“We made an inadvertent mistake,” an NBC spokeswoman explained, “We’re not aware of any other complaints, and we believe we have addressed the problem.”
Because DRM flagging is no longer mandatory, it seems that Microsoft is voluntarily having its Vista Media Center restrict recording. It could also be a monetary deal with the TV broadcasters. Microsoft has said however that it is “working with media outlets to cut down on the number of false DRM flags.”
