Netflix and Xbox 360
Pete, a friend-of-a-friend who lives in Philadelphia and works at Gamestop recently enlightened me to the fact that you can now use Netflix on the Xbox 360. Let me tell you, its a brilliant collaboration on the part of Microsoft and Netflix. You can download the Netflix app and link it to your Netflix account – and stream anything in your Instant Queue via your Xbox 360. The process is absolutely painless and a free trial for Netflix is available which gives you 30 days of free rentals and streaming. So many great movies and TV Series are available for instant streaming. I started watching Heroes this way (yeah, I know I’m behind, just started season 1, but I was a little bit disinterested at first given the somewhat “dorky” stigma the show had initially). A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010, Alien and Aliens, and oh-so-many other great moview are available for instant gratification. Pete also recommends Heavy Metal 2000 as great background visuals for good conversation, which I plan to use next time friends are over to chit-chat.
Bottom line, if you have an Xbox 360 and you haven’t tried Netflix on it, you’re seriously missing out. It definitely beats digital cable’s on-demand service. If more stuff was available on Netflix for Instant Streaming, I’d be even happier. Also, HD streaming works if you have enough bandwidth, and let me tell you, there’s nothing better than seeing something you want in HD over your Xbox 360 with virtually zero effort!