Netflix “Watch Instantly” Mac Style
Netflix launched it’s “Watch Instantly” feature in January of 2007, and since that time, the service has only been available for Windows users. A player for the Mac has long been promised, but Apple’s refusal to license it’s DRM solution has prevented this from happening. In the words of Steve Novoselac:
A key issue for delivering movies online is that the studios require use of DRM (Digital Rights Management) to protect titles. And that’s our holdup for the Mac - there’s not yet a studio-sanctioned, publicly-available Mac DRM solution (Apple doesn’t license theirs). I can promise you that, when an approved solution becomes available for the Mac, we’ll be there. I’ll also say that Silverlight 1.1 looks like a promising candidate - but that its DRM isn’t likely to be fully available until 2008.
Well, it seems like our wait is FINALLY over. Netflix is allowing customers to beta test the new version of their player which works on PCs and Intel-based Macs. You are required to opt-in before using the new player, but before you do so, Netflix would like you to consider a few things:
- There may be bugs. We are logging all errors, but if you run into problems you can help out by posting details here in the blog comments.
- Not all movies are available to watch with Silverlight. You may notice errors or lower than normal quality when watching certain titles.
- Our new player works on PCs and Intel-based Macs.
- Windows users should be aware that if you opt in, you will need to use Silverlight on all the machines you use to watch instantly.
If you have used the new beta player, please feel free to post your thoughts. I have been using it since November 1st, and I love it so far. Streaming seems much faster, playback resumes very quickly after skipping forward or backward to a different part of the movie, and IT WORKS ON MY MAC! 
Beta opt-in:
http://www.netflix.com/silverlightoptin
Read the official opt-in annoucement / report bugs:
http://blog.netflix.com/2008/10/opt-in-for-new-netflix-movie-player.html
Instant watching on Mac, Firefox and more… by Steve Novoselac:
http://blog.netflix.com/2007/08/instant-watching-on-mac-firefox-and.html