just an asterisk

This isn’t news, but I’ve been having fun with it (and I’m a bit strapped for time these days).  My new TV came with streaming Netflix built in (as I mentioned in my last post).  But what does this really mean???  Well I’ll tell you – I can watch Netflix from my television, streaming it over the web on my home network.  The network setup was a pain in the butt, but once I got it working, I couldn’t believe that I’d lived without for so long.  To think of all the times I ordered pay-per-view when I could have just watched something for free!

The first step is to get the right hardware (a TV or blue ray player is probably easiest, but you can also use game consoles and other toys). Here is the list of “Netflix ready devices”.  If you’re thinking of buying a TV, why not aim for one that is Netflix ready?  If you’re kids have a console chillin’ (or you do secretly), why not use it for some free vids?  Whatever device you get, it just needs to be on the web and connected to your TV.

Once you’re setup on the hardware, the rest is easy-peasy.  When I go into Netflix, I head over to “Watch Instantly”.  This is old news – I used to sit in front of my PC and click “Play” to watch a great selection of old and new films and TV shows.  What’s new and amazing (to me) is this button:

If you click it, the media you’ve chosen can be viewed by devices other than your computer.  On your device (TV, blue ray player, etc), you just need to go to the Netflix application and voila! You’re choice is there to watch!

I should point out that you need a good internet connection if you want to stream HD movies to your TV.  If you’re planning on doing this over a wireless network, I suggest that you bolster your wireless signal to as close to MAX as possible.  You’ll need every bit of it.  I’ve written about wireless networks before, so read this if you need help.

And then… well, you’re done! You can now watch movies from your Netflix enabled device. There isn’t much more for me to say. In the end, this is more of a hardware look-what-is-possible post than one about software.  I hope you get to play with this technology soon – you’re missing out!

Enjoy,

~ab

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 at 9:15 am and is filed under Hardware. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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