Netflix pretty much rocks

[Adrift]

I have the service but the stuff you get free is kinda old and slim pickings compared to netflix (which I have too) - all the good and new stuff they want you to rent and pay extra for. And there is no dedicated viewer program for the PC (you have to use your browser) and I don't know of any TV's that have it built in either.

Add to that, that it looks like they don't have any movies in HD, only TV shows. I guess I'll either keep waiting till there's a service that offers HD streaming for PC, or I'll finally have to cave and get a Roku.

[Sparko]

Add to that, that it looks like they don't have any movies in HD, only TV shows. I guess I'll either keep waiting till there's a service that offers HD streaming for PC, or I'll finally have to cave and get a Roku.

Netflix has HD streaming of movies and tv shows on PC's, tablets and many brands of TV's

[Adrift]

Netflix has HD streaming of movies and tv shows on PC's, tablets and many brands of TV's

As far as I understand it (currently):

1. Netflix has HD streaming for the PC (limited to certain movies and TV shows), but not Surround Sound.

2. Amazon has both HD streaming, and Surround Sound for the PC, but only for TV shows, not movies.

No one has both, and that's really what I'm looking for. And if I'm reading this article correctly, Netflix' HD is only optimized with certain hardware, which doesn't include the PC, but does include certain Bluray players, Roku 2 players, and like... the Apple TV, or something.

[Sparko]

As far as I understand it (currently):

1. Netflix has HD streaming for the PC (limited to certain movies and TV shows), but not Surround Sound.

2. Amazon has both HD streaming, and Surround Sound for the PC, but only for TV shows, not movies.

No one has both, and that's really what I'm looking for. And if I'm reading this article correctly, Netflix' HD is only optimized with certain hardware, which doesn't include the PC, but does include certain Bluray players, Roku 2 players, and like... the Apple TV, or something.

I just tried it out on my home theater PC, both streaming through the browser and the media center plugin.
the browser video was sharper, but both seemed to be in surround sound. I was watching Aeon Flux and at the beginning there is a fly buzzing around and it seemed to move around the room, front and back. It could be my surround sound system faking it, but it sounded good to me.

They give you a month free to try it out if you want to see what it is like on your system.

[Adrift]

I just tried it out on my home theater PC, both streaming through the browser and the media center plugin.
the browser video was sharper, but both seemed to be in surround sound. I was watching Aeon Flux and at the beginning there is a fly buzzing around and it seemed to move around the room, front and back. It could be my surround sound system faking it, but it sounded good to me.

They give you a month free to try it out if you want to see what it is like on your system.

Maybe they upgraded their output since last I checked. I'll look into it. Thanks!

Oh, and what media center are you using? Windows? I've been playing around with MediaPlayer for awhile, but am not entirely happy with it.

[Sparko]

Maybe they upgraded their output since last I checked. I'll look into it. Thanks!

Oh, and what media center are you using? Windows? I've been playing around with MediaPlayer for awhile, but am not entirely happy with it.

It's Windows Media Center, built into Windows 7.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...-media-center/

it's an interface that let's you watch movies, TV (it will record if you have a tuner card attached), videos, DVDs, Blurays, play music and your photos. Pretty slick. You can even get an IR receiver and remote control for it (that's what I have, and I have it hooked up to my HD TV)

[Adrift]

It's Windows Media Center, built into Windows 7.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...-media-center/

it's an interface that let's you watch movies, TV (it will record if you have a tuner card attached), videos, DVDs, Blurays, play music and your photos. Pretty slick. You can even get an IR receiver and remote control for it (that's what I have, and I have it hooked up to my HD TV)

Oh, I know what it is. I've messed around with it a bunch. It's okay, but my tv tuner doesn't play nice with Windows Media Center for some reason. That's the main reason that I'm using MediaPlayer which is an alternate media center. There's a few other media centers out there, but they're all hit or miss on features. MediaPlayer actually has more features than Windows Media Center (pretty much fully customizable), but its still a little buggy here and there. I also have a Harmony 650 for a remote, so I'm all set there too.

I was mostly just curious to see if it was Windows Media Center you were using or another media center so we could compare notes.

[robrecht]

... They give you a month free to try it out if you want to see what it is like on your system.

Yep, that's how I discovered that my TiVo would not support it, nor my new Samsung SmarTV, nor my Blu-Ray player. I was sad, but now I'm not so sad.

[Sparko]

Oh, I know what it is. I've messed around with it a bunch. It's okay, but my tv tuner doesn't play nice with Windows Media Center for some reason. That's the main reason that I'm using MediaPlayer which is an alternate media center. There's a few other media centers out there, but they're all hit or miss on features. MediaPlayer actually has more features than Windows Media Center (pretty much fully customizable), but its still a little buggy here and there. I also have a Harmony 650 for a remote, so I'm all set there too.

I was mostly just curious to see if it was Windows Media Center you were using or another media center so we could compare notes.

I think I have MediaPlayer inside of Media Center (as a plugin) - I use it to watch and library my DVDs that I ripped to ISO files.

I also have an Harmony Remote (850). You will still need an IR receiver for the PC though.

I was using BeyondTV as a media center for a while. It was great but they stopped supporting it a few years ago so I switched to Windows Media Center.

[Adrift]

I couldn't find anything that mentions Neflix streaming in 5.1 on the PC online. A few people on the AVSforums were sure that it still only streamed in stereo. So I called Netflix directly. The call center guy I talked to had no idea either (he told me that they don't support HTPC users very often). He put me on hold for a bit, and when he came back he told me that, yes, after doing some checking around, Netflix for the PC should be able to do both 1080p and 5.1 streaming because it runs through Window's Silverlight. Well I already knew that it was possible to stream hi-def through Silverlight, I just didn't know Netflix was finally implementing the feature.

Since I'm a previous member, its not possible for me to take advantage of the free trial period again, so I went ahead and signed back up for the whole shebang. That was a bit tricky in-of-itself because the site kept on trying to resign me up as a DVD user when I wanted streaming only. So I called tech-support again, and they fixed that for me.

Users can sort the streaming site by HD, which I did. I played about a half dozen HD films and TV shows, and I got no surround sound at all. So, if Netflix is outputting HD 5.1 anywhere on their streaming site, its far and few between. I'm thinking it hasn't actually been implemented yet (if it ever will be) and the tech guy was just relaying basic facts about Silverlight in general.

Oh well... it's only 8 bucks. Maybe its time I just got a Roku 2 anyways. Been meaning to do it for awhile now, but was hoping that I wouldn't have to add another piece of tech to my system.

Oh, and Aeon Flux isn't an HD film, so there's nothing but stereo there. Sparko, you may have your receiver's sound setting set to output in faux surround sound when only a stereo signal is present (basically it just outputs stereo sound to all 5 speakers), or you may have your surround sound settings mixed up, and are only outputting stereo in all speakers regardless.

[Sparko]

Hmm. When I streamed Aeon Flux, the buffering quality indicator said "HD" and it looked HD to me. Now I did notice that the video looked "softer" when viewed through the media center compared to streaming through the browser, so it may not be in HD on the media center, or it could be some other setting difference.

also what kind of sound card do you have in your PC? Can you play surround sound from DVDs on it? My PC has a built in 6.1 surround system (front L/R, rear L/R, Front Center, Rear Center, and subwoofer) and I have it hooked to my Onkyo 6.1 surround system through the digital optical I/O. I had the receiver set to Dolby Surround mode. It could be that the PC was doing some faux surround and sending that to the receiver, but it sounded good to me, I noticed the fly buzzing coming from the rear and moving to the front on the movie.

Do you know any other good surround sound movies I could test? I wish they had a sound test video we could stream.

[Adrift]

Hmm. When I streamed Aeon Flux, the buffering quality indicator said "HD" and it looked HD to me. Now I did notice that the video looked "softer" when viewed through the media center compared to streaming through the browser, so it may not be in HD on the media center, or it could be some other setting difference.

Weird. I tried loading Aeon Flux (we're talking the live action film, not the cartoon, correct?) several times, but at no point was the HD indicator present, and the picture was noticeably Standard Definition.

also what kind of sound card do you have in your PC? Can you play surround sound from DVDs on it? My PC has a built in 6.1 surround system (front L/R, rear L/R, Front Center, Rear Center, and subwoofer) and I have it hooked to my Onkyo 6.1 surround system through the digital optical I/O.

Yeah, I'm passing sound out through HDMI from an Nvidia GTX 460 (which supports full DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD audio bitstreaming) to an Onkyo 7.1 receiver. I have no problem playing DVDs, Blurays, and other media in full surround sound through my HTPC.

I had the receiver set to Dolby Surround mode. It could be that the PC was doing some faux surround and sending that to the receiver, but it sounded good to me, I noticed the fly buzzing coming from the rear and moving to the front on the movie.

Hmm. Well with 4 speaker stereo you'd still be able to hear the buzzing move from left to right or right to left, just not distinct surround from side to side and front to back. The term "Dolby surround mode" seems to be sort of vaguely defined as far as I can tell too.

From the little I can find on this online it seems that Dolby Surround Mode is, "a parameter that allows you to indicate when an encoded two-channel Dolby Digital bitstream is conveying a Dolby Surround encoded program. It causes A/V receivers to utilize Dolby Pro Logic decoding as well as Dolby Digital decoding when the material is flagged as Dolby Surround. This is only active when in the 2/0 coding mode."

From the Wikipedia article on Dolby Pro Logic, "Dolby Pro Logic is a surround sound processing technology developed by Dolby Laboratories, designed to decode soundtracks encoded with Dolby Surround. Dolby Stereo was originally developed by Dolby in 1976 for analog cinema sound systems. The format was adapted for home use in 1982 as Dolby Surround when HiFi capable consumer VCRs were introduced; it was then replaced by the newer and improved Pro-Logic system in 1987. However, the term "Dolby Surround" is still used to describe the encoding technology or matrix-encoded soundtrack, whereas Pro Logic refers to the decoding technology and processor. It is the domestic equivalent of the theatrical Dolby Stereo technology used in movie cinemas in the 1970s and '80s." Later in the same Wiki article, "Dolby Surround is the encoding counterpart to Dolby Pro Logic's decoding technology, but early home implementations of Dolby Surround decoding went by the name Dolby Surround which can cause some confusion. Dolby Surround and Dolby Pro Logic decoders are similar in principle, as both use matrix technology to extract extra channels from stereo-encoded audio."

I may be reading this wrong, but it seems to me what that's saying (especially the sections I bolded) is that Dolby Surround Mode is simply a process of making stereo audio sound like surround by playing the stereo in 4 or 5 speakers. Then again, maybe what its saying is that the surround mode is packaged in stereo, and then unpackaged into surround at the receiver level. Again, I can't find anything definitive on that, but this seems to be confirmed by looking at old tech like the Star Wars laserdisc which apparently used 2.0 Theatrical Dolby Stereo Surround.

Maybe there's a audio-tech nut on the forum who can confirm all this, because its all pretty confusing to me.

Do you know any other good surround sound movies I could test?

You mean on Netflix? No... like I said, I suspect that there is no true surround sound movies on Netflix streaming for the PC. I hope I'm wrong about that though.

I wish they had a sound test video we could stream.

I agree. Its sort of annoying, but I bet the majority of consumers don't really care about surround sound (or HD for that matter).

Post-script,

Concerning Aeon Flux, I just triple checked that title on Netflix. Aeon Flux will play in HD for certain devices (TV sets, gaming systems, and blurays, etc.) but NOT for PC/Mac.

[Sparko]

I just tried Aeon Flux on my browser here at work and you are right, it isn't in HD that way. I will check again using the media center when I get home. I thought I saw it say HD on one of them.

I did try two other movies here at work: Ironclad and Tears of the Sun, and they both play in HD on the browser (takes a minute or two for the HD buffering to become active, so it plays in standard def until then) - I can't check the surround sound here though. Tears of the Sun might have some good surround sound since it's a military movie and there will be planes and bullets flying everywhere. I can check it against my TV and DVD later too since I think have Tears of the Sun on DVD.


PS this is why I thought AF was high def.. I did a screen grab of part of her face at the beginning. Looks pretty detailed for standard def...

aeon.jpg
click to enlarge

[Adrift]

I just tried Aeon Flux on my browser here at work and you are right, it isn't in HD that way. I will check again using the media center when I get home. I thought I saw it say HD on one of them.

I did try two other movies here at work: Ironclad and Tears of the Sun, and they both play in HD on the browser (takes a minute or two for the HD buffering to become active, so it plays in standard def until then) - I can't check the surround sound here though. Tears of the Sun might have some good surround sound since it's a military movie and there will be planes and bullets flying everywhere. I can check it against my TV and DVD later too since I think have Tears of the Sun on DVD.

Sounds good. Thank you.

PS this is why I thought AF was high def.. I did a screen grab of part of her face at the beginning. Looks pretty detailed for standard def...

aeon.jpg
click to enlarge

You're right, it does look pretty amazing. Looks even better than 480p which is considered "Enhanced-definition" (sort of the mid point between standard and high def).

[Adrift]

Hey Sparko,

After much much researching, and posting on other forums, I think I finally figured out what's going on with the surround sound issue with Netflix on the PC, and your ability to perceive it.

Apparently Netflix does NOT do surround sound on the PC right now, BUT what they do is just downmix the native surround sound to stereo for the PC stream.

If you use Windows Media Center, and have the Netflix plug-in for it, and have a decent receiver with Dolby Pro-Logic built in, your receiver should be able to upmix the audio and imitate the original surround sound source. I don't really understand the details behind all this, and its probably not the true surround sound mix intended from, say, the bluray version of the film, but at least its something...

What's more interesting about this is that this process of upmixing via the Netflix plug-in will even make movies that are ordinarily streamed in stereo output in 5.1. So for instance, Netflix streams a number of films in their library in 5.1 on the Roku box I have, but not everything is in 5.1. The movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon streams in HD but only outputs in stereo on my Roku, however if I play the same film through the Netflix plug-in on my HTPC it's obviously in 5.1 (the film starts with stars wrapping around the Paramount logo, and as they do the sound swings from the front speakers to the rear and back again). That's probably why you were able to hear 5.1 audio on Aeon Flux even though the film wasn't streaming in full HD.