Oh! Gizmo

By Chris Scott Barr

Back in August we told you that Microsoft had signed an exclusive deal with Netflix, making the 360 the only console which could stream their movies. Well it would seem that either the exclusive deal was carefully worded, or was only for a very short period of time. Why? Because the company just announced that later this year the PS3 will get a similar treatment.

That’s right, PS3 owners will soon be able to stream the very same movies to their console, with the added benefit of not needing to pay for something like Xbox Live Gold. The downside is that in order to stream the movies, you will need a special Blu-ray disc. This will be provided free of charge to all Netflix subscribers who request it. A minor annoyance, likely in place due to the existing agreement with Microsoft. There’s no word on exactly when this is going to be rolled out, but you can reserve your Netflix Blu-ray disc now.

[ Netflix ] VI A[ Crave ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I’ve been enjoying being able to stream Netflix to my 360 for a while now. What I don’t enjoy is paying for a Gold subscription in order to use it. One could argue that most 360 gamers already keep themselves at Gold status so they can play games online. That’s great for them, but I rarely play anything on my 360 with people online (I do most of my online gaming with my PC). I have both a PS3 and a Wii as well, and I’ve been hoping to hear something about getting Netflix on one of those, since neither charge for their online experience. Well finally we’ve heard something.

It seems that Microsoft has managed to sign an exclusive deal with Netflix, making them the only ones with a console that streams movies from the service. There’s no word on just how long the exclusive deal is, but I’m guessing it’s no less than a year or two. I’ll give Microsoft one thing, it does add more value to a Gold subscription. It’s one more thing for them to cite when people complain about Sony offering online play for free.

On a related note, PlayOn seems to be an interesting alternative that lets you stream Netflix (along with Hulu, YouTube and several others) to your TV with a PS3, Xbox 360 (without paying for a Gold Membership) and soon a Wii. I haven’t had a chance to test it out myself, but I’ll let you guys know when I do.

[ Microsoft ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Shane McGlaun

It seems like every other device that comes out today is designed to allow streaming of media from the Internet to your TV. The feature is being included in many Blu-ray players, new HDTVs, and some game consoles can stream content as well.

Syabas has announced a new settop box called the Popcorn C-200 that is set to launch in July for $299. The device is capable of streaming 30 different video formats from the Internet to your TV including MPEG 1, 2, 4, AVI, H.264, Xvid, MKV, Windows Media, and more.

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