Netflix CPO gets technical about encoding for streaming

by Darren Murph posted Nov 20th 2008 at 6:02AM

Go on, confess. If you're reading this now, chances are you have at least a passing interest in learning how all of this glorious streaming content actually gets to your TV set / computer while still managing to look at least halfway decent. If you're willing to be honest with yourself, there's a lot in the read link that you'll love. Without going too in-depth here (wouldn't want to scare anyone off, you know?), Netflix's Chief Product Officer covers the basics of first- and second-generation encoding as well as how it handles the wonderful high-def encodes that are used to deliver Watch Instantly content to the Xbox 360. Oh, and now that the New Xbox Experience is live, you can chime in below and let us know if all that hard work that's being done behind the scenes is paying dividends on your HDTV.

[Via CNET]

Filed under: Industry, Internet

Tags: blu-ray, compression, digital downloads, DigitalDownloads, encode, encoding, hd streaming, HdStreaming, netflix, Silverlight, stream, streaming, WMA

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Highest Ranked

Bozster @ Nov 20th 2008 6:29AM

I'm actually watching HD Netflix on NXE right now and I can honestly say that it looks superb. I have 4 lines and I'm using wireless adapter on my Xbox 360 and the HD video is flawless, no macroblocking nor screen tearing. Watched 2 seasons of Office in HD and I'm extremely satisfied. I expected minor improvement over SD content they offer but the difference is very noticable. It's not 1080p but this is pretty much on par with Xbox 360 HD downloads with much higher bitrate. For $8 a month for Netflix this is superb and integrated with Xbox amazingly well.

Neutral

squiggleslash @ Nov 20th 2008 8:36AM

How fast is your Internet connection out of interest? I'm curious to know how it performs in general, though I suspect my 3Mbps (max I can get around here) DSL is well below what's needed for this.

Neutral

minimalist @ Nov 20th 2008 9:33AM

I have the Comcast cable that usually gets between 8-11 Mbps down and 2-3 up whenever I check at speed test sites. Netflix streaming seems reasonably snappy on this connection.

I disagree that it looks as good as an HD download. The SD quality is below SD digital cable but above something like Hulu or YouTube. No major macroblocking but it looks quite fuzzy and grainy on a 46" flat panel. The HD streams look better than SD digital cable but nowhere near as good as a digital download. Again no macroblocking but the picture still has a soft somewhat smeared look. I did have the stream downgrade mid-program to a much lower quality once or twice already which is a bummer.

The HD I will definitely seek out on a regular basis. The SD streams are there if I am in a pinch but they won;t be my top choice for programming.

I wish Netflix made it easier to search for HD streaming on their site. As far as I can tell you don;t know till you start streaming whether the content is in HD or SD.

Highly Ranked

DEEZNUTZ @ Nov 20th 2008 9:50AM

@ minimalist

Under genres, after you activate your Netflix account for XBOX streaming, you should now see HD as a category. You can then look at all instant content available in HD.

Neutral

minimalist @ Nov 21st 2008 11:37AM

Thanks Deeznutz. I could have sworn there was no HD genere listed when I first looked but now it is indeed there.

Neutral

Michael @ Nov 20th 2008 6:34AM

I'm enjoying the quality, but not enough of what I want to watch is available in HD. Also, not enough of what I want to watch if available. Period. This makes me very sad.

I was hoping to get away from illegal downloading of shows, but even between Hulu (with PlayOn!) and Netflix streaming on my Xbox, there are still shows I'd be missing out on.

When will the studios realize the beauty of putting all of their shows up in these streaming contents? Make us pay (Netflix) or give us ads (Hulu), but let us stream!

I still prefer physical media for my movies (although I'm being broken down gradually with all of these new ways of watching).

Highly Ranked

drphil7 @ Nov 20th 2008 7:35AM

Im sure that they will be adding alot more as its only the first day of 360 streaming, it works very well in my opinion im on the free trial now.

Neutral

PLUCKYHD @ Nov 20th 2008 7:54AM

Looks okay how can you tell what titles are hd? I can't seem to figure this one out.
And their servers were down allot last night I am thinking due to all the new xbox 360 streaming. I couldn't get the streams to load on xbox or computer. Worked fine this morning.

Highly Ranked

inteller @ Nov 20th 2008 8:34AM

Netflix may have given me a reason to cancel cable.

Highly Ranked

Jason W @ Nov 20th 2008 9:25AM

You know if it was not for my wife I would cancel cable too. With my media center DVR and on demand netflix I wouldnt need much more.

So what speed is everyone running on?

Highly Ranked

drphil7 @ Nov 20th 2008 9:26AM

Im running 8 mbps and it streams flawlessly.

Neutral

Mark @ Nov 20th 2008 9:32AM

The max streaming rate is 3800kbps which works out approximately to 4Gb for a whole movie. That should yield an acceptable image, but more or less dictates the user has a 4Mbps broadband or higher. That's a very high requirement unless it can cache the data for playback on slower connections. I can see things like this hastening the end of unlimited broadband.

Neutral

Johnny Neat @ Nov 20th 2008 9:38AM

First I have Blockbuster Online so this NXE/Netflix relationship got my attention.

Having said that, I have Comcast cable at 3-4 mbps more or less from my tests and what I have seen is an eye opener. Granted it may be that yesterday was the official day of this going down and thus the service had been reporting minor hiccups in service.

So anyhow I got to check out Chronos and The NeverEnding Story and watched three episodes from The Office Season 3.

First Chronos appeared to look like a typical DVD that wasn't that well upconverted. Granted I only watched 5 or so minutes of it but nothing amazing.

Then I watched The NeverEnding Story for 10 minutes and that look like a solid good looking upconverted DVD should and does. I was beginning to feel impressed.

Finally I decided to watch three episodes from The office's 3rd season and those were solid conversions. The first and third episodes of the series played solidly as good up-converted DVDs normally do and should look, solid work there. The second episode decided to play in supposed HD fashion and it looked close to what I get over DTV on good HD channels. Not Blu-ray but acceptable nonetheless and something I'd love to receive all the time.

That final mention brings me back to yesterday's service which I know was being reported as spotty for a while. I don't know if it's my connection but Chronos which was my first try and was a quick success. Once a tried the others it was a hit or miss on it working. I would have to press try again over and over before I finally The NeverEnding Story to play as anything else I had picked would not get going. Once I finally got The Office to play it was responsive with that one spike to HD glory.

Does anyone know if it was the service yesterday or possibly my connection or connections in general that cause these hiccups I've mentioned? I feel like my internet connection may fluctuate but I'm not sure if this is a personal issue or just a general issue for all users & their connections.

Neutral

Rodimus @ Nov 20th 2008 9:39AM

I have the Max18 speed with Uverse and streaming works perfectly.

Loving the NXE!!! As of now, I have questions about Netflix.

When queuing up from Netflix, how come there are only about 160 titles in the HD section? I was aware that there'll be about 300 HD titles available at launch. Could this be the Sony/Columbia titles that are missing? Or am I just not looking at the right place? Another thing...does anyone know any other way to tell which titles are in HD format in the Netflix site??

Neutral

Big Wizz @ Nov 20th 2008 9:52AM

Netflix streaming to NXE is beyond awesome. Seriously thinking about cancelling my cable.

My ISP gives me about 7-8Mbps download, so I've had any lag/stuttering at all.

However, the Netflix HD selection is HORRIBLE. Other than some TV shows (Office, Hero's, etc..) there is one single decent movie.

Neutral

PLUCKYHD @ Nov 20th 2008 10:06AM

How are you guys seeing what is in hd and what isn't?

Highly Ranked

Big Wizz @ Nov 20th 2008 11:13AM

@Plucky,

On Netflix.com, go to the Watch Instantly tab, then Genre's drop down, HD should be in there.

Not that there's much there...

Neutral

G-house @ Nov 20th 2008 10:26AM

I have a terrible 1.5 DSL connection and I streamed THX1138, and Superman Doomsday and they looked AMAZING. Just as good if not better than a DVD. I have no idea how it looks so good with my crappy speeds, but I'm very happy with it. I can't imagine what it's going to look like when I get Uverse.

There is no way I'm going to invest a dime in Blu-Ray with this technology at my fingertips. I have a feeling that Netflix is going to be ramping up the HD programming in the near future so I'm not worried about the lack of current HD content.

OH and "F' YOU SONY" for being c0cks about your content availability on Netflix.. do you want people to watch your movies or not? The PS3 at my work is the slowest most cumbersome gaming system I've ever used.

Neutral

Glavasich @ Nov 20th 2008 10:45AM

Ok. Now that I have over 300 movies for streaming on my que I think it's time to implement some sorting options.

Highly Ranked

Rodimus @ Nov 20th 2008 12:03PM

HAHAHA! Nice!

MS is probably not thinking about the minority of people queuing up 300+ movies and creating some sorting option. Or should they?!

Maybe the next update! =)

Highly Ranked

Doc @ Nov 20th 2008 10:43AM

All I can say is that I'm extremely impressed with the netflix streaming!!! Been re-watching office episodes that were in HD and it really looked smooth with never a hiccup to be seen.

ISP: 20-25 up and 4-5 down with speed boost !! Worth every penny IMO.

Highly Ranked

engage @ Nov 20th 2008 12:47PM

After testing various movies and TV shows in all resoultions, I'm pretty impressed with the image quality of Netflix's HD content. Through TWC, I routinely get 8 to 11 down, which is apparently good enough for a solid connection. And though there isn't much to choose from now, I'm sure we'll see at least 1,000 HD titles by late summer/early fall 2009. Just knowing that I now have a SXTH option for viewing HD content is incredible in itself. In terms of quality, here's how I'd rank my options:

Best: Blu-ray/HD DVD media
Better. Xbox 360/PS3 HD downloads
Good: Netflix HD streams
Passable: Cable HD (with the exception of certain channels like HDNet and CBS HD)

I've been spoiled by the clarity of optical HD media, but not to the point of shunning alternatives. I deliberately left off the torrent stuff because I find the quality varies wildly from post to post. Lastly. SD content in decent on both consoles, but the Netflix ones I tried were too grainy, and not all of them are widescreen, either (looking directly at you, Aliens!). I'd rather watch upscaled, 5.1/widescreen DVDs on my PS3 or HD-A20, with the added bonus of 24 fps on the A20 for many films. The lack of 5.1 right now isn't a dealbreaker either. It's missing from digital downloads anyway, and probably won't hit Netflix streams until there's a sgnificant Xbox Live infrastucture boost. (Network gurus, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about this.)

Highly Ranked

Tyler @ Nov 20th 2008 3:27PM

Wow, I'm glad there's someone around here (other than me) that still likes Blu-ray and can tell the difference. I'd have to agree with how you rank your HD options, except I don't have HD cable. However, I do watch HD OTA to Vista Media Center, and I'd have to say that's on par or better than the HD downloads.

I will still go out of my way to watch a Blu-ray movie because of the superior image and audio quality (love the lossless 7.1). But now with the ability to stream Netflix to my Xbox 360, I definitely love the option to instantly watch a movie and some TV shows (albeit at lower quality than I like).

In today's market, I don't think we'll ever see one HD service control all. Disc media (Blu-ray) and HD download and streaming will complement each other. It will just be a matter of quality vs convenience, and even that depends on the content you watch.

Neutral

Bozster @ Nov 20th 2008 3:41PM

Engage I think your list could be modified even though I agree

1. Blu-Ray/HD DVD video quality and audio quality is best
2. Vudu - almost the same amount of titles right now as Blu-Ray, video quality is pretty much the same as Blu-Ray with HDX movies and sound is just a tick below with Dolby Digital Plus vs DTS-MA but I really can't hear the difference that much personally
3. Xbox 360
4. Netflix HD
5. Cable HD and On-demand HD

Neutral

Ordeith @ Nov 21st 2008 12:34PM

HD DVD was designed to compliment streaming services. They knew it wouldn't be standalone.

Blu-Ray was not. The format has problems.

I bet WB wishes they could change their mind. After this holiday season is over I am sure they would love to have the chance.

Neutral

mirage @ Nov 20th 2008 2:53PM

I am straight up ADDICTED to streaming Netflix on my 360!!! In fact, I am currently at work and jonesin' hardcore for some more!!

Neutral

mirage @ Nov 20th 2008 3:18PM

I wholeheartedly agree with that! It should definitely have some sorting options and grouping options as well so that TV shows could be in a separate area than my movies I would love that!

Neutral

mirage @ Nov 20th 2008 4:53PM

Crappy comment system, this was a reply to Glavasich. :)

Neutral

JBDragon @ Nov 20th 2008 11:56PM

The Netflex streaming is great!!! I can only hope that Netflex steps up, and gets far, far more in HD and in surround sound. At some point I'd like for Netflex to just have most every move for steaming. Forget the Disc's!!!! I think this is a great way to watch lots of HD movies in the future cheaply.

There can still be a place for Blu-Ray. Some movies you just want to OWN and see it the best quality possible. For me those would be the Sci-Fi and Action/Adventure movies, Star Wars, Matrix, Transformers, Star Trek, and it goes on. HD streaming of a Comedy, good enough for me. HD streaming of most movies is good enough. Competition is good. I hope Sony wises up and allows their movies to be streamed once again and in fact allow even more. Personally I think Sony would make more money allowing their movies to be streamed then Blu-Ray. Low cost streaming over high cost Blu-Ray has more Mass Market Appeal.

Neutral

rm @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:16PM

Not to drive you all crazy, but NetFlix has never offered a good assortment of movies... never, never! I think you're all going to be very disappointed in about a year when you all have the same list of movies to choose from and as the NetFlix experience worsens... (which is what happened to me a few years ago, when I first tried NetFlix... it started off good and went to absolutely horrible, horrible within a few months!!!!)

Blu Ray is much/far superior. Broadcast HD pretty much sucks, but not nearly as bad as internet HD streaming... though the ABC streaming is pretty much the best streaming I've seen.

And why would you pay for streaming tv shows? Most are free off the internet aren't they? And TV sucks anyway... Later dudes!

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