Netflix: Silverlight 3 could help with glitches
Netflix said on Wednesday that the next version of Silverlight shows some promise in helping ease recent issues that some users have had while trying to stream videos on lower-end computers.
"There are test configurations in our lab where we are seeing an improvement," said Kevin McEntee, vice president of Web development for Netflix. McEntee told CNET News that the company went out and bought computers such as an Asus Netbook that users had said were causing problems. In some cases, the low-end machines weren't able to keep up with the video and were dropping frames, McEntee said.
The next version of Silverlight holds promise, McEntee said, by allowing the load to be shared by the graphics and main processors, whereas the current version puts all the strain on the CPU.
"There was a significant improvement using Silverlight 3," McEntee said. "We think we can run on a wide range of lower-end machines that we don't run (well) on today."
However, those experiencing problems will have to wait a bit. Silverlight 3 just entered beta, with a final release not expected until sometime before the end of the year. A Silverlight 3-based Netflix player would come sometime after that, he said.
"I don't anticipate we would do it until Silverlight 3 is released as a final (version)," he said.
McEntee said that Netflix originally planned to use Silverlight only to create a Mac version of its streaming player, but decided to shift entirely to Silverlight because it lets them offer a single player that works on multiple platforms and on multiple browsers.
The biggest downside, he said, is that many people still don't have Silverlight, meaning customers have to download the program before they can watch their first movie.
"We're waiting for Silverlight to have more and more penetration," McEntee said. "We would love to be able to have (customers) push the blue play button and it just plays."
For now, Netflix is focused on offering streaming video for the PC and television rather than actively working on an option that would also get the content onto cell phones and iPods.
"We don't have any imminent plans for phones or iPods or anything with a smaller screen," said company spokesman Steve Swasey. "At some point--and we haven't said when--we would be interested in getting into other devices."
Microsoft has had a mixed track record with big-name customers for Silverlight. NBC used Silverlight to offer on-demand and live video from the Beijing Olympics. On Wednesday, NBC's Perkins Miller announced at Mix that the network would also be using Microsoft's technology for the 2010 winter games in Vancouver.
Major League Baseball, meanwhile, recently said it was dropping Silverlight for its video service and going with Adobe's Flash.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
NETFLIX PLEASE ADMIT YOUR MISTAKE MOVING TO SILVERLIGHT AND CHANGE TECHNOLOGIES SO I CAN BECOME A CUSTOMER AGAIN!
I remember Netflix laid off support personal after the switch, simply because they had nothing to do (http://tinyurl.com/5mxr2v). So it is obviously improved for the masses watching.
The only thing I don't like is with the old technology, you could trick it and download the WMV file. It was still DRM'd and expired, but you could request the highest bitrate, even if your connection couldn't support it. I could kick off a download in the morning, watch by supper easy.
Ah well, progress.
http://blog.netflix.com/2008/10/opt-in-for-new-netflix-movie-player.html
Enjoy the hundreds of complaints!
Just because you aren't doesn't mean there are no problems. Also, are you even on Silverlight? I called support complaining that the quality of movies from Netflix weren't as good as Hulu. That is when they switched me to Sliverlight and the problems began. I am pretty sure Silverlight wasn't available a year ago from Netflix so I have to assume you're still on the old player. Who knows.
I am on Silverlight. I was on the old player
I know what I'm talking about.
'hundreds of complaints', ya right.
How many thousands do you think use it day to day, like myself, without the slightest problem?
Yes, there are hundreds of complaints on that blog but imagine the thousand who never complained or didn't know how to vent their frustration with Netflix. It took me a bit of Googling to find that blog so I could post my comments since Netflix provided no way to offer feedback. When I called support about the issue the only thing they had to offer was canceling my account.
It's not good. Netflix -- CHANGE TECHNOLOGIES!
They were late to support "instant" video on Macs, and when they did, they gave us Silverlight and it didn't shine at all.
Strike two, you're out. Why do we need silverlight when we have Flash everywhere and real Standards?
I still don't trust Microsoft.
Anywys... I've dropped NetFlixes service for Adobe based video flash site... it just works so smoothly... Look at Hulu.com - Wonderful! An industry standard for Video content sites to follow. I have no idea why Netflix would take such a big risk with Silverlight.
You may want to try reading the article some time.
"McEntee said that Netflix originally planned to use Silverlight only to create a Mac version of its streaming player"
In other words, the entire reason they used Silverlight in the first place is a failure.
Remember, Netflix couldn't support the Mac before SL because of DRM/legal issues with the studios, not because they don't like Flash.
So, I for one am satisfied with my Netflix experience on my Mac. No installations problems either (was as easy as installing a Flash upgrade). Also, I have to say that I really paid attention during the Obama inauguration and again, IMO the performance of Silverlight on my IMac (video quality as well as overall performance and stability) was great.
I have a pretty low-end laptop (Acer 3680, 1.86 GHz Celeron, Vista Home Basic), but it worked great with the Windows Media Netflix player, but then it played like absolute dung with the Silverlight one - poor resolution, freezing every 5-10 seconds with stuttering audio.
Got nowhere with Netflix support, and was justifiably ticked at being unable to go back. Decided for the heck of it to download the Windows 7 RC, and see if it had any effect. I'm pretty pleased - for the most part, the issues are gone. Now it is only a brief pause every few minutes, and no stuttering audio. Definitely watchable (whereas the combo of Vista/Netflix/Silverlight really wasn't). Starts out with low resolution, but improves after 20 seconds or so (10 Mb download speed)
Would a clean install of Vista have had the same effect? Maybe, I don't know. For now I'm happy, and will ride out the Windows 7 RC until March and decide where to go then.
Just an FYI for anyone suffering from the same issues.
And Flamers, before you ask- I have Verizon Fios, I'm running a dual boot Win 7RC and XP , Quad Core 2.7 w/4G DDR3 RAM and an nVidia 9600 GT (also w/512Mb DDR3 RAM) on an EVGA 790i motherboard, RAID- mirrored 931Gigs HDD. So yes, it is a fairly decent computer with a solid internet connection!
- by johnniedoo November 25, 2009 7:39 AM PST
- Seems as though all the traffic stopped on this. I just began to have big problems shortly after building this new fairly powerful computer It was coming through beautifully, i mean sharp clear in sync it was actually better on some of the old tv shows than watching from the disc. zipped through the initialize, and buffer in half a second and never stopped during the playback which had plagued me on some other days using my other computer a good one but not as good. I now , all of a sudden, have what is described above. it takes forever to get through the buffering stage if it ever does make it and the picture quality is back to the bad early vhs on slp. i read a forum , oh, i have now windows 7 64 home premium up from vista 32 home premium. there was problem with some exta flsh plug in or sometihng so i took it out and immediately it was great again, until today. i watched a couple of power dvd9ultra and bd movies and a couple of other noir back and white. then today wanted to watch another instant and it will not happen in ie8 or foxfire 3.5x latest whichever and i am stuck since i got rid of whatever the forum mentioned and i forgot which one i got it to since it took about 3hours of seaching yesterday before i found a fix that worked for me.
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(24 Comments)I called netflix and they clamed no knowledge of what i was talking about, empty the "catch"(sic) the cache he referred to was long since cleared as whatever else with ccleaner and the built ins
i love netflix but am greatly disapointed that it is back to so lousy. I got the new big graphics card and 8gigs of ddr3 1600 ram with the gig of ddr5 on the card. as i said it was great for a short time
I like hulu very much too but they use flash , exactly what the fourm says interfers with silverlight which who can like? it has zero features, only watch the movie in old fashioned straight ahead analog like , why? cant even go back 30seconds without having to go through a minute of re setting up IF it is not hanging u p