Webware

(Credit: Screenshot by John Falcone/CNET)

ZeeVee has released the latest beta version of its Zinc "Internet video browser." Beta 3 of Zinc adds access to Netflix (for subscribers) and CBS (the parent company of CNET), in addition to such online video stalwarts as Hulu, ABC, YouTube, and the like. For now, Zinc is a free download for Windows PCs, though ZeeVee pledges that a Mac version is in development.

Zinc is an offshoot of the ZViewer software that was originally developed for ZeeVee's ZvBox Zv-100. We reviewed that product back in the autumn of 2008, and found it to be overly convoluted and complex--but our problems were largely limited to the hardware. By focusing on the software aspect of its product, ZeeVee is aligning itself as a competitor to Boxee. But since Zinc is just a meta-browser--aggregating already available online video into a more easy-to-access package, but keeping it on the PC--it might even sidestep some of the problems Boxee's encountered with its unauthorized Apple TV version.

We ended our of the ZvBox--which was then retailing for $500--by suggesting that users "might as well just get an entry-level PC [...] and connect it directly to your TV. Pair it with a good wireless keyboard like the Logitech diNovo Mini, and you've got sofa-based access to the entire panoply of Web-based video on your living room HDTV--for roughly the same overall price." While ZeeVee is still offering hardware such as the high-end ZvPro 2500, this focus on software is, in my opinion, a smarter way to go. If Zinc really delivers, users will figure out a way to enjoy it on their big-screen TV. Plenty of enterprising folks are already doing just that.

The Zinc beta is available for download at ZeeVee's site.

Since Netflix introduced its Watch Instantly service back in January 2007, Mac owners have been left out in the cold. Besides using Apple's Boot Camp software, or third-party solutions like Parallels and VMware to use Windows, there was no other way to watch Netflix's streaming videos with out-of-the-box Mac software.

That's changing as of Tuesday, as Netflix has begun rolling out its new Microsoft Silverlight-based streaming service to a small number of monthly subscribers. I've been playing with it all morning, and it works marvelously. Both the Mac and PC players are identical, and in side-by-side testing the quality is too.

One of the most dramatic improvements is the new timeline navigation. This new system shows you thumbnails from a few seconds before and a few seconds after whatever part of the video you're on, giving you a quick way to eyeball where you are. In my case, I was picking up on an episode of Showtime's Dexter and was able to find the spot where I had left off without having to watch any of the video. This technology is actually saving Netflix some bandwidth, as users are able to pinpoint a precise segment without having to wait for the content to stream in.

The new timeline preview feature lets you see a few seconds before and a few after.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Another small, but neat improvement is that you can now hop back and forth between episodes in a series with small arrow keys located on the bottom of the player. If you're sitting down to power through several episodes this skips having to go back to the content directory.

The weak point of Netflix's streaming service is still the selection of content. As others have mentioned, it's a far cry from the service's DVD selection. One thing that could change that is the inclusion of PlayReady DRM, which comes by way of using Silverlight. With that in place we could be seeing the company's selection of streaming titles increase dramatically by year's end as long as Netflix is able to woo more content providers to share their movies and TV shows with a more secure delivery platform.

Update: Here's a video of the updated service in action.

The straightforward interface of the Roku Netflix Player

(Credit: CNET)

The Netflix box is finally a reality.

The Netflix Player by Roku is the first product that allows subscribers to have movies and TV shows from the service's Instant Viewing feature (aka "Watch Now") to be streamed directly to their TV screen. Previously, Instant Viewing was available only to Windows PC users through the Internet Explorer browser. With the release of the Netflix Player, subscribers need only have a wired or wireless broadband connection to access the entire Instant Viewing catalog through their TV. The full review--with hands-on video--is available at CNET Reviews. But for those who prefer to cut right to the chase, here's the short and sweet version:

March of the Penguins: the only movie in Netflix's top 100 that you can stream

(Credit: CNET Networks)

The "Watch Now" feature on Netflix is a great idea: instant access to thousands of movies and TV shows, available for instant streaming to your browser at the touch of a button. There's just one big problem: despite an advertised library of over 8,000 titles, very few of them seem to be movies or TV shows that I want to watch.

Out of 41 titles currently in my queue, only 4--The King of Marvin Gardens, Das Boot, The Good German, and Pickup of South Street--are available to be streamed. OK, fine--my taste for older movies is probably throwing things off. Surely plenty of newer, more popular movies are available to be streamed, right?

Wrong. ... Read More

Netflix has fleshed out some details of its newly announced movie download service. The Watch Now instant viewing service is scheduled to become available to all Netflix subscribers by June. It will launch with just 1,000 titles (movies and TV shows), but the selection will expand thereafter--slowly but surely--to encompass as many of the 70,000-plus titles in the Netflix database as possible. The online viewing feature will be a free addition to existing accounts, with subscribers getting a monthly allotment of online viewing time based on their subscription level. For instance, an $18-per-month plan (three DVDs out at once) garners 18 hours of online viewing time per month.

Movies are delivered directly to a Web browser using a customized plug-in. Further, they're streamed in near real time, not played back after downloading, so the experience should be as close to instant gratification as possible (your broadband bandwidth permitting, of course). For now, the service appears to be limited to Internet Explorer running on a Windows PC (according to an article in the New York Times). Speaking on CNBC's Squawk Box this morning, CEO Reed Hastings described the online viewing feature as being "as easy as YouTube" and "as good-looking as a DVD." The latter half of that statement will be the hard part to pull off: the service's advertised 3-megabit-per-second limitation, while impressive, is less than a third of that offered by DVD--though better compression algorithms and codecs could help negate that. No word on whether audio will be limited to stereo playback or if a DVD-like surround track will be available.

Of course, even (or especially) if the picture is pristine, a lot of folks will prefer to watch the movie on their big-screen TV instead of a PC monitor. Work-arounds exist (many PCs offer a TV output), but it appears Netflix is working on viewing solutions that don't require a PC: "Over the coming years we'll expand our selection of films, and we'll work to get to every Internet-connected screen, from cell phones to PCs to plasma screens. The PC screen is the best Internet-connected screen today, so we are starting there," Hastings says in the press release.

One thing's for sure: given the host of IPTV announcements at last week's CES (as well as Apple TV at Macworld), it appears that 2007 could finally be the breakthrough year for digitally delivered media.

Note: The video walk-through of the Netflix Watch Now service is courtesy of HackingNetflix.com.