Netflix and Tivo to stream internet movies to Tivo

They are doing the same with XBOX so I'll probably try it then. Image quality does depend on your bandwidth. There is hi-speed internet and then HI-speed. Our provider has 3 levels of bandwidth. I'm currently on the middle level. Most residential bandwith is on the lowest level--as it's fine for basic internet applications. The netflix stream is also limited by stereo channels, no 5.1 yet--but they do say it's in the works.

My first computer had a huge hard drive--20 megs. That would barely hold 1 song on a CD. Now we have terrabyte storage and a whole library of music at our fingertips for a fraction of what that first computer cost. Yes, this is the direction things will ultimately go I believe.

I am calling it again, Blu Ray is going to be our LaserDisk, downloaded HD movies are coming, and will be here before you know it. I may buy a PS3 though since it does play SACD.

Yeah I can see downloads eventually taking over..especially for standard DVDs. As mentioned previously, the download speeds do make a huge difference.

I logged into my Netflix account at my brother's home. He has one of his PCs wired to his 46 inch flat panel in the living room(guess where he got the idea from..lol). We sat down and watched a couple of TV shows. I also tested several movies.

I must say it looked darn good! It looked better than normal cable broadcast,but not Blu ray however. It would easily compete with or surpass SD in picture quality. Just no 5.1 audio at the moment.

I think for casual enjoyment, the ease of watching movies and TV shows at will..it is terrific!

For serious movie watching, Blu Ray is the king of the hill IMO...at least for the time being.

I just gave my sister my Denon DVD player. I have no use for it now. Just get a Mac or HTPC and not be worried about what format will win or lose..you can play them all. ;-)

At least the HTPC can..not sure if Macs can do Blu ray or not yet. To use Netflix with Mac..you would need to load a Windows OS and boot up on it when downloading/veiwing from Netflix..it's not compatible with the Macs OS.

Just saw some things streaming from Netflix through xbox. I was pretty happy with the quality. It's stereo only--no 5.1. The image quality is not quite that of DVD, but better than many things coming over dishnet. I do have a high speed connection. Where we live there are three different cable speed connections. Most residential get the entry level which is okay for most internet surfing. I'm using the middle tier which is about 2 to 3 times faster. I do think this has a significant impact, but have to tried it at slower speeds so I don't know for sure.

To further update this. I've had a few experiences where "my internet connection has slowed"--at least that's the message I receive while watching. It then changes the resolution to accomodate the slower bandwidth. I've seen three distinct qualities. The highest resolution is really great (as stated before). The medium is obviously a downgrade--watchable but not too great particularly if cinematography is good--you miss a fair amount. The third quality is just plain bad, to the point that you feel like you need to see the eye doctor--very blurred and really not very watchable.