Netflix (for iPad)

With the free Netflix app for Apple's?iPad 2 (4.5 stars, $699),?Netflix subscribers can watch any program or film from the Instant Streaming catalogue anywhere they have a Wi-Fi signal. The ability to view video nearly anywhere makes the $7.99 per month cost (for streaming only; it's more to add discs) of Netflix membership an astounding value?especially for those who have pondered cutting cable.

Netflix famously pioneered the by-mail DVD rental business, and in more recent times, has paved the way to a disc-less rental service. By joining Netflix with an Unlimited Plan, members can watch thousands of titles instantly by streaming them over an Internet connection (or in the case of the iPhone app, a 3G signal) to their computer screens, mobile devices, and a variety of Blu-Ray players and set-top boxes that support it. Netflix has outdone itself in optimizing the streaming, both on the iPad and iPhone (4 stars, free) or iPod Touch running iOS 4.0 and later. While the list of available movies and television shows in the Instant catalogue is limited, missing award winners and new releases in particular, it's still extensive. Simply put, when it comes to streaming online movies, no company does it better.

Features and Functions
To use the Netflix app, all you need to do is download it from the Apple iTunes Store and enter your Netflix account username and password. That's it. The previous interface displayed four straightforward options on a lower navigation bar: Home, Genres, Search, and Instant queue. The new interface places Browse in the upper left corner of the display, and Search in the upper-right. Browser lets you drill down through Netflix' catalog by genre; Search lets you key in a specific program title, with results returned on the fly (albeit with some lag). Browsing by genre is the best ways to find new films and television series to watch on Netflix' iPad app. The Search button brings up a basic search bar, although you can only search by title?not actor, director, or anything else. And the Instant Queue tab pulls up your personalized and ordered list of things you plan to watch.

The new home screen is comprised of a series of sections that display content you might be interested in watching, based on their likeness to other titles you've rated highly or genres that you've indicated you like (which you can adjust or add through the Netflix web site). Quirky Movies, for example, featured Best Worst Movie, The Big Lebowski, Big Trouble in Little China, and other oddities. I easily navigated the offerings by swiping through the poster art from right to left.

Missing Content
The biggest complaint about Netflix overall, and it's a valid one, is that a lot of movies and shows most people would like to watch just aren't in the "Instant" bank. And it's not just new releases. Almost all the Academy Award Best Picture winners are absent from the list, too, from Ben-Hur (1960) to Gandhi (1983). Netflix doesn't deserve the blame here (the movie studios do). If anything, Netflix has a history of being slightly ahead of the curve, offering media streaming several critical months before the masses were ready to adopt it, in effect buying enough time to fine tune the service before it became widespread. By the time movie publishers figure out how they're going to try and recoup some money in the new disc-less world, Netflix will be set up and ready to negotiate the terms, having already ironed out the basic issues and gotten North America on board.

Netflix lacks some high profile shows. For example, popular program New Girl isn't available in any capacity (streaming or disc), but you can find the show free-to-watch on Hulu.[[link]] The two services are more complementary than competitive products; if you want TV, Hulu is the place to go. If want mainstream movies, Netflix is the app to pick (although Hulu has some great film-buff offerings).

The Netflix Experience
Videos look good and play easily. Above the movie is a navigation bar that lets you skip to any point in the film. You can also now output the media you're watching to a larger screen via the iPad's VGA port. A simple screen tap toggles between showing both nav bars (the movie's and iPad's) and a full-screen view of the film.

Overlaid control buttons appears when you tap the screen while watching a video. Icons let you rewind 30 seconds back, play or pause, skip to any point in the show (on a slider bar), adjust the screen dimensions to widescreen or full screen, and close the film ("done"). Hitting "done" automatically saves your place, so if you resume watching later, you can pick up exactly where you left off.

Streaming works great on the iPad, with crisp pictures, clear sound, and no stuttering when a reliable Wi-Fi signal is near. If you have the patience to wait for the Instant catalogue to beef up, the app can only get better. You can rate movies, too, on a one to five scale. Netflix saves these ratings and uses them to make recommendations for other movies and television shows to watch.

One thing you can't do is mute. Even when you switch the iPad's mute button to the on position, Netflix overrides this and continues to play audio. I see how this function obviates potential problems (users accidentally hitting "mute" and then not realizing the reason the audio isn't playing in a movie), but there are times when I would actually do like to mute movies but let the picture continue. Luckily, minimizing the volume within the Netflix app itself, rather than on the iPad (the two controls are separate) eliminates all sound.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/Sx_XuE6DtE0/0,2817,2362670,00.asp

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