Mar 19, 2011

Netflix in Windows 7 Media Center: A Superior Online Movie Experience

 

As Netflix has expanded its online offerings, I’ve found myself watching more programs and movies online, and using their DVD ordering service less. I’m not the only one: according to Forbes, the Netflix on demand service has sparked a decline in DVD shipments.

Until now, I’ve been watching my Netflix shows through Netflix.com using Google Chrome. If you’re making the same mistake, then stop immediately. Windows 7 has integrated Netflix support into Windows Media Center, creating an experience that stands head and shoulders above the browser-based interface.

To start Netflix, select Start, All Programs, Windows Media Center. When prompted by WMC for setup options, select Express. Within WMC, select Movies, and then select Netflix.

From here, the interface for finding and viewing movies is intuitive. What’s not so obvious is that Netflix in WMC supports watching while browsing. Once you start playing a movie, put your mouse in the upper left hand screen and click the blue Back arrow, without pausing or stopping the film. The film will continue playing in a small window in the lower left hand corner of the screen while you browse additional films!

The best benefit of watching Netflix through WMC, however, is the video quality. While the pixelation is about the same, both the video and audio play more smoothly than in the Web browser. I’ve grown accustomed to the video and audio streams on Netflix being slightly out of sync. I didn’t experience this once in three hours of Netflix viewing in WMC. Nor did I experience any artifacting or frozen frames, two other common experiences in browser-based viewing.

As Microsoft itself notes, the major limitation of Netflix on Windows 7 is that it doesn’t support Extenders, so you can’t stream Netflix from your PC onto your Xbox 360. That aside, Netflix on WMC is a must for anyone using their PC as a media device.