XBox Streaming Netflix (a 360 story)

I finally figured it out!!!

OK, so I used to manage a video game store.  That means I was first in line for the XBox 360 when it released.  Actually, I had to wait because my company (who shall not be named...bunch of blockheads anyway), pulled back the release allocation per store from 10 to 5 units.  So I had to call up 4 people and tell them they were SOL (I was first on the list, but gave it up for the greater good).  Luckily, my customers understood, but it didn't make it right.

ANYWAY, so I've established that I've had the system for a long time now.  I played Halo and some other games.  Got Gamefly and tried some titles out, but damn its a slow service.  Although, after a long period of soul-searching, I realized that being a full-on gamer isn't for me.  It really is hard to have to know everything and every game while getting paid crap money.  Therefore, I left my employer, with no job lined-up mind you, and after 3 "nice" unemployed months (seen "Fun with Dick & Jane"...yeah, I'm Dick), found a better job that's panned out ever since.  But my XBox went dormant in my life; regulated to a over-priced DVD player... that's noisey and overheats.

That's when E3 2008 came into my life.  That was the year Microsoft announced that XBox Live was getting an overhaul and Netflix could now be streamed directly through the system to your TV!  Hence the exclamation point, I was excited.  But I still wasn't full of cash back then.  Long-story short, now I've got a house, a new car, and can probably afford a little perk.

For my birthday, I got myself a wireless adapter for the XBox.  My TV and router and rooms apart.  But let me tell you, it WAS NOT EASY.  I spent a good 3 days after work figuring out how to link my router and wireless adapter.  Computer = easy, Wii = easy, XBox 360 = yack on a stick!  But I'm good with computers and eventually figured it out today (eh hem.... after scraping all my security settings, the system finally linked wirelessly, put back on the settings, prayed to God, and a miracle happened after I re-entered the shared key).

Just for those who are wondering, you do have to have a Netflix account AND XBox Live Gold (pay) service.  I just so happened to have been holding on to a free 1-month Live subscription card for a year now.  Funny enough, the expiration date is the 30th!  So I setup my Netflix free 2-week trail, downloaded the app on the XBox, and was ready to rumble.

Here's how it works: Once you've gone through all the subscription junk, you can browse the list of movies and TV series to watch.  They have either a red "Add" button (to add to your "send by mail" queue) or a blue "Play".  You hover over the Play button and another button "Add to Instant Queue" appears.  After you do that, the movie appears on your XBox Netflix menu.  Select it and you're now streaming a full movie to your TV.  I've got a HD componant cable going from the system to my TV, so the picture's great.

My first choice...Wall-E.  I saw it in theaters, bought it for my neices, but had to see it again.  Although, the whole goal here for me is the stream anime (cause I'm an addict and that's how I roll).  They say there is a shorter list of "stream-able" movies of about 12,000 movies.  Cerfice to say, I am thinking anime is not on the short list.  So I looked at the list of "Genre > Anime & Animation".  Looks like there are about 5 pages worth at 24 items per page...120 stream-able items.  Not as bad as I thought.  And its not all "new" stuff.  Some stuff I haven't seen before, so that's cool.  Now the question is, "How much anime can I wath in two weeks?"  I think I might find out.

Oh, I'm definitely going to be downloading some non-anime stuff.  This sure beats B-Buster or On-Demand @ $4/pop.  I'll be paying ~$13 for this service ($9 Netflix + $4 XBox Live)  At the very least, my XBox is no longer just a DVD player, and I couldn't be more impressed.  Good move Microsoft!