{"id":689,"date":"2010-10-05T13:16:20","date_gmt":"2010-10-05T20:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.computerabuser.com\/?p=689"},"modified":"2010-11-14T14:36:03","modified_gmt":"2010-11-14T22:36:03","slug":"netflix-canada-wii-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.computerabuser.com\/?p=689","title":{"rendered":"Netflix Canada Review – The Wii Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Surprisingly, it took 10 days (including weekends) for my Netflix Wii application disc to arrive.<\/p>\n

Netflix sent the disc in a bright red envelope that clearly displayed what was contained within.<\/p>\n

With little fanfare, I ripped her open to see what was inside.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

****<\/strong><\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/strong> Since posting this review, Netflix has released a native application for the Wii.\u00a0 This means you no longer require the disc reviewed here to access the service.\u00a0 You simply need to download an application to your Wii.\u00a0 You can read the new review here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

As you would expect, inside was a single disc, in a sleeve, and an instruction card.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I have to assume this is the same disc used in the U.S. since it states not to return the disc back to Netflix.\u00a0 We don’t have the rental option in Canada, so that shouldn’t really be a concern here.<\/p>\n

I don’t know if this was necessary or not, but before inserting the Netflix disc, I went into the Wii settings and checked for any system updates.\u00a0 There happened to be one, but Nintendo is vague on system update information, so I don’t know the update version or what was fixed and\/or broken.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Just like any old Wii application\/game, it loads up at the top left on the Wii home page.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Selecting start from this menu will start the Netflix application (nothing really new here).\u00a0 Obviously, the Wii needs to be connected to the Internet before starting.\u00a0 The application is completely stand-alone.\u00a0 This means you need to run the disc every time you want to access the service (as indicated on the front of the disc – see picture above).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After launching the application for the first time, you are greeted with an activation screen.\u00a0 In order to link your Wii to your Netflix account, you need to log in to Netflix.ca (on a different device) and enter the 5 digit code that is given to you by the application.\u00a0 The application will remain at the activation screen until this is done.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You can find the activation screen on Netflix.ca under “Your Account & Help” (top left) and then “Activate a Netflix Ready Device” (under ‘Watching Instantly’).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Once Netflix locates your Wii, it will activate it and the application will continue to the main menu (I apologize for the nasty, grainy pictures).<\/p>\n

The menu is very plain and not near as the nice as what you get with the PS3<\/a>.\u00a0 The giant images make very poor use of the screen real estate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I have my Wii connected via component video cables and the output set to 480p (EDTV), but this offers only a slight increase in quality over the standard 480i over composite.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I wasn’t expecting great image quality and the Wii didn’t disappoint.\u00a0 The image was very soft.\u00a0 At 480p, the Wii should be able to achieve DVD quality video, but that is not the case here.\u00a0 I would say the quality is on par with a low resolution DivX\/Xvid.\u00a0 The bitrate, codec and resolution are most likely to be at fault as I am positive the Wii can achieve much better results given the correct source content.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The interface is similar in appearance to the PS3.\u00a0 Simply pointing the Wiimote at the screen will bring up the display.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>

Image courtesy of Nintendo of America Inc.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

The above image shows the available Wiimote controls (courtesy of Nintendo<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Similar to the PS3, when you attempt to fast forward or rewind, you are given a scene preview.\u00a0 There is a slight delay when selecting a new starting point as the stream needs to buffer before resuming.<\/p>\n

Audio was pretty standard.\u00a0 The Wii is limited to 2 channel analog audio, so the best you could ever expect is Dolby Pro Logic II (matrix-encoded surround).<\/p>\n

Overall Impression:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I didn’t have great expectations going in, and I wasn’t disappointed.<\/p>\n

The Wii has several limitations as a Netflix terminal.<\/p>\n

Limitations:<\/p>\n

– Disc must be inserted each time you use the service.<\/p>\n

– HD video is not supported (hardware limiation).<\/p>\n

– Limited to 2 channel audio (Wii technically supports Dolby Pro Logic II).<\/p>\n

These limitations are not present on the PS3.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the Wii costs half as much and there are twice times as many in Canadian households (as of Aug 2008<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Interesting Note:<\/span> My Wii is connected via WiFi and USB Ethernet.\u00a0 When I did the system update, the Ethernet adaptor was used.\u00a0 While using Netflix, though, the WiFi was used instead.\u00a0 I suppose an interesting test would be to see how the application behaves with WiFi disabled.\u00a0 The audio\/video bitrate is based on the bandwidth of your connection and the bandwidth over wired Ethernet is higher.<\/p>\n

\n

ComputerAbuser<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Surprisingly, it took 10 days (including weekends) for my Netflix Wii application disc to arrive.<\/p>\n

Netflix sent the disc in a bright red envelope that clearly displayed what was contained within.<\/p>\n

With little fanfare, I ripped her open to see what was inside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[19,203,16,15],"class_list":["post-689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies","category-technology","tag-home-theater","tag-movies","tag-netflix","tag-streaming-video"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11UM6-b7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.computerabuser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.computerabuser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.computerabuser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.computerabuser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.computerabuser.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=689"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/www.computerabuser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":729,"href":"https:\/\/www.computerabuser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689\/revisions\/729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.computerabuser.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.computerabuser.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.computerabuser.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}