Netflix announced via their website on Friday that Macintosh users can now access the company's instant watching feature to watch movies and videos directly from their computers. The service uses the Silverlight streaming video plugin, a free download from Microsoft, and requires an Intel based Macintosh. The newly Mac compatible instant watching is currently in beta and Netflix warns that users could experience bugs in this initial phase of public testing. Access to the instant watching feature is available free to most Netflix monthly subscribers.
Reports in blog posts from Macintosh users already testing the system are positive. As for the instant watching selection, one user reports: Instant watching is not as deep a collection as the DVD collection, the streaming service is just a complement to the DVDs. Netflix says they recently added more movies to the streaming service and new episodes of popular TV shows like Heroes, CSI and NCIS. Current Netflix subscribers must first opt-in for the new beta streaming player and can then access the feature via the Watch Instantly tab on the Netlix website.
