Digital Home Thoughts: NetFlix in Windows Media Center

"Starting tomorrow, Windows Media Center users who are also Netflix members will gain access to more than 12,000 movies and TV episodes from Netflix directly within Windows Media Center on their PCs. Using the two together is easy and convenient. In Windows Media Center, a new Netflix tile will appear under "TV + Movies". To stream movies and TV shows from Netflix, just click on the new Netflix tile and login with your Netflix account."

If you regularly use a Vista Windows Media Center PC, this probably isn't news. Last week, the "official" NetFlix app was added to Vista Media Center. I built a Media Center PC last fall, but have used it mostly for playing games, using my TiVO HD and Vudu to watch video instead. So today I powered up the machine, opened Media Center and gave it a try. It's a strong implementation that goes far beyond the TiVo NetFlix app can do. The interface is great; very clean and easy to navigate. It has good functionality, too, allowing one to search the entire NetFlix library and manage both the instant and DVD queues.