Digital Home Thoughts: Netflix Launches Streaming to TiVo

"Netflix on TiVo* is here! TiVo customers who are on a Netflix unlimited plan can now instantly watch over 12,000 movies & TV episodes from Netflix via any broadband connected TiVo^® HD, TiVo^® HD XL and TiVo^® Series3™ DVRs."

Before I left for work this morning I got a chance to give this a try. During the night my TiVoHD received the new service update, which among other things, added Netflix to the Video On Demand category. Activating the TiVo took just a few minutes: my TiVo gave me an activation code, I entered into my Netflix account, and a couple moments later the TiVo recognized my account. I tried it out for maybe five minutes, using a couple of movies my kids had added to the Instant Queue. The first, the infamously dull 1969 musical "Dr. Doolitte," never played more than a couple seconds of video before freezing (as bad as this movie is perhaps this is a feature). I had better luck with my second try, the movie version of "Annie," which seemed to work okay. About that time I had to take my daughter to school, so my opinion at this point is all based on first impressions.

And those impressions? Not the greatest streaming quality, including some very visible compression artifacts. I don't think I will be using this as a primary video on demand source. But if I'm desperate to watch "Annie" (or any of the 10,000 other movies that Netflix streams) it's a definite no-cost option. Kudos to TiVo and Netflix for putting this together.