Netflix teams up with LG to create set top box

by Jason Harris Jan 3rd 2008

Netflix, the popular DVD-by-mail rental service, is teaming up with hardware manufactures to bring movies straight to your living room, bypassing the DVD by mail part of their business. In an obvious move to be competitive against Blockbuster and online services such as Joost and Zulu, Netflix is making another wave in the digital download arena.

The New York Times reports that Netflix has teamed up with LG to deliver movies and other high-def content straight to your TV. Netflix would like to have numerous relationships with many hardware manufacturers to make their service available to as many people as possible.

Netflix users have had the ability to watch movies online, but it requires web access and a PC. We congratulate Netflix for trying to make their service possible directly to our shiny HDTVs.

[via The New York Times]

Tags: hulu, joost, netflix

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Fox318 said 10:30AM on 1-03-2008

This is awesome!! I can't wait for this!

c-money said 12:10PM on 1-03-2008

i wonder how this will compare to Vudu?

http://www.vudu.com/

freq said 12:23PM on 1-03-2008

This will likely fail, there are way to many hardware set tops out there as is. I already have a Apple TV and a Playstation 3 I'm not going to get another device. Why does everyone always think they have to reinvent the wheel, the online movie rental industry will never take off with all of these incompatible hardware and software solutions. the ONLY reason the online music industry ever took off was because of the open standard MP3..... I am a Netflix user and would love to use the online service but won't if this is their plan....

james 42 said 1:56PM on 1-03-2008

Until recently, MP3s were not widely available from online music stores, at least not from stores that had large selections (or were legal). The online music industry took off in proprietary, DRM wrapped formats like Plays For Sure and iTunes.

And, as the article indicates, NetFlix wants to develop relations with several companies. That will likely translate into multi purpose devices.

Jason Harris said 8:40PM on 1-03-2008

It will be very similar to Vudu..just a part of your netflix account

Jason Harris said 8:40PM on 1-03-2008

It will be very similar to Vudu..just a part of your netflix account

Jaymoon said 12:24AM on 1-06-2008

Zulu?

Open and clear...

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters