Further Impressions of Netflix on the Wii

Having used Netflix on the Wii for a few months now, I’ve come up with a few more tidbits to share.  While there are more cons than pros here, it really hasn’t interfered with my enjoyment of Netflix on the Wii.

Pros:

  • The Wii picks up changes to the queue you make from a computer pretty quickly while the Netflix app is running on your Wii.
  • If a title in your DVD queue becomes stream-able, it’s automatically added to your Instant queue.

Cons:

  • Every once in a great while, a given title will have jerky video playback and doesn’t appear to be scaled to the screen.  It persists through sessions as well.  The title plays fine through a web browser however.
  • Wireless performance isn’t as good as wired performance.  Mostly this shows up when you initially start up a title.  Normally broadband speed isn’t such that it should really make a difference which type of connection you use, but apparently it does.
  • For some reason, some titles in my queue got re-ordered for no apparent reason.  I hadn’t touched the queue itself around when this happened so not sure what really happened.  However it’s only happened once so far.
  • While you can search for additional selections to watch on the Wii, the titles aren’t sorted alphabetically.  Also it doesn’t appear that you get the full selection of stream-able content available when searching this way.  Not typically a big deal for my personal usage though as I’m often managing queues at the computer rather than the Wii.

Other:

  • Sometimes when watching a title, it will have problems streaming and need to re-queue.  I noticed this more using wireless connection than the wired one, but I can’t say if this was  due more to problems with the internet connection or the Wii.
  • Given the interface the average user has with the Wii, I don’t expect the full gamut of queue management features that exists in the online interface to show up on the Wii.  However, as an avid watcher of TV series, it would be nice to have an option to move a selection to the top spot in the queue.

Purple Notebook 59

Dear bridge, will you join me for this constant surprise
The spectacular glow of the day’s first rays at sunrise
Feel the glow fill what the night made so hollow
Let the warmth refresh our tired and shallow flesh
Show our eyes all the beauty we have failed to realize
Ease our aching bones from the pattern of days that feel like palindromes
Here we can sing for the joy that the return of technicolor brings
Savor the smell of the dew that reminds the heart of all things new
Dear bridge, lets take these sensations and start our day
And relish all the things that make us feel this way


Purple Notebook 58

Can I hold your hand as we walk on the sand
Can I hold you tight as the sky darkens into night
Can I watch your hair come undone as you shake your head at the morning sun
Can I know the taste of your kiss and know a moment of bliss
Can I know that your heart sings when the phone rings
Can I know that when I part from you I take a part of you
Can I know the anticipation of awaiting our love’s consummation
Can I know that when you see me that you know you complete me
Can I know the delight of dining with you by candlelight
Can I also get your name?


Purple Notebook 57

I want to be the folk singer in a heavy metal band
I want to be a meadow in the breeze on a barren beach of sand
I want to be the maiden of virtue in the whore’s native land
I want to be the pinnacle of quality versus every other brand
I want to be the composer who hears the artist’s crayon
I want to be the windmill in a forest of deciduous trees


Slight URL Changes Complete

The URL changes should be complete.  There may be some hiccups until the DNS changes make their way across the interwebz.


Slight URL Changes Coming

On Friday, 29 May 2010 I’ll be making some slight changes to the URL for the site.  If you are currently referencing any content on this site via stargazer.weeve.org, this will change to www.weeve.org.

As this will require some DNS changes, this may cause some disruption to viewing the site.  Worst case scenario, it would be about a 24 hour disruption.

The current system for www.weeve.org points you to stargazer.weeve.org.  This is a holdover from several years ago when the website was hosted on an ISP that didn’t allow incoming connections on port 80.  As there isn’t a need for this anymore, away it goes!


Purple Notebook 51

Over-saturation of justification in the name of distinction
Coincidence of consistence in repetition of insistence
Bells of brass persist in ringing their monotone songs
Subconsciously longing to be as focal as the gong
Invisible barriers of space and time
Entice and entrap their victims with messages so sublime
Laminate your laments so they will last forever
Immune from the stains of the blood dripping from the veins you sever
Material maidens sing their souls to the sky
Praying for plastic possessions to entomb them as a way to get by
So shallow the understanding seen when viewed through our self-important veneer
Convoluted consciousness flying on an ego trip as if they were a seer
Pontificating patriarchs portray themselves as poised on prescience
Self-sacrificing students refute such sayings with science
Countless children led astray by what the contemporary Confuciuses say
Addle-brained adults advocating the way to advance the society of the day
Jump with me to the jealous justice of the popinjay


Purple Notebook 48

Stupid girl, haven’t you heard?
I’m a man of my word
Think I’ll change my mind?  Don’t be absurd
Without atleast an apology, it’s practially assured
I’m not going to feed you the answers this time
You best figure out your crimes
It’s a shame it’s taken you even this long
But I guess I was wrong about you all along


Purple Notebook 44

How do I put the genie back in the bottle
And be what you need me to be
Rather than be stuck on the promise
Of what we started so foolishly
You’ve done to me
What he did to you
Though I know you didn’t mean to
It hurts too much
To even talk to you
And now I’m paralyzed
Over what I should do


First Impressions of Netflix on the Wii

Like many a Netflix subscriber, I eagerly went to my mailbox on Friday like it was Christmas to get my Netflix for Wii disc that arrived in the mail!  For the unfamiliar, this lets you use Netflix’s instant streaming/on-demand service on your Nintendo Wii.

My Equipment Setup:
My home “entertainment” setup is nothing spectacular.  A 25″ Sony Trinitron TV (circa 2004), a Nintendo Wii connected to the TV via the standard composite cable and to the Internet via the built-in wireless adapter using a WPA encrypted 802.11g connection.  The wireless router is an old Linksys WRT54G running the Tomato firmware.

Netflix for Wii Setup:
Setting up Netflix on the Wii was relatively simple.  Pop in the Netflix disk and start it like it was any other game.  Initially, it will generate a 6 digit code and then ask you to go to http://www.netflix.com/Wii and enter the code.  Once the code is entered, the Wii picks up on it and then starts loading the movie selections and your Instant Queue from the Internet and you’re good to go.

Usage:
The navigation is of the interface is  pretty simple.  You’re given categories you can look through for content (i.e. Your Queue, New Releases, Comedy, Drama, etc) that are easily traversed with the Wii’s arrow keys.  To select something, you use the A button and you can go backwards or up a level via the B button.    Once you find something you are interested in, you can either start playing it immediately or add it to your queue for later viewing.

Impressions:
Overall, I’ve been really pleased with the experience.  The quality of the video is almost on par with what I get from a DVD.  Over the last 8 or so years of using wireless networking (802.11a/b/g), I had expected to have to deal with lots of jitter in the audio or video, if not “buffering” conditions like you get sometimes with online video.  I’ve rarely seen any evidence that I was watching content from a streaming video source.  Even when I do, it’s barely noticeable (a half-second lag in video that corrects itself so you don’t lose audio/video sync) and I’ve only seen it a couple times.  While the selection of streaming content isn’t anywhere near equal to what you can get through the mail from Netflix, it still is pretty decent.  I’ve found plenty of things so far that I’m interested in viewing (both new content and movies I haven’t seen in years).  I’m hoping in the months and years to come that it becomes more equal!

There are only a few downsides I’ve run into so far, but none of them are really major.  Currently there doesn’t seem to be any support for subtitles or closed captioning (which I find handy when I’m stuffing my face with yummy noms).   There doesn’t appear to be a fast-forward or rewind function like a regular DVD, VCR or DVR, but you can skip forward and back by something akin to chapter selection on a DVD (but broken up into much smaller time chunks).  It’s hard to tell if this is Netflix or the source the content was made from, but there is a lot of change in the audio volume during a viewing.  Like some DVD movies, a volume that is good for hearing characters talk will blow you out of the water during an action scene or when a song comes on.  As an apartment dweller who is paranoid about being too loud, this can be a bit frustrating as you may be adjusting the volume a lot during a viewing.

Conclusion:
I love me some Netflix on the Wii and my couch is going to be getting so much quality time that my bed will become jealous.


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