Netflix Xbox 360 Service Rocks But Needs Some Work

I finally got a chance to play around with the new Xbox Live experience and specifically the new Netflix app. Ever since Microsoft announced the Netflix partnership I was eager to see it in action. I have to say I was really impressed with this new service. But there were a few parts that seemed disconnected. 

The best part of the product is just watching movies. Netflix (NFLX) has standard definition movies and a limited selection of HD movies. I went on a 30 Rock marathon watching the HD version of season 1 and 2. The video quality was very good on a 1080p Samsung LCD. The speed of using the service was also impressive. Movies loaded fast and the navigation was pretty intuitive. But there were some areas that need improvement.  The setup process was a little complicated. I had to install the app on Xbox 360. Then I could sign up for Netflix in the Xbox 360 UI or sign in to my Netflixaccount. Once I signed into my Netflix account I had to go to my Netflix account and get a code to authenticate my Xbox 360 with my Netflix subscription. After that I thought I could just start browsing the movie catalogue from my Xbox 360. Wrong. I had to add the movies from Netflix.com to my Instant Queue. Once I added the movies they instantly show up in the Netflix app on Xbox 360. Once I got everything setup I was really happy with my experience. After watching several movies through the service I begin to wonder if Sony didn’t just waste a few billion dollars winning the HD DVD War. We might be getting closer to the world where I can get all my content digitally and I don’t need to go physically buy it any more.