Before long, everything from ham radios to toasters will be streaming digital video to Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX ) subscribers.
A new line of LG Electronics Blu-ray players will roll out in the fall, ready to access the roughly 12,000 titles currently available for PC-based streaming to existing Netflix subscribers.
Netflix had announced its deal with LG back in January, but the consensus was that it would be available only on high-end LG television sets. By incorporating the networking functionality into its Blu-ray players, Netflix subscribers who were ready to take the plunge by embracing the new optical-disc platform may now want to wait for the LG BD300 Network Blu-ray to come out
Even if the selection of titles is limited to older or indie studio movies and television shows, it's hard to beat the price. Netflix offers its streaming service to current subscribers at no additional cost.
When Netflix introduced its PC streaming service a year ago, it was tough to watch those film on your home theater, but that bridge was crossed with May's introduction of Roku boxes that stream Netflix movies to TVs in Wi-Fi-enabled homes. Netflix has already revealed that its flick-streaming service will be available to Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT ) Xbox 360 owners later this year.
There is still another provider -- probably either TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO ) or Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL ) , with its Apple TV appliance -- that Netflix teased earlier this year, but has yet to announce.
For consumers, LG's move certainly makes shopping for a Blu-ray player that much more research-intensive. It's not just a matter of spec sheets anymore. Die-hard gamers may go with the Sony (NYSE: SNE ) PS3, which offers Blu-ray playback. Devoted Netflix fans may want to wait for the LG box, to thrill two birds with one stone (even if the current selection of Netflix streams obviously won't be in high-def).
This is a wakeup call to the other Blu-ray makers. What else have you got? Apparently, you just can't put up a stand-alone optical disc player, so get cracking.
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