PS3 owners living in the UK and Ireland will notice a new icon on the TV/Video Services section of the XMB. The Netflix app is only 14MB in size, but isn’t completely functional yet. The service will be available in the UK and Ireland soon, so the app only displays a “coming soon” message and allows you to sign-up for a notification email once the service is available.
Last week we reported that disc-free Netflix will be arriving later this month, but now Sony has announced the you will be able to stream Netflix disc-free from next week. Starting Monday, October 18 you’ll be able to instantly watch movies and TV shows without inserting an instant streaming disc into your console.
PS3 owners will soon be able to do-away with the Netflix streaming disc later this month as a disc-less solution will soon be available. Sony’s Jeff Rubenstein said on the PlayStation blog that a disc-less solution will released sometime this month, but that Sony hasn’t committed to a date.
Currently, Netflix users require a disc in order to stream TV shows to the PlayStation 3. Over the next few months, Netflix has confirmed that a disc-free solution will be rolled out similar to the Hulu Plus application. The Netflix application will allow dynamic updating of the Netflix library on the PS3 as well as providing bug fixes via patches.
You can now stream Netflix videos directly onto your PlayStation 3. The Blu-Ray discs required for streaming are shipping now, and will soon be available as a native application on the XMB. We have a video showing exactly how the disc works. The disc makes use of the Blu-Ray Live features to stream videos directly to your PS3, and it works pretty well.
The PlayStation Video Store is about to get some serious competition. Sony has confirmed that Netflix’s online movie streaming service will be coming to the PlayStation 3. Monthly subscription to Netflix on your PS3 will cost you $8.99. At this rate, you can then watch movies and TV episodes all you want. If you’re a Netflix member, though, you’ll be glad to know that you will be able to stream movies for free initially after the launch of the service.
If you are looking for more video download options on your PlayStation 3, you will likely have an additional service via mass online rental company Netflix. In a recent interview with Reuters, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said he’d like the video service available on all systems, not just the Xbox 360. Microsoft has an exclusive deal with Netflix right now, but Hastings believes the video rental service will be available on all systems.
