I watched my first movie last night through Netflix’s “Watch Now” feature. I learned via Gizmodo that this feature is available for everyone, just by clicking a link in the accounts page. This is an effective way to roll this feature out, until it’s available for all accounts automatically in June: if you know what it is, you can get access to it; if you don’t, you don’t know what you’re missing and Netflix has a chance to work through scaling issues.
I watched the old 1959 Sci-Fi classic, Angry Red Planet last night. There wasn’t any interruption in the movie streaming and the quality is as good as anything iTunes provides. Better, actually. As for the viewing experience, nothing is better than the old Technicolor movies on my HD television. I may not have the resolution, but I sure get the color. Red! Really red!
As for selection, I’m really impressed with the eclectic mix of movies: Casablanca, The Day the Earth Stood Still, A Streetcar Named Desire, as well as several lesser known and more modern releases. I can easily use up my allocated hours per month.
As far as I know, this is a US-based service only, as is Netflix. Still, if it catches on, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it being offered in other countries.