My HTPC is built and in use.  A few weeks ago while browsing my queue at Netflix, I noticed a few selections which had a “Play” icon next to them.  My wife and I found a selection to our liking and a few seconds later the movie started to play.  The movie played through its entirety without any glitches, this too over a wireless network.  The picture was a little soft, but then again I did not have the DVD of the movie we watched to compare against, so it could have just been the master.  Regardless, the instant gratification component was very satisfying.

The library is somewhat limited, but it has been expanding.  Movies in the “Watch Instantly” catalog can be viewed in addition to the rental discs you may have at home.  Unlike the rental contract which imposes a restriction on the number of rental discs outstanding at any given time, there appears to be no such limit here.  There is no HD content, and even if such content were present, some amount of buffering would be needed before the movie would start to play.  Netflix is now also offering a dedicated box made by Roku for people who do not have an HTPC setup.  Internet connectivity is, of course, still required.

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