Netflix, the primary renter of DVD and Blu-ray titles in America and a growing factor in online streaming for its 11 million subs in America, has confirmed its recently announced plans to stream movie and TV content via the PlayStation 3 video game console will include HD content, as well as SD.
Netflix exec Steve Swasey said this week said the service will provide HD titles to PS3 users, although he didn’t know how much of the content will be available in HD starting out. Overall, the full catalog of Netflix’s streamable movies (about 17,000 and counting, mostly SD) will be available on PS3. (Xbox 360 and regular PC users who subscribe to Netflix already have access to the online content.)
SD/HD streaming on each PS3 unit will require using a special software download disc, available from Netflix starting next month. The physical disc download — rather than an online download or simply embedding it in new PS3s – will be required for now, but Swasey said other solutions will be forthcoming later, according to one Web site, The Tanooki.
