Netflix interface in Windows Vista Media Center

Microsoft is adding streaming Netflix movies and shows to the content available in its remote-control-friendly Media Center interface on Windows Vista computers -- adding another way for people to access Netflix on demand in the living room.

The feature is scheduled to go live Wednesday via an online update for existing Windows Vista Media Center users. It increases the ties between the two companies. Netflix, whose CEO Reed Hastings is on the Microsoft board, also offers streaming content through Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console. That has quickly become one of the most popular features of the Xbox Live online service.

The new Netflix section on Windows Vista Media Center has been customized to be "user friendly and familiar" to existing Media Center users, said Ben Reed of Microsoft's Connected TV Business.

Among other things, the Media Center Netflix interface lets people add titles to an "Instant Queue" for viewing without going separately to the Netflix Web site. The need for that extra step is one unpopular aspect of Xbox Live's Netflix feature.

Netflix's streaming feature makes a large chunk of its library available for on-demand viewing, on computers and special devices, as a bonus to people who subscribe to its mail-order DVD rental service. The new arrangement with Microsoft means people will be able to access a Netflix menu on Media Center living-room computers not only to watch streaming content but also to order rental DVDs.

In a demonstration last week, the special Netflix menus inside Windows Vista Media Center appeared in some ways better than those on the Netflix Web site. For example, it's much easier in the Media Center interface to distinguish between movies available only as DVDs and those for which on-demand streaming is an option.

One complication will affect some hard-core Media Center users: The Netflix content can't be transmitted from a Windows Media Center PC to Media Center Extenders -- devices that let people stream content from a central Media Center PC to screens throughout the house, over a home network. Part of the reason for the limitation is to avoid competing with Xbox Live's native Netflix experience, Microsoft's Reed explained. (Xbox 360s double as Media Center Extender devices.)

In addition, Netflix won't be available via Microsoft's older Windows XP Media Center Edition.

As for Windows 7, Microsoft isn't saying officially whether the Netflix feature will be included in the Media Center interface in the upcoming operating system. But it's hard to imagine it not being there, now that it has been added to Vista.

New features of Media Center in Windows 7 will include deeper integration of online and broadcast content in the on-screen program guide. The Media Center interface will also be available in business versions of Windows 7, not just in those targeted to consumers.