@Parias I really don't understand why we are so far behind on interent speed, where i am the fastest internet i can get is 180kps DL speed from verizon.

@Parias

The US has the most impressive internet coverage, when you think about the massive feat it is to have any coverage.

I've got 20 mbps, which is more than enough for great video streams. But this isn't South Korea. It's hard to connect the majority of the US population with the highest speeds. This kind of thing is not a waste because it pushes consumers to pay for better service.

Not pretending the US is perfect, but it's not this disaster, either.

@Parias

My bandwidth isn't pathetic. I live outside of Chicago have/ pay for 20mbps. I pull Netflix HD without a hitch now. I can't wait!

@Parias Exactly. We have more stuff that we should be worried about. Like going back into Space! What, you thought I was going to say the economy? Healthcare? Child porn? Suicides? Abortion?

@Teslanaut

id consider a super fast connection speed to be pretty important.

i've always wondered what it would be like to have a 20mbps connection... instead of the 2 i have

@Parias If I had a guaranteed 1.5 down and 500ish up, I'd be happy. But all the budget DSL providers have oversold their bandwidth and you don't get that anymore.

Oops... meant 1.5 mb down, 500 kb up.

@Parias

Your wrong, the US isn't behind but the US is in a recession. There for people dont pay for the fastest internet they pay for the fastest and the cheapest. I have Comcast High Speed and it is amazingly fast.

@Jaylittles531

no, North America is behind, has nothing to do with the recession.

@Teslanaut That thread of logic is sort of a "we need to fix the economy, we don't have time to waste building a telephone system!" Yeah, good luck saving the economy efficiently via snail mail or dial-up. Broadband internet is no longer a luxury or optional, unless you're stuck working at McDonald's and have no interest in going beyond that.

@EM1

Who cares what YOUR bandwith is? You're not the entire country.

@Parias Bandwidth is a matter of where you live. I'm from Nevada. Very few options an most of them slow. I go to school in Utah. Half the cities have municipally-owned fiber networks. While the networks haven't been a money maker for most of the cities (some have even sold their networks to companies), It has forced companies like Qwest to start offering better service at a realistic price since bandwidth is so much cheaper now than it was 2 years ago. I get 10Mbps, and, for me, that is sufficient (at least for the time being). You can get 100Mbps, but that just seems like overkill.

@EM1

US bandwidth relies on competition.

If you live in a market with no equally competitive players there is no reason your local ISP will upgrade to a faster speed. And with most states having cable monopolies and with them the only option for anything above basic DSL is one company, progress doesn't happen.

If you have FiOS you are lucky, because not only do you get their service as an option, but every cable company in the area will scramble to upgrade their services to try and hold on to customers.

If you don't have FiOS or similar ... you are fucked.

@Parias So because some people have crap connections, Netflix shouldn't add 1080p support? I hope you are not in a position to make a business decision.

@others...WTF does any of this have to do with the US economy or government? Last I checked, the US Government didn't run Netflix nor did they run all of the ISPs nationwide.

@Parias
The same number of people that care what YOURS is.

@Parias Not really experiencing any issues here. Currently there are three users pulling 1080p video down a 4MBPS line at my house.

@arkweld

No, I have Comcast. No FiOS in Chicago. We have Dial-up, AT&T DSL and Comcast High Speed up to 100mbps I believe.
20mbps is fast enough for 1080p HD download. I don't see a need for faster.

@Parias
The UNITED STATES is a country and not a Internet provider. Your comment doesn't make sense.

@EM1

And that's because you are a) in major city Chicago and b) you have Comcast, who are upgrading their network to DOCSIS 3.0 to better compete with fiber-optic and VOD.

Outside of those areas, you are as I said, fucked.

@Parias A good thing you won't be getting it then.

Check the update.

@Alex So you'd rather watch 3 Mbps 1080p than 30 Mbps 1080p? Cool.

@Alex

Resolution and bitrate are a completely different beast. You can have a 1080p video compressed to all hell and still call it 1080p, that doesn't exactly mean the quality is the same. That's also ignoring the HD audio streams that are on Blu-ray discs. None of our connections are remotely fast enough to start streaming true Blu-ray quality let alone render them obsolete.

Still great news for streaming movies when you just want to watch something and don't care if it's the absolute best quality.

@Zoinks

Beat me to it :)

@ all of you smartiepantses
No shit, I'm just assuming that this won't be the last update Netflix does to its streaming format.

@Alex Mine does Netflix as well, but the difference in quality is very obvious. Watch some dark scenes in a show (such as Lost) and you'll see what I mean...

@moneymark

"Still great news for streaming movies when you just want to watch something and don't care if it's the absolute best quality."

agreed.... except its netflix (which honestly applies to every streaming service out there) meaning there are only a handful of movies that will be available.

i just dont get the mpaa... license it. let them stream it for a fee. i would GLADLY pay $30-40/month to have streaming access to even 80% of the movies i can rent or buy on physical media. instead... i have to play the "find it" game when i get an instant urge to see a particular flick. open up netflix... not there... open up itunes... not there... turn on the xbox... not there... check redbox... nothing... so then i have to make a decision to either sit and wait on a disk from netflix, or find a torrent. either way means i dont get to see it, when i want it.

@Microdot

Old men running a business they don't understand while they have their assistant type up a letter to send on somethin they heard called teh emails. Change comes slow when people resist and fail to conceptualize the future.

@Meekermoloko

Well, with my internet, at least.

@Meekermoloko The Netlix HD quality is probably better than the U-Verse HD quality...

@Wolfticket
Me too. I don't see the point of having 1080p if the 720p already looks like crap. Most of the movies I stream off Netlix look worse than DVDs.

@Wolfticket, Some of the early Netflix streaming material had very low bitrate, but anything recent looks good. 720p Netflix may not look as good as 720p Bluray, but it still looks as good or better than DVD. 480p Netflix doesn't look as good as DVD, but it looks better than 480p digital cable (as long as crappy internet conditions don't drop the stream down to lowest quality level). Even most current Hulu content looks better (sharper, better color/contrast, less compression artifacts) than my Comcast standard-def digital cable set top boxes.

@etherreal I don't believe the Roku device is capable of outputting 1080p content. The PS3, Xbox 360, and a hardware-sufficient PC should be able to do so without any issues.

@pwrdbykimchi

Currently the Roku has HD capability but the PC does not.

@cdf74dc9 I agree, I watched Tin Man last night and was very impressed by the quality, considering it was streaming. I'm supposed to have a 5 mb connection, but files downloads seldom see more than 800k/sec. 5.1 would be nice though :)

@mtkupp Thats actually faster than what you're paying for. They sell in Mb not MB, Megabits not MegaBytes so 5 Mbps = 640 KBps

@Cheesus Crust

I'd +1 you but Engadget doesn't want to count my vote. :(

@blogwhitesitescom
Its absolutely true, I've seen quite a few local movie rental stores being closed up. The internet is just too convenient.