Netflix opens the beta for its 'Watch Instantly' feature via Silverlight

Silverlight-powered movie streams are now available to Netflix subscribers, with the promise of better performance and greater HD. Right now, though, the trial is limited to Intel-based systems.

Last week, Netflix announced its instantly viewable movie streams, which had heretofore been inaccessible to Mac users, would be available through Microsoft's Silverlight platform to those without Windows Media Player.

After you opt into the first beta phase, you'll notice a reduced number of Silverlight streams compared to the normal amount. It is also worth noting that only Intel-based Macs are compatible, so PowerPC based systems are still unable to access instant streams. Also, Windows users can just as easily opt into the beta, but naturally must have Silverlight installed on their machine of choice. There should be no conflicts once a user has opted into the test.

Since it is still an early beta, Brent from Netflix wrote in the service's official blog, "There may be bugs. We are logging all errors, but if you run into problems, you can help out by posting details here in the blog comments."