If you’re a Netflix subscriber hitting up the service on your computer recently, you may have noticed the company’s slick new browser-based vid player. If not, you’ll want to take it for a spin, now that it has gotten a luscious new makeover.
Some of the noteworthy changes include:
• A nicely revamped control bar. Replacing the old text menus, it now features bigger icons that offer access to subtitles and season previews.
• An appealing lightbox-ish text overlay that appears when a video is paused, displaying the description of the content on deck.
• A comprehensive list of an entire TV show’s season during full-screen playback of an ep, and even a playing preview of another episode.
Netflix’s mobile initiatives might get a lot of buzz, but it’s nice to know that the company hasn’t forgotten about its computer-based customers.
For the best viewing experience, users will want to run it within Safari or Firefox. While playback does work on certain versions of Chrome, like for some OS X users, it’s not quite consistent or solid yet. A Netflix rep explains: “Chrome on Mac support is a limitation of Microsoft Silverlight, not Netflix. It works on some Macs but not on others, so we allow it and give users a warning.”
Have you taken the browser-based Netflix player for a whirl? Tell us what you think of the changes in the comments below.
[via GigaOm]
