LAS VEGAS—Netflix this week provided a sneak peek at the new "profiles" feature it is testing for streaming customers, but it also offered partner ISPs the option to stream in Super HD or 3D when they join the company's Open Connect program.
ISPs who sign up for Open Connect will be able to offer Netflix Super HD, which is the highest quality video format offered by Netflix, boosting picture on 1080p HDTVs, Netflix said.
In the U.S., a small number of movies will also be accessible in 3D, including Immortals, Red Bull Media House's snowboarding documentary The Art of Flight, and a number of titles from the Discovery/Sony/Imax joint venture 3net Studios - including the native, original 3D series African Wild, Scary Tales, and Live Fire.
Cablevision is the latest U.S. ISP to sign up for Open Connect, Netflix said, so Cablevision customers who access Netflix streaming in the future will see the "Super HD" and "3D" tags alongside movies and TV shows that support those formats. Netflix was at CES here this week showing off the service; click the pic above for a larger image.
Other global ISPs that have embraced Open Connect include Virgin Media, British Telecom, Telmex, Telus, TDC, and GVT. Netflix users can check to see if their ISP is part of Open Connect by visiting netflix.com/superhd.
"These new Super HD and 3D formats are more challenging to deliver than our other video streams, which is why we will deliver them through Open Connect," Ken Florance, vice president of content delivery at Netflix, said in a statement. "Any ISP that wants to be able to deliver our new formats can do so easily and for free."
Netflix launched Open Connect in June 2012, and it serves as the video provider's very own content delivery system. The move was prompted by the explosion in the amount of video Netflix customers were watching on the company's Watch Instantly streaming network. Prior to Open Connect, Netflix partnered with commercial content delivery networks (CDNs) to get its movies and TV shows to customers' devices. But now, in addition to CDNs, ISPs can "get Netflix video data from Open Connect, a single-purpose Netflix content delivery network we've established," Netflix said at the time.