Hugely Popular on Netflix: Streaming Movies & TV Episodes

The new $7.99 plan doesn’t include DVD rentals, and it’s worth remembering that only a fraction of the 125,000+ titles available on disk can be seen via streaming.

But Netflix has grown their Watch Instantly library dramatically in the past year, and users have responded in kind. Recent estimates indicate that up to 20% of all evening web traffic in North America is from Netflix members streaming their stuff.

High Shipping Costs Drive Plans for Online DVD Rentals

And with its new price increases for DVD plans, Netflix continues to make streaming more attractive to more people. Netflix members who currently are signed up for a DVD delivery plan will see their monthly fees increase by a buck a month (or more!) in January 2011.

The fee increases are an effort to offset the increased cost of sending DVDs through the mail. Netflix will spend about $600 million on shipping in 2010, and expects that number to grow by another $100 million over the next few years.

The Future for Netflix: Watch Instantly

As Netflix continues its efforts to make streaming easier, cheaper, and more rewarding, the lower-price plans that offer unlimited instant streaming with fewer or no disks are sure to become more and more popular. As CEO Reed Hastings foretold years ago,

“We named the company ‘Netflix’, not ‘DVDs by Mail’ because we knew that eventually we would deliver movies directly over the Internet. DVDs will be around a long time, but we’re building for the day when they’re not.” He recently updated this prediction, saying “We are very proud to announce that by every measure we are now a streaming company, which also offers DVD-by-mail.”

There’s a lot of hope and potential for Google’s entry into the web TV world, but the price tag on the Review is an order of magnitude above its main contenders. We’ll keep an eye on more new Google TV products as they reach the market.

Meanwhile, here’s the most helpful video review we’ve seen so far. If you’re interested in finding out more, you can read up and pre-order at Best Buy or Amazon.

The three new models are ready to plug and play, with HD video, built-in wireless, ethernet port, and HDMI video output, starting at a new lower price of $59.99.

Roku — always a strong choice for streaming content from Netflix and Amazon — now offers instant access to dozens of downloadable content channels, including Pandora, MLB.TV, Facebook Photos, Flickr, UFC, Flixster, Twit.TV, Revision3, Blip.TV and Hulu Plus (coming this fall).

Of the three new products, the $79.99 XD and top-end XDS ($99.99) offer full 1080p HD video (the entry-level HD tops out at 720p), extended-range wireless and a new “instant replay” feature on the remote. The 1080p capability might not be too valuable yet since Netflix, Amazon, and many other providers are still streaming in 720p, but that may well change over time. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

The XDS has a few additional features some will find useful: dual band wireless (cool if your router supports it), output for component video and optical audio outputs (old school meets home theater?) and a USB port.

At 5″ square, this Roku series is about an inch larger than the new AppleTV. The differences don’t stop there. Apple’s device streams at 720p max, offers far fewer content channels (think Flickr, Netflix & YouTube), and continues to impose Apple’s restrictive DRM on iTunes content.

All in all, the new Roku boxes are shooting for the sweet spot: more variety, easy setup, lower prices.

Which features are most important to you in choosing a web-to-TV solution? Leave a comment and let us know.