I got my PS3 Netflix disc and I’m happy to say it works. Though, it might not work as you expect unless you’ve read the follow up stories to the announcement. First off it’s based on BD-Live so the disc appears under the XMB movies category and the software can’t be installed on the hard disk. That seems to be the biggest disappointment but lets face it it’s not the end of the world. (I’m curious as to whether it would work in any BD-Live device, but I don’t have one to try it on)

The first time you load it up it shows an alpha numeric code that must be entered into Netflix’s website. You can’t get into the PS3 web browser without exiting so this seems unduly cumbersome, but you only have to do it once. After that it’s smooth streaming.

The interface controls are simple. You can flip from category to category and within a category you can browse titles. It shows twenty five categories, however after the obvious ones like recently watched the categories are the wacky Netflix sub-categories such as “Visually-striking Dark Sci-Fi & Fantasy” or “Witty Con Game Movies”. I’m not sure how it decides which ones to display. The number of titles displayed for a category is limited to 100 and moving through them is slow. This makes browsing a bit rough. You’re best off loading up your watch instantly queue from a computer.

If the rumors are to be believed the interface limitations are due to BD-Live. And Netflix was forced to do this as a BD-Live disc to circumvent an exclusivity deal with Microsoft. They say later this year there will be a PSN downloadable release. Hears hoping the new year rings in full category tree browsing and text search. I wouldn’t mind 1.5x play too.