Membership has its privileges, especially if it’s membership to Netflix and to Xbox Live’s Gold tier.

It looks like one of the questions everyone has asked about Netflix’s “watch instantly” streaming feature is being answered by Microsoft—high-definition downloads will be hitting the Xbox 360 first.

Microsoft and Netflix got together back in mid-July to announce that the Xbox will deliver Netflix selections, and six months later that service will include HD selections to Xbox Live Gold members.

The guys at Engadget had a chance to play around with the new Xbox reworked dashboard, and lo and behold, it includes a “Netflix presented in HD” choice. They cued up “Heroes” and found the picture quality to be great. Only about 300 titles were being offered for now, Engadget noted.

While there’s been plenty of buzz that began with Roku’s Netflix player, and recent Blu-ray players from LG and Samsung that have added Netflix instant watch, none of those have HD Netflix capability (yet). The new Xbox dash is scheduled to arrive on November 19, so we’ll be keeping our ears pricked for any fallout, or firmware updates, from other companies.

Arlen Schweiger - Managing editor of Electronic House Magazine

Arlen contributes product news items to electronichouse.com along with his role on the print publication. Got a tip? Send it along!