These days, it seems like everyone has Netflix.
But is everyone fully utilizing the service?
Are they getting their money's worth, devouring the films and shows they like in the most
efficient manner?
Here are some Netflix tricks, hacks, and add-ons to enhance the streaming experience.
While a lot of people watch Netflix on a smart TV, countless more binge-watch shows and movies
the old-fashioned way: on a laptop or desktop computer.
Netflix's instant viewing service was available on computers long before smart TVs came along,
and there are some basic functions of watching that way that are still embedded in the Netflix
API.
Like most any other computer program, Netflix's streaming code responds to "hot keys," or
"keyboard shortcuts," meaning certain functions are performed by pressing specific keys - no
use of the mouse with its pointing, clicking, and locating menus necessary.
They're also intuitive, meaning the keys do exactly what you expect.
Hitting the space bar pauses, and then resumes, a video; striking "F" allows Netflix to take
up the device's entire screen; "escape" shrinks the video back down; and tapping the left
and right arrows will rewind and fast-forward, respectively, by ten seconds.
Audio can also be toggled, too: the "M" mutes, while the up and down arrows adjust the volume
accordingly.
Even a casual scroll through Netflix will reveal a few examples of the service's intricate
categorization system.
Thanks to complicated algorithms that factor in an individual's viewing history, it will
recommend exactly the kinds of content it thinks a user will want to watch, such as
"Thrillers Featuring a Strong Female Lead" or "Goofy Showbiz Movies."
Netflix has thousands of these classifications and they've all got an assigned code number
for the sake of clean data storage.
These codes are directly accessible when using Netflix on a web browser.
Simply type "www.netflix.com/browse/genre/" into your browser's navigation bar, and after
that last slash, type in a three-, four- or five-digit number at random and see what you
get.
Or, try out a few.
The categorizations can be broken down into broad genres; for example, documentaries can
be found at 6839, horror at 8711.
The categorizations can also be incredibly specific: sports movies, but only ones about
martial arts, boxing, and wrestling are at 6695.
There are plenty of circumstances in which streaming things on Netflix isn't advisable
or attractive.
If only a person could download a show or movie to their device, and then watch it whenever
they wanted, with no internet connection required.
Fortunately, this is a very convenient feature that Netflix quietly added to its streaming
plans way back in 2016.
If the content producer has opted in on downloadability, there's a button right below the movie or
episode's description.
Simply click it, wait a few minutes, and it's ready to go.
Watching a movie before Netflix was something of an ordeal.
Every night, millions would descend on their local Blockbuster or another retail rental
chain and make a beeline for the new releases wall only to find that they were all gone.
Netflix eliminated this disappointment once and for all by streaming a wide catalog of
movies and TV shows, adding more every few days.
The only problem with this is that Netflix doesn't clearly delineate what's actually
new.
They've got a "trending" section, but otherwise it's going to take a third-party client to
figure out what is actually, truly new on Netflix.
That's the whole point of Flixable.
It's a recommendation app that sorts through Netflix, and can be customized according to
genre, user ratings, language, release year, and most attractively, the date it was added
to the streaming service.
Its default setting lists the newest additions at the top, and it works backwards as you
scroll down the page.
Allow Flixable to access your Netflix account, and you can play movies from the service with
a couple of clicks.
With an interconnected world that loves to binge entire series as soon as they hit Netflix,
it's hard to keep spoilers at bay for someone who wants to stretch out the viewing of a
series.
Avoiding leaks of plot twists or shocking character developments is tough, but not impossible.
But sometimes Netflix will go and spoil everything anyway.
It's not like the service means to, but those brief plot descriptions displayed for every
episode that pop up on screen when a series is selected can reveal a lot of details.
Enter Super Netflix, an add-on Chrome extension that makes for a truly spoiler-free experience.
It blurs plot descriptions of individual episodes while also obscuring the thumbnail images
accompanying those synopses.
Like virtually every other digital media platform, Netflix offers users a feature whereby they
can make a list of movies and TV series they can bookmark for future viewing.
"My List" is necessary for Netflix, since it's easy to get overwhelmed with choices.
That's why, by clicking a few buttons, Netflix users can populate their "List."
The only problem is that the feature has one major flaw in that it can't be rearranged.
Unlike the old, toggle-able Netflix DVD-by-mail queue, titles are listed by the order in which
they're added.
However, buried deep in Netflix's user settings is a way to manually rearrange the "My List"
list.
It looks just like that Netflix DVD queue, except that it's got all those things you
can watch right now… or later, as the case may be.
From one's account page, look for "Order in My Lists," and then toggle "Manual Ordering."
Watching a movie on the couch with another person is a true American pastime, dating
back all the way to the '80s with the explosion of the VCR.
Spending the evening watching a movie or a few episodes of a show is pretty much the
same now, only the content is delivered via high-speed internet, and because of that technological
breakthrough, you no longer have to be in the same room with somebody to watch a movie
together.
Thanks to a PC and Apple application called Kast, friends at different colleges, a parent
and kid separated by a business trip, or people urged to stay home during a pandemic can share
entertainment.
"Watching tv with only one person just isn't natural."
One part video chat service, one part screen-sharing software, Kast has an easily navigable interface
that allows both small groups or collectives of more than 100 people to all gather around
their monitors, and watch the same video as if you were all sitting on the same couch.
And, of course, everyone can text-chat about the video in real-time.
Score, dialogue, and sound effects are all crucial elements of the cinematic experience,
but film and TV are still visual media.
Nevertheless, the picture-perfect cinematography, breathtaking landscapes, and physical acting
subtleties should still be enjoyed by anyone and everyone, even those who lack sight entirely
or are otherwise impaired visually.
Luckily, Netflix offers a free service called "Audio Descriptions."
According to the streaming service, it's an "optional narration that describes what is
happening on-screen."
The dulcet tones of a neutral narrator dutifully describe everything that's happening on screen,
such as physical movements, costumes, settings, and scene transitions.
"The brunette lifeguard smiles flirtatiously as she walks past Billy, who pays no mind
to her or any of the ogling females in his wake."
Isn't that fun?
Audio Description is currently most available on Netflix's deep canon of original productions,
and is sometimes available on movies and TV shows produced out-of-house.
It's a great way to make movies more accessible to those who can't see every detail, and allows
those with full vision to enjoy a favorite film or series in a whole new way.
Netflix got its start in the United States, and as English is the most commonly spoken
tongue there, most of the service's content is in that language.
That includes blockbusters, indie movies, licensed TV shows, and original productions.
That said, Netflix also offers an increasingly abundant array of movies and TV shows from
around the world, produced in the languages of their countries of origin.
Whether it's an artsy French film or a reality show from Japan, Netflix offers subtitles
for its viewers who speak and read only English.
They'll appear in a standard, bland font in an easy-to-read color.
However, those might not work for everybody, and since Netflix is all about near-infinite
choice, users can personally modify their subtitles.
Simply go to settings, then general, then accessibility, and enable the "Closed Captions
+ SDH."
After selecting "style," viewers can change up the words' font, color, and size.
Netflix is obviously a marvel of modern engineering and a wish come true: plenty of recorded entertainment
at one's fingertips, just a click away, and all for a monthly fee of less than the cost
of a pizza.
And yet, there is still fault to be found with the service.
There are certain mechanics of watching Netflix, features that take one out of the immersive
viewing experience, that are just plain annoying.
Some people don't like how, if they stop scrolling to read a synopsis, a blaring preview of that
selection automatically plays.
Not everyone binge-watching a show wants to see the title sequence play every darn time.
And let's not forget how the service periodically asks, "Are you still watching?"
The developers of a Chrome extension called Never Ending Netflix put a critical eye on
the streamer to offer up a workaround of all those annoyances.
With a series of check boxes to toggle, Never Ending Netflix can allow users to always skip
a title sequence, auto play the next episode, turn off credits, kill auto-play previews,
and eliminate the "still watching?"
prompt, among other opt-in selections.
Even the most wonderful new technologies can have a downside.
As Netflix's movie-and-TV streaming platform spread around a delighted world in the 2010s,
it brought with it a brand-new social phenomenon called "Netflix cheating."
Let's say a couple discovers a marvelous TV series on Netflix.
Every episode ends in a cliffhanger, necessitating the need to watch far too many in one evening
because it's just so gripping.
At some point, bedtime arrives and the couple has to turn off the TV... but that's when
the cheating occurs.
While the husband sleeps, for example, his wife sneaks out of the bedroom and watches
a few more episodes by herself, without waiting for her partner-in-television.
"What do you want to watch?...
"How about Orange is the new black?
Oh wait you probably want to watch that with Jeremy? Oh no...
It's totally fine."
Netflix cheating really does speak to a betrayal of trust, not unlike other things spouses
or partners could do when the other person isn't looking.
We're not advocating doing this of course, but there are ways to cover one's tracks.
Not only could a Netflix user skip ahead a few episodes by using an alternate profile
on the same Netflix account, but it's also possible to line-edit the watch history, thereby
destroying the evidence of show-cheating.
It's possible by heading to one's "My Profile," then clicking "Viewing Activity."
Each recently watched item appears, and next to it a large "X."
Once clicked, that show disappears.
It can be very hard to decide what to watch on Netflix.
A person, tired and weary at the end of a long day of work spent making hundreds of
decisions, may have a hard time making just one more.
There's also the possibility of spouses, partners, or families, not coming to agreement about
a Netflix option.
Wouldn't it be nice if somebody else, like a well-meaning bot, just kind of knew what
you'd like, and would put on that exact movie or TV show for you?
"Wait...
"what was the first one you said?"
Bloodline?
Let's watch that."
That's the idea behind Netflix Roulette, a wild recommendation engine.
It allows users to enter in as little or as much criteria as they want, from what genre
you want to watch to whether a TV show or a movie is preferred.
It even factors in how critically beloved it is - Netflix Roulette can take Rotten Tomatoes
or IMDb scores of a certain critical benchmark into account.
After the program has gathered all the pertinent info, the user clicks a big green "Spin" button
to uncover a hidden gem in the streaming service.
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