With 80 million users worldwide, many of us now prefer watching Netflix to traditional TV. Robert Irvine explains how to get the most from your monthly subscription
Unlock hidden film and TV genres
When you click Browse in the top-left corner of the Netflix website, you can choose from familiar TV and film genres such as Action, Comedies and Romance. But if you’re after something a little more specific, it’s possible to jump straight to one of thousands of hidden ‘micro-genres’. There are two ways to access these sub-categories, which include Action Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Military Documentaries and Steamy Romantic Movies. The first is to go to the Netflix Hacks section of the What’s On Netflix blog that discovered the trick (bit.ly/netflix389) and click the link – with accompanying code – for the desired micro-genre. This will take you to the relevant section of the Netflix website – you can also just add the code to: www.netflix.com/browse/genre/[code].
Alternatively, you can install the Netflix Super Browse add-on for Chrome (bit.ly/sbchrome393) or Firefox (bit.ly/sbfirefox393), which adds a Super Browse menu to the website that includes all the secret sub-categories. You can either browse the alphabetical list of micro-genres or search their titles for particular keywords.
Search the entire global library
Netflix is now available in 245 countries (or ‘territories’, to be precise), some of which have a much bigger selection than the one on offer in the UK. You can access these regional variations using a VPN (although Netflix is clamping down on such tools), so it’s useful to know what’s available to watch and where. To find out, head to the unofficial Netflix online Global Search Tool (uNoGs for short, unogs.com) and enter the name of a movie, TV show, actor or director to view matches from across the world. Choose a title to see which countries are currently streaming it, and which VPNs you can use to access content in that territory. Most of these require a subscription, but some – such as Unblock-US (www.unblock-us.com) – offer a free trial. However, we’d recommend using Smartflix instead – see the next tip for details.
You’ll be surprised how many popular films and series, including Star Wars, Harry Potter and Monty Python, aren’t available on our local Netflix, but can be viewed in places as far afield as Belize, Fiji and the Solomon Islands. Usefully, uNoGs tells you which language movies are subtitled in, and lets you view only those with English subtitles.
Beat regional Netflix restrictions
You can avoid the hassle and cost of using a VPN to beat regional Netflix restrictions by using an amazing free program called Smartflix (www.smartflix.io). This lets you stream more than 14,000 films and TV series from around the world to your Desktop simply by signing into your Netflix account. Smartflix uses the uNoGs database mentioned in the previous tip to put the whole global Netflix catalogue at your fingertips, regardless of which country the content is licensed in (the US, Canada, Australia, Japan and the Netherlands are the most prominent territories). Simply search for a movie or TV show, or browse the global library by popularity, user rating or genre, then click a title to start watching it.
Smartflix is free while the service is still in beta (although obviously you need a Netflix subscription) and will only cost $2.99 (£2.10) a month when it officially launches.
Add extra features to Netflix
Despite a smart redesign last year, the Netflix website is frustratingly basic. You can make its pages more interesting and useful by installing the excellent Chrome extension Flix Plus by Lifehacker (bit.ly/flixplus370). This offers lots of clever ways to customise Netflix and improve your viewing, and lets you choose which ones to apply in its Options menu. For example, before you start watching a film, you can view a trailer on YouTube and show ratings from IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes; while for TV shows, you can hide potential spoilers for forthcoming episodes and click the Random Episode button for a surprise choice. Flix Plus also lets you rearrange your watch list, so that titles that are set to expire soon are placed at the top.
Discover what’s new on Netflix
Netflix has a New Arrivals section on its website and a Recently Added strip in its mobile app, but neither is particularly reliable or up to date. When the eagerly awaited Season 4 of the Netflixproduced series House of Cards was released on 4 March, many viewers couldn’t even find the new episodes, let alone play them. To ensure you don’t miss any fresh content, check out New On Netflix UK (uk.newonnetflix.info), which – despite its scrappy design – is an invaluable resource for staying abreast of the streaming service. The site is updated every day with details of the latest additions to Netflix, and also lists the films and shows that have been removed. You can browse by day or month, view upcoming titles, use The Randomiser tool to discover something new and follow New On Netflix UK on Facebook and Twitter for instant updates.
Make subtitles more legible
By default, subtitles for Netflix TV shows and films are displayed as yellow text with a black shadow. If you find this text difficult to read and detrimental to your viewing, it’s easy to change your subtitle settings. Hover your mouse over your username in the top-right corner and choose Your Account from the drop-down menu. In the My Profile section, click ‘Subtitle appearance’ and choose your desired font, text size and subtitle colour, and whether to use a coloured background. Click Save to apply your preferences or ‘Reset to default’ to undo them.
Watch films and shows with friends
It’s very frustrating when you have to wait for someone to catch up with a Netflix series so you can freely discuss the latest episodes without spoiling any surprises. To avoid this first-world problem, install the Chrome extension Showgoers (bit.ly/showgoers378), which lets you sync your Netflix viewing to watch TV shows and movies at the same time as friends, no matter where they are. Just start playing a film or programme, then click the 3D-glasses icon to launch Sync mode and generate a link. Share this with someone and, when they click it (they’ll also need Showgoers installed), their Netflix player will open the same content at the same position as yours, so you can watch in tandem. When you play, pause, or jump to a new time in the movie or show, their Netflix player will follow suit. It certainly saves a lot of biting your tongue and “I can’t believe you’re only on Episode 3” grumbles!
SECRET NETFLIX SHORTCUTS
Relax your mouse hand when you’re watching Netflix and use these keyboard shortcuts instead.
F – Switch to full screen (and back)
Enter – Pause and resume playback
Page Up – Play
Page Down – Pause
M – Mute (and unmute) the sound
[up and down arrows] – Increase and decrease the volume
Shift + [left arrow] – Rewind by 10 seconds
Shift + [right arrow] – Fast-forward by 10 seconds
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+D - view statistics about your stream
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S – launch the Control Panel (above) to fix buffering issues