After a long day at work, school and whatnot, let’s face it, Netflix is a great partner to come home to. So many shows and movies to choose from, low monthly fee and their Netflix Originals series? AMAZING. From the award-winning Orange is the New Black, House of Cards to more recent additions like Master of None and Love, Netflix is bringing us tons of options--more bang for our buck.
But sometimes, it can be hard to weed out the best of what Netflix has to offer versus some of the less than appealing content that they provide. I mean, everyone can resonate with this dandy chart:
What about all those times you spent looking for a movie and 2.5 something hours later… Is it bed time already?
Netflix has about 75 million subscribers with 40 million alone in the U.S. so you know…lots of people watching and lots of people searching. Let’s face it, with the convenience of on-demand streaming, Netflix volume of shows and movies will only continue to skyrocket. So how can you search better and get to your new fave marathon show faster?
Here’s a few Netflix hacks and tips to help you get started. Check it out!
Yeah, we’re not gonna lie, the site looks a bit janky but in a cluttered Netflix world, it does a great job at ranking popular titles which also include new and noteworthy additions for you to explore. The best thing about instant watcher: they provide qualified film reviews from Rotten Tomatoes and similar online film critics.
Bonus: you can also see popular and trending shows and movies for Amazon Instant Video.
Indecisiveness really throws us off sometimes so when in doubt, let Netflix Roulette lead the way. Just as the name implies, you can let this handy site pick what you’re going to watch. If you’re in the mood for a certain genre or otherwise, you can also use filter by movie or show, actor’s name and etc. Give it a spin!
Much like instant watcher, FlickSurfer makes it easier to find top-rated movies and shows. You can easily see IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes and Netflix ratings to help you make a winning selection.
So this one is pretty cool. It’s a free Chrome browser extension that enhances your Netflix browsing experience. With this, you can get trailers, Rotten Tomato, audience rating and more just by hovering over the show titles (like you usually do) on Netflix.
Yep, you read right. If you’ve been generous enough to share, that’s awesome but if you notice a clear abuse of account sharing, you can just remotely log out everyone using your account. Netflix-mooching folks beware. You can kick people off by following these steps:
Log in to your Netflix account
Click on your user profile and on the drop down menu select ‘Manage Profiles’
On your account page under Settings, click on “Sign out of all devices”
Hit the sign out button and that’s it!
To prevent people from signing back in, remember to change your password!
If you stream Netflix via PlayStation, you can download the Netflix app to control Netflix remotely. Just follow these simple steps:
Launch Netflix on your phone and on streaming device/game console
Make sure both devices are logged into the same Netflix account and same Wi-Fi network
At the bottom right-hand side, you’ll find a ‘Cast’ icon, click on it to connect both devices
It is HARD to run a proper search when watching Netflix on TV. Unless you already have a show in mind, consider downloading Upflix. Upflix provides a more friendly Netflix search and even includes critics rating! Run the search on your phone. Watch on TV. Easy peasy. Upflix is available for both iOS and Android users.
This is a pretty neat app. In an app-rich world, it takes another app to help you find what you want to watch easily across all available streaming networks. With Fan.tv, you can easily search within the app and it will tell you which streaming company certain movies and shows are located. Saves you the trouble of running your own search individually!
Sorry Chrome lovers! Unfortunately, the highest streaming quality you can get on Google Chrome is 720p. This isn't bad by any means if you're on a laptop or monitor. For 1080p high-def, stream Netflix in Safari, Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge! Otherwise, most gaming consoles like PS4 and Xbox or top box product like Apple TV or Roku streamings the highest quality possible for Netflix.
Easily browse what’s new to Netflix or search by Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, and Metacritic ratings. This may be a better version if you want to be able to browse from a mobile device. The app is available for both Android and iOS users.
You can easily fast forward or rewind back to where you left off when you ran into the kitchen for some snacks by holding these keys on your keyboard (plus some other keyboard shortcuts):
After you’ve set those rates lower, just hit “Override.” To reset, just follow the steps above to access the bitrate menu and hit “Reset.”
Multi-tasking is the key to success. With Helium, this is incredibly easy and possible. Helium is basically a floating browser window for OS X that lets you watch streaming videos while you work, take a look below:
Pretty neat huh? Helium stays on top of any other browser windows so you never miss a beat! It’s not limited to Netflix by the way, you can also use it for Google Hangouts, Slack and more.
Watch Netflix often on your commute? You can easily control how much data Netflix streaming sucks away by going to Your Account > My Profile > Playback Settings. Set your data usage on your screen from low to high quality. Low quality will only take up 0.3 GB per hour so if you're running on low data, tis the way to go!
Are you having trouble seeing your subtitles clearly? You can easily customize how captions appear on screen by going to Your Account > My Profile > Subtitle Appearance. Your eyes will thank you for it.
Reddit is the place to go. They have an active community that will totally support you when it comes to discovering the next Netflix binge of the week. You can browse existing threads for recommendations or post to the forum using a [REQUEST] tag.
You're probably auto-enabled for Netflix design tests. Like all sites, Netflix rolls out small design tests for all of their subscribers which explain the small glitches and changes here and there on their homepage. To put a halt to these weird changes, simply go to Your Account > Settings > Test Participation and hit the button to turn disable test participation. Voila! Back to normal.
Wanna know what's coming to Netflix and what titles to watch before it is gone? Check back on DealsPlus Blog for new arrivals and departure every month! We'll keep you up to date on Hulu and Amazon Video too.
Created by Netflix, you can use Fast.com to see how fast your internet connection is on desktop or download the Fast mobile app for iOS or Android. This way, you can find out whether Netflix or your internet connection is the source of those pesky buffering issues.
Both of these awesome apps/tools will let you watch Netflix with long-distance friends and loved ones with chat function enabled on your Netflix browser window. See Showgoers. See Netflix Party.
Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Go and more. Check out Decider.com for updates on new shows to watch and take a look at their ‘Decider Lists’ for each streaming service to find your new favorite show or movie!
Throwing a Netflix party with friends and family? You can play this game of real-time trivia for Netflix shows on Plot Guru. Available on iOS (Android coming soon).
Not limited to Netflix, this search engine can help you find out where a specific show, movie or documentary is streaming across all major streaming networks. Check it out at canistream.it.
The Reelgood app works to help you keep track of all your streaming sources on one app. You can also have Reelgood alert you when a movie is streaming on whichever streaming network you’re subscribed to. Currently only available for iOS.
Flixfindr.com is one of the easier sites to use if you don’t want to spend too much time looking for a good movie on a particular streaming network. Simply hit the streaming site you’re on and filter by preferred genre, rating and year.
Have a VR gear? Check out Virtual Desktop and learn how you can use your computer in VR to stream movies, shows, play games and much more. See Virtual Desktop now. You can also try SPACE, a similar program that turns your once boring desktop into a VR wonderland for free.
Available as a Google browser extension, you can binge watch your shows easily with no pauses in between episodes with the Netflix Pause Removal extension. A truly seamless streaming experience.
If you're trying to cut cost, streaming services are a lot cheaper than traditional cable. Plus, there's plenty to choose from. We recommend taking advantage of their free trials (and binge watch shows if you're planning to cancel after your free trial) to determine which streaming video service you like best. If you plan on subscribing, see what kind promotional offers they currently have for new subscribers:
Just wanna have a movie night? Take a look at free Redbox promo codes to help you score a free movie night or get lower theater prices with Fandango or Dealflicks.
Carry on and enjoy these hacks to improve your relationship with Netflix. Got more tips for us? Let us know in the comments below! Sharing is caring.
