Netflix is officially in Australia, and it’s generally great — but it isn’t perfect. Here are some of the best ways to improve on the Netflix experience.
Search Better with AllFlicks
Netflix’ built in search options are OK if you know the title of the film you want to watch. Outside of that, though, search is pretty limited. AllFlicks provides much more powerful search criteria. You can narrow down results by the film’s year of release, show only movies, TV shows, or both and sort by ratings. You can choose specific search terms, but it’s not necessary if you’d prefer to just browse.
Add IMDb And Rotten Tomatoes Ratings With Netflix Rate
Netflix’ five star rating system is OK for personalising preferences, but if you want better at-a-glance information, Chrome extension Netflix Rate adds IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes ratings to the hover-over cards while browsing the site, as well as trailers.
Get Better Suggestions With The Taste Preferences Survey
When you first create a Netflix account, you get the chance to rate a few items to help build a database from which you’ll get recommendations. If you want better suggestions, Netflix’ somewhat hidden Taste Preferences survey can help refine the results Netflix gives you.
Utilise Keyboard Shortcuts
You’re reading Lifehacker, so clearly you love keyboard shortcuts, right? Well, Netflix has plenty of its own. In addition to hitting Spacebar to play/pause like every other video player on the planet, Netflix has a host of keyboard shortcuts built into the player including fast forward, rewind, and mute. Check out this post for even more advanced shortcuts. Including one of the most notable examples…
Access Hidden Streaming Options
As we’ve highlighted before, Netflix has some super advanced options for streaming video in a hidden menu. You can access it on the desktop by pressing Shift+Alt+Left Click, or on the Xbox 360 and PS3 with the Konami code. Both menus provide secret options with varying options based on your platform. The PS3 allows you to deauthorise your device and swap accounts, while the Xbox 360 and PC incarnations of the menu let you see a wide range of A/V stats as well as manually adjust the streaming rate.
Comments
22 responses to “Tricks And Downloads That Make Netflix Even More Awesome”
Get a US VPN!
How much do you have to pay for a VPN to stream Netflix at any decent rate?
I use Unblock-US. It’s $5 a month. Well worth it.
Don’t need VPN, specifically – a good DNS spoofing service like adfreetime will work fine
Exactly. I’ve been looking at VPN’s in regard to the site blocking that is coming up and couldn’t find anything reasonable.
Check out Getflix – It’s about $34 for the year and is easier to use because it’s just a change in DNS.
Though be careful with Netflix US – it defaults your DNS to Google – so you’ll have to static route them.
Yeah, well aware of the DNS. I think original OP meant that. If he was actually using a VPN though, would be interested to know what service it was.
+1 for Getflix (plus re-routing Google’s DNS servers so it works on Chromecast). One of the beauties of Getflix is you can instantly change Netflix region to get whatever content you’re after 🙂
Use the chrome addon Hola. It’s free
In my opinion VPN is the best to bypass Geo-blocking and get access to restricted services and within encrypted tunnel to ensure security and anonymity. I am using HideMyAss VPN https://www.hidemyass.com/vpn/r20533/ to watch US Netflix in Australia
One of the Smart DNS services would be better than a VPN.
A VPN causes traffic to go through one of the VPN’s servers – slowing everything down.
The Smart DNS services just re-route requests, and the actual content comes direct.
Second that, much rather us Smart DNS. This article https://www.unblocknetflix.co.uk/us-vs-uk-netflix-how-to-switch-netflix-country-with-dns-or-vpn-proxies/ contains all the details you need on how to setup
What I find annoying is that accessing AU Netflix with my US account shows all the shows, with no indication of whats actually available for the AU region.
I clicked around 20 titles and then it gets to 3% loading before saying “this content is not available in your region”.
Is there no automatic filter based on location?
I’ve found it just filters as per your region automatically. I’ve searched for content I know is on the US catalogue but not the AU catalogue, and it they did not show. Vica versa too. No Round the Twist for the Americans :p
Huh, weird. I’ll try again today.
Spread it around free Presto for 6 months https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/187846
No “Game of Thrones”? No point.
Get Chrome extension “Hola” and set it to USA.. it’s also free
Is there a way to lock in the resolution? I know I can pick low-med-high, but med is 480p, high is 1080p. All I want is 720p!
If you sign up through an Apple TV, your subscription comes out of your itunes account…. So one can then pick up discounted iTunes gift cards and get discounted Netflix one assumes….
The shift-alt-left click shortcut only works in the Silverlight player, which Netflix has phased out. Detail panels can be accessed with the following instead:
Ctrl-Alt-Shift-D – Debug panel
Ctrl-ALt-Shift-L – Log window
Ctrl-Alt-Shift-S – Stream configuration
You can use filmefy.com which is a Netflix search engine. It will tell you the regions a movie or show is available in. For geo dodgers,you can use any VPN/DNS/Proxy and change your country to that region.