Using Netflix certainly does not require an engineering diploma, just open the website and choose the film or series to watch, press Play and start. Just the simplicity of Netflix (as well as its low price) is the key to its success, with an immediate and unexpected interface, with the function of seeing many episodes in sequence of a TV series and the ability to suggest new things to see based on what we saw.
Netflix has reaped enormous benefits from this proven formula and does not seem to need improvement, since almost all of its subscribers are satisfied with the platform and how fast and convenient it is to use. Since, however, we are never satisfied, for those who see Netflix from the PC we see here what tricks we can use to discover the most hidden functions of the site and what external tools can be used to facilitate the search for new films and series to see.
READ ALSO: All the ways to see Netflix on TV
1) Look for new content to see: ranking and latest releases
One of the most surprising problems of Netflix is that there is too much stuff and with so many titles to choose from it is difficult to decide and you always remain with the thought that perhaps you could find something more beautiful.
Of course Netflix helps thanks to its algorithm that suggests new films or TV series based on what has already been seen, but these are very gender-related suggestions, like saying that if I see two romantic films then I will have to see romantic films all my life.
So it's worth looking for new things to see by going to the Netflix Lovers site. This site has nothing to do with Netflix but it is the best to discover the new releases that Netflix makes every day and, above all, to discover the rankings of the most viewed divided by gender: ranking of the most viewed films, the most viewed TV series, comedy films, horror films and so on. Netflix Lovers is also the site to consult the Netflix catalog for those who are not registered on the site.
2) Download movies from Netflix
The trick to download movies or episodes of your favorite series to be able to watch them offline and without internet connection can be used either from smartphone or tablet, through the official Netflix application for Android, for iPhone and for Windows 10, but is not yet available from website. the download can be done by pressing the arrow down when it appears under the preview image of a content while in the application settings it is possible to decide the quality of the downloads and the location.
In another article we wrote the complete guide to download episodes and movies from Netflix with all the details.
3) Get more targeted tips
There are two tricks to make Netflix tips work better for discovering new things.
The first trick is to give evaluations to everything, then saying if we liked or not something we saw, evaluating them with thumb up or thumb down in order to influence the algorithms and get targeted advice.
The second is to create different profiles based on who is there and also by gender. In practice we can create a user profile for each person who sees Netflix and then also a profile for films to be seen in pairs and then one for action films and one for comedies.
Profiles can be created, deleted and modified from the management page //www.netflix.com/ManageProfiles.
4) Exclude suggestions from the personal list
The recommendations created by Netflix's algorithms in the My list section can be useful, but they can also be disabled for those who use creating lists of favorite movies and series manually.
Adding to the personal list is done from a film profile, by pressing the + add to list button .
From this settings page, //www.netflix.com/MyListOrder, you can then choose whether the suggestions should appear in the list or not.
5) Look for hidden subgenres inside Netflix
Netflix has assigned codes to each genre and subgenre of its catalog, but does not allow access to all these subgenres from its main menu.
The most popular trick of Netflix, therefore, is to discover genres using these hidden codes.
To do this, the following URL must be entered in the Internet browser: //www.netflix.com/browse/genre/X, replacing the X with the code corresponding to the genre.
There are fairly general categories (for example, anime, drama and TV series) and other extremely specific categories (for example, films for ages 5 to 7, teen comedies and werewolf horror films).
We saw all the codes in the guide on how to find movies and TV shows by genre on Netflix.
The Chrome Enhancer extension allows you to view all the secret categories of Netflix genres directly from the website.
6) Look for the best movies and TV series for IMDB global rating
To find the films and TV shows to watch with the highest IMDB rating, which is one of the most important sites to find the best films ever, you can open the JustWatch site and list Netflix content by rating, putting a minimum of rating IMDB at least 8.
The Netflix Roulette site is also very nice, to randomly extract something new to see based on the genre and the IMDB rating, only that it refers to the American Netflix, which has content sometimes different from the Italian one.
The Netflix Enhancer extension seen in step 5 adds IMDB ratings for each video on the Netflix site.
7) Set the streaming quality manually
Those with a slower connection can, at times, have difficulty with buffering which results in intermittent streaming. Netflix is able to adapt the video quality to the connection speed automatically, but also allows you to choose the streaming quality manually from the settings on this page //www.netflix.com/HdToggle.
While viewing a movie, you can decrease the quality of the streaming by opening a hidden menu that appears only by pressing the ctrl-shift-alt-s keys on the PC together. from the window that appears, choose a lower number from the central section.
NOTE: The streaming quality settings are particularly important on the Netflix smartphone app, to limit the consumption of traffic in the data connection.
8) Customize the appearance of subtitles
When viewing original language movies or TV shows with subtitles, you can customize how they appear from the settings menu, //www.netflix.com/SubtitlePreferences. From here you can choose the font, the size and the color of the subtitles.
9) Deactivate autoplay
If you do not want playback of the following episode to start automatically after watching an episode, you can disable Netflix's autoplay for previews, trailers and the next episode as explained in another guide.
10) Request films or TV shows that are not present
If you want to see a movie or TV series that is not available on Netflix, you can submit a request form and, you never know, the wish could be fulfilled.
The request can be made this page: //help.netflix.com/en/titlerequest, with three titles to suggest.
11) Shortcut keys
Anyone who sees Netflix from a PC via a browser can use different combinations of keys to move through the keyboard quickly on the site.
Space / Enter - Play and pause
Pag Up - Play
Pag Jun - Pause
F - Full screen
Esc - Exit full screen
Shift + Left Arrow - Rewind
Shift + Right Arrow - Fast forward
Up Arrow - Turn up the volume
Down arrow - Turn down the volume
M - Mute
12) Netflix history
All movies and TV shows seen with Netflix are listed on this page: //www.netflix.com/WiViewingActivity which is the same as this //www.netflix.com/MoviesYouveSeen.
From this page you can see all the assessments made and modify them. You can then remove items from the history by pressing the X next to the title.
13) Important Account Settings
From the account settings page //www.netflix.com/YourAccount you can:
- terminate all connections to Netflix and logins with the account.
- set a family filter.
- see all the recent activities of those who have used the account
14) Create a Flixtape
FlixTape is a compilation of content that we like to share with friends and family. You can create a Flixtape from this page //flixtape.netflix.com/.
Even if this function is only in English, it is still possible to use it effectively, creating personalized or automatic lists.
15) Share a Netflix subscription
As already written, you can use the same Netflix subscription between friends by dividing the price, because the one from 14 Euros per month allows you to view up to 4 at the same time, which is much more than any other online service.
16) Pause the Netflix payment
Netflix's subscription fee for online streaming is really low and can even be shared, but if you go on vacation for a month, you can pause payments without problems. to do this, go to Account settings, press to cancel the subscription. As it is written, before confirming, if you reactivate the subscription within 10 months, the profiles and preferences remain stored and you can resume with the first account without losing anything.
READ ALSO: How to cancel a Netflix subscription and cancel the account
17) Netflix extensions
Thanks to the extensions for Netflix on Chrome you can get many other tricks, such as the one to skip the introductory acronyms and disable the "keep watching" message to see episodes without interruptions.
Netflix has reaped enormous benefits from this proven formula and does not seem to need improvement, since almost all of its subscribers are satisfied with the platform and how fast and convenient it is to use. Since, however, we are never satisfied, for those who see Netflix from the PC we see here what tricks we can use to discover the most hidden functions of the site and what external tools can be used to facilitate the search for new films and series to see.
READ ALSO: All the ways to see Netflix on TV
1) Look for new content to see: ranking and latest releases
One of the most surprising problems of Netflix is that there is too much stuff and with so many titles to choose from it is difficult to decide and you always remain with the thought that perhaps you could find something more beautiful.
Of course Netflix helps thanks to its algorithm that suggests new films or TV series based on what has already been seen, but these are very gender-related suggestions, like saying that if I see two romantic films then I will have to see romantic films all my life.
So it's worth looking for new things to see by going to the Netflix Lovers site. This site has nothing to do with Netflix but it is the best to discover the new releases that Netflix makes every day and, above all, to discover the rankings of the most viewed divided by gender: ranking of the most viewed films, the most viewed TV series, comedy films, horror films and so on. Netflix Lovers is also the site to consult the Netflix catalog for those who are not registered on the site.
2) Download movies from Netflix
The trick to download movies or episodes of your favorite series to be able to watch them offline and without internet connection can be used either from smartphone or tablet, through the official Netflix application for Android, for iPhone and for Windows 10, but is not yet available from website. the download can be done by pressing the arrow down when it appears under the preview image of a content while in the application settings it is possible to decide the quality of the downloads and the location.
In another article we wrote the complete guide to download episodes and movies from Netflix with all the details.
3) Get more targeted tips
There are two tricks to make Netflix tips work better for discovering new things.
The first trick is to give evaluations to everything, then saying if we liked or not something we saw, evaluating them with thumb up or thumb down in order to influence the algorithms and get targeted advice.
The second is to create different profiles based on who is there and also by gender. In practice we can create a user profile for each person who sees Netflix and then also a profile for films to be seen in pairs and then one for action films and one for comedies.
Profiles can be created, deleted and modified from the management page //www.netflix.com/ManageProfiles.
4) Exclude suggestions from the personal list
The recommendations created by Netflix's algorithms in the My list section can be useful, but they can also be disabled for those who use creating lists of favorite movies and series manually.
Adding to the personal list is done from a film profile, by pressing the + add to list button .
From this settings page, //www.netflix.com/MyListOrder, you can then choose whether the suggestions should appear in the list or not.
5) Look for hidden subgenres inside Netflix
Netflix has assigned codes to each genre and subgenre of its catalog, but does not allow access to all these subgenres from its main menu.
The most popular trick of Netflix, therefore, is to discover genres using these hidden codes.
To do this, the following URL must be entered in the Internet browser: //www.netflix.com/browse/genre/X, replacing the X with the code corresponding to the genre.
There are fairly general categories (for example, anime, drama and TV series) and other extremely specific categories (for example, films for ages 5 to 7, teen comedies and werewolf horror films).
We saw all the codes in the guide on how to find movies and TV shows by genre on Netflix.
The Chrome Enhancer extension allows you to view all the secret categories of Netflix genres directly from the website.
6) Look for the best movies and TV series for IMDB global rating
To find the films and TV shows to watch with the highest IMDB rating, which is one of the most important sites to find the best films ever, you can open the JustWatch site and list Netflix content by rating, putting a minimum of rating IMDB at least 8.
The Netflix Roulette site is also very nice, to randomly extract something new to see based on the genre and the IMDB rating, only that it refers to the American Netflix, which has content sometimes different from the Italian one.
The Netflix Enhancer extension seen in step 5 adds IMDB ratings for each video on the Netflix site.
7) Set the streaming quality manually
Those with a slower connection can, at times, have difficulty with buffering which results in intermittent streaming. Netflix is able to adapt the video quality to the connection speed automatically, but also allows you to choose the streaming quality manually from the settings on this page //www.netflix.com/HdToggle.
While viewing a movie, you can decrease the quality of the streaming by opening a hidden menu that appears only by pressing the ctrl-shift-alt-s keys on the PC together. from the window that appears, choose a lower number from the central section.
NOTE: The streaming quality settings are particularly important on the Netflix smartphone app, to limit the consumption of traffic in the data connection.
8) Customize the appearance of subtitles
When viewing original language movies or TV shows with subtitles, you can customize how they appear from the settings menu, //www.netflix.com/SubtitlePreferences. From here you can choose the font, the size and the color of the subtitles.
9) Deactivate autoplay
If you do not want playback of the following episode to start automatically after watching an episode, you can disable Netflix's autoplay for previews, trailers and the next episode as explained in another guide.
10) Request films or TV shows that are not present
If you want to see a movie or TV series that is not available on Netflix, you can submit a request form and, you never know, the wish could be fulfilled.
The request can be made this page: //help.netflix.com/en/titlerequest, with three titles to suggest.
11) Shortcut keys
Anyone who sees Netflix from a PC via a browser can use different combinations of keys to move through the keyboard quickly on the site.
Space / Enter - Play and pause
Pag Up - Play
Pag Jun - Pause
F - Full screen
Esc - Exit full screen
Shift + Left Arrow - Rewind
Shift + Right Arrow - Fast forward
Up Arrow - Turn up the volume
Down arrow - Turn down the volume
M - Mute
12) Netflix history
All movies and TV shows seen with Netflix are listed on this page: //www.netflix.com/WiViewingActivity which is the same as this //www.netflix.com/MoviesYouveSeen.
From this page you can see all the assessments made and modify them. You can then remove items from the history by pressing the X next to the title.
13) Important Account Settings
From the account settings page //www.netflix.com/YourAccount you can:
- terminate all connections to Netflix and logins with the account.
- set a family filter.
- see all the recent activities of those who have used the account
14) Create a Flixtape
FlixTape is a compilation of content that we like to share with friends and family. You can create a Flixtape from this page //flixtape.netflix.com/.
Even if this function is only in English, it is still possible to use it effectively, creating personalized or automatic lists.
15) Share a Netflix subscription
As already written, you can use the same Netflix subscription between friends by dividing the price, because the one from 14 Euros per month allows you to view up to 4 at the same time, which is much more than any other online service.
16) Pause the Netflix payment
Netflix's subscription fee for online streaming is really low and can even be shared, but if you go on vacation for a month, you can pause payments without problems. to do this, go to Account settings, press to cancel the subscription. As it is written, before confirming, if you reactivate the subscription within 10 months, the profiles and preferences remain stored and you can resume with the first account without losing anything.
READ ALSO: How to cancel a Netflix subscription and cancel the account
17) Netflix extensions
Thanks to the extensions for Netflix on Chrome you can get many other tricks, such as the one to skip the introductory acronyms and disable the "keep watching" message to see episodes without interruptions.
