ENTERTAINMENT - FILM - 28.10.2019

Netflix utilities for your laptop

Many ways to watch

You can watch Netflix on your smart TV, or you can stream it from your smartphone or tablet to a regular TV. This can be done using a device such as Google Chromecast or Apple TV. Of course, you can also access Netflix via your PC or laptop browser. With the browser extensions reviewed below, you can make this Netflix experience even better. Note. These tools sometimes disappear from the scene at the request of Netflix itself.

Hidden categories

If you’re not completely satisfied with the Netflix search function, consider the FindFlix extension for Chrome ( http://bit.ly/2yNA1Us ) or for Firefox ( https://mzl.la/2owpdby ). Indeed, there are a lot of hidden (sub)genres in Netflix, and this extension adds a handy search field which lets you browse in more than 7,500 different categories! Plus, when you type in an actor’s name, chances are that FindFlix will show relevant films.

Objective ratings

Netflix gives suggestions based on your viewing history and on user reviews. If you would like to be guided by an objective source when making your choice, install RateFlix ( http://bit.ly/2YObtZT ) in your Chrome browser.

This extension also shows ratings from the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), the reference for information about series and films.

For films, you will generally see the ratings by Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic (a comparison of these different sources can be found on http://bit.ly/2yJZr5e ).

For Firefox users, we found the similar Film Scores for Netflix ( https://mzl.la/33ewzzk ).

Better viewing experience

Do you find it annoying that Netflix automatically plays trailers for films and series in your browser? Thanks to Netflix Tweaked for Chrome ( http://bit.ly/2GU4Gnu ) and Firefox ( https://mzl.la/2pdqPa6 ) you’ll get rid of this once and for all.

Do you want even more control over your viewing experience? In that case we can highly recommend Video Adjustfor Netflix ( http://bit.ly/2M5iKi0 ) for the Chrome browser. It allows you to adjust the brightness, saturation and contrast of the video. There are three pre-sets (Normal, Enhanced and Grayscale), and you can save your favourite settings. Unfortunately, the latter option refused to work during our tests.

Sharing

Would you like to watch a film or series together with your partner, colleagues or friends without being in the same room? This is made easy by Netflix Party ( http://bit.ly/2M7A5XE ). Install this extension in the Chrome browsers of all the computers involved, click on the new NP icon in the browser and press the Start the Party button.

You can now share the link that is produced with the others. When they paste it into their browser and then click on POI, you will be in almost perfect sync with each other. If you pause the film, you will also pause it on the other screens. Moreover, the chat window allows you to make comments in real time.

A similar extension that works in Firefox too is TwoSeven ( https://mzl.la/2oo6YW1 ).