The weekend is coming and, with this cold, you want more to stay at home watching a movie or series than to go out to eat out or have a couple of drinks. The party is best done at home: buy a few beers, popcorn, call friends and have a good night between horror movies, or a good comedy or a fast-paced thriller.
With the advent of streaming platforms, everything has become much easier (and legal). Goodbye to subtitles that did not correspond to reality, long waits downloading that or this torrent ... And how good it feels to know that you are doing things right? First it was Netflix; then the American giant HBO with series like WestWorld or Game of Thrones. The last to land has been Prime Video that, although it does not have the most powerful catalog, for a very reasonable price we will have, in addition to series and movies, free shipping in your store in just 24 hours.
If you are a Netflix user , and one of those who likes to mess around and look at his guts in search of hidden tricks or configurations that, precisely, do not jump to the eye, we have prepared a great special with all those that we have been discovering throughout the network. From how to change the size of the subtitles to having a better classification of the films, to being able to choose the quality of the videos without the need for the platform to do it for you. Shall we start?
How to view hidden Netflix categories
First of all, and to make things clear, we have a warning: we regret to tell you that this trick will not uncover any content that is on Netflix. Its entire catalog can be viewed from its website, mobile application or smart TV. This trick will simply make your movie search much more accurate. That one day you wake up and you want to see movies about baseball, because with this trick you can get it; that one day you want to get serious and see some auteur cinema, well too. Until now, you have available the typical categories within the menu: TV series, dramas. thrillers… When you display a category, you can see all the movies that make it up. In this case, we are going to try comedies. Click on the category title to access it.
On the next screen, if you look at the address bar, you will see a numeric code. Well, this is as simple as changing that code for another from the list that we offer you below the capture.
All category codes for Netflix
Action & Adventure: 1365
Action Comedies: 43040
Action Sci-Fi and Fantasy: 1568
Action Thrillers: 43048
Animation for adults: 11881
Adventures: 7442
African Movies: 3761
Aliens: 3327
Animal Stories: 5507
Anime: 7424
Anime Action: 2653
Anime Comedies: 9302
Anime Dramas: 452
Anime Fantasy: 11146
Anime Feature Films: 3063
Horror Anime: 10695
Anime Sci Fi: 2729
Anime Series: 6721
Author Cinema: 29764
Asian Action Movies: 77232
Australian Movies: 5230
Horror B Movies: 8195
Baseball Movies: 12339
Basketball Movies: 12762
Belgian Movies: 262
Documentary Biography: 3652
Biographical Dramas: 3179
Boxing Movies: 12443
British Movies: 10757
If, for example, you fancy watching an African movie, the code to access this hidden category is 3761. Go to the address bar, copy the code and paste it, replacing the one you already have. In this case, as we can see in the screenshot, we have at our disposal, in the Spanish catalog, three African films.
As you can see, from now on it will be very easy for you to access those categories that, until now, had been hidden from the general public. Of course, we must warn you that this trick only works on the Netflix page . But, if on the PC we find a movie, within a hidden category, that we want to see, we will only have to look for it in our mobile application or on the smart TV. Simple, right?
How to change the appearance of subtitles
We get older and the first ailments of age arrive: joint pains, tired eyes ... And we can't bear to watch dubbed series and movies. We have three options and two of them are not practical: bring the television closer or ourselves. So what better than to change the color or the font or the shading to the subtitles? And the size? Or to be able to put a colored background to make them more striking? Well you can. Of course it can.
We click on our profile photo and access the Your account section . We lower the screen to the end and go to the My profile section , where we can see the subsection "Appearance of subtitles".
On this screen you can do everything with the subtitles that appear in Netflix series and movies :
- Change the font: you can put the subtitles, if you want, even in Comic Sans . Nothing recommendable.
- Add shadow: choose the shadow of the subtitle to prevent the caption from blending into the background.
- Text size: make it giant size and say goodbye to tired eyes.
- Background and window: add a solid color background that covers the subtitle text or, alternatively, a complete rectangle to it.
Thus the problems to be able to read well the subtitles of the films are over. Your eyesight will appreciate it. From the mobile application you can also change the size of the subtitles. You just have to enter the app, access the menu and then click on the "Account" section. Next, the browser will open and you can make the relevant changes.
Participate in the Netflix beta program
Just as Google gives you the opportunity to test applications before they are officially released on its store, Netflix wants you to volunteer to test new functionalities in its service. If you want to join this group of brave people and have the new before anyone else, you just have to log into your account and, on this screen, choose settings. In this section, you just have to search for "Participation in tests". Click on it.
So you've agreed to share the screen in which you can choose if you want to participate in the beta program of Netflix. We have it activated because we love to try new functions and help the streaming service to always go like a shot.
In the mobile application you can also choose if you want to participate in the tests or not, by accessing your profile-configuration-participation in tests.
Choose the default resolution
If you do not want Netflix to choose for you the resolution you want in the series and movies you play, you only have to access the Playback Settings section that you have in the Your Account section.
Within this screen, you can choose what resolution you want for your videos. This is especially useful if you lack very high speed as the image will not vary. Also, if you want to watch streaming content while you travel, you have not downloaded anything before and you lack a comfortable data rate. You can choose between low resolution, which gives a basic image quality and will only consume about 300 megabytes per hour; medium resolution, with which you will consume 700 megabytes per hour of viewing and high resolution: up to 3 GB per hour in HD and 7 GB in 4K.
We advise you, to be at home and with WiFi, choose the Automatic option, and the same program will decide which is the one that best suits your connection, thus avoiding annoying cuts. If you want to see something with data and you have not downloaded the content before, the decision is yours.
In addition, on this screen you can choose to deactivate automatic playback: that is so useful when you want to do marathons ... or so dire if you have to get up early the next day. In this case, too, the decision is yours alone.
How to choose a random episode or movie
Now we come up with a trick for which you will need a little outside help. You must install a completely safe and non-intrusive extension that we found really curious and useful. The plugin is called Random Button for Netflix and all it does is place a button on the Netflix interface which, when pressed, will launch a totally random series or movie at you. A very suitable function if you are tired of going round and round the catalog and nothing, a priori, convinces you.
You just have to go to the Chrome page and download and install the extension. Once the process is done, enter Netflix and at the top, where you see the logo to access the main screen and the menu shortcut, now you will also see Random Movie / TV Show . All you have to do is press it and the program will choose something for you that you probably don't expect.
This trick, of course, will only be available on the PC version of Netflix.
Keyboard shortcuts
If you usually watch Netflix series and movies on your laptop, these keyboard shortcuts will be very helpful if you don't want to use the mouse.
- Space bar: if you press it once, the video will be paused. If you press it again, the video will resume right where you left off.
- Letter F: will put the series or movie in full screen.
- Letter M: it will completely silence what you are seeing (M comes from English Mute).
- Left and right direction arrows: with these two buttons you can select a specific point in the video.
- Up and down direction arrows: make the progress bar appear along with other functions: choice of subtitles, full screen or selection of chapters.
- Esc: if you press the Esc key, you will automatically exit the playing video.
Clear your viewing history
If, for whatever circumstance, you don't want someone to be able to see your list of viewed items, you can delete them one by one in the same Netflix menu . To do this, you will only have to go to Your account-My profile-Viewing activity. This is the screen you have to access.
Only by pressing the X you can delete that program that you do not want to appear on the list. You can filter it by Viewed or by Rated. Also, on this same screen, if you look just below My activity, you will be able to see the sub-section See the last accesses to the account. If you click on it, you will be able to see all accesses to Netflix: from where, with what device and its IP . This way you can have full control over who accesses your Netflix account .
How to find out about Netflix premieres
Many people complain that there is little content on Netflix. But in reality, they don't have the faintest idea of everything that is released every day. It is also true that the platform does not make it easy for you, although recently we can see everything that has been released every week on the home screen, every Friday.
In order to see what is released every day on Netflix, you have several options:
Allflicks: on this page you will have classified, in order of appearance, all the Netflix releases . You can select the genre, also if it is a movie, TV series or documentary. In addition, you can also restrict the search to the production date and include its rating in IMDb.
Telegram groups: if you have Telegram installed , with the Corral de Gallos group you will be aware, and in real time, of everything that is uploaded to Netflix. And not just Netflix: they also include the premieres of HBO and Amazon Prime Video. To be part of the group, you just have to install Telegram on your phone, click on the magnifying glass and search for the channel, in this case, El Corral de Gallos.
IMDb Score and RottenTomatoes
If you want to add its IMDb and Rottentomatoes score to the content preview , try installing this Chrome extension . With NEnhancer you can also see the trailer for any movie on Netflix. A very useful function, since the scores that appear on Netflix lack unreliability.
Do you have any trick for Netflix that we have not included? Let us know through the comment section.