9 Tips & Tricks To Get The Most Out Of Your Netflix Subscription

Netflix is seriously the best thing since sliced bread. In addition to their outstanding collection of DVDs 

andBlu-Rays available via mail, they have an astounding selection of streamable movies. In fact, there are so many movies that it is hard to decide which one to watch.

With so many choices, how can you get the most out of your Netflix subscription? The tips and tools below will work to push your Netflix subscription to its limit, whether you just have movies mailed to you or are a frequent instant watcher and consumer of movies and shows.

Netflix Queue Sorter

AGreasemonkey script named Netflix Queue Sorter will give you advanced queue sort options not available on the Netflix site itself. Since Greasemonkey scripts are compatible on a variety of platforms, you can use this script to augment your queue management tasks. This is very helpful for sorting your queue on a number of options including popularity, rating, year and more.

Use Keyboard Shortcuts While Streaming

A number ofkeyboard shortcutsare available while watching a streaming video. These shortcuts not only help with your viewing of a movie but also have options to tweak your streaming experience.

Space – Toggle Play/Pause
Enter – Toggle Play/Pause
Page Up – Play
Page Down – Pause
F – Full-screen
Escape – Exit full-screen
Shift+Left arrow – Rewind
Shift+Right arrow – Fast Forward
Non-Full Screen Only:
Ctrl+Shift+Alt+M – Menu
Ctrl+Shift+Alt+C – Codes; frame rate plus other (unknown to me) info. Also makes other overlays green.
Ctrl+Shift+Alt+D – Display A/V Stats on-screen
Ctrl+Shift+Alt+L - Logging window
Ctrl+Shift+Alt+P – Player Info
Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S – Stream bit rate and manual rate selection

Use A Remote For Netflix Watch Instantly Movies

Tying into the keyboard shortcuts above, you can useGirder or other remote software to have your remote control the playback of your Netflix movie. Although Netflix doesn’t have a full blown UI like some of the nicer players (Boxee, Wii, etc) it will allow you to control the playback on your PC in the normal browser window. The full instructions for getting this set up are over on Geektonic.

Keep Up To Date On Netflix News

HackingNetflix has less to do with hacking in the traditional sense and more to do with the latest Netflix news. They also feature new tips they have found out about as well as any new features on the Netflix website. If you want to keep in touch with the latest trends within the world of Netflix, HackingNetflix is the place to be.

Manage Your Queue Remotely

If you are anything like me while out speaking with friends a movie will casually be mentioned, only to be forgotten about when I finally got home to add it to my queue. Now that smartphones are ever-present, you can download an app on many platforms that can be used to manage your queue remotely from anywhere. Some free options are PhoneFlickson the Apple front and QueueMan on Android.

Find Interesting Movies

Two websites which tie into your Netflix account using its API are Inveniand FFlick(recently purchased by Google). They take the movies you watch and the movies that your friends watch to make recommendations as to movies you might like to see. This non-automated recommendation engine works differently than the algorithmic Netflix “Movies You’ll Love” section, giving you a different set of results based on human recommendations.

Also sites like Instantwatcher allow you to browse movies available instantly based on ratings, reviews and other interesting parameters, giving you a good selection of movies to watch right away.

Watch Netflix Movies From (Just About) Any Device Under The Sun

Netflix has partnered with many hardware manufacturers to give you access on a lot of platforms. From televisions to DVD & Blu-Ray players, Game systems like the Wii and Xbox 360, to mobile devices, Netflix has you covered. Their platforms are constantly expanding, for example on the mobile device front they currently support iPhone, iPad and Windows Phone 7 and it has been rumored that Android support is forthcoming.

Put Your Subscription On Hold

Going away for an extended period of time but want to keep your movie Queue? You can put your account on hold for 7 to 90 days with no charges as long as you have returned all of your physical DVDs. This is a good option if you are going on an extended vacation or trip or otherwise want to save some bucks while not actively using the site. It should also be noted, at least when I did this a few years back, if you cancel your account and then reactivate it at a later time it will also save your movie queue.

Set Up Content Ratings Lock

If you have a family with small children this is fairly important to get set up. While your little ones are on the site they will have a full reign of movies at their disposal and to keep things clean you can set the movie ratings to only allow movies with a certain MPAA rating to be watched. Since this is integrated throughout the site, it will make it harder to switch back and forth for a multi user account; but it is a good option to keep only clean stuff in your account.