So What Makes A Netflix Recommended TV?

Earlier in the week, we brought you the news that Netflix would soon begin rubber stamping TVs to ensure the best experience for its users. So what makes for the perfect TV, according to the world’s most popular streaming service?

The Netflix Recommended TV Program announced at CES this year is the streaming service’s way of telling consumers what’s going to give them the best bang for buck.

Speaking to us at the conference, Neil Hunt, Head of Product at Netflix, said that the struggle for consumers looking to buy a new set is real.

“When a consumer goes into a big box store, they see hundreds of Netflix-capable televisions, but no distinction between the good televisions and great televisions. Some second-tier manufacturers do less of a good job making a Netflix app. Netflix recommended TV is a way of putting our brand on superior experiences,” he said.

“The goal here is that switching to Netflix should be as easy as changing from Channel 9 to Channel 10,” he added.

Netflix wouldn’t give us the whole list of criteria for how they class a great TV, mostly because it hasn’t finished thinking them up yet. The program is still in development and requires a huge amount of manpower, given that it’s a matter of testing almost every new TV on the market.

What Hunt would tell us, however, is that getting a Netflix tick of approval on a TV is all about speed and convenience.

Netflix-certified TVs should have a dedicated Netflix launcher button on the remote control that can also power the TV from standby mode directly into the streaming service’s landing page. Rubber-stamped TVs will also have advanced suspend/resume capabilities that let the user go back-and-forth from live TV to Netflix without losing the user’s place in a stream.

There’s also a goal for the maximum time it takes to launch into the app. Spending 30 seconds waiting for the app to launch isn’t ideal, so Netflix is aiming for around two or three seconds.

It’s worth noting as well that the recommended TVs won’t have to meet all of these criteria, but it would need to meet a certain number in order to be certified.

Hunt added that Netflix-certified TVs won’t all be 4K monster sets that cost thousands of dollars. Netflix showed off a few TVs to us yesterday across the market, ranging from a $400 Hisense set through to a $1500 65-inch TV, right up to the new flagship Sony 4K TV.

Netflix isn’t in Australia just yet. We have to wait until March for that, but when it arrives, smart TVs from the likes of Samsung, Sony, LG and others will become Netflix-capable.

The Netflix Recommended TV branding will start in the US, before the company assesses the program to see if it’s fit for roll-out around the world.


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.