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Better Picture Quality on Netflix

Did you Know you can change the setting for picture quality on your Netflix account?
Some of my shows look pretty crappy on my big screen TV – especially standard definition TV shows and was frustrated.
Many people don’t know that you can actually go into your Netflix account and change your picture quality settings.

How to Change Picture Quality Setting in Netflix
Log into your Netflix account. Go to ” Your Account & Help ”
scroll down to “WATCHING INSTANTLY ON YOUR TV OR COMPUTER ” section and under that heading is link “Manage Video Quality”

You can choose between Good, Better and Best quality. I would not choose BEST quality if you are using wireless streaming- it can cause some buffering issues.
Also, if you have capped bandwidth not a good idea to use highest setting in Netflix as your bandwidth load will be significantly higher.

Tags: Home Theater, Media Streaming, netflix by admin
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Once you set up a US proxy on your computer or network in your home you have access to lots of content that is blocked in Canada- including Netflix US and Hulu / Hulu Plus. Hulu offers TV shows and movies similar to Netflix however Hulu is free and with Hulu Plus you get access to new and current shows for 7.99 a month. Hulu Plus also has HD content. They do offer a free trial.
How can you Watch Hulu in Canada?

You need to set up Us proxy on your computer and router. This is easier than it sounds- here on instructions from my post ion setting up US Netflix but process is exactly the same.step by step instructions for setting up US Proxy in Canada to watch Hulu and US Netflix
You can watch Hulu on your PC, Boxee or install Boxee software on your computer laptop and connect to your TV or on your Playsation 3. To be honest the easiest way to do this is with PS3.
Hulu is also available to watch on on X-Box 360, ipad and iphones, media streaming devices and Blu Ray players.. If you don’t want to spend big money on a Ps3 then I highly recommend a neat device called Roku- a cheap media streaming device you can grab for under 100.00 and very versatile.

You can also watch on SOME wi-fi enabled blu ray players, some newer TV’s and some media streaming devices ( ie Roku and Western Digital TV )
You cannot watch on Apple TV ( unless hacked which is a whole other post…) you can also watch on hacked Wii. Unless you know what you are doing I don’t recommend for newbies.

Here are easy step by step instructions how to up US Netflix account with US proxy in Canada

Tags: Home Theater by admin
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I posted earlier on how to get a US Netflix in Canada. Please believe me you will be thrilled with how much variety you can get with a US netflix account vs what is available in Canada.
Take the 20 minutes it will take to set up- you be be very happy!
One huge advantage is many of the movie and TV title on US Netflix are available in HD ( High Definition).
So far the only device capable of displaying in HD is with a PS3 ( Playstation 3) . I have to admit that I continue to be impressed with our PS3. We bought one about 4 years ago and still going strong with no issues and what it can do so easily is amazing.

PS3 Netflix app will display in show info if it is in HD- that function will not display on Wii, Boxee , etc. At time of this writing I would say about third of content on Netflix was available in HD.
I did hook up my laptop to flatscreen running Boxee software and did not see HD options.

Connecting Your Laptop or PC to HDTV

Very few laptop will have and HDMI output. Newer ones SOMETIMES do but likely you only have a VGA connection.
I set up boxee software ( free by the way) on an on Dell laptop… connected with VGA and an audio output cable ( through the headphone jack and into audio in jack on TV)
This worked very well. The only limitation is I have to use wirelessly and it is quite a distance from router to this set up.
I also really dislike the Boxee Netflix interface- titles are not in order, hard to navigate, etc.

Sounds shocking- but of all the user interfaces for Netflix I have tried – incliding PS3, Wii, PC Ipad and Boxee- I liked the Wii menu best. I am also impress with how well the built in wifi adapter works. You do sacrice on picture quality – I would invest on some cheap Wii Component Cables .. will cost you about 5.00 and huge difference in picture quality.

Soooo.. to make a long story short pretty much the only way to get HD when watching Netflix ( and must be a US netflic account) AT THIS TIME is with a PS3 ( Sony Playsation 3 )

If you have any questions about setting up your US Netflix account- let me know and I will try and help!

Tags: Home Theater by admin
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