Related Articles
Netflix lovers soon will get recommendations on which TV they should buy to get the best Netflix experience.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Monday, the streaming video service announced its new “Netflix Recommended TV program,” which is an evaluation program that will help consumers identify televisions built for “a superior Internet TV experience.”
Netflix’s chief of streaming and partnerships, Greg Peters, announced the new program on stage during a press conference with LG Electronics, which is one of several TV manufacturers to partner with Netflix in this program. He also said that Netflix intends to deliver HDR content to LG TVs this year. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, which describes the ratio between light and dark picture quality to offer richer color and more realistic pictures.
The Netflix Recommended program is designed to help consumers choose smart TVs that offer better performance, easier menu navigation and new features that improve the Internet TV viewing experience, Neil Hunt, Netflix’s chief product officer, said in a statement. Netflix has been working for the past seven years with makers of TVs, game consoles, set-top boxes and mobile devices to ensure a great experience for its Netflix subscribers. Now this program will certify certain products and allow the companies to market their products as offering great performance for the Netflix service.
LG Electronics is one of several companies that is partnering with Netflix on this program. Sony Electronics, Sharp Electronics, VIZIO and manufacturers of Roku TVs will also have products out later this year that will be certified by the Netflix Recommended TV program.
Of course, the Recommended TV program won’t guarantee a perfect Netflix viewing experience for every customer, every time they view a video on the service. That would be an impossible task, because some problems associated with streaming video are network-related. But Netflix executives say that there are tweaks to devices that can improve some aspects of the service. Some benefits consumers buying Netflix-certified products should expect include turning on the TV instantly, faster app launch and faster resume of video playback. The program is initially intended for products sold in the US, but Netflix says that manufacturers will soon expand certification for products sold internationally.
