Netflix Remote Controller

Changelog

0.28 beta - for Windows 10 only

• bug fix: fixed navigation issue on displays with DPIs above 100%

0.27 beta - for Windows 10 only

• optimizations to increase responsiveness and reduce cursor-jump error
• fixed search bug: can now access Search again from Homepage
• fixed bug that occurs when scrolling far left on Homepage
• fixed bug that occurs when scrolling up whilst in boundaries of Homepage
• slightly easier to vertically select tiles in the Details view
• fixed search bug: can now access Season selector again from Details view
• Search hotkey (green button) changed from Alt-Win-G to Alt-Win-E, as Windows 10's Game Bar feature is now using Alt-Win-G as it's shortcut

0.26 beta - for Windows 10 only

• Added Cortana voice search feature.

  • Use voice search to find movies in Netflix. Much easier than typing to search for a movie.
    This feature requires Windows 10, a microphone, and Cortana to already be setup and working.
    Once Netflix is running, press the new Cortana hotkey on your remote, and try saying the following phrase: "Netflix find Jessica Jones"
    Note: added new "Cortana" custom hotkey setting to the hotkeys.ini in the zip

0.25 beta - for Windows 10 only

• Minor update for new Netflix ver 6.5.32.0

0.24 beta - for Windows 10 only

• Added Parental Controls (PID code entry) compatibility. 'refreshratemode' must not be used to avoid keys 2, 5 and 6 clashing with that feature.
• Various improvements to Navigation.

0.23 beta - for Windows 10 only

• Added ability to change Season in the Detail view (the view you see after selecting a show from the Home page). In this view, press Left to navigate to the Season button, and then Select to open it.

0.22 beta - for Windows 10 only

• Minor update for new Netflix ver 6.3.27.0

0.21 beta - for Windows 10 only

• Added thumbnail preview. A frame preview is now shown when FFWD/REWIND is pressed during playback to allow you to locate an ideal skip location before committing. Once you've located and ideal place to jump to, press ENTER (or Play) to submit.
• Added red cursor - Bright red cursor displayed to make it easier to see the position of the highlight. The included mousecursor.cur must be placed in the same folder as the .exe file for this to work. To disable this feature, use the 'systemcursor' parameter or simply delete mousecursor.cur
• Netflix seems to often display error messages in gray dialog boxes. You can now press the Select/Enter key to dismiss them and continue.
• Minor change to the way Play/Pause button behaves.

0.20 beta - for Windows 10 only

• Re-introduced playback Rewind/FFWD functionality. Note this seeks in percentage-based increments (time-based seeking not possible with this latest version of Netflix).
• Improved support for Tablet-mode. Running without the disablefullscreen parameter will hide the taskbar & no longer moves the top area of Netflix off-screen.

0.19 beta - for Windows 10 only

• Minor bug fixes to support latest Netflix version 6.2.25.0
• 'force5.1audio' command-line parameter is no longer necessary, as latest ver of Netflix does this automatically.

0.18 beta - for Windows 10 only

• bug fixes
• Search now works again
• ProfileSwitcher now works again
• Navigation menu now works again
• Win8.1 is not supported in this release (use v0.16)
• no FFWD/Rewind or selecting different Seasons as yet

0.17 beta - for Windows 10 only

• compatible with new Netflix app (ver 6.1.24.0 released 15th December 2015). Previous versions of the Netflix app are not supported in this release. Use Netflix Version Checker if you wish to check which version you have.
• functionality has been reduced to the basics (navigation, selection, playback, fullscreen mode; but no FFWD/Rewind or selecting different seasons as yet), until the dust settles, as the UI has changed dramatically.
• Win8.1 is not supported in this release.

0.16 beta - for Windows 10 and Windows 8.1

• fixed bug: should be able to navigate on homepage without timeout error occuring.
• fixed bug: homepage should no longer auto-scroll.
• improvement: can navigate homepage without delay.

0.15 beta - for Windows 10 and Windows 8.1

• new feature: ability to switch profiles. See Keys for more info.
• new feature: added new parameter 'smstextentry' for enhanced Search entry. You can now use number keys (0>9 buttons on the remote) to enter alpha text in the search input field. This uses T9 SMS text entry style, e.g. press button '2' on your remote three times to enter 'c' into the input field. Note: the 'Clear' button on the remote clears the field. See command-line parameters for more info
• fixed bug: can now navigate back out of Category menu.
• fixed bug: can now navigate back out of Search menu.
• fixed bug: hotkeys.ini will now load if exe is not in the current directory.
• fixed bug: reduced chance of homepage timeout error occuring.

0.14 beta - for Windows 10 and Windows 8.1

• Improved support for different resolutions & DPI settings in Windows 10 and Windows 8.1
• This tool is no longer limited to 1920x1080px resolution at 100% DPI. Note: I recommend you increase the Windows DPI setting to 150% or so. In this mode, the Netflix tiles are much larger and more suited for viewing from a comfortable TV sitting distance. Comparison example here: "Larger" mode
• In Windows 10 you can find the DPI setting by right-clicking on your desktop background > Display settings > "Change the size of text, apps and other items". If you change this setting be sure to restart your system or at the latest logout and log back in.
• In Windows 8.1 go to:
  • PC settings > PC and devices > Display > More options > "Change the size of apps, text, and other items on the screen (only applies to displays that can support it)" and change "Default" to "Larger".

  Note: This setting is different to the one found in Control Panel - i.e. it is not the same one found in Control Panel > All Control Panel Items > Display > Screen Resolution - so don't modify the settings there.

• Ability to add custom hotkeys
• Edit the included hotkeys.ini file to add custom keys
• e.g. to navigate up by pressing A on your keyboard, use "Up=a"
• e.g. to select items by pressing Ctrl-B on your keyboard, use "Select=^b"
• full list of keys and modifiers here: http://ahkscript.org/docs/Hotkeys.htm and here: http://ahkscript.org/docs/KeyList.htm
• Force Dolby Digital 5.1 audio quality via command-line parameter
• Multi-language support
• Navigation supports English, Français, Español, Deutsch, Português, Italiano, and Dansk languages
• Movie skipping is now time-based (was previously percentage based)
• Auto-starts Netflix by default; and quits Netflix when this utility is closed.
• You no longer need to use the 'netflixstart' or 'netflixquit' command-line parameters.
• Various bug fixes

0.12 beta - for Windows 10 and Windows 8.1

• bug fix: "refreshratemode" parameter now works as expected

0.11 beta - for Windows 10 and Windows 8.1

• 64-bit version is now the default download executable.
• Netflix navigation improved - Left/Right/Up/Down should now navigate correctly through tiles when navigating back and forth through Netflix without 'jumping'.
• Reduced chance of thick white line appearing at the top of screen when making Netflix full screen (Windows 10 only).
• Puts Netflix into focus in the foreground when 'netflixstart' parameter is used.
• Closing netflix should now fully close it. Should also reduce change of explorer error box appearing.
• Fixed issue on some systems where Netflix didn't start with "netflixstart" parameter.
• No additional keystrokes sent after pressing STOP button when 'stopbuttonquits' parameter is used.
• Detects current screen resolution correctly.
• 'Alt-Win-W' will also Quit this utility (and Netflix, if 'netflixquit' parameter was used). i.e. same function as Ctrl-Alt-Q
• Simplified refreshrate options - Reduced refreshrate options available with the "refreshratemode" parameter to just the following three options that Netflix seems to transmit:
  • press '2' for 24 Hz
  • press '5' for 50 Hz
  • press '6' for 60 Hz

0.10 beta

• Added support for JRiver Media Center users...
• New parameter "stopbuttonquits" added - provides you with the ability to Quit the utility with the STOP button on the remote. Recommend you use this with the "netflixquit" parameter to also quit Netflix, thereby returning you to your HTPC menu.
• New parameter "refreshratemode" added - ability to manually change the refresh rate (e.g. to match the playing stream) using the following remote buttons:
  • press '1' for 23 Hz
  • press '2' for 24 Hz
  • press '3' for 25 Hz
  • press '5' for 50 Hz
  • press '6' for 60 Hz
  Original refresh rate will be restored when this utility closes.

0.09 beta

• Fixed "open netflix" error. Netflix now launches correctly when "netflixstart" parameter is used.
• Updated fullscreen mode to support latest Netflix release (ver 5.1.4.0). Hides Netflix's ugly white bar from the header for a fully immersive viewing experience. Note: Fullscreen is now auto-enabled by default for Windows 10 users. You no longer need to use the "fullscreen" parameter. See Requirements for details.
• Added "disablefullscreen" command-line parameter to disable the above. See Command line parameters for details.
• Currently, on Windows 10 only 1920x1080p resolution is supported - unfortunately, Netflix's latest update has changed the behaviour. Navigation bugs will occur if you use this utility with other resolutions on Windows 10 systems.
• If the "netflixquit" parameter was used, exiting this app by any means (e.g. taskbar icon > Exit) will now also close Netflix.

0.08 beta

• Added ability to jump forward and back through the movie with small increments, when using the following buttons/keys:

  FFWD remote button or Alt-Win-M or Alt-M or Ctrl-Shift-F
  Skip forward in small increments during Playback

  Rewind remote button or Alt-Win-N or Alt-N or Ctrl-Shift-B
  Skip backward in small increments during Playback

  For full key/buttons listong, refer to the Keys/Buttons section.

0.07 beta

• Added more command-line parameters: "netflixstart" and "netflixquit". See main page for details.

0.06 beta

• Added "fullscreen" parameter. This will attempt to force Netflix to run fullscreen when it is started. Useful for Windows 10 users as apps cannot be set to start fullscreen. With this setting you no longer need to click on the fullscreen icon when Netflix starts. To enable this setting, add the "fullscreen" command line parameter when starting Netflix Remote Controller, and make sure the Netflix app was maximised (as full screen as you can make it) the last time you used it.
• Support for "Large" app sizing mode. If you have Windows 8.1 and are using 1920x1080 resolution, the "Larger" mode is recommended. In this mode, the Netflix tiles are much larger and more suited for viewing from a comfortable TV sitting distance.
• A central movie tile should be pre-highlighted when Netflix starts. Makes navigation easier.

0.05 beta

• During playback, pressing '0' rewinds back to the very beginning of movie.

0.04 beta

• Ortek VRC-1100 remote support: During playback, '0' rewinds back to beginning.

0.03 beta

• Keys are now only mapped when Netflix app is running - you no longer need to quit Netflix Remote Controller after you've finished with Netflix
• Added Ctrl-Alt-Q combo to quit this utility
• MEDIA_NEXT button now skips the movie forward in big jumps, instead of FFwd button
• MEDIA_PREV button now skips the movie back in big jumps, instead of Rewind button
• When playing, press '0' (zero) to rewind back to beginning
• Kodi support - added Kodi-friendly keymappings - refer to Netflix Remote Controller's list of Keys/Buttons.