Here is what you can do against auto-playing trailers on Netflix
If I had to name one thing that I really, really dislike about Netflix I'd pick the auto-playing trailers on the site. Netflix calls these video previews, and they play automatically whenever you hover over a title for a short period.
I was not a subscriber for some time but subscribed again this month planning to watch some of the shows for a couple of months before ending my subscription again (there is not enough on Netflix to keep me subscribed all year long).
I watch Netflix on a Smart TV and on the computer, and experienced auto-playing trailers on both devices. Whenever you hover over a title for a short period, Netflix starts to play a preview automatically.
Update: Netflix, finally, added an option to disable automatic previews of shows and movies on all devices. All that it takes is to open the profile and disable the option. End
While that may be nice if you consider watching the show or movie, it is awfully distracting if you don't.
Need to go to the bathroom while browsing Netflix? You can be certain that a trailer is going to play when you come back. Need to read a title of a show or discuss what to watch? Trailers are going to be played almost certainly.
It is especially frustrating if you are just browsing Netflix. Hover over a title for too long? A preview is going to be played. Since you are browsing, it may happen several times before you pick a title to watch.
Tip: find out how to bypass Netflix's Still Watching prompts.
Netflix offers no options to disable the behavior and has not made any announcement regarding it. The chance of Netflix adding an option to the user interface to block video previews on the site is slim.
On TV, there is little that you can do. I tend to mute the TV whenever I browse Netflix to get rid of the sound of the auto-playing trailers at the very least.
Computer Magic
Computers offer more options. There are extensions for Chrome and Firefox that deal with the auto-playing content.
I tested various extensions that you can run in web browsers to tame Netflix. My requirements were simple: stop Netflix from auto-playing content on the site without interfering with other functionality and require as few permissions as possible.
Netflix Classic is a free extension for Google Chrome that ticks all the right boxes. The only permission that it requests is to access Netflix, and the only thing that it does is block auto-play. I took it for a test ride and the extension blocked any auto-playing content on Netflix effectively. The extension works out of the box
Since it is an extension for Google Chrome, it should work in all other Chromium-based browsers such as Brave, Vivaldi, Opera, or the new Microsoft Edge web browser.
Netflix Preview is an alternative. It is available for Chrome and Firefox, and blocks previews on Netflix effectively as well. Like Netflix Classic, all you have to do is install the extension in your browser of choice to stop the behavior on Netflix.
Now You: What is your take on the behavior on Netflix? Like the previews?
Why not make use of the mplayer.conf?
Huh, I have never even seen this “font cache” pane; videos play at once for me, using VLC & XP SP3.
Mike, in theory this should have only been displayed once to you, at the very first video that you played with VLC. The time this window is displayed depends largely on the number of fonts in your font directory.
huh, I lucked out for a change?? Amazing!!
Apparently VLC keeps this info through version updates, but I didn’t see this message after a fresh OS install about 8 weeks ago, & a new VLC.
yes, yes, i have the same problem. sometimes, VLC crashes when it is playing .mov file.
Error:
Buidling font Cache pop-up
Solution:
Open VLC player.
On Menu Bar:
Tools
Preferences
(at bottom – left side)
Show settings — ALL
Open: Video
Click: Subtitles/OSD (This is now highlited, not opened)
Text rendering module – change this to “Dummy font renderer function”
Save
Exit
Re-open – done.
Progam will no longer look outside self for fonts
Source – WorthyTricks.co.cc
Great tip, thanks a lot Kishore.
@Kishore, I’ll try your tips, but does this mean it will no longer show subtitles either?
I do use subtitles, but the fontcache dialog box pops up (almost) everytime I play a file.
Could this be related to the fonts I have installed? Or if I add/remove fonts to my system?
I’ll try to do a fresh install also, if your tips does no work. I’ll post back here later…
/thanks
/j
@ Javier, The trick i posted will show up subtitles too. If not,
@ Javier, The trick i posted will show up subtitles too. If not,Dont worry, VLC is currently sorting out this issue and the next version will be out soon.
No probs @ Martin !! Its my pleasure
Try running LC with administrator privileges. That seemed to fix it for me
I am using SMplayer 0.8.6 (64-bit) (Portable Edition) on Windows 7 x64. Even with the -nofontconfig parameter in place SMplayer still scans the fonts. Also, I have enabled normal subtitles and it is still scanning fonts before playing a video. Also, it does this every time the player opens a video after a system restart (only the fist video played).
Does that mean that only instrumental versions of songs will be available for non-paying users?