When you shop around for a new TV you often see stickers such as “HD Ready”. Within a few months, you will start seeing a new one from Netflix. It will be rolled out in the US starting in March on TVs with a great user experience.

The Netflix Recommended logo
It is not enough for a TV to just have a Netflix app. The "Recommended for Netflix" sticker will only  be given to TVs with a great Netflix user experience, the company told FlatpanelsHD when we met them earlier today.

Specifically, Netflix is looking at how fast and smooth the Netflix app on the specific device is, and how fast the TV and Netflix app powers up. The experience has to be smooth and seamless.


However, this does not mean that picture quality is ignored. An Ultra HD TV will only receive the logo if it actually supports 4K streaming from Netflix. As you probably know, many Ultra HD TVs are not capable of streaming 4K because of missing HEVC decoding.

It also helps if TV manufacturers put a Netflix button on the remote control, although it is not a requirement. Amongst others, Sony has placed a Netflix button on the 2015 TV remote control. TVs do not have to be expensive either. Netflix has already approved a $350 Smart TV.

Initially, only one version of the logo exists for both Full HD and Ultra HD TVs, but Netflix is considering introducing Gold / Silver tiers to differentiate for example resolution or other picture quality related factors such as HDR. FlatpanelsHD also had time to talk with Netflix about its plans for HDR and other picture enhancements. More on that in a later article.

The "Recommended for Netflix" sticker will start appearing in the US this March. Netflix has not decided when it will show up in Europe but it will most likely not do so in 2015.