Netflix

Finally broke down and signed up for Netflix thinking when Larry got up during the night I could park him in front of the TV until I got up. It turns out so many people binge watch a series and fall asleep during the night Netflix stops streaming every 90 minutes to save band width. At 90 minutes a screen comes up asking if the viewer wants to continue watching. Whoever is watching has to press the OK button on the TV remote to keep watching. This needless to say is beyond Larry’s abilities at this point. There is no work around in this. Depending when he gets up is when I can use Netflix to keep him entertained. I don’t think he stays awake all night. I am sure he falls asleep. Wakes up and then calls me when the TV has stopped.

[Kevin_1]

Hi Jeff

What a downer!

Full marks for trying.

Is there another streaming service that doesn't do this?

Best to you both.

Cheers

Kevin

[Hidden in reply to Kevin_1]

The only way to avoid it is to use a computer web browser that will disable to auto turnoff. That wouldn’t work for him. He would fall asleep with the laptop on his lap and it would slide to the floor. The universe and I continue our own going battle.

[Ownedby3cats in reply to Hidden]

Jeff, can you stream it from a laptop via the tv using a HDMI cable? It’s worth a try x

[Hidden in reply to Ownedby3cats]

I suppose I might be able to. Not sure how his iBook and the LG tv would connect. I’m sure it’s a special hook up knowing Apple. Right now he is settling for the overnight news on ABC. On the weekends the PBS stations usually have something in the early morning that will keep him entertained until I am up for the day.

[Dadshelper]

After some research I found you can only stop this feature IF you are watching Netflix via a web browser ( on a computer). If you are using a smart TV or a device attached to a tv like Roku, Firestick, etc you are stuck with the "Are you still watching?" prompt after every episode.

Amazon Prime users can watch tv series back to back since it auto-plays next episode after a 5-6 sec delay.

YouTube has some shows on it and I think if you add them to the watchlist it will autoplay the next one, not 100% sure on that.

Ron

[Hidden in reply to Dadshelper]

I did read that it only works with certain browsers on computers which isn’t going to do me any good.

[Kevin_1 in reply to Hidden]

What about getting a small android device, plug it into the TV and load appropriate browsers.

amazon.com/s?k=android+tv+b...

Any good?

Cheers

[Hidden in reply to Kevin_1]

I wouldn’t know what I was doing. There are a number of options to entertain him. I think he even watches infomercials. Or he sleeps through them. It is more his being up and the TV on no matter what it is playing.

[Kevin_1 in reply to Hidden]

No worries.

But for info. An Android box works the same way as an Android phone. Except in this case: plug it in to the TV, turn it on and it's effectively like windows, but easier. You can download any browser you want and then go to Netflix. I have one for other reasons. No real learning curve.

Wishing you well

Kevin

[Hidden in reply to Kevin_1]

I don’t have a cell phone. Never wanted one. Plus I have been on an Apple platform for the last twenty years and know next to nothing about PCs at this point.

[Kevin_1 in reply to Hidden]

Then it is like apple

These platforms are much the same.

But I will harass you no more!

[raincitygirl in reply to Kevin_1]

Is there anything you don't know? Lol!

XXX. A.G.

[Kevin_1 in reply to raincitygirl]

Chuckles - Far too much unfortunately and some days it comes down to, "How do I cross the street?"

I got into computers in the early eighties. I just went on a half day introduction at the tech. col. out of curiosity. I suffer from mild dyslexia. As soon I discovered they did spell checking I was in.

Smiling and waiving to you.

Kevin

XXX

[raincitygirl in reply to Kevin_1]

👋❤️😃

[dollydott]

As Ron has said Amazon prime just continues and was the one I was going to suggest.

I constantly fall asleep watching series on it but it just continues

Lynda 😊

[Hidden in reply to dollydott]

Amazon is probably next.

[SewBears]

I turn on a fan that makes a lot of noise when my husband falls asleep with the TV on. Then I slowly turn the sound of the TV down and when the volume is really low I turn the TV off. If the TV shuts down before the fan is on then he’ll wake up. As others have said Amazon Prime might be the way to go instead of Netflix? I was thinking you could get a dumb TV but then you would need an antenna and the picture would be lousy, but would they notice a crappy picture or sound 🤷‍♀️

[Hidden in reply to SewBears]

I actually got an HDTV antenna years ago before we got cable. I find I am starting to use it. On the TV remote there is a button that says antenna and the TV switches to it when I hit it. My cable company has started to reboot their box around 4 in the morning. Then Larry would call me because the TV went off. Using the antenna when I first turn on what he wants I am good to go for the rest of the night. The picture is perfect. I found when I switch to cable there is a delay between the antenna broadcast and the cable. The cable is about 30 second slower.

[Tippyleaf]

Hi Jeff

I love Netflix , as we never got to watch a whole programme it is great to be able to pause.

My husband struggled with the remote so I purchased a large button simple TV remote which I strapped to the arm of his chair pointing in the right direction which he usually ( but not always) managed to hit on and off - could this work for Larry???

Love Tippy

[Tillie281 in reply to Tippyleaf]

Wow great idea. Tillie has same proble with normal remote. I am going to try it.

Thanks

[Hidden in reply to Tippyleaf]

Probably not. He can’t use the hand held control for his lift chair in the living room. The very top button is a large arrow pointing up to get up. Under it is another large arrow pointing down to recline. Whenever he tries to raise himself to stand he hits the recline button. Can’t tell you the number of times I have had to tell him it is the top button. Then I get up and push the right button.

[racinlady]

If Larry is like my husband, it's not so much about what he is watching, but that something is on. Whatever you manage to find that will keep going will probably be okay with him. I agree with you that he probably dozes. We used to laugh about my husband watching TV through his eyelids. By this time he probably can't really follow the thread of a story, but listens more for sound bites than the whole story. Hope you can solve your on/off problem. It will make your life better until the next thing pops up. Good luck!

Pat

[Hidden in reply to racinlady]

He will swear he is awake. Even when he snores.

[racinlady in reply to Hidden]

My husband would swear he was awake too while snoring away. . . .

It makes me chuckle to remember it. That's now, not so much at the time.

Pat

[ABouquet]

Hi Jeff,

Slightly unrelated, but we discovered and adore a portable DVD player that opens like a laptop and only plays DVDs. It's incredibly simple so a person doesn't need any tech familiarity. We had found that my mother would get much more engaged watching on my laptop than a regular TV but that was too complicated a device (and unnecessarily expensive) for her and her caregivers to deal with. And it's portable so she could use it for travel/appointments when she's more likely to have high anxiety.

It was a particular breakthrough because her anxiety had recently increased so much she couldn't sit still for 5 minutes and couldn't walk unassisted. Granted, much has been spent on a vast DVD collection but there's always borrowing. Friends and family enjoy making suggestions and adding to the collection. I keep an updated list and pass it around.

I just wanted to share this because I had never seen these devices before and it was a real breakthrough for us.

Warning - now I really get off topic -

We also bought her an Alexa to read audio books/play music and I have it play cricket or rain sounds sometimes when she can't sleep. But I don't think it gets used much if I'm not there. Nice in theory though. She can just say, "Alexa, read my book" and it reads her book!

On the lower-tech end for audible books, the U.S. (mom is in Arizona) has a free service for the visually impared or physically unable to read that ships a very simple device and a catalogue of free books they send and you return. It's a service run through the library system. dailycaring.com/audio-books...

Not sure if the U.K. has an equivalent?

Lastly! Cheap audible books are listed by a website/app called Chirp which is free to join. More tech - I play from smart phone or computer, but great if you plow through a lot of audible books online.

Sorry for the unsolicited advice. Your simple Netflix comment stirred up a lot (pushed buttons?) because engagement/entertainment seems to be a big part of this disease for everyone involved and I just downloaded the repertoire. I hope something was helpful to you.

Warm wishes,

Amanda

[Hidden in reply to ABouquet]

Thanks for the suggestions. At the moment Larry is parked in front of the TV watching NCIS on Netflix. He can watch reruns of that forever. During the day I don’t have to problem of Netflix turning itself off. The TV gets turned on and off as we eat meals and nap.

I’m in Philadelphia PA. I had been getting him audio books from the free library. They are free to listen to and it’s all thought WiFi. They got downloaded to his iPad. Unfortunately the iPad was beyond him. He would touch things and do all sorts of things to screw up where he was in the book he had. Then I would have to figure it out as to where he was. He got tired of them. He’d also fall asleep while they were running. I would wake through the night and hear them thinking he was awake. He wasn’t. Two steps forward one back. Repeat.