VOICE CONTROL

WHILE IT’S STILL EARLY DAYS, DIGITAL ASSISTANTS SUCH AS GOOGLE HOME, SIRI AND CORTANA CAN BE USED TO CONTROL YOUR MEDIA WITHOUT EVER HAVING TO LIFT A FINGER.

If using the Windows 10 app, Cortana can be used to control both Stan and Netflix. For those with an Apple TV 4, Siri can also be used with Stan and Netflix.

However, by far the easiest and most powerful is Google Home, albeit when paired up with a Chromecast Ultra or Chromecast enabled TV. It works with Netflix and Stan (and YouTube), and Google has a guide ( goo.gl/Y5Z8FB) to linking the apps to enable control. It’s a bit buried but quite easy — open up your Google Home app, then the menu (three horizontal lines). Then tap ‘More settings > Videos and Photos’, find the Netflix or Stan app, and tap the Link icon.

You do need to be specific with your voice commands at first. For example, you have to specify the streaming service, and whatever your TV is named, but after that, any commands work for the same TV. For example, you could say, “OK, Google, play The Good Place on Netflix on Chromecast Ultra.” It will start playing wherever you left off in a movie or TV series, and you can’t specify an individual episode. Further commands include Pause, Resume, Stop, Next Episode or Previous Episode. You can also use commands such as “Skip back 10 minutes” (or forward, and any chosen length of time), “Turn on (or off) subtitles”, or “Change language to...” (chosen language).