Watch Movies Online - Lights On, Lights Off

There some things that you might think you would miss by watching movies online. Large screens, mountains of popcorn made by someone else and the theater feel of dimming of the lights.

Two excellent sources of movie viewing Hulu and Netflix have done their best to work this into their offering.


If you have watched a movie online in front of your PC, you know that the area outside of the picture can be a little jarring at times. Often it is much brighter than section of the screen that is showing the movie. That can make your eyes wondering during the show.


This distracting area can also hold ads when you are on an advertisement supported site like Hulu. I get it that if the movie is so boring you start reading the ads because are more interesting might mean that you need to choose better online viewing picks, but still lets try to keep that down to a minimum.


So, how do you stay focused and solve the problem? Hmmm? Do you hear me? Were you reading the ads and not my words. Got to get a better light switch for the blog.

Anyway, here are how two sites have manged to give you one step closer to a true online movie experience.

If you are Netflix (not ad supported) you just do away with it all together. Their frame around the movie you are watching is black and contrast nicely against your online viewing.


Hulu goes one better and gives you a choice. They offer you the chance to lower the lights. There is usually an ad section that stays "lit" during the movie and it matches the latest commercial that you watched, but you forget it is there soon enough.


So as you kick back with your home made popcorn and your fake bucket of soda to enjoy the latest to hit your PC, keep in mind that keeping the lights on or off is up to you.


Until next time, remember to watch movies online.