LAS VEGAS -- Netflix is going to start telling people whether or not a particular TV is good for streaming.
Its new initiative, the Recommended TV program, was announced by Netflix's chief of streaming and partnerships, Greg Peters, at CES 2015. He said Netflix would point users to specific TVs based on the content they're looking for, meaning that if a user was looking for a series available in 4K resolution, Netflix would direct him to 4K models.
Peters didn't give much detail, but the idea seems to be for Netflix to assess whether a TV's connectivity and image-processing tech (upscaling, etc.) can make video from the Internet look its very best. (Presumably, LG's TVs make the cut).
Peters didn't say how Netflix users will get the TV recommendations.
He added that LG's TVs could stream Netflix in HDR (high dynamic range), which appears to be a nod to the company's ColorPrime and quantum-dot display technologies, which improve picture color (HDR is really a photography term).
Update: Peters showed up a bit later at Sony's CES press event and gave a little more detail on the program: He said when users press the Netflix button on a their Recommended TV's remote, they'll know that search and discoverability will be easy, and access to the service will be instantaneous.
That obviously implies that Recommended TVs have a Netflix button on their remotes, and Peters said he was excited that Sony was building TVs with Internet streaming as a core function rather than an add-on.
Peters also elaborated a bit on HDR, saying it "increased the spectrum of brightness" on the display, essentially making it capable of displaying whiter whites and darker blacks, thus making the picture more realistic.
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