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Netflix engineers re-configured a ’50s TV set to stream movies

Practical? Maybe not. But cool? Definitely.

 

Christine Friar

Streaming

Posted on Nov 13, 2015   Updated on May 27, 2021, 3:55 pm CDT

Every few months, Netflix hosts Hack Day: A full work day the company dedicates for its development staff to “get away from everyday work, to have fun, experiment, collaborate, and be creative.”

The Fall 2015 Hack Day yielded five projects, the cutest of which was an old 1950s Philco Predicta TV set that can stream Netflix in black and white. Bogdan Ciuca, Evan Browning, Sam Horner, and Corey Grunewald collaborated to bring it to life. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etEvizSsB6o

The team even figured out a way to make the knobs on the side of the TV function as navigation tools for the Netflix menu. 

Practical? Maybe not. But, cool? Definitely. 


H/T Business Insider | Screengrab via Netflix/YouTube

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*First Published: Nov 13, 2015, 5:05 pm CST