Discord is a free text, audio, and video chat application. It is popular among the gaming community but has recently spread its popularity in other sectors. It has been serving as a source of communication for gamers and other communities.
According to research, Discord has 300 million registered users with 150 million monthly active users.
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Every week, millions of active users are operating millions of Discord servers regularly to discuss various topics, from art projects and family vacations to homework and mental health support. It serves as a home for communities of all sizes, but small and active groups of people most commonly utilize it.
The majority of servers are private, invite-only locations where friends and communities may communicate and spend time together. There are also larger, more open groups such as popular games such as Minecraft and Fortnite. On Discord, users have complete control over who they connect with and how they engage.
So, is Discord safe for use when anyone can chat and converse with anyone? Let’s talk about it first before we move on to watching movies on Discord with your friends.
Is Discord Safe?
Discord is an excellent platform for interacting with other players and friends while playing games. You can play games and watch movies with your friends and family. But there are some people with criminal mindsets, and because of them, Discord may not be safe for children under 13.
Anyone on Discord can lie about their age and start conversing with youngsters. Younger children are more likely to encounter scammers and online predators on the network. There have been a few reports of scammers and online predators targeting children via Discord Public servers.
The safest method to use Discord is to accept friend requests only from known people and avoid joining servers that aren’t verified or hosted by your buddies. Discord also features “Safe Direct Messaging,” which automatically deletes messages with inappropriate content.
It also includes privacy and security settings that allow users to regulate who may add and send messages. I do not recommend Discord to children under the age of 13. You can report creepy behavior on Discord, and you should know how to identify scams and online creeps.
If you are a parent who wants to keep your kids safe from these online predators, you can always try these best parental control apps to monitor your kid’s online activity.
Users use text sessions, voice calls, and video calls to communicate, but I will not explain them. I am here for another Discord feature, how to watch movies on Discord with your friends. So, now that we know what Discord is and if it is safe, let’s find out how to watch movies on Discord with your friends.
How to Watch Movies on Discord With Your Friends
Because of Discord’s game streaming and screen sharing feature, you can also share movie streaming with your friends. To do this, one must know how the app works. Worry not if you don’t know I am here for that reason. I will walk you through each step.
You can establish your chat room in Discord and ask others to join by using a server or a specific URL. If you invite anyone through a server, they will be given a unique URL to use to join your room. After being connected, you may now speak with the other person whenever you want, make video calls, play games, etc.
Discord does not automatically detect your Netflix streaming source, so you have to add it manually as a game and make it active whenever you want to watch it with your friends. Let’s see how you can add your Netflix (or any other streaming services) on Discord as a game.
(If you are worried about your children watching age-restricted Netflix content with friends via Discord, you can set parental control on Netflix.)
1. Add a Browser or Netflix Streaming Service as a Game to Discord
Discord does not detect your streaming service automatically, and you have to add your streaming source to Discord as a game manually.
You can follow the steps mentioned below to add a browser or your Netflix as a game to Discord.
Step 1: Open the Discord app and click the gear icon next to your Discord username in the lower-left corner.
Step 2: When the settings window opens, click on the “Game Activity” tab on the left, just below the “Game Settings” heading.
Step 3: Click the “Add” hyperlink next to the “I can’t see your game” text in the right pane to open the added browser dropdown menu.
Step 4: Click the down arrow to view the list of programs that Discord can detect. Choose the web browser you want to watch videos (Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Mozilla Firefox).
Step 5: Click the “Add Game” button to add the browser you selected as a game to your server.
Step 6: Discord will pick and display “Now Playing,” depending on the option you select.
Step 7: To quit the Settings menu, press the Esc key. Before we proceed, disable hardware acceleration in the browser you used to watch Netflix.
2. Disable Hardware Acceleration in Browser
When using Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, or Microsoft Edge to stream Netflix or another video platform, it’s preferable to turn off Hardware Acceleration. Otherwise, viewers will only see a black screen on the Discord app stream.
I will tell you how to disable hardware acceleration in the Google Chrome browser. The process in other browsers is also similar, and you will find it inside the browser’s settings.
Step 1: Open the Google Chrome browser and click on the three-dot menu on the top right corner of the screen.
Step 2: Go to settings and scroll down to Advanced and click on it.
Step 3: Select the System and then turn off the Use hardware acceleration on the Advanced dropdown option when available.
The process is somewhat similar for other browsers as well. Go to the settings and search for “Hardware Acceleration” on the search tab provided inside the settings and disable it. You would not see a black screen on the Discord stream by doing this.
3. Stream Netflix on Discord and Share Screen
The steps mentioned above were to configure the Discord to detect the streaming source and avoid the black screen in the Discord stream by disabling the hardware acceleration. Now, let’s see how to watch movies on Discord with your friends.
Step 1: After making the appropriate browser modifications, launch Netflix in your preferred browser. Sign in and view any video you like.
Step 2: Then, go to the Discord server you made to watch Netflix with your buddies. To alter video settings for streaming, click the screen share icon just above User Settings.
Step 3: The screen sharing configuration window will display. The program automatically selects a 720p resolution and 30 frames per second frame rate.
Step 4: The free Discord does not provide a higher frame rate (60fps) and 1080p resolution for your stream, so you must sign up for and use a Discord Nitro account. The premium service will charge you $9.99 per month.
Step 5: Then, select the voice channel you want to stream and click the “Go Live” button at the bottom right of the window.
Step 6: This will begin the live streaming of the Netflix movie on your preferred browser or app. A brief preview of the stream will be displayed in the Discord app window.
Step 7: Then, in the active voice channel of the particular server, invite your friends to join the live stream by clicking on their Discord name. This is how your buddies will see Netflix stream appear in their Discord app.
Now, you can enjoy the movies with your friends. Make sure to grab some popcorn and cold drinks.
Why does Streaming via Discord Lag Sometimes?
But sometimes, there might be some lag in audio or video. This happens when your Internet connection is not fast or stable. Chats and messaging do not require a strong Wi-Fi connection, but streaming movies require a strong, stable Wi-Fi connection.
If you ever encounter such lagging in audio/video, you should check your Internet connection. Make sure the device is getting stable and has full Internet connectivity. If you are using data packages, turn off the Data Saving mode. It restricts high volume Internet usage and allows only small amounts of data to trickle into Discord.
Conclusion
This is how to watch movies on Discord with your friends. But unfortunately, you cannot share the screen directly via streaming apps such as Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, or any other streaming service because you cannot disable the hardware acceleration.
All you will only be sharing a black screen with noise and subtitles. So, you must add browsers as game activity and use the web version of the streaming service. You can, however, share the YouTube app screen. Other than that, the game screen sharing is always there.
If you feel like doing all these steps is tedious, you can always give the hosting responsibility to one of your friends and just sit back, relax and enjoy their shared screen.
