Control Netflix and YouTube With Hand Gestures

You can control Netflix, YouTube, and most streaming players on a Windows PC with hand gestures by mapping gestures to the keyboard shortcuts those players already support. AirTouch reads your hand through a standard webcam and presses the keys for you: space to pause, arrows to skip, M to mute. There is no plugin and nothing to install in the browser. The remote can stay lost in the couch.

Why would you want this?

Plenty of us watch on a laptop or a PC plugged into the TV. That means getting up to pause. Or balancing a wireless keyboard on the armrest. Or eating wings and pressing the space bar with a knuckle.

A raised hand is faster. It is also, and this matters, extremely satisfying. Pausing a movie with a raised hand feels like using the Force. Skipping an intro with a gesture feels like dismissing a servant in a period drama. You will do it more than you need to.

How does it work?

AirTouch is gesture control and hand tracking software. It converts hand gestures into ordinary mouse and keyboard input, so every player works, in any browser or app. You choose which gesture presses which key. Mappings save per profile, so you can keep a Movie Night profile separate from your work setup.

Which shortcuts should you map?

These keyboard shortcuts are built into the players. Map a gesture to each one you care about.

Shortcuts can change, so check the player's help page if one does not respond. Most other services follow the same pattern. The gesture list and mapping guide shows all fifteen gestures and how to assign them.

For browsing the catalog, you do not need any mapping. Raise an open palm to move the cursor and pinch to click on a title.

How do you set it up from the couch?

• Install AirTouch. About five minutes. Follow how to install AirTouch on Windows.

• Aim the camera at the couch. A laptop webcam works at desk distance. For a living room, a USB webcam on top of the TV gives a better view.

• Turn on AutoZoom. It locks onto the first person to raise a hand and zooms in on them, which helps at couch distance. See the advanced settings guide.

• Leave a lamp on. A standard webcam needs some light to see your hand. A fully dark home theater is an edge case. Through our partnership with Orbbec, AirTouch also takes advantage of 3D depth sensing and IR cameras when a deployment calls for them, which is how dark rooms are handled. See the Orbbec page.

Will it pause every time someone reaches for popcorn?

Patented intent detection is designed to tell a deliberate gesture from ordinary movement, and it follows one primary user at a time. Reaching for snacks, stretching, and gesturing at the plot twist are filtered out in most setups. If a particular gesture misfires in your room, map that action to a different one.

What else works the same way?

• Music. Skip tracks from across the room while cooking. See scroll recipes with messy hands.

• Casual games. Angry Birds and Candy Crush are surprisingly fun at arm's length.

• Family calls. One gesture for grandpa to launch the video call to the grandkids.

• Slideshows. Flip through vacation photos on the TV without passing a phone around.

Where to start

Start a free trial tonight. Netflix and YouTube are trademarks of their owners, and AirTouch is not affiliated with either. It simply presses the keys so you do not have to get up.

Related: gesture control on a laptop, control your computer with hand gestures and a webcam, and best gesture control software.