4K Netflix Content Is Now Available Exclusively For Windows 10 PCs

DPI said:
Now even a pro-Microsoft, pro-Windows blogger Paul Thurrott has debunked this as bullshit.

https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/85400/netflix-4k-video-comes-windows-10-sort
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the phrase "Exclusively for Windows 10" basically means that Windows 7 & 8 won't get that feature. It is not saying that only Windows 10 pc's get 4K and no other device or TV doesn't, but that is how Paul interpreted the phrase.

And it does appear that my PC only gets a 720p stream in Firefox,

netflix-stats-firefox.jpg
 
bman212121 said:
I would also guess they might be using HEVC codec, which the i7 gen has a hardware decoder for. If you have a desktop you'd need an Nvidia GTX 960 or newer for that functionality. If you did have a new video card that would probably omit the need for a i7 gen CPU. Without the hardware decoder I'm not sure if smooth 4k playback would be possible right now. I've never seen a test of this to determine the resources so it would be interesting to see how much CPU would be required for a full software decode.
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For in browser streaming, maybe. For stand-alone file playback this is total shit. My desktop is a 4770K with dual GeForce GTX 780's. When playing back a 10-bit HEVC 4K video performance varies wildly between applications. VLC cannot do it at all. KMPlayer can do it with high CPU usage(80-100%). The winner? Media Player Classic BLACK EDITION. Flawless playback at ~25% cpu usage.

When using Media Player Classic Black Edition my Thinkpad T550 with an i5 5200U and HD5500 integrated graphics handles the same 4K/10-bit HEVC file as the desktop above and it only has "hybrid" acceleration according to Intel.
 
CrashLandyn said:
Hi All,

Just want to clarify a few things:

Edge is the only browser which currently supports Microsoft PlayReady 3.0.
Decode is being done with AVC, not HEVC.
This is the first time Netflix 4K has been available on PC.
It should work on some 6th Gen configs and... I don't want to say all while being incorrect... but I think all 7th gen configs with Intel HD Graphics on internal laptop displays which support 4K.
It should also work with 4K @ 30hz on an external display if your display supports HDCP 2.2.

Press control + alt + shift + D to bring up your Netflix stats. You can verify Chrome actually decodes Netflix at 720p while Edge will support 2160p (4k).

Not all of Netflix's catalog is 4K. You can search for "4K" for a list of 4K compatible content available for streaming.

If you have specific questions I can probably answer them.
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So i'm going to correct myself. Sorry for the confusion!

Netflix will do 1080p AVC streaming in or the UWP app.
4K Netflix does indeed use HEVC, hence the requirement for 7th gen iGPUs as they support HEVC hardware decode. I thought this was source content dependent from Netflix's catalog, but I talked to my colleagues and this is indeed incorrect.
 
zamardii12 said:
So wait a second; does this mean no other device can stream 4K content anymore like PS4 Pro or Nvidia Shield? The title is misleading. "Exclusive" I gather usually means available nowhere else.
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Agreed, this is the first time for the PC though!
 
Seventyfive said:
Can anyone explain why it needs a 7th gen Intel CPU? If this is the case, why the fuck is there such a big deal over HDCP 2.2? It's not like it's a computer power problem considering I can render games at 4k with my old haswell i7.
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GPUs are responsible for hardware video decoding. This is a GPU dependent feature; to be more accurate it should state that an Intel 7th Gen GPU is required for this experience.

I am not making claims that NV and AMD GPUs can't do this. They could be working on 4K Netflix support for their GPUs too... and my gut says they are... but I have no insider information.
 
CrashLandyn said:
GPUs are responsible for hardware video decoding. This is a GPU dependent feature; to be more accurate it should state that an Intel 7th Gen GPU is required for this experience.

I am not making claims that NV and AMD GPUs can't do this. They could be working on 4K Netflix support for their GPUs too... and my gut says they are... but I have no insider information.
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Gotcha, so this is not a DRM issue but a minimum spec issue for people who don't have fast dedicated video cards?
 
Doesn't work using an LG 34UM95-P with the UHD plan via Edge browser which isn't quite 4k but close, only 1080 streams are what I am seeing.
 
ASCII said:
Doesn't work using an LG 34UM95-P with the UHD plan via Edge browser which isn't quite 4k but close, only 1080 streams are what I am seeing.
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That's not a 4k monitor. If I'm looking at the specs correcting it's 3440x1440.
 
Doesn't work for me. The Kaby Lake thing is real, which (again) means this is only for laptops right now.

I'm using Edge, Windows 10, a 4K television, and a GTX1080...but a 4790K. No dice. Caps out at 1080p. I love how Edge keeps telling me to use the Win10 app, too.
The built in TV app version and PS4 versions work fine. 4K content in YouTube works fine, too. Anyone know how Amazon 4K works?
 
Domingo said:
Doesn't work for me. The Kaby Lake thing is real, which (again) means this is only for laptops right now.

I'm using Edge, Windows 10, a 4K television, and a GTX1080...but a 4790K. No dice. Caps out at 1080p. I love how Edge keeps telling me to use the Win10 app, too.
The built in TV app version and PS4 versions work fine. 4K content in YouTube works fine, too. Anyone know how Amazon 4K works?
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I think Amazon only supports TV apps and Amazon Fire TV
 
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Seventyfive said:
Gotcha, so this is not a DRM issue but a minimum spec issue for people who don't have fast dedicated video cards?
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No it's a drm issue. Kaby lake has additional hardware drm.


50 replies and nobody gets it.... this thread isn't [H]
 
Verge said:
No it's a drm issue. Kaby lake has additional hardware drm.


50 replies and nobody gets it.... this thread isn't [H]
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No, it isn't that Kaby Lake supports additional DRM, it's that it has hardware 10-bit HEVC support which is the format Netflix is using to stream 4k. Playready requires the entire path to be hardware, so Kaby Lake is the only one that currently supports that. Nvidia's 10 series cards support it too, but they likely haven't gone through Playready certification yet to enable it.


Remember, blogs care about being first, not accuracy.
 
Ryokurin said:
No, it isn't that Kaby Lake supports additional DRM, it's that it has hardware 10-bit HEVC support which is the format Netflix is using to stream 4k. Playready requires the entire path to be hardware, so Kaby Lake is the only one that currently supports that. Nvidia's 10 series cards support it too, but they likely haven't gone through Playready certification yet to enable it.


Remember, blogs care about being first, not accuracy.
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Play ready is DRM lol.


Microsoft even calls it "Playready DRM"

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/audio-video-camera/playready-client-sdk


Sheesh
 
Verge said:
Play ready is DRM lol.


Microsoft even calls it "Playready DRM"

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/audio-video-camera/playready-client-sdk


Sheesh
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Yeah, but it isn't something directly tied to Kaby Lake like your post said. Kaby Lake is just the first processor that has 10-bit HVEC hardware graphics support which is what Netflix needs. Even if netflix went 8-bit it wouldn't have opened up a lot more hardware wise, just stuff made in the last couple of years.
 
Now if only Netflix had something worth watching, let alone anything in 4K..
 
DPI said:
Now if only Netflix had something worth watching, let alone anything in 4K..
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Lots of good stuff on Netflix. Daredevil, Narcos, House of Cards, Stranger Things (so i hear, not my type of show), Knights of Sidonia, Seven Deadly Sins....
 
Seventyfive said:
Lots of good stuff on Netflix. Daredevil, Narcos, House of Cards, Stranger Things (so i hear, not my type of show), Knights of Sidonia, Seven Deadly Sins....
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The Fall is also great as was the first season of Bloodline (2nd was still decent, but not great). I like Kimmy Schmidt, but if you don't like 30 rock, then you probably won't like it.

And from a movies POV, hard to complain about Zootopia...hell even the Jungle Book was a fun movie.
 
Old thread, I know, but what about HDR (as in Netflix 4K HDR)? Will that require the Windows 10 "Creators Update"?

I'm using an Xbox One S with my 4K HDR tv for now, but am looking to replace it with an HTPC (e.g. one of the new 7th generation NUC:s).
 
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