Netflix 4K on PCs requires Kaby Lake, Windows 10, and Edge

[Platinum]

It was reported in May that Nvidia was working with Netflix, For now Kabys GPU is the only one certified but soon enough the 960 / 950 and 10xx series from Nvidia and RX series from AMD will also run 4k Netflix.

Misleading title to the article, you can use whatever CPU you want as long as your GPU is supported, currenetly Kabys GPU is the only one certified, others that support HCDP 2.2 will get certified soon enough.

Calm yo ####

[excalibur1814]

"PlayReady DRM, the choice of Netflix for protecting its 4K content"

How many readers missed this and will suddenly think that MS is to blame?

[Kanoe]

Damn it, i do have a 4k monitor but my GPU is a couple of generations old and not going to be supported and I'm not upgrading the CPU or GPU for the next couple of years so I'm out

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Its an artificial lock-in so they can drive Kaby Lake sales and sell its "feature-set". Kaby Lake is barely out yet and they can't even get support for current IGPs and the millons of GTX900,GTX1000 and RX400 series cards out - riiiiight??

Who the heck needs 10 bit support when most monitors are not even HDR and most GPUs don't even support DP1.4 either??

Yes,lets support 10 bit outputs on a CPU hardly anyone has yet,and where 99.99% of TVs and monitors don't even support it properly.

Netflix can go and clear off IMHO.

[TheAnimus]

"PlayReady DRM, the choice of Netflix for protecting its 4K content"

How many readers missed this and will suddenly think that MS is to blame?

I remember a few years back, the netflix catalog was bigger, and it was cheaper.

Sadly Amazon Prime isn't much of a competitor to them, and they are fast becoming a monopoly, playing against Sky's offerings which are priced even higher.

[LSG501]

So I've been able to play h.265 10bit (HEVC) on my pc, with cpu or gpu decoding, for the last 2+ years yet to get netflix's version of it I need a specific cpu/gpu combination...

You just got to love drm....

[nacasatu]

Folks, do yourself a favour and pick up one of the Nvidia Shield TV units on sale this week if you see any, they work flawlessly and perfect for 4k Netflix (along with the streaming games from your PC to the TV over the network).

The flip side of these ridiculous restrictions on PC is that you can still use VPN to watch Netflix through the browser on PC, though of course not 4k, at least the ability to watch Canadian or US Netflix is still possible. The DRM rubbish with the apps on android etc., lock this ability down to the point now it's not worth getting a VPN for Netflix unless you still view it via browser on the PC.

[nacasatu]

Meant to say also, I'm not sure such an agreement like this, with it only working on Intel and Microsoft browsers on PC would go down too well with the EU commission.

[outwar6010]

It's funny how 4k tvs and consoles etc don't require intel processors or windows 10 ffs.

[Corky34]

Like Cat said it's an artificial limitation decided upon by Netflix, IIRC 1080p used to be supported on all browsers under Windows 8.1, when Windows 10 came out that changed to only being supported on Edge, this is probably the same, an artificial limitation, I've not check the The WayBack Machine for the site this article references but i can't see why they'd be wrong.

The WayBack Machine offers a window to the same page from February 2015, before Windows 10 had ever launched. At the time, Windows 8.1+ and Internet Explorer 11 were listed as providing up to 1080p, as was Safari, while Chrome was still stuck at 720p. (Firefox isn’t even mentioned)

[Output]

Microsoft: "How can we get more people using Win10 and Edge? ...I know, we'll point out that it's the only one supporting our own DRM! Just DON'T mention that others will probably add support in the near future too."

Sure, the usage of the DRM is apparently Netflix's choice, but Microsoft is the one trumpeting it. I can't imagine Netflix expects or wants it to only continue being restricted to Edge.

[decends]

Well screw you netflix. I just bought my I7 4790k in May 2016, like hell if im gonna upgrade it just for your 4k content.

[Rubarb]

If it needs Edge I'll never use it, waste of space that browser

[shaithis]

Folks, do yourself a favour and pick up one of the Nvidia Shield TV units on sale this week if you see any, they work flawlessly and perfect for 4k Netflix (along with the streaming games from your PC to the TV over the network).

Or Netflix could do people a favour and drop the stupid requirements.

[Xlucine]

I bet the film companies are behind that DRM, nothing netflix can do about it

[qasdfdsaq]

This'll change, eventually. They can't really be planning to leave out all AMD users, *and* anyone with an Intel system with a dGPU (and disabled iGPU)