KitGuru KitGuru.net – Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards
Netflix has been streaming Ultra-HD/4K content since way back in 2013 but over the years, this higher quality level has been limited to newer Smart TVs and some other specific devices, like the Nvidia Shield TV and now PS4 Pro/Xbox One S. It has been a long time coming but Ultra-HD Netflix streaming is now finally available on PC through Windows 10. Unfortunately, this announcement has been hampered down by some crazy system requirement limitations.
Windows 10 users can now stream 4K content- but you will need a 7th generation Intel Kaby Lake processor. This is a problem because Kaby Lake is currently only available in a select number of laptops and won't even be available to desktop users until early 2017, on top of that, older processors should also be perfectly capable of smooth UHD playback.
The reasoning behind the Kaby Lake limitation hasn't really been explained in an official capacity but chances are it has something to do with copyright protection. The Kaby Lake chipset supports the HDCP 2.2 protocol, which helps protect against the copying of 4K content.
If you want to stream 4K Netflix, aside from needing the display and Kaby Lake CPU, you will also want Microsoft's Edge browser, as it is the only one capable of going beyond 1080p.
Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.
KitGuru Says: I have owned a 4K monitor for several years now, I have been waiting for Netflix to support the higher resolution on PC for a long time. Unfortunately, with these limitations in place, most people won't be able to experience it without a hardware upgrade, which is a real shame.
This is most disappointing behavior that Netflix is demonstrating. Netflix has ABSOLUTELY 0 EXCUSES FOR THIS. Even the first generation i5’s and i7’s are more than capable of 4K video content.
One yr ago I decided to leave my office work and I never felt better in my life… I started doing work from comfort of my house, for a company I stumbled upon over internet, several hours daily, and I make much more than i did on my previous job… Last check i got was for Nine thousand dollars… Superb thing about it is that i have more time for my family… CHILP.IT/8d93f4b
It’s not about whether the CPU itself can decode the stream, it’s all about DRM. I doubt it’s only netflix making this choice. All the distributors that have contracts with netflix must have specific clauses that require them a guaranteed level of copy protection. And Kaby Lake is the first CPU to natively support HDCP 2.2
I suspect Intel is likely paying them off to do this. Also According to Tom’s hardware, it also requires windows 10 and Edge Browser (EWWWWW). I suspect Intel and Microsoft are behind this to move more copies of windows 10 and more Kaby lake processors even thought Kaby lake is nearly identical to Skylake and Haswell in performance. They Could at least support Sandy Bridge and newer.
Kaby Lake is the first CPU to support decoding of HEVC 10-bit decoding, along with PlayReady 3.0 (Microsoft’s latest DRM) support. That’s also why you can only use Edge, since it’s the only browser that supports PlayReady 3.0. The real stinger is that Nvidia’s 1000 series cards also support both HEVC 10-bit decoding and PlayReady 3.0, but are mysteriously not supported here, which makes accusations that it’s a scam to try and get people to upgrade to Kaby Lake more compelling.
Of course, none of this is good for consumers, but when have large corporations ever worked in the best interest of the people who buy their products? Hand your money over and keep your mouth shut.
It’s bad enough that netflix is already 90% crappy, filler movies that nobody wants to watch, but now limiting 4k content…sounds like a sweetheart deal between intel and netflix
I am sure there will be a way around this crap. Netflix would be pretty dumb to piss on it’s customers. I got a video card that supports the requirements and if my system does not work with netflix 4K like they are implying they pretty much lost a customer and millions of others will feel the same way once that happens Netflix will change their tune pretty fast I would think.
HDCP 2.2 for Nvidia and AMD graphics is completely broken for the time being, so no, you don’t have a satisfying system.
Where do you find that HDCP 2.2 is broken for new Nvidia and AMD GPU? Because, for exemple, on GTX 1080 and 1070 spec, it’s write HDCP 2.2 compliant.
And what do you thing about that: (it’s possible?) Intel Skylake when a DisplayPort signal is routed into a MegaChips MCDP2800 chip on the motherboard and transformed into a HDMI 2.0 signal, that signal now supports HDCP 2.2.
I am curious!
Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !mj58d:
On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
!mj58d:
➽➽
➽➽;➽➽ http://GoogleFinancialJobsCash58MediaChannelGetPay$97Hour… ★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★::::::!mj58d:….,……
Skylake was release few month after HDCP 2.2 was finished it’s clearly a scam because kaby lake will not increase a lot the intel’s processors perfs, but it will makes netflix and other legal streaming 4K offers available on pc and that’s all. I really hope that AMD and it’s Zen architecture will crush this joke.
SCREW 4K… Get me some DOLBY FIRST… 7.1 FTW…