Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

4K Netflix Arrives On Windows 10, But Only Via Microsoft's Edge Browser (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the new-hardware-required dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Netflix 4K streaming is finally heading to Windows PCs this week. While a number of TVs and set-top-boxes already support 4K Netflix streams, the PC has largely been left out of the high-quality streams due to piracy fears. Netflix is now supporting 4K streaming through Microsoft's Edge browser, but you'll need a new PC to actually make use of it. Netflix is only supporting 7th generation (Kaby Lake) Intel Core processors, and there aren't many laptops that actually support both the 4K display required and the new Intel processors. As a result, Microsoft is using the 4K Netflix support as a marketing effort for its Edge browser and to encourage people to upgrade their hardware to watch new episodes of the Gilmore Girls. It all might seem like a bit of a con, but it's largely the fault of DRM requirements from Hollywood studios and TV networks. Content providers have strict controls for 4K playback, so that streams can't be captured and redistributed illegally. The latest hardware decryption features simply aren't available on older Intel processors, and the new Kaby Lake chips now support 10-bit HEVC, a popular 4K video codec.

8 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. If only... by Rockoon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If only things could be decrypted without "hardware decryption features."

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
    1. Re:If only... by oakgrove · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In case you're wrong, you should probably friend everyone too. Just to be sure.

      --
      The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
    2. Re:If only... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Content providers have strict controls for 4K playback, so that streams can't be captured and redistributed illegally

      And somewhere, a pirate goes "Another challenge! Bring it on."

    3. Re:If only... by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You could always just resort to piracy. You see, pirated content doesn't care if your hardware supports the latest DRM, it just fucking works.

    4. Re:If only... by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Insightful

      To be honest, what do many of us care about the higher resolution? I've been renting movies from Google Play for a while now, and I never buy the high-def version (which is always a buck or two more), and unless I'm standing about six inches from my TV, I couldn't tell the difference. I guess if I hard a very large TV or a projection TV, that would make a difference, but then again, people watch DVDs on those TVs without too many complaints. Beyond that, I'm on a shitty DSL connection that I get nailed if I go over a limit (something like 30gb, can't quite remember), so if I start viewing streaming video at highest resolution, well, I'm going to breaking that particular thermometer every month.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  2. Meh by markdavis · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Yawn.

    Wake me up when more than even a fraction of 1% of the population can even tell the difference between 1080P and 4K (much less UPSCALED 1080P and 4K). At any reasonable size or distance it really doesn't matter much.

  3. Re:What is the point? by SumDog · · Score: 4, Insightful

    YES! I own a 4k MSI laptop and can totally tell a difference with 4k. I can even use that laptop to power a 4k DCI display:

    http://penguindreams.org/blog/running-a-lg31mu97-on-linux-at-4096x2160-at-60hz/

    It is night and day; even on small screens. If you do a lot of photography work and have a camera that captures over 4000x?, it's really amazing. I love being able to pull up photos in Lightroom and see the entire image in fullscreen without scaling. They're really amazing:

    http://journeyofkhan.us

  4. Public scams and collusion by WaffleMonster · · Score: 2, Insightful

    4k is an interesting marketing scam given perceptible "quality" issues are a direct result not of limited resolution but rather deliberate efforts to minimize bandwidth requirements for Internet streaming, satellite and cable to just below the threshold where most people would bitch.

    Hey Russia if you could "locate" documents demonstrating collusion with what remains of the Wintel cartel I would be most grateful.