Netflix announced 4K streaming for PC.
Netflix has become one of the major video content streaming services on the market thanks to its combination of quality original content and a large database of third-party shows and movies. After becoming available in a large number of countries around the world, the next big step for the company is to popularize 4K streaming.
This goal may be easier said than done, at least in the current conditions which severely limits the number of users who can use the new feature. Netflix initially launched its 4K streaming service back in 2014 for specific TVs and streaming boxes such as Roku, Nvidia Shield, and Amazon Fire TV. Many users were left asking about a PC release, which Netflix mostly avoided to release due to DRM and piracy concerns issued by TV networks and Hollywood studios.
Now, Netflix has announced that their 4K streaming service is finally coming to Windows 10 computers. However, only users with computers that feature the seventh generation Kaby Lake processors from Intel as well as a 4K monitor will be able to enjoy the feature. Only this generation of processors have the required hardware decoding support for the 4K codec, 10-bit HEVC, used by Netflix 4K streaming.
Additionally, in order to address the concerns of networks and studios executives, Microsoft has implemented a hardware-based DRM measure called PlayReady 3.0. Users are required to have a dedicated decoding hardware either on their GPU or their CPU, which prevents the video stream from being recorded in various software or through an external capture device.
If these measures weren’t enough, users will only be able to stream 4K content from Netflix only in Microsoft’s Windows 10 browser Edge, as it is the only one that supports the PlayReady DRM at this point. Edge will be required even if you are one of the select users who manage to fulfill all the conditions implemented by Microsoft and Netflix.
However, out of all the restrictions and DRM conditions that need to be fulfilled, the most restrictive must be the fact that Intel’s seventh generation of Kaby Lake processors are not widely available yet, not to mention their price. As such, Netflix 4K streaming on PC still remains a niche feature which will take a while to see a broad adoption.
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