Netflix 4K streaming is coming to Windows PCs later this week—but only for the lucky few using seventh generation Kaby Lake processors from Intel.
Netflix launched 4K streaming in 2014 on a select number of TVs before rolling it out to dedicated streaming boxes like the Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and Nvidia Shield. 4K streaming on PC was notably missing from the rollout, due in part to piracy and DRM concerns from Hollywood studios and TV networks.
In an effort to placate the studios, Microsoft introduced "PlayReady 3.0" with the Windows 10 Anniversary update. PlayReady 3.0 is a hardware-based DRM (digital rights management) system that requires dedicated decoding hardware, either on the CPU or on the graphics card, preventing the video stream from being captured in software or via an external capture device.
There's also the matter of hardware decoding support for 10-bit HEVC, the 4K codec used by Netflix and other streaming services. Currently, only Intel's seventh generation Kaby Lake processors support 10-bit HEVC decoding. Older sixth generation Skylake CPUs only support 8-bit HEVC decoding. Technically, Nvidia's 10-series graphics cards—including the GTX 1080, GTX 1070, and GTX 1060—feature 10-bit HEVC decoding and PlayReady 3.0 support, but aren't listed as compatible.
And then there's the browser: 4K streaming only works in Microsoft Edge, because it's the only browser that supports PlayReady DRM. Basically, streaming 4K Netflix on a PC requires a CPU that's in barely any devices right now (desktop chips aren't expected until sometime in 2017), the latest version of Windows 10, and using an unpopular browser, making it a largely useless feature.
Who says DRM is bad for consumers, eh?
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