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Netflix brings UHD streaming to a handful of PCs

PC users will finally be able to stream Netflix content in UHD. Yay! Expect you need to have a very specific set up to take advantage of the eye popping resolution.

Not only will you need an internet connection with a download rate of at least 25Mbps you’ll also need Intel’s latest Kaby Lake processors, Windows 10 and the Microsoft Edge browser.

While that sounds okay, it really isn’t. According to a report by Digiworthy users cannot stream UHD content from Netflix with an AMD RX 400 or NVIDIA GTX 10 series GPU despite both of these card series supporting HDCP 2.2 copy protection. Simply put, PC users won’t be able to stream UHD content from Netflix unless they have one of these 10 supporting PCs.

  • Lenovo Yoga 910
  • HP Pavilion Wave
  • HP Omen Desktop
  • Lenovo IdeaCentre Y710 Cube
  • Razer Blade Stealth
  • Dell Alienware 15
  • MSI Vortex G65
  • Acer Predator 17X
  • Acer Predator 15
  • Dell Alienware Aurora R5

Apparently Edge was chosen because at present it is the only browser which supports PlayReady 3.0 DRM which Netflix uses to stop ne’er-do-wells from capturing the stream and distributing it illegally.

In a report by BGR it’s alleged that the GPUs from AMD and NVIDIA don’t have the PlayReady DRM which is why they aren’t currently supported but this is as yet unconfirmed.

What is of concern however is that Netflix has locked streaming in UHD to the Kaby Lake CPUs which means that even if AMD and NVIDIA bring out drivers that support PlayReady, Netflix has to allow streaming via those components.

What strikes us as a bit unfair is that users who hand over $11.99 (~R166) to Netflix every month to enjoy UHD content now need to hand over substantially more money to get a new notebook or PC to watch the content they pay for.

Perhaps this is one of those “first-world” problems that everybody goes on about but we’re interested to hear your thoughts on the matter. Leave a comment in the section below or tell us your thoughts over on Facebook or Twitter.

[Via – BGR]

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