NVIDIA Previews 4K Netflix Support on GTX 10 Cards

While Netflix introduced 4K video nearly two ago, it has mainly been the preserve of the streaming service’s TV apps; PC support has been limited to Intel’s Kaby Lake processors since November 2016 due to the strict DRM requirements – HDCP 2.2 and Microsoft’s PlayReady 3.0 – required to access 4K Netflix content. Thankfully, nearly a year after it was first mooted, NVIDIA has finally made a move to introduce 4K Netflix support through its Pascal GPU architecture, albeit quietly.

According to a new post on NVIDIA’s customer support portal, owners of Geforce GTX 10 Series graphics cards – though, the GTX 1050 seems to be excluded right now – and an HDCP 2.2-compatible monitor can access the new Netflix 4K preview, but only so long as that are a member of the Windows Insider program.

NVIDIA says:

To enable Netflix UHD playback, the following is required:

• NVIDIA Driver version exclusively provided via Microsoft Windows Insider Program (currently 381.74).
  • No other GeForce driver will support this functionality at this time
  • If you are not currently registered for WIP, follow this link for instructions to join: https://insider.windows.com/
• NVIDIA Pascal based GPU, GeForce GTX 1050 or greater with minimum 3GB memory
• HDCP 2.2 capable monitor(s). Please see the additional section below if you are using multiple monitors and/or multiple GPUs.
• Microsoft Edge browser or Netflix app from the Windows Store
• Approximately 25Mbps (or faster) internet connection.

Single or multi GPU multi monitor configuration

In case of a multi monitor configuration on a single GPU or multiple GPUs where GPUs are not linked together in SLI/LDA mode, 4K UHD streaming will happen only if all the active monitors are HDCP2.2 capable. If any of the active monitors is not HDCP2.2 capable, the quality will be downgraded to FHD. Below is a sample table for the case of 2 monitors:

SLI configuration

Currently, 4K UHD streaming is not supported for SLI/LDA configurations. However, if the GPUs are not linked together in SLI/LDA mode, 4K UHD streaming will work fine if all of the active monitors are HDCP2.2 capable.

NVIDIA has not yet indicated when this preview will roll out for all Windows 10 users.