Netflix Premium Users Get 4K Playback Support on NVIDIA GeForce 10 Series GPUs

By Nathan Kirsch

If you happen to have a Netflix Premium account ($11.99 per month) and want to try out Ultra HD TV (4K) content on your PC you now might be able to. Netflix and NVIDIA have worked together to allow access to Netflix’s 4K content library. Previously, only systems running a Microsoft Edge Browser with an Intel Kaby Lake processor, a supported monitor and integrated graphics could stream the 4K content. Now, support for 4K streamed content has been expanded to allow select NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10 series graphics cards to work. The issue that has prevented Netflix 4K streaming to a PC has been the tight DRM requirements imposed by Netflix and the content owners. NVIDIA quietly let customers know about the ability to preview Netflix UDH content on NVIDIA GPUs on the NVIDIA Support website NVIDIA Support website.

Netflix

When it comes to hardware requirements you must use an NVIDIA Pascal based GPU graphics card (GeForce GTX 1050 or greater) and have an HDCP 2.2 capable monitor. On the software side you must use GeForce 381.74 video card drivers that are only available with the Microsoft Windows Insider Program. NVIDIA didn’t talk about operating system requirements, but it sounds like this will only work on Windows 10 due to the WIP requirement for the driver.

NVIDIA GeForce 10 Series

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.

NVIDIA SLI multi-GPU configurations are not supports and if you are running multiple-displays all must be HDCP2.2 compliant or you’ll get Full HD (1080P) content only. Hopefully this ‘preview’ goes well and Netflix 4K UHD playback support will be added to all GeForce drivers! If you happen to have a Netflix Premium account and try this out on our NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10-Series PC let us know how it works out!