Netflix begins 4K Ultra HD streaming with second season of 'House of Cards'

[Shawn Knight]

Netflix is officially in the 4K Ultra HD streaming game as the company quietly rolled out a limited selection of titles over the weekend. It’s the first full-length 4K content to hit the streaming service although the 4K era is still a ways off.

The second season of House of Cards and some nature documentaries were added on Sunday but it should be noted they come with a caveat. The videos are only available on televisions with Netflix and HEVC/H.265 decoding capabilities according to a report from Multichannel.

Netflix spokesperson Joris Evers told the publication the first TV sets are hitting reviewers' desks and store shelves now.

If you recall, Netflix began publically adding 4K Ultra HD clips for testing purposes late last year. During the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings promised their initial 4K offering would be ready this spring. Outside of House of Cards, Hastings said Breaking Bad and a few other Netflix originals would eventually be offered in 4K.

The company is also working to launch 4K-capable streaming apps on new sets from LG Electronics, Samsung, Sony and Vizio.

Unlike the short-lived fad that was 3D, 4K technology appears to be the next big thing in television and the successor to current 1080p HD technology. It boasts a picture resolution that is four times higher than 1080p although some have criticized it for being too expensive and too soon (not enough 4K content available yet) while others claim it pushes the limits of what the human eye is capable of discerning.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/56301-netflix-begins-4k-ultra-hd-streaming-with-second-season-of-house-of-cards.html

 

[wastedkill]

Ohh sexy love the house of cards show! but I dont own a 4k monitor

 

[Raoul Duke]

Expensive, new tech always is
too soon - sooner the better, then more content will be available and costs will come down for hardware
pushes the limits of the human eye - don't see how this is a problem. It will look better than 1080p for everyone that can see no matter how degraded one's vision. Bring it on! It is like good quality audio/sound, can my ear hear 100% of the improvement, no, I'm older and my hearing range is decreased, but it still sounds better than poor audio

 

[RustyTech]

..and so we have 2 great announcements made today: a great video card and 4k content on netflix! I think it's time to pull the gun on a 4k monitor.

 

[GhostRyder]

Problem is I doubt this will work reasonably well due to the download constraints of 4k. In all honesty I know plenty of people who struggle to run a 1080p show so a 4k would have alot of problems I feel.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Problem is I doubt this will work reasonably well due to the download constraints of 4k. In all honesty I know plenty of people who struggle to run a 1080p show so a 4k would have alot of problems I feel.

Very true... bringing 4K to your home is not only dependent on the TV, you'll also probably need to upgrade your broadband to the fastest offered. For me that'd be like an extra $50/month.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Problem is I doubt this will work reasonably well due to the download constraints of 4k. In all honesty I know plenty of people who struggle to run a 1080p show so a 4k would have alot of problems I feel.

Netflix has to rebuffer a few times while at 1080P currently while watching movies and I have 50 mbps download speed. So yeah, I agree. They have to work on their infrastructure before pushing 4K. Hopefully the 4K push will help force an infrastructure improvement.

 

[Raoul Duke]

Never thought of the streaming problem. Was just excited about 4k. Yes, it will mean ISP's will make a ton of money as people pay more for faster service. I'm doing o.k. with Netflix and 1080p with 50mbps service, but it isn't inexpensive

 

[VitalyT]

As a user of both Netflix and high-resolution screens I can tell you that Netflix efforts to flog 4K video is utterly pathetic. They totally fake the Ultra-High Definition. They tell you that it is UHD whereas in reality the video quality is just about the same as 1080P. They compress 4K with such low bit rate that even x265 coder doesn't help much, it kills the quality.

Have you ever seen a 1080P movie compressed to 2GB? It is quite terrible, just the same as a 4K movie compressed to 4GB, a total nonsense. They sacrifice the quality completely for the sake of minimizing the download traffic, to the point where it is no longer 4K, but the same 1080P, maybe be 10% better.

We are not closer to having 4K content than we were last year, it seems. And YouTube remains to be the only source of true 4K videos.

 

[amstech]

It's not about letting people drive the Corvette sitting in the showroom, its about how many people it attracts to your place of business. Offering a 4K service this soon (whether its legit or not) sure looks good on the resume now and for foreseeable future.

 

[NTAPRO]

I wonder how much this would impact people's bandwidth who watch multiple show on netflix when 4k spreads to other shows