I tried to test 4k Netflix on my new rig. I went through the checklist Netflix lists to enable this:
- Upgrade plan to 'UHD enabled'
- Use Edge browser or Windows 10 Netflix app
- Have Intel Kaby Lake processor
- Have hdcp 2.2 compatible connection
- Have mega-fast connection to internet
The requirements really boil down to HDCP 2.2 support which is needed to play 4k DRM content in the browser. This is currently only supported on Edge in Windows 10.
So after doing all the above, I was surprised I couldn't get over 1080p on my desktop. I tried using the Ctrl-Alt-Shift-S shortcut inside Netflix to verify this. Netflix support was absolutely useless in trying to solve this. So after a ton of head scratching I finally found the root cause.
Its my NVidia GTX 1080 card.
Now the Nvidia 10 series cards do very well support the HDCP 2.2 copy protection. But for some reason Netflix doesn't like that. In order to use 4k Netflix on the desktop, you need to use the Integrated graphics card of the Intel Kaby Lake CPU. Using the dedicated NVidia GPU will disable the 4k support.
This is a ridiculous, completely non-technical, limitation imposed by Netflix which only does a disservice to them. The end result was me downgrading my plan back to 'HD'.