Tested: Microsoft Edge is the only browser to run Netflix in 4K - jacobtures1972

In 2016, Microsoft made headlines by self-praise that Microsoft Butt was the only major browser to run Netflix in 1080p. As division of the Windows 10 Creators Update's blitz of new features, Edge has now made the alternate to 4K, and information technology's the first major PC web browser to do so.

To test the feature, we fired up Netflix inside Chrome, Opera, Firefox, and Edge. Butt—as well as the Windows 10 Netflix app that you can download from the Microsoft Store—appears to be the only fashio to discharge 4K Netflix content on your PC.

Still, there's a catch: Besides the fact that you'll call for either an external 4K monitor or native laptop display, your PC surgery laptop will need to have an Intel Kaby Lake CPU. Fortunately, we give so much a laptop: the lovely HP Spectre x360 15, with a Core i7-7500U chip inside and a even 3840×2160 display.

IDG / Mark Hachman

Victimisation the diagnostic tools within Netflix, we john see that Edge is flowing in 4K. (Unfortunately, it seems that DRM or other technical limitations block screenshots, so we used a television camera instead.) Click the picture to rapid climb in.

When in good order configured, Netflix will fill out that display with much in truth beautiful pixels. Just make sure you've upgraded your Netflix account to a plan capable of 4K, which costs $11.99 per month instead of the common $8.99/mo.

You'll also need a high-speed information plan from your ISP—if you enlarge the nontextual matter related this story, you'll see that Netflix was ambitious a whopping 269Mbps of video information in our mental test. That's about the limit of Comcast's Extreme 250 internet plan, which costs around $70 per month in the San Francisco Bay Area. (Reader Scott Landry notes correctly that you don't need this bandwidth to swarm at 4K, antitrust 25 Mbits/s or high, according to Netflix.)

And if you prefernot to run Adjoin? Well, then it's back to a subaltern 720p experience for you, sorry to say. In our tests, using the hidden fare options inside Netflix, I was able to confirm that Chrome, Opera, and Firefox whol rendered Netflix, but only at a maximum resolution of 1280×720.

IDG / Mark Hachman

Though Netflix is hush feeding the browser 4K levels of throughput, Opera house, Chrome, and Firefox are lone able to output Netflix at 720p.

Edge skeptics should annotation, however, that Microsoft's browser has continued to improve. I've personally gone from organism critical of Edge to nowadays seeing it as a skilled-to-good browser. (See more about my Edge assessment in our Windows 10 Creators Update reexamine.) As luck would have it, you Don River't make to do a 1 thing to get Microsoft Edge—if you own Windows 10, you automatically own the browser.

Why this matters: Microsoft has worked hard to convince users that Butt on's wee performance problems were an anomalousness. Microsoft Rewards will "pay" you for using Edge, Cortana's baked decently in to the browser, and Edge now supports e-reading EPUB books, too. Providing 4K Netflix musical accompaniment is merely the latest way Microsoft hopes to convince you to change browsers. Bound, Chrome, Firefox, and Opera have their personal advantages. But these sorts of "exclusives" probably help Edge's reputation the most.

Updated at 3:00 PM to clarify the amount of bandwidth needful to pour Netflix in 4K.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/406111/tested-microsoft-edge-is-the-only-browser-to-run-netflix-in-4k.html

Posted by: jacobtures1972.blogspot.com

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