Netflix CEO Hints at 4K Plans

[admin]

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has hinted at the streaming giant's upcoming 4K streaming plans, in a video interview with Claus Bülow Christensen, the producer of the Copenhagen Future of TV Conference.

Hastings confirmed that Netflix is already looking into the possibility of 4K streaming, and that the company has no concerns in regards to bandwidth issues.

4K video streams offer up to 4 times the resolution of current HD videos, and bandwidth problems, plus the high cost of 4K compatible equipment, has been raised as current concerns for Internet based 4K streaming. The introduction of new high efficiency video compression technologies such as HEVC could reduce the bandwidth concerns.

However, Hastings believes that despite having 4 times the resolution (and hence, data), the bandwidth requirements for 4K won't be 4 times of Netflix's current 1080p HD offerings.

"It's around 15 megabits per second," Hastings said in reference to the expected bandwidth requirements each individual Netflix 4K stream. "It's not too bad. If you've got a 50-megabit connection you'll be fine."

Hastings also noted that, at least during the early stages, only a tiny minority of Netflix subscribers will be streaming 4K content, and so the bandwidth burden on ISPs should be minimal in the short term, allowing them to steadily upgrade their infrastructure to cope.

"... as an overall system load, it will grow quite slowly and steadily, giving people lots of time to build the infrastructure," Hastings added.

[drfsupercenter]

I've got a 50mbps connection and Netflix still streams awful looking 360p crap on my end. I highly doubt they can even manage 4K when they can't even get regular HD working.

[admin]

What device are you using to stream? It looks great on my PS3 (in Super HD), and that's all the way from Australia (on a 14 Mbps connection). PC is said to be the worst in terms of quality. The iPhone/iPad app is also not HD at the moment.

[MilesAhead]

Just out of curiosity.. when 'Flix first started streaming they threw it in for free for DVD mail accounts. But I noticed that the main issue I had with Silver Light was about 1/5 of the films were too dark to see. No brightness/contrast adjustment on Silver Light. It was like watching audio.

Have you noticed any of that or is all that fixed up by now?

[drfsupercenter]

Both my computer and my Xbox 360. I have my Xbox 360 plugged in directly with Ethernet, but yet it looks like upscaled YouTube videos at best.

And sadly since they INSIST on streaming, I can't just pause it, let it load, and watch it in proper HD later.

The DVD by mail accounts were awesome. I'm really mad that they aren't free anymore. Given that most of their streaming library sucks and the DVDs are convenient, I ended up switching to Blockbuster for those... still using my friend's Netflix though

[admin]

Haven't tried the PC or the Xbox 360, but the PS3 is Netflix's lead platform so it works really well on it. Super HD isn't exactly Blu-ray quality (but hard to tell from say 7 or 8 feet away), but it's better HD than anything I get here in Australia on free-to-air or cable. I believe in the US, you need an ISP that supports Super HD as well as a compatible device (the Windows 8 app is the only way to get it on a PC, the Xbox 360 doesn't support it either - more info here).

[drfsupercenter]

I don't see Comcast on that list, any idea if they are one of those ISPs?

I do have a Wii U, as of two days ago, so I could always try that out. Isn't "super HD" just 1080p though? So it would still be inferior to Blu-Ray?

[admin]

Doesn't look like Comcast is on the list, so no Super HD and no 3D content either.

[drfsupercenter]

What exactly is "super HD" anyway? I got the impression that it was just 1080p. Vudu already has "HDX" and I'm sure other services have similar.

[admin]

It uses a higher bitrate and a more efficient encoding algorithm, similar to HDX. The quality is pretty good. Not quite Blu-ray quality, but you can definitely see the difference between it and standard 1080p.

[admin]

I don't see Comcast on that list, any idea if they are one of those ISPs?

I do have a Wii U, as of two days ago, so I could always try that out. Isn't "super HD" just 1080p though? So it would still be inferior to Blu-Ray?

Good news! Super HD has just been made available for all ISPs, so as long as your Netflix app supports Super HD, you should now be able to get it regardless of which ISP you're on. The same applies to the 3D content.

Still no Super HD on the Xbox 360 though, as it only offers 720p playback (sometimes at a low 1.8 Mbps). A 1080p Roku or even the $35 Chromecast (which does support Super HD) would be a better Netflix playback option than the Xbox 360 at the moment.

[drfsupercenter]

I just bought a Chromecast but haven't been able to get it to work on my laptop, only from my phone.

I ordered myself one of those wired LAN adapters for the Wii so I can hook it up to my Wii U. I did a speedtest and the Wi-Fi on that is going like 500kbps, despite me having a 50mbps Comcast plan (in comparison, my laptop gets 20mbps easily over Wi-Fi)

I'll have to try that out on my Wii U after I get it.

[admin]

I've been playing around with the Chromecast as well. Have you installed the Google Cast app for your Chrome browser? You only need to set up the Chromecast device once, so if you've already done so via your phone, you don't need to download and run the Chromecast set up app on your laptop (all you need is the Google Cast extension).

It's a shame that casting only works via Wi-Fi, not via LAN on the same network.

Have you tried Netflix via Chromecast? It should be pretty good (super HD and everything). The stream should come directly from Netflix/Google, not via your phone or casting device, so in that way, it works like any other Netflix playback device.

[drfsupercenter]

Yes, I have the Google Cast app. I actually set it up from my laptop, where it basically turned my laptop's wi-fi into its own hotspot (or subsequently, connected to the Chromecast which did the same thing)... and then it reconnected me to the Internet after it was set up. That setup app installed the Cast extension for me.

But weirdly it doesn't connect from there. I'm not sure why, I need to call Google about that sometime and figure it out.

So basically even though you use your phone/computer as a seek bar for the Chromecast, it loads the stream through its own connection?

I was able to try the Super HD thing from my Wii U at least, but it probably wasn't actually PLAYING in super HD since as I mentioned, the connection speed is awful right now. At least the option showed up.

[admin]

So basically even though you use your phone/computer as a seek bar for the Chromecast, it loads the stream through its own connection?

With Netflix, Google Play and YouTube, the content is loaded straight from the cloud (via your home Internet connection to the Chromecast's Wi-Fi), as opposed to being streamed from the controlling/casting device (unlike say Apple's AirPlay mirroring). This way, your controlling device will pretty much be idle when playing these content, as opposed to using up battery to stream content to the Chromecast device.