4K TV is here. Sort of. Netflix is now streaming the second season of House of Cards and some nature documentaries in 4K/Ultra HD format. But of course, your TV has to support the higher resolution to take advantage of the extra pixel count.
Programs available for viewing in 4K will appear with the Ultra HD 4K label. Netflix confirmed to Multichannel News that the company is now streaming some titles in the higher resolution. Currently, Netflix is limiting 4k streaming to only TVs with Netflix and HEVC/H.265 decoding capabilities built in.
HDTVtest.com notes that the higher resolution stream really shines with “bright, colorful scenes” adding that the images were “rendered with greater sharpness and smoother gradients.”
Still, the bitrate of these streams are only around 15 Mbps so while the picture will be superior to HD Netflix, this flavor of 4K is not a true demonstration of the higher resolution. HDTVtest.com adds that to their trained eyes, some Blu-ray titles still offer a cleaner image.
The best is yet to come.