So the best workaround that I've discovered is indeed to disable the Integrated Intel HD Graphics Display Adapter in Device Manager. You can then also set the Windows Taskbar to Auto-Hide to solve the issue of it not going away in Full Screen mode. Not ideal, but it's something - hopefully this is of use to some of you until we (maybe) get a proper fix!
Another potential workaround (according to that first link I added above) would be to use the USB-C port, along with a USB-HDMI adapter to get the external monitor to go through the Integrated Graphics instead. I don't have one of those adapters though, so I can't verify if that works.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is due to some type of DRM/Security that's been put in by Windows 10 to close-off the system so that they're allowed to present 1080p content. A bit like why we can't have 4K content on a PC. I think that in this instance though they've just been a tad over-aggressive in locking it down...
I would like to add that I also have the exact same issue with the Alienware 17 R3 using the HDMI output to an external monitor. In fact, I'm surprised this isn't more widely reported.
It seems like Netflix ties itself to one of the graphics cards only. So if Netflix is running through the integrate graphics then that's all it can output its video to. And, as you pointed out, Netflix is locked to the integrated graphics chip in the Nvidia control panel.
I was able to somewhat force it to work by disabling the Intel HD Graphics display adapter in Device Manager - essentially forcing Netflix to run through the Nvidia card. This allowed the video to show on the TV, but it doesn't really behave too nicely when done this way (taskbar won't go away for starters!)
I was trying to see if there was a way to instead have the HDMI output be through the integrated graphics instead, but couldn't see any such option to achieve this - looks like the HDMI goes directly into the Nvidia card, and bypasses the integrated graphics altogether, unless I'm missing something?
It really is a rather annoying issue because this is indeed the only way to get 1080p content. And for me, it's the only way for me to get 1080p content with surround sound (via my surround sound headphones) to my TV. So at the moment my options are to either use the Netflix app on my TV to get 1080p video with stereo audio, or use my laptop to get 720p video with 5.1 audio. Sigh...
Exact same issue with my 17 R3. Netflix app, and also Edge and Internet Exlorer browsers don't display video in second screen via HDMI, just audio and subtitles. It doesn't matter how the Nvidia control panel is configured. Firefox and Chrome work but at a maximum of 720p resolution.
Thanks for the reply. I'm also surprised it's not a more widely reported issue. I don't think it's actually just Netflix that's the issue. I think it's the entire Microsoft Edge platform that's the problem, which I believe the Netflix app in Windows 10 is using. Or at least whatever platform Microsoft Edge also uses.. but when you try and watch netflix.com.au via Microsoft Edge, the same issue occurs whereas it works fine in Internet Explorer.
I went with your fix of disabling the Intel HD Graphics adapter, and this has resolved the issue enough for me to use the Netflix app on my secondary monitor. I've had to enable auto-hide for the taskbar, but other than that no major issues have come up yet. I'm not fully aware of what impact disabling this adapter will have on any other applications or operations of my laptop, but I'm sure that there will be some, which is why I hope that they (Microsoft) fix this problem so we don't have to keep the adapter disabled.
I think this one is pretty much out of Dell's hands, as I don't think they could fix this even with a BIOS update that changed the behaviour of the graphics adapters at that level. I've submitted a bug to Netflix, but I don't even know whether they bother to read them. Maybe submitting something to Microsoft would be a better approach, as this would have to affect more customers as more and more people adopt Windows 10 with this sort of hardware configuration.
buddhacrane
2 Posts
1
June 10th, 2016 17:00
Also found some other threads about this issue:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/musicandvideo/forum/xboxvideo/why-wont-videos-play-on-my-tv-using-this-app-but/fad6d1e5-53d4-4fd9-b5ad-f14421b75f21
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3519/p/19667886/20897024#20897024
So the best workaround that I've discovered is indeed to disable the Integrated Intel HD Graphics Display Adapter in Device Manager. You can then also set the Windows Taskbar to Auto-Hide to solve the issue of it not going away in Full Screen mode. Not ideal, but it's something - hopefully this is of use to some of you until we (maybe) get a proper fix!
Another potential workaround (according to that first link I added above) would be to use the USB-C port, along with a USB-HDMI adapter to get the external monitor to go through the Integrated Graphics instead. I don't have one of those adapters though, so I can't verify if that works.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is due to some type of DRM/Security that's been put in by Windows 10 to close-off the system so that they're allowed to present 1080p content. A bit like why we can't have 4K content on a PC. I think that in this instance though they've just been a tad over-aggressive in locking it down...
buddhacrane
2 Posts
2
June 10th, 2016 17:00
I would like to add that I also have the exact same issue with the Alienware 17 R3 using the HDMI output to an external monitor. In fact, I'm surprised this isn't more widely reported.
It seems like Netflix ties itself to one of the graphics cards only. So if Netflix is running through the integrate graphics then that's all it can output its video to. And, as you pointed out, Netflix is locked to the integrated graphics chip in the Nvidia control panel.
I was able to somewhat force it to work by disabling the Intel HD Graphics display adapter in Device Manager - essentially forcing Netflix to run through the Nvidia card. This allowed the video to show on the TV, but it doesn't really behave too nicely when done this way (taskbar won't go away for starters!)
I was trying to see if there was a way to instead have the HDMI output be through the integrated graphics instead, but couldn't see any such option to achieve this - looks like the HDMI goes directly into the Nvidia card, and bypasses the integrated graphics altogether, unless I'm missing something?
It really is a rather annoying issue because this is indeed the only way to get 1080p content. And for me, it's the only way for me to get 1080p content with surround sound (via my surround sound headphones) to my TV. So at the moment my options are to either use the Netflix app on my TV to get 1080p video with stereo audio, or use my laptop to get 720p video with 5.1 audio. Sigh...
Mario_v
5 Posts
0
March 27th, 2016 12:00
Exact same issue with my 17 R3. Netflix app, and also Edge and Internet Exlorer browsers don't display video in second screen via HDMI, just audio and subtitles. It doesn't matter how the Nvidia control panel is configured. Firefox and Chrome work but at a maximum of 720p resolution.
razorwir3
1 Rookie
•
9 Posts
0
June 11th, 2016 22:00
Thanks for the reply. I'm also surprised it's not a more widely reported issue. I don't think it's actually just Netflix that's the issue. I think it's the entire Microsoft Edge platform that's the problem, which I believe the Netflix app in Windows 10 is using. Or at least whatever platform Microsoft Edge also uses.. but when you try and watch netflix.com.au via Microsoft Edge, the same issue occurs whereas it works fine in Internet Explorer.
I went with your fix of disabling the Intel HD Graphics adapter, and this has resolved the issue enough for me to use the Netflix app on my secondary monitor. I've had to enable auto-hide for the taskbar, but other than that no major issues have come up yet. I'm not fully aware of what impact disabling this adapter will have on any other applications or operations of my laptop, but I'm sure that there will be some, which is why I hope that they (Microsoft) fix this problem so we don't have to keep the adapter disabled.
I think this one is pretty much out of Dell's hands, as I don't think they could fix this even with a BIOS update that changed the behaviour of the graphics adapters at that level. I've submitted a bug to Netflix, but I don't even know whether they bother to read them. Maybe submitting something to Microsoft would be a better approach, as this would have to affect more customers as more and more people adopt Windows 10 with this sort of hardware configuration.