Playing UHD Content From VUDU, Netflix, and Prime

@davidmp  Have you confirmed that those sources will provide UHD streams to PCs?  Some providers only provide UHD and/or HDR versions of their content to specific smart TVs and streaming boxes, and will not provide them to PCs even if the PC supports UHD and/or HDR.  In other cases you need to be using a specific browser or sometimes even the Windows app for that service.  And I don't know about the other providers, but on Netflix you also need to have a specific subscription level to stream UHD at all.  Netlfix also requires you to be using either Microsoft Edge (unclear whether that's the original outgoing Edge version or the new Edge Chromium) or their Windows 10 app, as documented on their Help site here.  I would suggest doing some research into help resources available for the other providers as well.

Hi and thanks for your reply.  VUDU has disabled PC 4K/UHD to work on some issues. We do not have the upgrade UHD Netflix and I only mentioned it in case someone has settings to share. I am using MS Edge which is supposed to support 4K/UHD I just want to test the system to make sure it will actually run 4K / UHD content.  I had several other systems that were 4K / UHD capable and they would not run this content even though they should and VUDU confirmed they would as well.  

Is there some content I can get to check the system for 4K / UHD without having to subscribe?

Thanks again... 

@davidmp  YouTube has some 4K content (and even some 8K content for that matter), as does Vimeo, but if the issues you had before were related to playing copy protected media, then that wouldn't be a good test.  UHD Blu-ray discs if you have an external drive are particularly challenging to play because they require your system firmware, drivers, and OS to support a laundry list of copy protection schemes.  4K streaming should be somewhat easier so long as you're using the applications/browsers supported by the content provider.

What were the issues you had with previous systems when you said they would not run the content?  What did they do instead?  Throw an error?  Only stream lower quality?

There is a lot more involved with HDCP UHD content than Just INTEL HD Graphics.

Playback of premium DRM-protected content on a laptop or desktop computer involves secure handling of the content through the entire pipeline of media decoding, processing and displaying the content. This requires additional SW/FW ingredients like, Intel ME FW and MEI driver to be present on the Intel graphics platform to ensure end-to-end protection. For displaying premium content over digital ports, HDCP2.2 support is required, which is available on supported Intel graphics platforms natively on DP and via LSPCON on HDMI.

UHD requires a blueray player
Ultra HD Blu-ray requires an UltraHD BluRay optical drive and a supported UHD-BD player application. Another security feature required for UHD-Bluray is SGX.

Saying you can stream UHD 4k 60hz from anywhere with only INTEL HD Graphics is disingenous at best.

Especially since you dont mention ISP speed or bandwith and data caps.

These are the recommended internet connection speeds to stream movies on Vudu:

1.0 Mb/s for standard definition video.
4.5 Mb/s for full high definition 1080p resolution video and high definition audio. (Vudu uses proprietary technology called HDX.)
11 Mb/s or more for 4K streaming with access to Dolby Vision HDR.

Hulu

These are the recommended internet connection speeds to stream video content on Hulu:

3.0 Mb/s for Hulu streaming library.
8.0 Mb/s for live streams.
16 Mb/s for 4K Ultra HD videos.

Amazon Video

These are the recommended internet connection speeds to stream movies and TV shows on Amazon Video:

3.0 Mb/s to stream standard definition content.
5.0 Mb/s to stream HD content (720p and 1080p).
25 Mb/s for 4K Ultra HD videos.

YouTube TV

These are the recommended internet connection speeds to stream videos on YouTube:

3.0 Mb/s to stream SD content.
7.0 Mb/s to stream 1080p HD content.
13 Mb/s to stream 1080p HD content with other devices streaming on the same network.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GGGRWNX/

its available on mine  but i have an actual gpu not intel hd graphics

Netflix uses about  3GB per hour for HD content.

Amazon Prime uses  6.84 GB per hour  for the "Best" video setting

Intel HD Graphics has had hardware decoding support for 4K HDR content since the Core 7th Gen CPUs.  Here is Intel's white paper about it.

Streaming "Ultra High Definition" resolution (3840 by 2160 pixels) instead  HD (1920 by 1080 pixels).

Amazon recommends 15 megabits per second , while Netflix advises 25 megabits per second.

Netflix estimates 7 gigabytes per hour which sounds very similar to amazons 6.84 gigabytes per hour.

That is five times the bandwidth the company recommends for HD.

wifi speed needed

Keep in mind that routers can usually only stream to 1 client at once.

Only Tri band MIMO AC routers can do 2 or more simultaneously.

So for best results you will want a wired connection or a 5ghz

wifi connection bare minimum.  Aka AC600 usb wifi with 802.11ac tri band router.

802.11b: 11 Megabits per second = 1.375 Megabytes per second
802.11g: 54 Megabits per second = 6.75 Megabytes per second
802.11n: 300 Megabits per second = 37.5 Megabytes per second
802.11ac: 450 Megabits per second = 56.25 Megabytes per second

Maximum Wi-Fi speeds of 150Mbps (2.4GHz) or 433Mbps (5GHz)

https://www.edimax.com/edimax/merchandise/merchandise_detail/data/edimax/au/wireless_adapters_ac600_dual-band/ew-7811utc

Yes, there are additional requirements beyond just having the GPU like those requirements you copy/pasted from the white paper I linked.  The drivers would be standard.  And the HDCP requirements would apply even when using a non-Intel GPU.

The OP never said anything at all about UHD Blu-ray, so I'm not sure why you felt the need to bring it up.

I didn't say you could stream 4K 60 Hz anywhere with only Intel HD Graphics.  I said that Intel HD Graphics had hardware decoding for 4K HDR video since Core 7th Gen.  The reason I said that was because your initial post specifically made a distinction between Intel HD Graphics and a non-Intel GPU, and that isn't necessarily relevant here.  Don't call me disingenuous for saying something I didn't actually say.

Yes, there are also bandwidth requirements.  I'm not sure why you've felt the need to say that in 3 separate posts, though.  But then I'm also not sure why, once again, you felt the need to post in a thread where the OP had already marked an accepted solution before you got here.

And fyi, Amazon Prime still does not support 4K streaming on PCs at all.  As of this writing, Amazon simply won't supply that quality to the PC even if it meets all other requirements for playing 4K.  Yes, you can choose a UHD title like the one you linked, and it will play, but it won't play at 4K/UHD resolution.  There are multiple complaints about Amazon not supporting 4K streaming, as I already said here before you arrived.

If you want to keep insisting that you can get UHD, please upload a screenshot of you streaming an Amazon Prime title within a Windows-based browser where the player actually shows "UHD" in the lower-left corner rather than just "HD".