A Budget Home Theater & PC Setup: 4K, HDR, UHD Blu-ray, and More
by Ganesh T S on December 26, 2017 8:30 AM ESTNetflix Streaming
We have been using Netflix's El Fuente test clip to evaluate the Netflix streaming capabilities of various HTPCs. Though it does have 4K streams at bitrates of up to 16 Mbps, it doesn't have a HDR version. Our search for a suitable test stream ended with Season 4 Episode 4 of the Netflix Test Pattern series.
The TCL 55P607's Roku platform has a Netflix app. It was able to play the 16 Mbps 4K Dolby Vision version along with Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio that was sent back to the receiver using the ARC feature.
Netflix 4K Dolby Vision HDR Stream in the TCL 55P607
Note that the SMPTE text in the boxes are related to the HDR metadata. As we shall see further down, the non-HDR versions of the clip have blank white boxes in that space.
The NVIDIA SATV's Netflix app plays the HDR10 version of the clip, as evident from the stream information detected by the TV.
Netflix 4K HDR10 Stream in the NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV
Our test clip is not suitable for bringing out the advantages of dynamic metadata / Dolby Vision, but, suffice to say that the SATV's Netflix HDR capabilities are compatible with every HDR TV currently in the market.
On the PC front, we have Netflix's 4K HDR working with the natie Windows Store app as well as the Edge browser. We evaluated with the Windows Store app, and the HDR version played back in all three PCs.
Netflix 4K HDR10 Stream in the Windows 10 Netflix Store App
The Windows 10 Netflix playback provides extensive insight into the available streams as well as current playback status. Note the (hevc, hdr, prk) entry corresponding to the Video Track in the debug OSD, as well as the ST.2084 boxes. Playing back the same clip with the desktop in default non-HDR mode plays back the 16 Mbps 4K stream without HDR. Note that we only have (hevc) in the Video Track codec entry, and the ST.2084 boxes are completely blank.
Netflix 4K non-HDR Stream in the Windows 10 Netflix Store App
We also tracked the power consumption of the various playback devices while streaming the HDR version. Similar to the YouTube case, we graph the TCL 55P607 Roku app separately since it involves the display power consumption also.
| Netflix Streaming - Power Consumption | |||
Similar to the YouTube streaming case, we find that the most power efficient of the lot is the ASRock Beebox-S 7200U.
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Gasaraki88 - Wednesday, December 27, 2017 - link
You also obviously didn't read the title. It said 4K, HDR, UHD Blu-Ray. 1080p is not 4K nor HDR nor UHD-Bluray.You know what, you can say the TV is too expensive too. Get a 1080p 42" for $100. Get a old receiver for $150 that doesn't do Atmos. Get a cheap android tv box from China for $60. Too bad it can't do anything like the title said. You also wouldn't need a article at Anandtech because it doesn't even have a PC.
Bullwinkle-J-Moose - Thursday, December 28, 2017 - link
Gasaraki88You also obviously didn't read the title. It said......
"A Budget Home Theater & PC Setup:" then listed the authors requirements instead of mine
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StevoLincolnite - Wednesday, December 27, 2017 - link
If you want 4k blu-ray on a budget. The Xbox One S is it. It's not even up for debate.And if you get Kinect, you don't even need to use any kind of controller.
Gasaraki88 - Wednesday, December 27, 2017 - link
Stop looking at home theater articles if you are not looking to spend more than a $1000. You people just like complaining. Anandtech should just remove the comments section because it serves no purpose with these idiots around.Makaveli - Thursday, December 28, 2017 - link
wow so much anger. There is a lot of cheap people on this site. Have most of you complaining every been in an Audio video store??Most of you need to stick to using your XBox for your HT experience.
Cygni - Tuesday, December 26, 2017 - link
Don't take it personally, ddriver enjoys posting dumb histrionics on every single AT article. Dude is an absolute nutter.mr_tawan - Tuesday, December 26, 2017 - link
And he has so much free time to respond to every single article here. I wish I could have this much free time myself!lmcd - Tuesday, December 26, 2017 - link
Yea the dude has both time to post all his rubbish, and come back and search for replies in a comment system without notifications. That's dedication.Mo3tasm - Tuesday, December 26, 2017 - link
No seriously, this is a very bad comment system by all means, readability, comment organization, notifications, accounts etc.. I mean, it actually discourages one to write a comment. My free blog has a better one...ddrіver - Wednesday, December 27, 2017 - link
You have time to read AND reply to my comments. The difference is that you don't have anything to say and when you do it's either to insult someone else or to say something wrong.