Netflix 4k licence for Star Trek Discovery

juno_first · 3 Oct 2017 at 20:42

Last week on 25th Sep. Star Trek Discovery Premierd in 4k HDR/DV in the UK.
This week on 2nd Oct it's limited to 1080p HDR/DV.
I called Netflix & they said they don't have a licence to stream the Netflix show in 4k, something about the producers & they didn't know when they can get a 4k license.

Does anyone know when Netflix will allow the UK to watch this in 4k again?

Is it in 4k in the US & if so would a VPN work? Anyone know a VPN that works

CraigN · 3 Oct 2017 at 21:13

It is not on Netflix in the US. It is a CBS show that is licenced to Netflix for regions outside of the US and Canada

juno_first · 3 Oct 2017 at 21:28

Ouch, that sucks for the Yanks. Thx
Wonder why CBS stopped Netflix showing it the World in 4k.

barmyllama · 4 Oct 2017 at 15:31

So they can sell it again exclusively on UHD Blu-ray probably.

james.miller · 4 Oct 2017 at 16:00

was it 4k? pretty sure it was 1080p HDR.

Captain · 4 Oct 2017 at 17:32

james.miller said:
was it 4k? pretty sure it was 1080p HDR.

Yeah it was ultra hd HDR, now just says HDR.

james.miller · 4 Oct 2017 at 17:43

I dont think it was? Plenty of people on the net complaining about the lack of 4k on netflix. nobody noticed it was 4k in the thread here but a few noticed it wasnt...

juno_first · 4 Oct 2017 at 18:59

Yeah the first 2 episodes were deffo in 4k.
Watched ep3 last night & the difference was very noticeable. The space in the space scenes was dark grey instead of black like it was last week even though it's still DV. I tried turning down the brightness but it just made everything else too dark... why would they reduce the colour gamut but still output as DV?
Some scenes looked to be at 720p as the difference in quality was so much, especially the dark scenes... It don't help the show seems to have been made for HDR/DV.

I can't watch anymore episodes like this, it's as bad as my neighbours kodi box.
We're not allowed CBS 4k DV in the UK & Netflix won't allow us to watch it in 4k. It's not on Sky.

Ive seriously gone off Netflix now so will wait a few years until it's on terrestrial 4k HLG lol.

ElliorR · 4 Oct 2017 at 19:34

I saw them the day they released and it never said 4k for me. It did say hdr but I checked the info box thing and it only ever said 1080 as the resolution.

theone8181 · 5 Oct 2017 at 07:44

Ive not started watching this yet, however i thought netflix only did HDR if it was a 4k programme i.e. if its not HDR but 4K it says '4K' and if its got HDR it just says 'HDR'. I will look tonight, ive been holding off watching it till theyre all released. I also thought it was a netflix only show so they could do what they want with it. Is it as good as it looks from the trailers, ive been building myself up to watching TNG, DS9, voyager and enterprise.

james.miller · 5 Oct 2017 at 08:32

no, 1080p HDR is an option as well.

All i know is, lots of people say they couldnt see a 4k option (when it was first broadcast) and netflix themselves have said they didnt have a licence to broadcast it in 4k.

The original high bitrate stream was broken, it caused HDR devices to switch between SDR and HDR, flipping between dull and overbright. That stream from what i can tell has been removed and now people are reporting that the sdr/hdr issue is fixed but the picture is blurry. I think there's an issue with what stream is being selected because i can choose the highest bitrate stream using edge browser on the pc and it's not blurry.

I also thought it was a netflix only show so they could do what they want with it.

It's not, it's a CBS/Netflix venture. Netflix own the rights to broadcast outside the US and Canada, CBS broadcasts inside. Both of them are 1080p max. I guess that's so they can hold back on 4k and milk some more profit from it. Apparently CBS doesnt broadcast anything in 4k, so maybe they are worried about loosing out if netflix were allowed to broadcast Discovery in 4k? who knows.

TheMightyTen · 5 Oct 2017 at 08:43

Oddly, as I understand it, with transmitted HDR material that Netflix and Amazon (and 4k HDR Bluray) put out are supposed to use the colorspace rec. 2020, the problem with 1080p transmissions is that it breaks the standards since rec. 2020 only defines 4K and 8K resolutions, it won't be until we see implementations of rec. 2100 that 1080p is within standards.

VincentHanna · 5 Oct 2017 at 11:52

To be honest I didn't notice it wasn't 4K, and I have a 65" OLED.

It was broadcast in Dolby Vision on Netflix though, and I could see that was definitely the case. The boosters on her jumpsuit looked really bright at one point.

andicole0 · 5 Oct 2017 at 12:00

Glad I didn't pay Netflix and will wait for the Dvd/Blu Ray.
Andi.

VincentHanna · 5 Oct 2017 at 13:03

Well the DVD would be massively lower in resolution and the Blu-ray would be the same resolution without HDR (but a higher bit-rate).

So not really much better really.

juno_first · 5 Oct 2017 at 13:28

This all makes sense now as to why the pic quality was better the first 2 episodes last week & why now all 3 episodes are blurred & lacking colour range (space not black).

1080p can work in HDR as I tested that on Amazon a year ago by restricting the bandwidth.

Hopefully Netflix can sort it out so HDR works properly for those with a HDR TV & still maintain the much better quality as it was on the 25th Sep. App updates?

The app on LG E6 was ok last week.

Chris1712 · 5 Oct 2017 at 13:52

I'm not sure the first 2 were in 4k, there aren't any 2160p scene rips and there certainly would be.

TALON1973 · 5 Oct 2017 at 21:04

The first 2 episodes were not 4k. Just had hdr. Watched it within hours of it being available

theone8181 · 6 Oct 2017 at 07:40

I had a quick look last night and i see what you mean. It must be the only netflix program thats HDR but not 4K which is why im surprised.

Captain · 6 Oct 2017 at 17:10

theone8181 said:
I had a quick look last night and i see what you mean. It must be the only netflix program thats HDR but not 4K which is why im surprised.

There’s loads that are just HDR and not 4K.