Got a brand-new HDR monitor? Now you can watch Netflix in HDR on Windows 10

By Kris Wouk December 22, 2017

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If you’ve recently found yourself the owner of a shiny new HDR monitor, but find that outside of a few games, there’s not much you can use those high dynamic range capabilities for, you’re in luck. On Thursday, December 21, Netflix announced that its entire library of HDR-enabled content can now be viewed on Windows 10.

Despite only introducing HDR last year, Netflix now has over 200 hours of HDR content available. This includes hit series like Stranger Things, the documentary Chef’s Table, and the upcoming movie Bright, starring Will Smith.

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Of course, to be able to watch in HDR on your PC, you’ll need to make sure it meets the system requirements. To start, you’ll need to be running Windows 10’s Fall Creator’s Update, and of course you’ll need a monitor compatible with the HDR10 standard that Netflix uses.

Then you’ll need to check your hardware: Intel seventh-generation and later Core processors are required, and you’ll either need to use the integrated graphics, or a GPU that supports HDR like the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 and up. Unfortunately, at least for the time being, AMD graphics aren’t supported.

You won’t be able to watch in Chrome or Firefox, either. In order to view HDR content on Netflix, you’ll either need to use the Netflix Windows 10 app or Microsoft’s Edge browser. You probably wouldn’t want to be watching in a different browser anyway, since Chrome and Firefox still only display Netflix in 720p.

We’re still in the early days of HDR on PCs, so you’ll need to keep that in mind. While Windows 10 supports HDR, it can be finicky, and you’ll likely find yourself manually turning it on for Netflix or games, and leaving it turned off the rest of the time.

HDR monitors are also still fairly new, and there aren’t many of them available yet. Even those that are currently available have their issues. Of course, as time moves forward, both the hardware and software will get better, and we’re sure we’ll see plenty of impressive new HDR monitors at CES next month.

In the meantime, for more information on what you need to get started watching Netflix in HDR on Windows 10, check the Netflix help center.

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