Netflix to Offer 'Breaking Bad' in 4K in June

is there a demand for re-runs in 4K?

Who, with Netflix, hasn't seen Breaking Bad yet?
Who hasn't seen Breaking Bad?
Who has 4K UHD set and hasn't seen Breaking Bad?
Yeah, the bandwidth...

......I......I haven't seen Breaking Bad
But I don't have anything 4K so it doesn't even to me

Some of that desert scenery might be cool, but some NatGeo specials might be a better demo of the technology.

I still don't see the demand for 4k streaming to be as great as for less compressed HD.

I know I would rather have a 15Mbps 1080P regular HD stream than a 15Mbps 4K stream.

4K using H.265 might be OK at 15Mbps, better than most cable delivers, but not quite 1080 Blueray, which can do up to 40Mbps MPEG4. Google Fiber TV does over 15M/MPEG4, and Verizon FIOS might too.

Even if it does look okay, they should be trying to improve the experience for as many people as possible instead of the select few with a 4K TV. It's great that they want to be cutting-edge, but they are cutting edge to the point that no one cares. 4K is still extremely niche at this point.

This is similar to when Netflix jumped on the 3D train.

FIOS is MPEG-2. Google Fiber is really delivering 15mbps in MPEG-4?!?!?! Typically MPEG-4 would be 9mbps or under, typically 6-8mbps.

I don't know if confirmed by Google but a user in the Google product forums saw MPEG4 packets with Google TV box connected to an advanced router (pfSense). Google did confirm HD channels are at least 15Mbps, which was also measurable on router. A rep told me they don't compress any further than original content provider feeds - while just a rep, looks to be likely.

do you have a link to that post?

»productforums.google.com ··· zs2dYQVc

That's awesome. Makes me really want google fiber.

HOLY **** that's awesome. Those are bit for bit C-band feeds! ESPN must look insane!

I get abunch of channels on FiOS that use H.264/MPEG4. There is one that FiOS is sending as H.264 at over 18mb/s for some reason. I think it's Pivot TV. Or something like that.

Yeah, that's a good point, there are some super obscure channels on the really expensive package that they moved over to MPEG-4 (like the .TVs). Any channel that anyone has ever heard of is MPEG-2 though.

That's nuts. Must be place-holding for something else to get mux'ed in. Under FIOS's system, wouldn't they normally put 4 MPEG-4 HD's per QAM, in keeping with 2 MPEG-2 HD's per QAM? Comcast will probably try to do 6 HD's per QAM when they go MPEG-4, although it would be nice if they stick to 5, as I think they could pull off really nice quality with 5.

Agreed, I'd much rather have 15 mbps 1080P, and most users would benefit from that much more as 4K TV's haven't really taken off.

This is about checking off a box on features.
Look we have 4K video, ignore the fact that it's very heavily compressed.
Unfortunately PQ is not the goal here.
the fact that their is very few 4K users also helps as this way they don't have to deliver many of these 15mbps streams.
It would cost them a lot more to provide 15Mbps 1080p streams as more users would be able to use them.

You realize we'll be using h.265 as the codec right? You would be very surprised how low the bitrate can be when using the right encoder. A 1080p x264 encoded file looks nearly identical to the source bluray at about 10-12 mbps.
Assuming that h.265 really is twice as efficient, we'll eventually have encoders that can deliver quality 4k at very low bitrates.
I remember reading somewhere that a 1080p file encoded in h.265 can look very good at even 3mbps. (need to see this for myself...)

The only limitation here is the mediocrity of our ISP's. by the time 4k TV's cost the same as 1080p TV's cost now, we should have a 4x faster internet. But, we all know that even though the technology to get there is available, it's quite another thing to have our shitty ISP's to actually implement the technology.

Anyway, we'll be swimming in 4k content in just a few years. Technology advancements have made it possible, everything new is now shot in 4k, TV's are available, Projectors are available (and will hopefully come down in price soon, since projection is the best way to take advantage of that resolution) and h.265 is now available.
Even cheap telephones can now record and playback 4k.

Also, you have to remember this is Netflix we're talking about... There is nothing preventing them from offering multiple bitrates for the same resolution if the client's internet can handle the extra bitrate.

demand or not, 4k should proliferate faster than bluray ever did, for the simple reason that all that needs to happen is to have a streaming service that has 4k available to people that can actually stream it. So in places where decent internet is available, in just a few short years it any cheap 4k tv will be able to stream in 4k.

So instead of paying for BD drives and disks, we'll be paying for 4kTV's and bandwidth, in order to bring 4K to the average home.
And yes I see the name brand 4k tv at $3000 and up (we'll assume less than a 50" is kind of pointless) Yet you blame the ISP's for wanting the end users to pay for the plant upgrade (specifically charging overages for those using this new high level of usage to view 4K (among other high bandwidth uses)

it'll be so bitstarved it'll be unwatchable. * y a w n *

I have Netflix and haven't watched Breaking Bad yet. We do plan on marathoning it at some point.

fantastic series ... best TV I ever watched

Me on the first three counts.

It would be nice to have the option to force the client to receive the data in 4k and have it resized to 1080p for higher quality on HDTVs.

if its even good 4K, or they let it go on anything less than the windows 8 app.

I'm interestedI have Netflix and I haven't seen Breaking Bad.Haven't seen Mad Men either. I'm sure I could name all the recent hit tv shows that I don't or haven't watched. I have 2 DVR's in the house too, but I just don't normally have the time to watch/manage shows traditionally. Both DVR's are filled with everyone else's shows most of the time so I usually don't even bother.

The most recent series I've seen is The Office on Netflix, and I binged through all the seasons during Christmas break with my kids.I've been planning on starting Breaking Bad sometime during the summer, and I just happened to be thinking about picking up a 50" 4K Seiki.I have Verizon FiOS...

What a Bad, Bad, Bad choice....

quote:

---

users will need at least 15 Mbps, though would "be fine" with a 50 Mbps line

---

That is a lot of overhead! You would be "fine" with a 50 Mbps connection to watch a 15 Mbps stream?

Say you have a #basic package?
FiOS's 15/5 or TWC's 10/1
What'll you do? Watch 4K video and that's it

Twc does not have 10/1.

They ofically will have from 3/1 to 10/1.

As of now there reallt isn't 10/1

Maybe they meant 150MB/s soo only google fiber users and Comast Blast customers.

This 4k streaming will die before it really gets started due to the caps and speeds in this country... Not enough people with "true" broadband to sustain it .. They should just save their money for lobbying like ATT/Verizon/Comcast does.. Its their only way to survive with this crappy FCC we have now.

When I did the Netflix free trial a few months ago, I got buffering on the standard def streams. Cancelled before I was billed as a result. Will probably subscribe if I ever get something better than 6Mbps DSL.

Am I really the only one who is excited to see a company pushing forward with the "next big thing"? Some of these responses sound like cable company excuses. Just replace 4k with gigabit connections and you will see what I mean...

Keep pushing the envelope Netflix, I appreciate it even though I do not have a TV to watch it on yet...

Maybe netflix should sell 4k tvs, or maybe rent them, or sell them like they do cell phones when you get the 2 year plan..

Not kidding.

Shouldn't they try to get regular HD or even SD to work at least before trying for a pie in the sky thing like 4K that nobody can use? Regular SD won't even work here on Century Link DSL without buffering all the time, they should try fixing that!

I think you mean Century Link should fix the issue not Netflix. Also if you DSL is only 6 Mbps( which you would never actually achieve in real life ) then don't expect to stream HD which is 5800 kbps. Even SD would be an issue if your DSL is closer to 3 Mbps

I think you guys have to wake up to the sad truth, Streaming Video is here to stay and not only in 4K but look out for 8K. People will need a Provider with Fiber, and your home has to have Structured Wire to feed that Big UHDTV.

O thee of little faith. This is why Pay to Play has the ISP's salivating. Once ISP's can concretely monetize faster speeds, services like Netflix will automatically run 4K with all the bandwidth they want as long as they pay for it. Much like Xfinity on Xbox doesn't count against your cap why would this? If anything ,once FCC gives Comcast a new revenue stream they'll be the first ones reporting about Netflix needing to offer full 50 meg 4K and not throttling the picture quality for their customers.

Xfinity on Xbox doesn't count because it's using the same infrastructure as the cable TV. Cable TV signals are digital. Your cable company has never charged you for all that digital signal being used for TV have they? A digital HD signal uses 8 GB an hour.

What? Using the same infrastucture? Yes just like the internet channels your modem is pulling is also using at base the same infrastructure. The Xfinity app on Xbox works just like a Netflix with On Demand content dependent on your subscription. My point was why would Comcast not simply run Netflix the same as your Xfinity app. By the way, no way does the Xfinity app do 8GB/hour, that would be an insanely gorgeous picture and sound. Anyone ever track that? I just feel that's over Super HD and Comcast only does 1080i max on their On Demand.

How about raise the bit rate a bit for "super HD" to 15mbs at lest and make 4k 50mbs min bit rate. Also I would like to see far more than just a hand full of shows/movies in 4k so that just maybe a 4k tv would be worth it on the streaming front. (Still I would want disk based content, but this would help a lot)

Lastly make a good or bring back a good Sy-Fi show in place of this "modern" tv crap like breaking bad. I would like to see the outer limits come back again my self.