> Is watching Netflix at 1080p or more a power user feature? Because currently that's heavily restricted by DRM. Not possible on any open-source operating system, restricted to a few browsers on Mac and Windows.

Consuming content anything else than the mainstream browsers on anything else than the mainstream operating systems or devices is definitely a power user feature, yes.

I guess Google Chrome on Windows must be a niche thing then. Because that only gets 720p.

> Not possible on any open-source operating system

So where do you get more than 720p if you don't get it neither on open source operating systems nor on Chrome on Windows? If you get 720p max everywhere, why do you think this has anything to do with DRM?

You do get better quality, but only if your system has an OS-level DRM implementation and the browser uses it. This is the case for IE Edge on recent Windows, but not much else.

Chrome on Windows uses its own Widevine DRM implementation instead of the OS-integrated one.

This shitshow is referred to as "robustness requirements" and Netflix apparently agreed to serve high-resolution video only to DRM implementations of certain "robustness" level (OS-integrated DRM with video drivers that co-conspire in enforcing restrictions on the actual device owner).

All this complexity to protect the content and yet there isn't a movie or TV show out there you can't find in crisp 1080p on Usenet or torrent sites with one quick search.

That's the maddening part that's driving me away from Netflix and similar services. I am completely willing to a pay reasonable sum for content, and the current batch of media providers do a tolerable job, but limiting the image quality because my computer is too free is just silly.

I can get the exact same episode or film — in any resolution — on my HTPC in five minutes, DRM free, by breaking the rules.

Netflix's Windows Store app doesn't have the 720p limitation. I think it may just be a thin shell around Edge, but I'm not 100% sure. It definitely has to do with DRM.

You can see the system requirements here:

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/23742

1080p is available on Explorer/Windows and Safari/OSX. 4K is available on Edge/Windows with HDCP 2.2 and "Intel's 7th generation Core CPU".

On televisions. Most 4k TVs and the increasingly common 4k streaming boxes support 4k playback for the major services that offer it (basically Netflix and Amazon AFAIK).

I don't know if this has much to do with DRM, or if it's just a matter of supporting HEVC.