I've given up on 4K and HDR with Netflix. It's just too much hassle trying to keep straight which platforms they support which features on in addition to making device purchasing choices that are least likely to fuck me when someone decides it doesn't support a fancy-enough DRM scheme or even isn't worth maintaining support for at all. Buy a streaming box, Netflix drops support. Buy a smart TV, Netflix drops support. I watch my background noise shows on Netflix but if there's a viewing experience I actually care about I download it.
They will soon enough. I was unlucky enough to own both a Roku XD and a Vizio TV they dropped support for. Why should I have any faith at all they won't decide to sunset everything on the market today after 8K gets popular?
The whole proposition by Netflix is hilarious. "Hey, everyone's at home now, so enjoy your SD kthx".
If I pay for HD I expect HD, if I pay for 4k, I expect 4k. I should be able to play 4K on any device I like, even if it doesn't work properly (as I can do by downloading the MKV).
Dumb Rights Management is and has always been a failure. I expect this anime to be on torrent sites shortly. All digital media goes onto torrents, and there's very little evidence to suggest DRM 'works', it only frustrates legitimate paying consumers (and makes consumers like me put off entirely).
Maybe in some decade we'll get an actual competitor to that offered elsewhere. Mean while, I'll enjoy all the 4k/HD content I desire, without any hassle or throttling, and BS management decisions at the cost of my internet connection.
Now that's a good deal - how close can Netflix get, so far, not close enough.
Netflix hasn't lowered resolutions, they have only reduced the bitrates at the same resolution. I'm still getting my Netflix in 4K HDR, but at ~10Mbps instead of the usual ~16Mbps. You can see it a little, but it doesn't bother me (and I'm a quality nerd).