I’m buying a new Panasonic HC-WXF1 4K video camera for recording local jazz singers (one of my hobbies). But my 10-year-old PC isn’t going to handle that kind of processing. It already takes its sweet time doing regular HD video.
So I’m busy putting together the specs on my new system, with a hot new processor and 32GB of fast RAM. I’ve been looking at the ASRock X299 Taichi XE and the new Intel i9-7960 processor. That is, I was until a minute ago when I read that the latest greatest processor and the X299 chipset from Intel doesn’t support their own Intel SGX! SGX is yet another Digital Rights Management hoop that was added to the pile, and it is required for doing playback of 4K/UHD movies from BluRay, and may affect online streaming of 4K.
Ho-ly-shit. What were they thinking leaving that out of the chipset?! Additionally, the motherboard has to have SGX support built into the BIOS even of your processor (like the i7-7700K) supports it. Some boards apparently don’t have the available memory to store the SGX firmware, so consumers that bought these boards are out of luck. X299 used to support full playback, but then the manufacturers decided to add more DRM requirements, and that broke the ability of these motherboards to playback or view streaming 4K.
ASRock support says “Unfortunately, the Intel X299 CPU (Skylake-X + Kabylake-X) don’t support Intel SGX function.” (see review by Jeremy S.)
Yes, I can still edit my own video, as far as I know. But still, for Intel to be that out of touch with their own stuff is insane. Will SGX be required for receiving streaming 4K? Industry, MAKE IT EASIER ON CONSUMERS WHO PAY BIG BUCKS TO WATCH YOUR STUFF!
I’m happy to update if this information is not correct. It was shocking to read tonight on the Newegg review, and then other sites that confirmed it. I’m hoping it isn’t as nasty as it sounds right now. The flip side is that I’ve never bought a BluRay since my earlier experiences with DRM prevented me from viewing rented movies on a player that was a year old. Honestly, DRM is such a pain for consumers, and pirates get around it nearly as soon as a new kind is released. I wish the industry would quit punishing consumers with these hoops.
From other forums I saw this from an owner of :
“What it WONT play is:
4k Netflix streams
4k Amazon Prime video streams
4k BluRay disks.
What it will play:
Any 4k content with DRM removed. This is very simple.”
Monitors have to be HDCP 2.2 compliant (not just 2.0)
Apparently only Intel graphics chipsets are allowed to pass the signal due to Digital Rights Management. There is no intention or ability for motherboard makers to update the boards already sold that do not have SGX incorporated into the BIOS (and which were not designed with space to incorporate SGX).
To get 4k/60hz, you have to use a DisplayPort cable and have a monitor that accepts it, and a graphics card with that port. HDMI cable limits the output to 24Hz, at least on certain monitors (check specs).
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