Question about Windows firewall and edge chromium

I'm running Windows 10_19041_331_pro_en_us_x64 with the latest edge chromium. I noticed that I can't run netflix through my browser at 1080p if Windows Firewall is disabled(I use my own firewall). Does anyone know if there is a workaround for that problem other than turning on the firewall which I've never used in any of my Windows installs? BTW I can run netflix at 1080p using the netflix app but the web interface for netflix is way better through my browser.

I wouldn't suspect it would be a firewall issue. Firewall works by simply filtering traffic based on specific rules. If your firewall is set to allow connections through your browser application then so long as connections are coming through on the known ports ie 80 and 443 there should be no issue. These are the ports data comes and goes when you're browsing the web. So long as these are open and applications can connect out on these ports there shouldn't an issue. There is no magic going on when firewall is running all it is doing is saying 'YES' and 'NO' to particular connections incoming and outgoing from your computer.
If you block, say, port 143 (port number for IMAP/email) the firewall will just refuse anything that attempts to use this port number for communications. That's it. You can go further and refine rules to a fairly complex degree but ultimately all you are doing is telling the firewall what can and what cannot be sent out and received to/from your computer.

There is a lot going on in the browser market at the moment with lots of moves being made to ensure browers dominate the others out there. This often leads to bold decisions to leave out or sometimes change how browsers work. All this is doing is giving more power and freedom to the developers who want to be seen as the big power movers to push the direction of how browsers work so that they can in turn attract more users. In the process everything people use has to somehow adapt to these changes. This sometimes means bypassing these new features and/or implementing quick fixes to override the new changes being made, like how Firefox recently prevented their Lockwise users from exporting their data stored in their personal vaults. You can export the data but Lockwise nor Firefox provides you with that solution openly. This is an example of the shady tactics browser developers are adopting in order to prevent users from leaving the confides of the software they develop.

From what I've read since Microsoft moved to basing their browser on Chromium they have made changes which affects how the browser works, including how videos are played. This makes sense because browsers use certain features to load content for the user. When you change the engine you also change how this content is loaded depending on how you choose to move forward with the different features. Edge and Edge Chromium are two different beasts. Just like Mac OS and Windows.
Just a quick search provides enough evidence to suggest this is a pretty common issue with the Edge Chromium browser. I've seen quite a few support queries raised on Microsoft own community support website (here) and (here).

From what I can see it's something to do with HEVC and PlayReady DRM. Have you looked into this? These are, as far as I'm aware, features that enable media content to play in the browser. As far as I can see Edge Chromium is the only browser that is able to play upto 4K resolution and so 1080p shouldn't be an issue.

Thats interesting info you gave me but I can enable the firewall, start edge, go to netflix, play something and its 1080p. I can disable the firewall and repeat the same steps and all I get is 720p. I did that cycle 3 times with no differenc (720p without firewall--1080p with firewall.

TL;DR
Strange. Can you see the rules set for Edge? Can you replicate them in your third party firewall? It might be the case that you're looking at security policies that are automatically configured for you with Windows Firewall but might not be with your firewall. So you'll need to 'migrate' whatever is being set in Windows Firewall over to your own firewall solution. Just take a look at the rules and see what's going on there.

Fairly annoying a Microsoft product is 'required' for you to then use another Microsoft product in order to then watch Netflix. Also should be ringing alarm bells seeing as you shouldn't NEED to enable Windows Firewall to begin with. This is slowly becoming a sad reality when it comes down to computing. More and more people are being pushed into jumping through hoops in order to continue enjoying things that were once more open and less restricted. Transparency is slowly becoming a luxury. We have Android smartphones dominating the market that require Google system apps in order to enjoy the functionality everyone is used to, just as one example. Remove them and 90% of the functionality everyone is used to disappears. Enable them and your system is bloated by the endless stuff you don't and never will need, also the tracking Google are known for too, comes along for the ride. So you're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

In my opinion I would port over to another browser which doesn't make it so difficult to enjoy Netflix. I can't personally comment on whether other browsers are any different as I don't have Netflix (I'm not a fan of them having an endless record of what you watch, when, what devices you use, where you watch stuff etc - abit like Audible and other likeminded software that tracks so much of what you do despite appearing as innocuous software - I'm okay for someone knowing when I turn a page and when I'm likely to read a book). That being said it might be better to see how other browsers function. You will likely be limited however as it seems Microsoft have a deal with Netflix to offer 4K resolution in their Edge Chromium browser. Apparently all other browsers have a maximum of 720p. Those that offer HD may not offer 'true' HD ie the actual screen resolution HD is provided at; 1920x1080. I can't see this affecting watching Netflix through other mediums like the Netflix Windows app, or their own client (if there is one) downloaded from their official website. Again, these sorts of things are becoming more common. You might just have to make an informed decision and do what works best for you or otherwise go elsewhere.

In the future you'll likely be pushed into using specific apps and 'abiding' by specific 'rules' in order to use software. Already these apps are coming baked into operating systems and modern technology. It won't be long before you'll need whatever comes shipped with Netflix in order to use it. Or otherwise be restricted. It's sadly just a tactic to get their products into the homes and lives of everybody. And the browser market is doing just the same thing only they are restricting their users from making drastic changes that otherwise might influence them to leave and choose another browser. 4K resolution only being available for Edge pretty much proves my point. You want 4K? You'll have to use Edge. Don't like Edge? Sorry but you're not getting 4K, at least in the browser anyway.

The only thing I can think of to do is to completely disable windows firewall through the group policy editor and leave the service running. Even with the firewall disabled I still get 1080p on netflix in edge chromium. Its only when i stop the service that it drops to 720p. So I can probably live with the service running for no apparent reason other than to allow netflix 1080p in edge lol. Btw I tried removing all inbound and outbound rules in windows firewall and edge played netflix in 1080p. So I don't think its some rule. I'm no expert but maybe it has something to do with the windows defender firewall authorization driver which the firewall depends on.

Comodo is the firewall I've used for as long as I can remember best IMHO. I don't have a problem playing 1080p or 4k on a software player. As far as another browser---I'd rather not switch form google chrome which btw does do 1080p. Edge is a variant of google chrome so that's about as far as I'll go (don't really like firefox for some reason). I'll just have to live with this.

intro said:

Comodo is the firewall I've used for as long as I can remember best IMHO. I don't have a problem playing 1080p or 4k on a software player. As far as another browser---I'd rather not switch form google chrome which btw does do 1080p. Edge is a variant of google chrome so that's about as far as I'll go (don't really like firefox for some reason). I'll just have to live with this.

Can you tell me what rules/policies have been set for Microsoft Edge? Like I said in my previous reply you may have to just emulate whatever Windows is doing to allow Edge to allow for 1080p, if that is the issue. It could be possible as security policies do come with features like this. Microsoft are making a lot of changes to their browser and this has been in the pipeline or a number of years. Don't be surprised if there is not yet 100% support and/or flexibility. This is among the reasons I mentioned checking other browsers to see if this issue persists across different ones.

Have you also tried navigating to edge://flags?
If you haven't type in PlayReady and then ensure these are enabled;

Code:

PlayReady DRM for Windows 10
PlayReady Experimental HEVC Decoding