4K on Its Way: Ultra HD Hardware and Content Take Off

21 Dec, 2015 By: Stephanie Prange

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This holiday season 4K Ultra HD TVs have dominated the electronics sections at major retailers with prices more consumer friendly than ever before — and Hollywood is readying content to feed those new TVs.

The format offers four times the resolution of HD and includes the option of high dynamic range (HDR), which produces brilliant highlights, vibrant colors and greater contrast on compatible displays. Consumer enthusiasts consider HDR a game-changer, and Geoffrey A. Fowler of The Wall Street Journal called it “the best argument in years to upgrade your set.”

Sales of 4K TVs — which observers say are hitting the market at a faster pace than HDTVs did — were up 494% in the third quarter with nearly 2 million sets sold year to date, according to data from DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group. There are 2.8 million U.S. households that have a 4K Ultra HD TV, the DEG reported. And that growth is expected to continue, according to research firm IHS, which projects 4K Ultra HD TV household penetration in the United States will reach 34% in 2019.

It was a busy summer and fall for the format. The Blu-ray Disc Association, after announcing specs for 4K Blu-ray in May, started licensing in August. Then, 4K got a big boost Sept. 3 in Berlin at the IFA conference when Samsung announced the first Ultra HD Blu-ray player and 20th Century Fox president Mike Dunn announced plans for the industry’s first 4K UHD Blu-ray releases, including Kingsman: The Secret Service, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Life of Pi and Fantastic Four, as well as upcoming new releases. The Samsung player, expected to launch in early 2016, quickly made many “best of” lists.

Meanwhile, the DEG in November unveiled artwork and other design elements for UHD Blu-ray packaging, featuring a carbonized black color with metallic silver text and logo, helping to differentiate UHD Blu-rays.

“Seeing is believing,” Dunn said at the IFC press conference. “When my colleagues and I at Fox first saw the side-by-side comparison of Ultra HD with High Dynamic Range versus HD, it was reminiscent of the difference between standard-def and high-def. This is a massive leap forward for the consumer experience.”

Other studios joined Fox, which has about 30 4K movies published and ready to go. Oct. 21 Walmart’s Vudu.com digital movie service launched its first slate of movies in 4K Ultra HD resolution, all from Warner, for purchase ($24.99) or for rent ($9.99). Initial titles included such hits as San Andreas, Man of Steel, Edge of Tomorrow and The Lego Movie. Nov. 17 Warner added more titles, including Mad Max: Fury Road and American Sniper. Vudu’s VP of product Scott Blanksteen said that being a part of Walmart gives the service insight into customer demand and a “good picture of the market” for 4K. The service is also offering the content with the enhanced HDR of Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos technology.

In November Sony Pictures Home Entertainment became the second studio to announce 4K UHD Blu-ray Disc releases, set to arrive in early 2016, including such catalog hits as The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Salt and The Smurfs 2, followed by new-release film and TV content.

Ron Sanders, president of Warner Bros.’ worldwide home entertainment distribution, called the new format “stunningly true to life.”

“Sony Pictures’ 4K Ultra HD Discs will deliver consumers the ultimate home theater experience, with stunning picture and sound quality,” said Sony Pictures Home Entertainment president, Man Jit Singh.

The advent of 4K Blu-ray and digital offerings is especially important as linear TV programming for the new sets has yet to take off. Also, while streaming services such as Amazon, Netflix, YouTube and M-Go offer 4K, those offerings face a bandwidth challenge and quality deficit that UHD Blu-ray doesn’t, said Ron Martin, VP of operations, Panasonic Hollywood Lab, in explaining the 4K Blu-ray specs.

“That premium experience from the physical media just simply won’t be able to be beat,” said Martin, who called the 4K Blu-ray specs a “creative pallet” that can accommodate HDR enhancements such as Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and the sound boost of DTS:X. 4K Blu-ray Discs also offer frame rates of up to 60 frames per second and provide a “digital bridge,” or copy-and-export feature, that promises to untether content from the player. The bridge allows consumers to make a full-resolution copy on the player itself or a hard-drive bound to the UHD player. The copy can then be exported to a service that allows the consumer to transfer it to another device. Such services could include iTunes, Vudu or the new Vidity, developed by the Secure Content Storage Association, which promises to make moving high-quality content simple.

The 4K Ultra HD format is expected by observers to revitalize Blu-ray Disc, given consumers’ familiarity with Blu-ray and the fact that more than 72 million households in the United States alone have at least one Blu-ray playback device.

“Since its introduction, Blu-ray has been, and remains, the standard for HD picture and audio quality in the home,” said Victor Matsuda, chair of the Blu-ray Disc Association’s promotions committee. “Our goal in creating Ultra HD Blu-ray is to do the same thing for Ultra HD home entertainment.”

Dan Cryan, senior director, media and content, at research firm HIS, sees the potential for stimulating demand for Blu-ray Disc, but cautions that it is important to articulate the value proposition.

Ramón Bretón, CTO for media quality control company 3rd i QC — which has helped several of the major studios put their catalogs on DVD — sees the addition of UHD Blu-ray as a way to “extend the life of physical media.”

“For cinephiles the best way to ensure the highest-quality reproduction of their favorite content is on a physical disc,” he said. “This group of consumers will be — and in many cases already are — among the first to bring UHD televisions into their living rooms. Pricing continues to drop for UHD sets … and they’ll need something to watch on those TVs, not just the excellent crop of newly-created UHD streaming content which continues to expand, but also their favorite catalog titles. They’ll be turning to Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs to satisfy this demand.”

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Additional reporting by Chris Tribbey and Thomas K. Arnold.
 

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