The Blu-ray Disc Association has confirmed its 4K format will go by the name of Ultra HD Blu-ray.
Speaking at CES 2015 (via Hexus), the BDA offered more details ahead of the roll-out planned before the end of the year.
According to the group, Ultra HD Blu-ray discs will have a maximum resolution of 3849 x 2169, with video playing at up to 60 frames per second.
Importantly the players will support High Dynamic Range (HDR) imagery, which will future proof them, as more content adapts to include it. The colour gamut is also wider than existing Blu-ray players (up to REC 2020 or BT2020 colour space, if you’re inclined to know) and there’ll be support for 10-bit colour depth.
The discs themselves will come in at a whopping 66GB on the low-end, while some will contain a whopping 100GB of data.
They’ll support the 4K standard H.265 code, be compatible with HDMI 1.2 and 2.0 and also play nice with existing Blu-ray and DVD discs.
The final technical specifications will be finalised by the summer, with the first titles and players expected to go on sale by the end of the year.
Panasonic already used CES to unveil the first prototype Ultra HD Blu-ray player, so we’d expect the company to be leading the charge when it comes to the new format?
However, is there really any need for Ultra HD Blu-ray in this streaming-centric age? Or will physical media come to the rescue of an internet infrastructure that isn’t yet ready to handle the massive bandwidth required for 4K movies?
Also, what do you think of the name Ultra HD Blu-ray? To us Blu-ray 4K seems catchier…
Let us know your thoughts below.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
