Sony Pictures plans Ultra HD Blu-ray on discs

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced their intention to release 4K resolution movies in the new Ultra HD Blu-ray format.  These will be available on discs, which will require a new Ultra HD Blu-ray player as well.  Viewing the movies will be possible on older televisions once the video resolutions are down scaled, but there is little reason to purchase the new format movies if you do not also have a television with 4K resolution

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The first batch of 4K movies from Sony Pictures will include The Amazing Spiderman 2, Pineapple Express, Hancock, Chappie, Salt and The Smurfs 2.  No release date has been scheduled for these movies, but it should be early in 2016.  20th Century Fox announced back in September that they would be releasing movies in the new Ultra HD format, so it is no surprise to see more studios following their lead.  Lionsgate Studios is also planning on joining the 4K movement, and announced their intention to re-master their top 100 films in this format.

Ultra HD TV sets sales have increased at a tremendous pace according to the Digital Entertainment Group, with US sales nearly 500% above the levels seen last year, though the total numbers of 4K sets sold in the US is still less than 3 million.

Early reports from the hardware manufacturers and studios projected first sales of the Ultra HD discs and players this holiday season, but it looks like they will miss this opportunity.  This is a rather large misstep in my opinion, as the industry needs a wave of enthusiastic first adopters.  The new Ultra HD format has obvious advantages in resolution, color reproduction, HDR and high quality audio, but will it be enough to keep this new physical disc alive?  It may become a niche product, with only a few video connoisseurs willing to invest in yet another type of movie disc.

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You can read more on the story at Variety.

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