We get word via an article posted last Friday on Blu-ray.com that 4K Blu-ray players and associated discs are scheduled to arrive for home theater consumption sometime at the end of next year.
4K Blu-ray is officially on the way. According to Victor Matsuda, Chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association Global Promotions Committee, the BDA expects the specs for 4K Blu-ray to be finalized in the first half of 2015, paving the way for commercial availability by the end of the year. This means we can expect to see actual 4K Blu-ray movies and players available in stores by Christmas next year.
Apart from the jump to 4K resolution (3840 × 2160p) we can also expect 4K Blu-ray to support higher frame rates (up to 60fps), an expanded color gamut along with high dynamic range (HDR), as well as HEVC/H.265 encoding to compress 4K movies more efficiently and allow for higher bit rates. The group is currently exploring the possibility of increasing the disc capacity to 66GB or 100GB.
The news was confirmed by representatives on the show floor at IFA 2014 in Berlin, which opened its doors to visitors today.
Does this exciting announcement open up the possibility of Episode VII (and the entire Star Wars saga for that matter) being released in this new 4K format? We’ve already been informed of the Original Trilogy undergoing the 4K treatment, so you can bet more is on the way!
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