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http://www.v-net.tv/uhd-television-makers-ready-for-streaming-video-in-4k/

Jeff Foley needs to negotiate something to get the name in the mix.....

UHD television makers ready for streaming video in 4K

Newswire

January 14, 2014 - 35 minutes ago

During International CES 2014, Reed Hastings, President and CEO of the SVOD giant Netflix, predicted that streaming will be the primary way consumers receive 4K content. This will not shock anyone when thinking about the short-medium term. It is well understood that the new H.265 compression standard (HEVC) is required to make UHD viable and for broadcast networks like satellite this requires new hardware decoding to appear in a new generation of set-top boxes first. In the meantime there is a window of opportunity for streaming services to showcase the new format to consumers.

In Las Vegas it became clear that there is a determination among streaming services and their CE vendor partners to get UHD to consumers now. As predicted by various commentators, Smart TVs will be among the first devices to support HEVC-enabled UHD services so Ultra HD could become a nice differentiator for CE content portals.

LG and Netflix announced that content from the SVOD service will be available in UHD via the 2014 range of LG Ultra HD televisions. The deal is for the U.S. currently but the companies are discussing UHD/4K partnerships internationally. The 2014 range LG UHD televisions feature a built-in 4K HEVC 60p decoder to enable true 4K/Ultra HD display without upscaling.

Sony also announced that its 2014 Ultra HD televisions are optimized to support 4K Ultra HD streaming content from Netflix, anticipating the availability of UHD content in the first half of the year. Once again, the televisions include an HEVC decoder capable of handling 4K at 60p frames per second.

With its interests in television production, CE devices and content services, Sony is always willing to invest the money and effort needed to promote new formats and UHD is no different. The company led the industry by making 4K download content available on Video Unlimited, its streaming service that is part of Sony Entertainment Network, last September and now it has expanded the 4K library to over 140 feature films and TV shows. These are already available to rent or download to consumers with a Sony 4K Ultra HD Media Player and Sony 4K Ultra HD television.

Titles include the hit TV show Breaking Bad, as well as movies including Elysium, After Earth and This Is the End. The movies Captain Phillips and American Hustle (currently in cinemas) will be added this year. ““It may be cliché to say content is king, but when talking about 4K Ultra HD TV, it reigns over consumer decision-making,” argues Mike Lucas, Senior VP of Sony Electronics’ Home Entertainment & Sound Division.

Samsung announced partnerships with Amazon, Comcast, DIRECTV, M-GO and Netflix among others, to deliver the best UHD experience. It said customers can also look forward to a “’HD video pack’ service that contains UHD content on a hard drive, in cooperation with Hollywood studios.