Amazon Studios has just announced that it plans to shoot all of its 2014 series in 4K and will eventually make the ultra high resolution available for customers to stream. Programming will include both comedies and drama's and will most likely be put on Amazon's instant video service which is currently aiming to compete with Netflix.
Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios, said in a statement: “We think customers are going to love watching these series in the highest resolution ever available to consumers, and we can't wait to deliver it.”
Streaming services are only just beginning to delve in to 4K but with the recent push to drive prices down and make UHD TV's available to consumers, it makes sense that Amazon wants to stay ahead of the game. Netflix has recently done some 4K streaming tests of its own as well as shooting its first original series, ‘House of Cards', in 4K.
Obviously it's great that 4K is coming down in price and popular streaming services are already preparing for it but ISP's could really hinder 4K's success- at least digitally. The new resolution will have huge file sizes which could turn streaming services into a laggy mess unless the Internet providers are prepared to supply the bandwidth. Right now 1080p streams and downloads are fairly easy to handle so hopefully ISP's are preparing for 4K as much as content creators are.
KitGuru Says: I'd be glad to see 4K content available through streaming services but it's still probably a year or two off, Amazon is just preparing for 4K next year rather than actually making it available. How long do you guys think it'll take for 4K to become as common as 1080p is now?
Source: Business Wire