Samsung, Netflix and Hollywood form coalition to define future of 4K

Samsung, Disney and Netflix are part of a newly formed coalition of companies known as the UHD Alliance, which will attempt to define and improve the future of 4K video content. The Alliance was announced today at CES in Las Vegas and will incorporate a long list of Hollywood studios, content distributors and consumer electronics brands.

4K TVs were big news at last year's CES and the hype only continues this year, but the problem has been, and remains, a lack of 4K content and limited access to it. It seemed in 2014 that television manufacturers were looking solely to Netflix to overcome the content deficit, and while the streaming company has been a pioneer in this area, it cannot carry the movement on its own.

It's a relief therefore to see companies come together with a range of partners from different industries in order to tackle this problem more seriously. On the manufacturer side, Samsung is joined by Panasonic, Sharp and Sony and 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros line up alongside Netflix and Disney on the content side. Together they will commit to embracing next-generation technologies including 4K and higher resolutions, high dynamic range, wider colour range and immersive 3D audio.

As well as the availability of 4K video content, there are problems on the hardware side too, primarily due to the fact that 4K TVs are prohibitively expensive. To overcome this, the hardware needs to become cheaper and there needs to be more of it.

"As the UHD environment continues to evolve, we are strengthening our commitment to high-quality UHD content and devices," said Hyunsuk Kim, president of visual displays at Samsung. "The Alliance will encourage the development of high-quality UHD content while distinguishing TVs that provide the most premium UHD viewing experience."

-wired.co.uk