Amazon has announced that it’s working with Samsung, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, 20th Century Fox, Discovery, and others on a new initiative that will offer viewers a “premium 4K Ultra HD experience.” No word yet on when it will be implemented, but it follows last month’s news that Amazon Studios will be shooting its 2014 full original series in 4K Ultra HD.
It’s one thing to shoot your original shows in 4K, but you also need the hardware and OEMs to support the technology as well. One of the ways that Amazon wants to compete with Netflix is by bringing its media library into homes with greater picture quality.
4K is the latest in high definition video technology. It uses displays that have an aspect ratio of at least 16:9 and features sharp resolutions of 3840 x 2160 pixels, or 8.3 million pixels — four times the number of pixels than what most consumers have on their televisions.
While Amazon’s announcement is filled with praise from OEMs like Warner Bros., Samsung, Lionsgate, and Discovery, there’s no mention of how soon consumers can expect to see their favorite shows and movies in 4K. But with 20 million users signed up for its Amazon Prime service, which gives access to the streaming video offering, the online retail giant may be under some pressure.
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