CES 2015: BDA confirms preliminary spec for 4K Blu-ray discs

Back in September last year the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) announced that 4K Blu-ray discs and hardware would be available by Christmas 2015.

And at CES 2015 Panasonic revealed a prototype of its first 4K Blu-ray player with HDR compatibility (see picture below).

Now the BDA has confirmed further details of the new 4K Blu-ray format, according to the Hollywood Reporter: it will be called Ultra HD Blu-ray, and will be applied to discs that can handle resolution up to 3840 x 2160 and frame rates up to 60fps (frames-per-second).

Ultra HD Blu-ray will also have a wider colour range than standard Blu-rays, 10-bit colour depth and HDR (High Dynamic Range) will also be a key part of the spec. Disc sizes will range from 66GB (dual layer) up to 100GB (triple layer).

As for Ultra HD Blu-ray players, they will use the HEVC (H.265) codec adopted by the likes of Netflix for streaming 4K, and will also play standard Blu-ray, DVD and CD discs.

A final spec for Ultra HD Blu-ray is expected to be released by the BDA in mid-2015.

[via Hollywood Reporter, Hexus]

Panasonic unveiled its prototype 4K Blu-ray player at CES 2015

Andy is Global Brand Director of What Hi-Fi? and has been a technology journalist for 30 years. During that time he has covered everything from VHS and Betamax, MiniDisc and DCC to CDi, Laserdisc and 3D TV, and any number of other formats that have come and gone. He loves nothing better than a good old format war. Andy edited several hi-fi and home cinema magazines before relaunching whathifi.com in 2008 and helping turn it into the global success it is today. When not listening to music or watching TV, he spends far too much of his time reading about cars he can't afford to buy.

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