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Panasonic unveils 4K Blu-Ray player prototype

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Panasonic's new Blu-Ray player prototype includes High Dynamic Range support (Photo: Eric Mack/Gizmag)
Panasonic's prototype next generation Blu-Ray player is capable of 100 Mbps high bit rate playback at a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160
The new Blu-Ray player supports tech which greatly expands peak brightness from 100 nit to 1,000-10,000 nit (Photo: Eric Mack/Gizmag)
Panasonic's new Blu-Ray player prototype includes High Dynamic Range support (Photo: Eric Mack/Gizmag)
The new Blu-Ray player supports tech which greatly expands peak brightness from 100 nit to 1,000-10,000 nit (Photo: Eric Mack/Gizmag)
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Panasonic has unveiled its next generation Blu-Ray player at CES, capable of full 4K resolution playback at 60 frames per second. It’s designed to support video processing technologies that are expected to be included in the upcoming Ultra HD Blu-Ray standards.

The prototype player is capable of 100 Mbps high bit rate playback at a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160. It includes support for BT.2020 (a color gamut standard that significantly improves color reproduction) and perhaps more importantly, High Dynamic Range. The tech greatly expands peak brightness from 100 nit to 1,000-10,000 nit, allowing for better texturing of bright light sources, such as sun, as well as reflected light.

The new Blu-Ray player supports tech which greatly expands peak brightness from 100 nit to 1,000-10,000 nit (Photo: Eric Mack/Gizmag)

4K TVs are becoming increasingly affordable, meaning that more of them will be making their way into the homes in 2015 than ever before. That fact makes the Panasonic’s prototype player a great development, but given the popularity of content streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Instant Video, it’s unlikely that Ultra HD Blu-Rays will enjoy the same level of success as their HD predecessors.

As it’s a prototype, there’s no word on pricing or availability for Panasonic’s new player, but the company has stated that it’s working hard on further research and development, and will participate in the newly-formed UHD Alliance – which includes members such as Dolby, Netflix, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros, and aims to set the bar for the burgeoning 4K UHD industry.

Source: Panasonic

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2 comments
Bob Flint
Never mind that there is little to no 4k content, the elite can buy their own equipment, and download to HDD, or compact flash memory.
What medium will this use? We all know how expensive the Blank Blu-ray discs started out to be now about 50 cents each for 25G, maybe $1 for 50G, that will run a two hour movie. So unless the Ultra Blu-Ray discs quadruple the storage to 200g or more and can compete with hard drives, then this concept is dead.
Phil Taylor
What he said ^