The UHD Alliance was created with the consumer in mind; it provides information on premium Ultra-HD content and devices to deliver best-in-class home entertainment. The Alliance is also focused on helping consumers benefit from a seamless, integrated and high-quality Ultra-HD ecosystem from end-to-end. Premium Ultra-HD content and devices will be clearly identified so consumers can easily recognize them in-store.
The Alliance was formed by global companies including DIRECTV, Dolby, LG Electronics, Netflix, Panasonic Corporation, Samsung Electronics, Sharp Corporation, Sony, Technicolor, The Walt Disney Studios, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros. Entertainment.
“As the UHD ecosystem continues to evolve, we are strengthening our commitment to high-quality UHD content and devices,” said Hyunsuk Kim, President, Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “The Alliance will encourage the development of high-quality UHD content while distinguishing TVs that provide the most premium UHD viewing experience.”
“The innovative advancements and quality improvements with TVs are evolving rapidly, as seen throughout CES,” said Mike Dunn, President, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. “The UHD Alliance will benefit consumers by identifying products and content that will give the true UHD experience.”
“These technologies allow us to utilize a much broader palette to tell our stories while providing viewers with true-to-life colors, superior contrast and premium picture quality,” said Ron Sanders, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. “Working with a wide industry consortium is the best way to deliver these experiences within premium entertainment.”
The UHD Alliance aims to ensure that all of the links in the chain – from the production, distribution and consumption of content to the playback capability of devices – meet the identified premium quality standards, whilst embracing standards that are open and allow flexibility in the market yet give consumers confidence that they can watch the content they want on their devices. In the coming months, the group will convene to outline a technology roadmap for the rapid evolution of UHD technology, worldwide.
World’s First UHD Blu-ray Disc Player
Simultaneously with the announcement of the UHD Alliance creation at the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show, Panasonic announced that it has developed the world’s first Blu-ray Disc playback technology supporting the latest technologies such as 4K and High Dynamic Range , which are expected to be adopted in the next generation Blu-ray Disc standards (Ultra HD Blu-Ray).
A prototype player was already on display at the Panasonic booth during the 2015 International CES. This prototype integrates video processing and optical disc drive technologies that Panasonic has refined over many years, making it capable of reproducing 4K (3,840 x 2,160 pixel)/60p/10-bit high resolution video, and supporting the latest technologies such as High Dynamic Range that marks a major leap in the brightness peak from the previous 100 nit to 1,000-10,000 nit; wide color gamut standard BT.2020, which greatly increases color reproduction; high-efficiency video compression technology HEVC (H.265)/ Blu-ray Disc playback at a high bit rate of 100Mbps.
This marks a major advance in picture quality over current Blu-ray Disc players, and paves the way towards allowing consumers to enjoy the crisp, true-to-life quality of amazing 4K Ultra HD content in their own homes. The next generation Blu-ray Disc standards are being formulated by the Blu-ray Disc Association and have not yet been finalized.
www.panasonic.com | www.CESweb.org
