14 DAY TRIAL // Even though there are plenty of television sets and even monitors with support for 4K resolution, content in that quality doesn't really exist, save for a few very rare exceptions. This may finally be changing.
4K resolution is usually synonymous with the 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution, but there are other pixel ratios close enough to that to qualify.
Still, 3840 x 2160 pixels is the most illustrative of the market, and it is the resolution that movies will sell in, when the time finally comes for 4K media to proliferate.
And it appears that this is finally about to happen: visual media like movies, series and music videos shot in 4K resolution will reach customers through two main means.
4K media coming to HDDs and Blu-ray disks
Hard disk drives were a given. As they are the main type of storage for computers of all kinds, file formats with resolution of 4K were only a matter of time. Enough to make people wonder why it hasn't already been done really.
The Secure Content Storage Association is running a demo for Ultra HD movies and allows you to download and transfer them at will (with some catches of course) from Fox, Warner Bros., etc., with backing from large corporations like Samsung.
No clue how Hollywood studios intend to implement DRM, but they'll surely come up with something, as usual.
The Blu-ray player plans are the more important part here. The Blu-ray Disc Association has finally confirmed the name of its 4K format: Ultra HD Blu-ray. Pretty straightforward and simple, which is always good.
Panasonic actually brought an Ultra HD Blu-Ray player to its booth at CES 2015, though we don't know when it will start to sell, where, or for what price.
Since licensing for 4K Blu-ray media isn't expected to begin before summertime, we won't be looking forward to an early release of the players, though we may end up surprised.
The Ultra HD Blu-ray specification
The format should upgrade Blu-ray disks from the current format of 25 GB layers to 33 GB layers, enabling around 100 GB of data per piece. This still falls short of the ultimate potential of BDX, 128 GB, but it will be enough for 4K films.
Then again, movies will be encoded with HEVC format (or h.265, as it is otherwise known) which should fit on even dual-layer disks just fine. It's when 60 fps video, HDR/Dolby Vision support, 10-bit color gradation and wide color gamut come into play that more space is needed.