Samsung has unveiled the world's first Ultra HD Blu-ray player at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin.
Samsung's UBS-K8500 will launch in US and Europe early next year, and features a whole host of picture quality improvements, on top of the four fold increase in resolution over standard Blu-ray (from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160). These improvements include an increased color palette (from 8-bit to 10-bit, or a color palette that is 64 times larger than Blu-rays) and high dynamic range (HDR) support. The player will come with a HDMI 2.0a port.
Samsung says the UBS-K8500 will be available for less than USD $500.
20th Fox also used the IFA event to reveal some of the first titles to be available on Ultra HD Blu-ray, to be made available at around the same time as Samsung's player. New releases will be made available on Ultra HD Blu-ray at the same time as the standard Blu-ray and Digital HD releases, and some catalog titles, including Exodus: Gods and Kings, Fantastic Four, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Life of Pi, and X-Men: Days of Future Past, will also be made available.
"Seeing is believing," said 20th Century Fox president Mike Dunn. "When my colleagues and I at Fox first saw the side-by-side comparison of Ultra HD with High Dynamic Range versus HD, it was reminiscent of the difference between standard-def and high-def. This is a massive leap forward for the consumer experience."
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