Samsung unveils world’s first 4K UHD Blu-Ray Player at IFA 2015 in Berlin

BERLIN: Samsung Electronics Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSNLF) unveiled the world’s first 4K Ultra High-Definition (UHD) Blu-Ray player at IFA 2015 in Berlin. The new Samsung UBD-K8500 UHD 4K Blu-Ray player will play content with a resolution four times better than normal Blu-Ray discs.

The Samsung UBD-K8500 revealed by supports new UHD Blu-Ray discs and offers a high dynamic range and colors, which are 64 times higher than standard Blu-Ray discs available in the current market. It also includes features of upscaling content, to provide UHD resolution for any disc streaming 4K content and screen mirroring.

Samsung UBD-K8500 has Wi-Fi enabled in two different variants of 2.4GHz and 5GHz, with USB port at the front, and can be connected with Samsung’s new SmartThings Hub.

The device also supports 4K streaming; so, people can stream 4k services from Netflix, which offers 4K streaming shows like House of Cards, Breaking Bad, and The Blacklist for $12 per month.

Currently, 4K movies are about a gigabyte a minute, according to Samsung. Standard dual-layer Blu-Ray discs are about 50 GB, which makes them 50 minutes of 4K content.

Samsung is working on new Blu-ray disc to handle the 4K content. The company has announced new Blu-ray spec involving 66 GB dual-layer and 100 GB triple–layer discs, with H.265 compression.

In its official statement, Michael Zoller, Head of visual display for Europe at Samsung said, “We are committed to expand the ecosystem for Ultra HD or 4K content. It’s partnering with some firms including Amazon, Netflix, British Telecom, and Canal Plus, to create and deliver more UHD content worldwide.”

Also, Samsung mentioned about its line-up of UHD TVs, which it said would be the first to support the new HDMI 2.0, a format that allows HDR input.

The president and CTO of Fox with Samsung promised that the movie studio was dedicated to unveiling all of its upcoming movies in Ultra HD format. Fox unveiled its first HDR package and promised that other titles will be available soon.

It is expected that new Samsung UBD-K8500 will be available in the Europe and the US by early 2016. Samsung did not provide any information regarding new 4K UHD Blu-Ray player, but it is estimated to cost between $500 to $1000.

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