Sony has a range of Ultra HD TVs coming in but what about content? At CES, Sony has also announced the ”Mastered in 4K” initiative but it is not exactly what you had hoped for.

Mastered in 4K Blu-ray
Sony will release ”Mastered in 4K” Blu-ray movies later this year but this does not mean that you will be able to enjoy movies in 4K resolution on your brand new Ultra HD TV.


Sony plans to sell ”Mastered in 4K” Blu-ray movies - but it is not a real 4K experience on your 4K TV

Instead it means that Sony will edit and master the movies in 4K resolution but the actual Blu-ray will still be Full HD (1080p). It is obviously always better to have higher-quality source material but we need a real 4K format. Instead, the ”Mastered in 4K” Blu-rays will be upscaled to 4K when used on 4K TVs, Sony says.

Five movies are planned so far: The Amazing Spider-Man, Total Recall, The Karate Kid, Battle: Los Angeles, and The Other Guys.

Sony has promised to introduce a ”4K distribution system” system later this year but details are sparse. It is most likely not based on Blu-ray as Blu-ray has limitations. 4K Blu-rays would also require all current Blu-ray players to be updated – something we already did in 2011 and 2012 with the introduction of 3D Blu-rays.