CES 2015

Blu-Ray Disc Association Names 4K Disc Format

Barb Gonzalez  |  Jan 10, 2015

The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) has named the future 4K Blu-ray format “Ultra HD Blu-Ray.”

The association convened during CES to discuss requirements for the new Ultra HD Blu-ray standard. Licensing is expected to start mid-2015. In a CES interview, Sony's Victor Matsuda, global promotions committee chair for the BDA, predicted manufacturers will rush to make Ultra HD players by the end of the year. Panasonic showed a (non-working) prototype at the show.

This will be the third iteration of Blu-ray Discs. The second version accommodated 3D. While requirements are not set it stone, the BDA has agreed on some features. HDR (high dynamic range) will be part of the standard. “It’s the quality of pixels not just not the number of pixels,” Matsuda said. Wide color gamut is also being discussed.

Ultra HD Blu-Ray will have a 66 GB capacity on dual layers and 100 GB on three layers to accommodate a 4K movie and extras. Compare this to the DVD with about 7 or 8 GB on a dual layer and a 1080p Blu-ray Disc with 25 GB on a single layer and 50 GB on dual layers. It’s unclear what changes will need to be made to the hardware, but players will use a blue laser and HEVC (H.265) video coding. Backwards compatibility with DVDs and CDs will also be a requirement.

COMMENTS
WildGuy's picture
Submitted by WildGuy on January 10, 2015 - 11:03pm

First of all, i would like to say hi. Anyway, there are some inaccurate information here on this article that i like to point out. Even at 128 mbps, it still not enough bitrate to store uncompressed 4K videos. Not only that but 128 mbps isn't even enough to record or store in "2K" or 1080p videos in uncompressed bitrate. Its possible to store 480i uncompressed at 128 mbps.

Because 720 x 480i @ 4:2:0 Y:Cb:Cr sampling @ 8 bits per channel only take roughly about 125 mbps of bitrate in uncompressed data. That means even at 128 mbps, it still very compressed for 4K videos. But compares that to online streaming (assuming you are correct that its 15 mbps), it still a lot lesser compression.

Another inaccuracy you said is that DVD is 7 GB single layer. DVD actually store 4.7 GBytes single layer, or 8.5 Gbytes Dual layers. DVD also supports dual layers too beside Blu Ray.

You are correct that regular Blu Ray Disc single layer is 25 GBytes and 50 Gbytes Dual layers.

seegs108's picture
Submitted by seegs108 on January 11, 2015 - 6:29pm

Who said anything about uncompressed video? The article specifically states it's going to use HEVC H.265 encoding.

WildGuy's picture
Submitted by WildGuy on January 13, 2015 - 9:28am

bob gonzales just said he edited out the article. so he corrected them.

Barb Gonzalez's picture
Submitted by Barb Gonzalez on January 12, 2015 - 3:27pm
Sorry guys--wrote this late at night and just typed my notes from the interview without fact checking. Thanks for keeping things straight. Corrections included above in edited version.
WildGuy's picture
Submitted by WildGuy on January 13, 2015 - 9:31am

no problems. understandable.

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