This article was originally published at www.display-central.com
Samsung has been busy recently putting in place a series of steps that are designed to overcome objections to the adoption of 4K/UHD TVs. This includes new developments on its 4K movie pack and bundling deals at retail.
Samsung is following Sony’s lead and developing a UHD Video Pack which is a hardware device pre-loaded with UHD movies and documentaries for playback on Samsung UHD TVs (although it should playback on any 4K TV with HEVC decoding support). Sony’s FMP-X1 media player sells for $699 and offers access to more than 100 4K movies and TV shows. You can rent, starting at $7.99 for 24 hours or buy the movie (for $29.99).
Samsung’s One Connect box Samsung’s One Connect box The Samsung UHD Video Pack was just launched by Samsung and is a hardware platform (One Connect) that includes a large proprietary hard drive with multiple I/O ports. It sells for $299 and comes preloaded with eight UHD movies. The eight movies include World War Z, The Counselor, Night at the Museum, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, GI Joe: Retaliation and the documentaries The Last Reef, Grand Canyon Adventure and Cappadocia.
But, it can also download additional 4K content from the Internet. Samsung has deals in place with Netflix to allow streaming of their 4K content (House of Cards is now available) and with Comcast to integrate their 4K video app.
At retail, Samsung has just confirmed (according to CNET) that existing owners of the UN55HU9000, UN65HU9000 or UN78HU9000 will get the UHD pack with a proof-of-purchase. And, for customers who buy one of the TVs between now and June 30, 2014 the company will throw in its UHD Video Pack”.
UHD content can also be access with Samsung’s new Evolution Kit. This is an electronics module that plugs into the back of newer Samsung TVs that allows these older sets to be upgraded with new functionality without having to buy a whole new TV. However, it is now being offered as a stand alone box. The 2014 model adds UHD support and HEVC decoding in addition to support for HDMI, HDCP and MHL. Pricing and availability have not yet been revealed.
Official news also came this week that Deluxe Digital Distribution (D3), a business division of Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc., is the company responsible for the UHD/4K content mastering and encoding for the Hollywood movies in the video pack. D3 is actually working with Ateme to do the HEVC encoding (to the Main 10 profile), as we reported from NAB a few weeks ago.
Deluxe will be responsible for making the decisions to author the highest quality UHD content at the optimal bitrate for bandwidth, transport and storage efficiencies across the multiscreen landscape. It will also manage the security issues associated with hosting, streaming and payback of this content.
Deluxe says it is working closely with the studios to convert, restore and master UHD-optimized content – both native 4K and telecine film-based content. Because Samsung has mobile as well as TV UHD platforms available or in the works, the content will have to be delivered in various formats. As a result, Deluxe will support the processing, management, and distribution of titles to new Samsung UHD TVs (and perhaps later to other platforms). This content will undergo rigorous testing and quality analysis of frame rates, bitrates, color or resolutions, as well as software decoding to ensure that the playback experience is optimized on the target devices.
The cloud-based service, Deluxe OnDemand, simplifies the access and delivery of content and easily integrates with the existing supply chain, workflows, storefronts and applications. Deluxe says it has invested in the technologies, workflows and operational processes for the production of new transcoding/encoding formats to reduce the operational and capital infrastructure investment and complexity that Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (MPVD) and Consumer Electronic (CE) providers will incur to advance UHD in the marketplace. Deluxe is the only company to offer an end-to-end solution under one roof. –Chris Chinnock