No one can really predict the future, but there’s been a lot of debate lately about 4K video. Everyone’s wondering where it’s going, what’s next, and whether or not it will actually take off. With that in mind, we decided to dive in and look at some of the platforms and programs that are paving the way for the future of 4K.
Shutterstock began licensing 4K footage for the first time earlier this year, and our collection has quickly grown to more than 100,000 clips. While this new format has yet to become the standard for most home viewing, we’re continuing to see both an increase in demand from our customers and aggressive adoption by industry players.
These five recent innovations make it clearer than ever that 4K will replace HD as the default format in the near future:
1. 4K Blu-ray Discs and Players
Blu-ray’s plan to begin licensing 4K Blu-ray technology (using HEVC compression) next spring/summer has serious game-changing potential. The 2015 holiday market is expected to be flooded with 4K Blu-ray DVDs, players, and (even cheaper) 4K televisions, which is a combination sure to spark the first major wave of consumer 4K adoption in North America and Europe. As with HD, once people know that their favorite films are available in a higher-end, more dynamic format, we can expect 4K to gain a much wider reach.
2. Japanese and Chinese Market Growth
Japanese broadcaster NHK is already making plans to move a step beyond 4K — they’ve announced their intention to broadcast the 2020 Olympics (in Tokyo) in 8K. Just as importantly, according to the Japanese research firm BCN Inc., 4K television sets accounted for more than 20 percent of all televisions larger than 50 inches sold in Japan in May of this year. In 2013, the Chinese market accounted for about 80% of 4K television sales worldwide, largely as a result of the affordability of 4K televisions in that country.
3. Rapidly Dropping Prices
According to a recent Business Insider report, prices for 4K televisions have fallen more than 85%, worldwide, in the last two years. In China, the average price is currently $973, while in North America it’s just under $2,000. A popular Samsung model — the 40-inch HU6950 — is currently on sale for less than $600 on Amazon.
4. High Efficiency Video Coding/H.265 Comes of Age
An increasing number of manufacturers are including H.265 support in their latest televisions, which is important for the future of streaming and broadcast in 4K. H.265 compresses video data with improved quality over H.264, at 40-50% of H.264’s size. The problem is that H.265 is 3-4 times more complex to process than H.264, so hardware updates are necessary. Luckily most manufacturers are either supporting this new format, or will be shortly. On September 9, 2014, Apple announced the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, both of which support H.265 for FaceTime over cellular networks.
5. Content Partnerships and Productions
Amazon recently announced that Amazon Prime customers will be able to start streaming 4K content by the end of the year at no extra charge. Netflix was the first major company to make a move into 4K streaming (with House of Cards), and they’ve slowly-but-steadily added a number of other titles in the last few months, including Breaking Bad and Ghostbusters.
As 4K television prices drop and an increasing number of shows and feature films are shot in this format, expect a much broader range of 4K programming and streaming options in the coming months.
View 20 of our most popular 4K video clips »
If you shoot 4K or HD video and are interested in licensing your work via Shutterstock, head to submit.shutterstock.com to learn more.