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The Digital Bits on PS4 Pro and 4K Blu-Ray

E

EdReedFan20

Member
The Digital Bits is a very respected website in the home media world. It's founder, Bill Hunt, recently included this take on PS4 Pro and why he believes it doesn't have 4K Blu-Ray playback and why that could eventually change.

And in other news, I wanted to take a moment to follow up on yesterday’s revelation that the Sony PlayStation 4 Pro will support 4K/HDR gaming but not the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc format. Here’s the thing to keep in mind: Unlike the situation in 2006, at the dawn of Blu-ray, Sony Corporation has undergone a good deal restructuring of its vast operations of late, splitting its business into smaller self-operating units. This means that Sony Consumer Electronics (which handles set-top A/V devices and displays) is not as closely aligned with Sony Interactive Entertainment (which handles gaming) as it once was. In 2006, it made sense for the two companies to support the Blu-ray format at any cost. Today, however, our industry sources tell us that Sony Consumer Electronics doesn’t want a UHD-capable PlayStation 4 Pro to undercut sales of its forthcoming set-top 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player, which is expected in early 2017 and the prototype of which was on display at the IFA consumer electronics trade show in Berlin last week (see this link). However, it’s been noted around the Net in the last day or so that the actual disc structure and drive hardware are essentially the same between regular Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray. So it seems very possible that, once Sony Consumer Electronics’ set-top Ultra HD Blu-ray player finally arrives in stores and sells through for a while, you could see Sony Interactive Entertainment surprise people with a firmware update that adds full 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc compatibility to the PlayStation 4 Pro.
Click to expand...

http://digitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/090816_1630

My takeaway from that post is he feels that Sony desperately needed Blu-Ray to succeed in 2006 and they felt using PS3 as a Trojan horse would help to do so. In hindsight, was it the opposite effect that happened early on in the PS3 era? As for his thoughts on it possibly coming to PS4 via firmware, remember that PS3 and PS4 both had 3D Blu-Ray playback added via a firmware update and as he says, there is nothing hardware wise that would keep Sony from doing so if they decided to do so.
 
O

Oni Jazar

Member
Hot damn I remember reading his articles back during the Blu Ray & HD DVD wars.

The Pro won't have UHD drive though so.... I doubt it would be firmware upgradable.
 
S

SwiftDeath

Member
The Rigbyites will never stop believing, will they?

I could see that I guess, still leaning more to they just didn't want to spend more money on it tbh
 
entremet

entremet

Member
Sony hasn't learned if the are worrying about undercutting standalone UHD player sales. Seems the place is as fragmented as ever.

The really need to get rid of those silos. This why they lost their edge for their CE glory days.
 
W

Wiped89

Member
This is crazy. It shows less joined up thinking at Sony now than there was 10 years ago.

They don't want the PS4 to undercut Sonys 4K player. So they are happy for Microsoft to do it with Xbox One S? Arrogant, or reckless.

I've already preordered my One S
 
F

farisr

Member
Even if it may be possible (and Sony is lying about it not being possible), the fact that they have outright denied it at this point means it won't happen. Maybe if the pro sees a slim version or something down the line, they may have it (in that model only) but the pros that are shipping right now, will not have it enabled even if they're capable.
 
F

farisr

Member
pharmboy044 said:
Firmware update to bring UHD support? I thought this was not possible?
Click to expand...
It is possible if the drive is actually capable and they purposely disabled the feature.

But yeah, that would mean Andrew House is outright lying, or has been lied to and is just passing along that information.
 
M

Marceles

Member
Wiped89 said:
They don't want the PS4 to undercut Sonys 4K player. So they are happy for Microsoft to do it with Xbox One S? Arrogant, or reckless.
Click to expand...

It was the other way around for PS2 & PS3. The players used to cost more than the console, so it was a no-brainer to get the console. Now IDK what's going on
 
F

farisr

Member
JaggedSac said:
To me, it seems like artificially holding back UHS capable hardware is worse than just not including the hardware.
Click to expand...
Definitely, which is why I'm of the belief that Pro will not be getting UHD bluray support even if it's possible (unless they change their mind and announce it before the console comes out), as Sony really doesn't want to deal with the PR shitstorm that'll arise from them going "oh wait, it's possible, here you go. What's that? You bought a standalone UHD player because we specifically said it wasn't possible at all? Sorry..."
 
X

x3sphere

Member
Since the official word is it cannot be updated I doubt it. There will probably be a PS4 Pro revision later on with a UHD capable drive though.
 
Kilau

Kilau

Member
I can see most of that being plausible with exception of a firmware update adding UHD to the Pro.
 
blastprocessor

blastprocessor

The Amiga Brotherhood
Man l want to believe as I'd get the pro. However why would House say you can't then later release a firmware update saying you can? Makes no sense even if it's technically possible.

I'd rather believe Sony have intentionally limited support in favour of their standalone player.
 
AmuroChan

AmuroChan

Member
That seems so unlikely. The trend is pointing to digital and streaming when it comes to 4K content. Physical media is on its way out.
 
G

Give War A Chance

Member
This seems stupid.

You could just buy an Xbox One S for probably less than the standalone player, and have something for your family to use as well.

If you didn't include it because the proliferation of streaming alternatives and the waning interest in physical media (especially in the years to come), that would make more sense than this.

Can't think of a world where this doesn't seem super dumb. Almost too dumb to be true, but who knows.
 
J

J-Skee

Member
Reading this just brought an idea back into my mind that I hadn't thought of in a while. What if SIE broke off from Sony proper & became a completely independent company?
 
vpance

vpance

Member
CassidyIzABeast said:
So Playstation brand takes the"No UHD drive?!" PR hit so the electronics division can move 200k stand alone players?
Click to expand...

That number seems high, but then again I have no idea on stand alone player sales.

The electronics division does need a boost though. Might not be too far fetched a theory.
 
E

EdReedFan20

Member
Dizastah said:
Can anyone else confirm this?
Click to expand...

That's essentially what Bill Hunt was saying. From what I inferred, the disc and hardware are near identical to what current Blu-Ray drives are. However, you still need 4K output and the proper revision of HDMI. As PS4 Pro has all of that, that's why he believes PS4 Pro can receive a firmware update to allow it to play 4K Blu-Ray discs. However, when trying to find out when Sony's standalone 4K Blu-Ray player is set to come out (Bill Hunt said some time in 2017), I found this article from earlier in the year that said this pretty worrisome quote (if you want the format to succeed):

Like LG, Sony appears to be employing a "wait and see" attitude on the Blu-ray format as it is already seeing a lot of competition from 4K streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon and YouTube.
Click to expand...

https://www.cnet.com/news/sony-4k-blu-ray-player-might-not-arrive-until-2017/

Despite being from months ago, that quote seems to line up with Sony not including a 4K Blu-Ray drive with PS4 Pro. Sony seems to believe in streaming. I wonder if their standalone player will ever actually release.
 
bunbun777

bunbun777

Member
Andrew is like your parent when you were three. I want that. No sorry my precious child but that just is not possible.
 
M

makingmusic476

Member
His reasoning seems weird to me. With all of Sony's restructuring, Sony's unification of services and hardware seems to be better than ever, looking at PSN accounts evolving into SNE accounts, PlayStation Now and Vue spanning all Sony hardware, and product placement in Sony movies and games.

The idea that UHD was abandoned for PS4Pro because of interdepartmental competition runs counter to their current corporate philosophy.
 
Q

QuickSilverD

Member
doesn't a UHD Bluray drive cost more to produce than an standard drive? they literally cannot be the same, so I don't see how a firmware update could change that
 
N

Nipo

Member
His logic is confusing. The divisions aren't as closely aligned so Playstation is willing to not include a feature for another division's profits? That would suggest people are talking to each other to reach that understanding.
 
E

epmode

Member
Doctre81 said:
Jeff was talking about the original ps4 not a newer pro. Stop lol.
Click to expand...

Right? These threads are making me insane. Does anyone pay even the slightest bit of attention to the nonsense Rigby was spouting? He wasn't right then and absolutely nothing in this thread suggests otherwise.
 
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