The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) has said that it has completed the new Ultra HD Blu-Ray specification and a new logo to identify products that meet the requirements. Key features are :
- Support for 3840 x 2160 resolution using the H.265/HEVC codec
- High Dynamic Range (HDR)
- Wide Colour Gamut (WCG)
- High Frame Rates (HFR)
- Object-based sound formats (e.g. Dolby Atmos/DTS:X/Auro-3D et al)
- ‘Digital bridge’ feature to allow viewing on smaller displays and “other devices around the home”
- Support of 66GByte or 100GByte dual layer or triple layer disks
- Compatibility with existing Blu-Ray
Analyst Comment
At the time of writing, most of the information was speculation. For example, we have seen reports that the Digital Bridge feature may only be supported on specific devices that are designed for the purposes, but may also be either based on web-based DRM or on allowing only direct copies from a disk, not a second copy from that copy (that seems unlikely to me).
We contacted the BDA who promised to get back to us to fill in details, but we had got no response at press time. The group told us that it is planning a technical guide to the specification in the next day or two, so we’ll return to this topic.
We broke the news about HDR, which will be a key part of the specification a few weeks ago and as far as we know that remains unchanged. BDA Sets Out HDR Plans for Blu-ray (Corrected) The colour gamut is also expected to be based on Rec. 2020, although particular titles may simply stay with the P3 gamut used in movies. (BR)
