Back in 2013 when Sony announced the PlayStation 4, they also announced that they would be launching a 4K video service designed for the console in mind, although to date we have yet to see or hear anything. However could it be 2015 where we can look forward to 4K content for both the PS4 and Xbox One?
It seems that Netflix’s chief product officer Neil Hunt thinks that could be the case. In a press conference reported by The Huffington Post, Hunt was quoted as saying that Sony had “promised” that the PS4 would be upgraded this year to support 4K content. However when reached out to by Forbes to clarify, Netflix instead said that they weren’t in a position to speak on Sony’s behalf, but they apparently made an educated guess.
This is because Sony and Microsoft tend to release hardware refreshes of their consoles every couple of years, and given that this is 2015, there is a good chance we could be looking at a newer PS4 and Xbox One later in the year where presumably components would be added to help deliver 4K video playback.
Unsurprisingly Sony and Microsoft have declined to comment on Netflix’s claims, although Sony did acknowledge that 4K output for videos and images are still under consideration. Forbes also points out that in order to deliver on 4K video, Sony would have to include a new chip that would be able to decode the HEVC 4K UHD streaming format used by services such as Netflix and Amazon, along with a chipset that can handle HDCP 2.2 copy protection protocols.
Either way this is just speculation for now, but if 4K video streaming is something you would love to see your console do, then perhaps holding off on purchasing the Xbox One or PS4 right now could be a good idea.