Amazon to Deliver Original Series Streaming in 4K Next Year

4K is becoming a thing, that much is certain. There’s evidence to support this all around, between the quickly shrinking price tag for 4K television sets and the rise of 4K content availability, high definition suddenly seems less than impressive in comparison. That’s why Amazon is working to bring all of their Amazon Studies Original Series content streaming on the web in full, glorious 4K sometime within the next year, making them one of the first content providers to promise such high resolution footage to the general consumer over the web.

This is not long after Netflix’s announcement that they’re testing 4K Instant Streaming video as we speak in hopes of a prospective 2014 launch. Netflix, however, has yet to promise that any content that people will actually want to watch will be available for streaming on the service, remaining quiet about their plans for content going forward into this new higher resolution era. Amazon meanwhile seems particularly excited about the possibilities this brings to an upcoming drama series, with Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios, saying, “As a premium original content creator, we’re excited about 4K and the future of Ultra HD technology, particularly as we move into drama series next year.”

Of course, 4K video brings a surmountable problem to the industry – in a world where the average household broadband internet is barely robust enough to reliably deliver high definition video at an acceptable sped, how is the industry planning on delivering the considerably larger file sizes associated with 4K video anytime soon? That remains a question yet to be answered, and will likely require industry wide collaboration between content providers, internet service providers, and hardware manufacturers going forward. The writing, however, is undoubtedly on the wall – 4K video is no trend, but rather the future of home video, and we best begin getting ready for it.