Sony feeds starving 4K early adopters with over 70 titles of 4K movies and TV shows

By Caleb Denison Updated March 29, 2016

sony launches 4k video unlimited download service with 70 titles xbr x850a 3x2

Sony has finally delivered on a promise it started making as far back as CES 2013. During an event held today at Lincoln Center in New York, Sony announced that its Video Unlimited 4K service is now live with 70 full length native 4K Ultra HD feature films and TV shows ready for rent and download. By the end of the year, we can expect that number to go up to 100. For the time being, this is the first and only service of its kind.

Titles available for download now include Breaking Bad, The Amazing Spider-Man, Moneyball, and Think Like A Man. Forthcoming titles include This is the End, After Earth and Elysium. Presently, the content can only be downloaded by owners of Sony’s 4K Ultra HD media player, the FMP-X1, which works exclusively with Sony’s 4K TV’s, including the newly-announced XBR-55X850A and XBR-65X850A. A solution for Sony’s 4K projectors is scheduled to be announced at the CEDIA convention later this month. Sony has not mentioned whether the forthcoming Playstation 4 will be able to access the content.

A 24-hour TV show rental will cost $4.00, whereas a 24-hour movie rental comes in at $8.00. Movie purchases will cost $30.00 and include an UltraViolet digital copy for use with portable media devices. According to a Sony representative, a 2-hour 4K movie download will eat up about 40 GB of storage. With 2 TB of storage on board, the FMP-X1 can hold approximately 50 movies, though its capacity can be expanded with an external hard drive.

Downloads of that size will spell trouble for those with any kind of data caps associated with their broadband Internet service. And for those with slower download speeds, such file sizes will mean for a long wait until the movie is ready to be viewed. Still, this development will likely come as good news to those who have been waiting for access to a sizable catalog of native 4K content.

Topics

Editor at Large

Digital Trends Editor at Large Caleb Denison is a sought-after writer, speaker, and television correspondent with unmatched…

Audio / Video

Go ahead and spend the extra $20 on the good Apple TV 4K

Apple TV 4K 2021.

Apple has announced two new versions of the Apple TV 4K. Both are good for all kinds of reasons. Better internals. New features. And prices that are much more likely to be competitive, even if they're still a good bit north of what folks are spending on the likes of Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices.

But two new Apple TV 4K boxes -- and the death of the lower-resolution Apple TV HD -- means you've got a decision to make. Which Apple TV 4K is right for you?

Audio / Video

New Apple TV 4K tweaks the internals and the price

Apple TV 4K 2022.

Apple today announced a new version of Apple TV 4K. It's the third generation of what we consider to be the best streaming device you can buy, and Apple's not really messing with things too much. Same general design. Same general function. But the internals have been tweaked that allow this 2022 model (which follows the models released in September 2017 and May 2021) to work better with more TVs — and to allow for a little more flexibility in price.

Here are the big deals: There are now two versions of Apple TV 4K (or SKUs, for those of you who prefer inside-baseball terms). There's a model that's Wi-Fi only with 64GB of storage for $130, or a model with Wi-Fi and Ethernet with 128GB of storage for $150. For our money, we'd just go ahead and spend the extra $20.

Audio / Video

Optoma’s CinemaX 4K laser projectors now have faster response times for gamers

People using the Optoma CinemaX D2 outdoors.

Optoma is expanding its 4K UHD home theater projector line by introducing the CinemaX D2 Series. Optoma says this is an upgrade from the previous CinemaX P2 projector, and the improvements are based on user feedback. The series includes the CinemaX D2, a 4K UHD ultra short throw laser home projector, and the CinemaX D2 Smart, which adds smart TV features courtesy of an included Android TV dongle.
Ultra short throw projectors are ideal for people with limited space in their room as they can cast an image on the screen from small distances. Traditional short throw projectors need at least four feet to eight feet of distance from the screen to be able to produce high-quality images, but not all rooms have this much area to spare. That's where ultra short throw projectors can help. The CinemaX D2 Series, for example, can cast up to 100-inch images from less than a foot away from the screen. If you increase the distance a bit more, you get up to 120-inch images.
The CinemaX D2 Series features 3,000 lumens and a 1,800,000:1 contrast ratio, which, oddly, is a bit of a step down from their predecessor, the CinemaX P2 projector, which offers the same brightness, but with a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio.

The biggest boost this series offers is an Enhanced Gaming Mode that claims "blur-free visuals and low lag" with the help of its 16ms response time in 4K at 60Hz and 4ms in 1080P at 240Hz. The 30,000-hour life span (same as its predecessor) seems to be slightly higher than other ultra short throw projectors in this price range as well. Both D2 models have three HDMI 2.0 inputs, instead of the P2's double-HDMI 2.0 and single HDMI 1.4 inputs.