Samsung to expand UHD content offering with Amazon 4K streaming

By Joe Cox
published

Samsung is looking to position itself as a leader when it comes to 4K Ultra HD TV, confirming plans to launch Amazon's 4K VOD streaming service this October, deliver a 4K download service and produce more original 4K content.

With IFA 2014, Europe's biggest consumer technology show, just a couple of weeks away, we're seeing plenty of news in advance of new product launches at the show. Samsung is the latest manufacturer to release some news, confirming the imminent arrival of Amazon's 4K Ultra HD video streaming service to Samsung TVs.

The service will roll-out globally in October on compatible Samsung TVs, joining the Netflix 4K streaming service which launched back in March.

MORE: 4K Ultra HD TV - everything you need to know

And that's not all. Samsung says it's working "to provide Hollywood studios' highest quality content to consumers via a download service". So it looks like we could soon see a Samsung 4K download service in a similar vein to the Sony service that launched last year in the US.

We already know that Samsung has the connections with the studios, having announced the UHD Video Pack - a 500 gigabyte hard drive pre-loaded with 40 4K films - earlier in the year.

Furthermore, Samsung will be producing more of its own Ultra HD content, promising ten live UHD streams of the Vienna State Opera over the coming months, which will be broadcast live around the world.

All this is part of Samsung's plans "to further expand its UHD ecosystem", as the company lines-up more 4K TVs on the back of the likes of the UE65HU7500, which was our first five-star 4K TV.

While the number of 4K TVs on the market is increasing - and total global shipments reached 1.6 million in 2013 - the amount of content available to watch remains a serious hurdle. Netflix 4K is available on selected TVs, though the amount of content remains limited, while despite experiments such as the BBC's 4K World Cup broadcast trials, there are no firm plans for 4K broadcasts any time soon.

MORE: Samsung 2014 TVs line-up

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Joe Cox
Joe Cox
Content Director

Joe is Content Director for T3 and What Hi-Fi?, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for more than 15 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff, and the Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).