Netflix will stream House of Cards in 4K

Netflix's Neil Hunt wants to make 4K streaming a thing in your home. The Netflix exclusive House of Cards, headlined by Kevin Spacey, is the current target for 4K streaming, says Hunt. As it turns out, much of the series was shot in 4K.

"Our own original House of Cards was shot in 4K," Hunt said to The Verge. "It's being mastered in full HD, but the raw footage, or a good chunk of it, was shot in 4K, and we hope to have some House of Cards 4K encodes later this year." Hunt believes 4K "will likely be streamed first before it goes anywhere else," and he plans to deliver the ultra high definition format through Netflix within the next couple of years.

 

For those of you who don't know, 4K is the next step in high definition, dubbed Ultra HD, providing pixels of about 3840 x 2160. Who will be able to take advantage of Netflix's planned 4K streaming? People with 4K displays...displays which start at around $17,000. Not nearly as noticeable a leap in clarity as the jump from 480p to 1080p, 4K needs room to spread its wings in order to yield any clarity benefits. Screens need to be at least 55 inches in size in order to take advantage of the full pixel range. Let's not even get into how 4K will be able to be conveniently streamed over the air when most people aren't even taking advantages of their 1080p sets. 

So who is going to be able to enjoy House of Cards in their home? The wealthy, early adopters who crave new technology. The rest of us will have to wait for a few more years when the prices drop until we can start not utilizing the full potential of our new 4K screens.

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