Sony today confirmed to Pocket-lint that it isn't going to be using the new Ultra HD Premium labelling, recently launched by the UHD Alliance to make sure you know which TVs adhere to the latest and greatest standards.
Announced at the start of 2016, and quickly shown off by the likes of Panasonic, LG and Samsung, Sony has decided that it's not going to be using the Ultra HD Premium branding for its televisions.
For a TV to carry the Ultra HD Premium logo, it needs to meet a set of standards for 4K and HDR, so there's a level of parity when it comes to colour, dynamic range and so on and importantly, as a customer, you know what you're buying. Sony's latest flagship television, the XD93 launched at CES 2016 would qualify as an Ultra HD Premium television under the UHDA rules.
"We have decided not to go with the Ultra HD Premium logo," a Sony spokesperson said, despite the company being an active part of the UHD Alliance. Instead, the company will be using its own 4K HDR label, seen above.
However, and here's where it gets slightly complicated, other models in Sony's range that don't reach Ultra HD Premium standards will be carrying Sony's own 4K HDR branding just as the XD93 will. So make sure you check the details if you're looking to buy a new Bravia.
Adding more detail to Sony's Ultra HD story, one of the omissions in its CES 2016 line-up was an Ultra HD Blu-ray player. Currently Sony offers upscaling Blu-ray players, but hasn't announced anything that supports the new 4K optical discs.
That's set to change, however, with Sony confirming that it plans to launch an Ultra HD Blu-ray player in 2016. There's no word on an exact timeframe, but we get the sense that Sony wants to offer "Sony quality", rather than just being the first to market.