Samsung’s UBD-K8500 Ultra HD Blu-ray player, the only 4K Blu-ray player available in the U.S., has become the industry’s first 4K Blu-ray player to get its performance certified by the UHD Alliance (UHDA).
The alliance last month unveiled certification criteria for 4K players following the January unveiling of performance criteria for 4K Ultra HD TVs, 4K Blu-ray discs, streaming 4K content, and 4K content services. The alliance is also looking into certifying the performance of 4K broadcast content.
Alliance certification is awarded to products that comply with performance levels for resolution, high dynamic range (HDR), peak luminance, black levels and wide color gamut, among other metrics. Products meeting the criteria are allowed to wear the Ultra HD Premium logo.
Through the rest of 2016, the $399 UBD-K8500 will bear the certification logo, Samsung said.
To date, sales of Samsung’s player have exceeded the company’s expectations, and Samsung in mid April said it would ramp up production so that it could meet demand in six to eight weeks.
