4K is one of the latest terms in home entertainment. 4K, which showcases four times the resolution of standard high-definition, has been around for over a decade in larger movie studios and production houses, but when it comes to home television, this kind of resolution only started to hit store shelves last year. Currently, few service providers offer any real content in 4K, and those who purchase the televisions are limited to only a handful of options. However, Netflix has bucked this trend and is now providing some content in the 4K format.
Not everything Netflix is offering is up in 4K. It has taken the company some time to obtain the HD versions of the majority of its library, so resing up to 4K is going to take even longer. That is why the company is currently offering its in-house production of "House of Cards" in 4K, as it has all of the original files, so updating it for this higher resolution is not difficult. Outside of "House of Cards" though, the only other 4K material includes a few nature documentaries. The company does look to continually increase its 4K streaming display though, and as more and more consumers go out and purchase the 4K televisions, more content should continually become available.
Not all 4K televisions are able to handle the Netflix stream though. 4K televisions purchased in 2013 are not going to handle the H.265/HEVC codec used by Netflix. Only televisions released in 2014 have this feature the H.265 codec reduces the streaming size of the file while maintaining the quality of the video and is the updated version of high-definition's h.264 codec).
Users who want to watch 4K content must also have an extremely fast Internet connection though, as it is four times the downloaded information as HD.
