Today in synergy: Amazon to shoot original series in Ultra HD, in order to sell Ultra HD TVs

By Mike Vago  |  December 18, 2013 | 8:43pm
Aux Features TV

Having established a gradually expanding slate of original programming, Amazon has announced the latest step in its ongoing plot to control all of the glowing rectangles in your life. Starting next year, all of the media giant's original series will be shot in Ultra HD—a new format that's somewhat better than regular HD, we suppose, but to be honest, we can't really tell, because our eyes are wrecked from all that time we spent reading on the Kindle.

The move to this new format was spurred not by consumer demand—only 57,000 Ultra HD TVs have sold thus far—but by good, old-fashioned supply-side economics. If Amazon broadcasts in Ultra HD, its thinking goes, then more people might buy Ultra HD TVs. On Amazon.

There are a few stumbling blocks to this new format catching on, like the likelihood that most people don't have enough Internet bandwidth to stream an even higher-quality file, and the fact that there's a limit to how well the human eye can perceive differences in picture quality. (And after a certain point, who cares whether you can see every bit of lint stuck to Brobee when you sit your kid in front of Yo Gabba Gabba, so you can finally get a few damn minutes to take a shower?)

Netflix also has plans to stream its original programming in Ultra HD—a surprising move, seeing as Netflix doesn't even sell TVs.

 
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