New Sony 4K media player comes with 4K Netflix and 200 movie library

One of the big questions about 4K content has been where it’s going to come from. With no 4K Blu-ray format appearing at this year’s CES and broadcasters struggling to find bandwidth for HD channels, the smart money is on internet streaming. With this in mind, Sony has just announced a new 4K media streamer in the US, the FMP-X10

The stylishly minimal box supports 4K Netflix, so you’ll be able to enjoy House of Cards at a whopping 3,840×2,160 Ultra HD resolution, with bitrates running up 20Mbit/s, which is around 3-4x that of the current HD stream. We’ve seen the results and it looks stunning, but the quantity of such content is very limited at present

The box will also provide access to over 200 movies in 4K quality via Sony’s Video Unlimited service. These movies are essentially the same resolution and quality as those you watch in a typical modern, digital cinema.

For those without the latest Sony 4K models, the FMP-X10 provides access to a large number of Ultra HD movies

You can also save your own 4K movies to the box thanks to a 1TB hard disk inside, great if you happen to own the Sony FDR-AX100 or Panasonic Lumix GH4.

We’re not sure yet whether the FMP-X10 will replace the current circular-shaped FMP-X1. The new box does appear to have a higher specification in some areas, supporting up to 60fps at full resolution, compared to 30fps on the old box, though none of the content we’ve mentioned here will take advantage of that.

At present there’s no date announced to release the FMP-X10 in the UK, and the latest sets do include a lot of the functionality listed here, such as streaming movies and Netflix. However, for those who have bought early sets, or anyone buying a non-Sony TV but who wants access to the movie library, this may be just the thing.

If you want to more about the 4K TV revolution then check out are indepth article 4K TV – Is Ultra HD the next big step?.