Amazon is enabling 4K streaming in October… as a Samsung TV exclusive

You can start streaming 4K content from Amazon Instant Video as soon as October, but only if you have a Samsung UltraHD aka 4K television set. The announcement comes from Samsung, which has been eager to start pushing 4K content for its UltraHD televisions, which isn’t surprising, not only there isn’t a whole lot to watch in 4K yet, delivering 4K content over existing broadband connections is a tall order. At CES In January this year, Samsung had announced a major partnership with Netflix, Amazon, Comcast and DirecTV to provide 4K streaming to consumers.

Samsung is doubling down on 4K films and TV. The Korean company is adding 4K Amazon streaming and bringing 4K Netflix to Europe, so you can enjoy eye-scorching detail on your Ultra High Definition television. UHD, also known as 4K, is the next step after high definition, with a resolution of 3,840×2,160 pixels — four times that of full HD. It’s still new enough that not only are the TVs expensive, but if you do invest there’s precious little to watch that takes advantage of the whopping resolution. That means it’s in the interests of manufacturers such as Samsung and Sony to help provide stuff for you to watch in order to persuade you to fork out for the TV. As such, Samsung TVs will be able to stream movies and TV in UHD from Amazon’s video streaming on-demand service from October. That will be available “globally”, although Samsung hasn’t confirmed exactly which countries that includes.