4K Ultra HD blu-rays are coming in early 2016

The future is brighter than HD, it's Ultra HD - and the first disks are already on the way from Sony Pictures. They're very shiny

You may only just be getting used to the world of high definition entertainment but as always technology is already racing forward. 4K TVs are becoming increasingly popular at major tech shows, so it's about time we got some content for the blooming things.

Luckly, Sony is on the case and they're getting ready to launch a whole new format - 4K Ultra HD blu-rays. That's right, you'll soon be able to buy a little pressed disk which contains all the information to show off a film at a staggering 4K, that's a resolution of 3840 x 2160 million pixels.

The studio will launch their first titles to the home market in early 2016, with movies like The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Chappie, Pineapple Express, The Smurfs 2, Hancock and Salt being the opening wave. That's a very random list, suggesting it's currently more about what they have on the shelf. At least the effects in Spidey 2 might look good, provided they were mastered at 4K in the first place.

There will be plenty more movies on the way in the coming months and yers, including restored versions of Ghostbusters and The Fifth Element as well as something like Fury which could potentially look spectacular.

Now that we know the disks are coming, the reality of playing them is quite another matter. Firstly, you'll need a TV capable of displaying full Ultra HD content and a shiny new UHD disk. But on top of that you'll also have to pick up a new player which can handle the disks, and that hardware isn't yet available. On top if that, you'll get the best experience with a TV that's set up for HDMI 2.0, which guarantees frame rates higher than 30fps.

That's not all - many of the Ultra HD disks will also be touting High Dynamic Range support - a new technology which works to keep highlights and shadows equally visible for a more realistic look. But earlier 4K TVs might not support this feature, and you'll also need HDMI ports and cables with the 2.0a version of the hardware.

There's a lot to take in when it comes to the Ultra High Definition format, and the studios involved will want to start educating their potential users about it as soon as possible. But make no mistake, 4K is coming to your living room very soon!