Netflix Chief Product Office Neil Hunt believes that 4K support is coming to the PlayStation 4. With a full year under its belt, Sony has made no announcements in regards to 4K capabilities on the PS4, other than a vague comment by Shuhei Yoshida on August 2013 which stated

 PS4 will support 4K video and photos 

Nearly a year and a half later, we’ve yet to see any hints of 4K on PS4 but if the PS3 was any sign, Sony has the know-how to build on their original design. That is to say that the PS3 that launched 10 years ago is very different than the PS3 of now which thanks to firmware updates have brought with them a more robust PlayStation Network, 3D movies, and a host of apps, all which were absent during launch. Is the PS4 headed towards the same path? Quite likely, but according Neil Hunt, it may be done with a hardware revision. Wait, what? Let’s talk about the jump.

When speaking with Forbes, Hunt expressed his beliefs that both PS4 and Xbox One would be receiving 4K support as part of the two-year hardware refresh which he expected will take place sometime in October or November and in doing so, will gain Netflix 4K. The timeframe fits both products’ approximate two year anniversary but the baffling part is tied to the hardware refresh. If Hunt has inside information to Sony’s and Microsofts hardware roadmap, then he’s hinting that neither console is currently capable of outputting native 4K content and that a hardware refresh is needed in order to achieve the higher resolution. When Sony was reached for comments, they had the following to say:

 Support for high-resolution 4K output for still images and movie content is in consideration, but there are no further details to share at this time. 

While I buy the argument that neither console is powerful enough to run 4K games, seeing as many games still can’t hit a solid 1080p 60fps, I’m not sure I buy into them not being able to output movies in 4K. There are already Blu-ray players priced in the mid $100 range which can output and upscale content to 4K which happens to require HDMI 1.4 and guess what? The PlayStation 4 is also equipped with HDMI 1.4 with more processing power than a standalone Blu-ray player. Does a PS4K meet my wildest and wettest gamer/tech nerd dreams? Absolutely. And does it have a nice marketing ring to it? It certainly does, but that doesn’t mean I’m expecting 4K gaming this generation.

What I am expecting is a trojan horse for Sony – as the PS3 was for Blu-ray, so can the PS4 be for 4K. So does that mean we can expect a hardware refresh around fall? Maybe, and we’ve already seen a supposed leaked image of the device but I don’t believe the fate of the PS4 outputting in 4K is tied to a hardware refresh. Instead, it’s more likely that we’ll get a major firmware overhaul around the same time as a potential hardware refresh with both models gaining 4K video playback to access services like Netflix 4K. At CES 2015, Sony unveiled a massive new lineup of 4K televisions, powered by Android TV.

Notes:

It’s worth pointing out that HDMI 1.4 is only capable of 4K @ 30fps versus HDMI 2.0 which is capable of 4K @ 60fps but I don’t find that to be a reason to hold back movie streaming services.

Discuss:

Do you think the PS4 will be in need of a hardware refresh to gain Netflix 4K?

[Via Forbes]