PS4 Pro’s inability to play 4K UHD discs is, no doubt, short-lived



So, why doesn’t the PS4 Pro support 4K UHD discs? The answer to that may lie in Sony’s Consumer Electronics division. At this time, Sony is preparing the launch of a series of desktop 4K UHD players. Naturally, the company wants these players to succeed. They want to sell them in quantities that makes the company proud. If they would add 4K UHD capabilities to the PS4 Pro, many people would simply forgo a settop player and use the PS4 Pro as their player of choice the way they did when the PS3 first arrived, complete with Blu-Ray capabilities. Only this time they don’t have a format war to win (remember, Blu-Ray competed heavily against HD-DVD at the time and the PS3 was essentially the format’s secret weapon that decided the war), so there is no need for them to cannibalize their own divisions. When it comes right down to it, the lack of 4K UHD disc support is simply a business decision that actually makes sense for the company. Why? Because this is not the end of the story.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that we will see the same kind of commitment to unlocking features-as-you-go when it comes to the PS4 Pro and 4K UHD discs. When the company has safely shipped settop players to stores and has seen them sell through, you will find a firmware update on your PS4 that will suddenly enable 4K UHD disc playback.

Is it possible? It is not only possible. It is extremely likely. There is no technical limitation. The PS4 Pro is capable of decoding and displaying full 4K UHD video streams with HDR, and the console is capable of reading Blu-Ray discs. That is all the hardware capability you need to play 4K UHD discs. Everything else is merely software to facilitate the data transport from the disc to the display logic and to handle things such as disc menus etc, all of which follow established Blu-Ray specifications, only at a higher resolution and in an extended colorspace.

So, once again, before you dismiss the PS4 Pro as a failure and as a no-purchase because it doesn’t support 4K UHD discs, think again. This limitation will be only temporary and its solution will be a mere firmware update away.