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Sony wants to keep 4K name

Sony has announced that it will be calling the successor to high definition "4K Ultra High Definition," despite apparent industry consensus on a simpler name.

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Ty Pendlebury is a journalism graduate of RMIT Melbourne, and has worked at CNET since 2006. He lives in New York City where he writes about streaming and home audio.
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  • Ty was nominated for Best New Journalist at the Australian IT Journalism awards, but he has only ever won one thing. As a youth, he was awarded a free session for the photography studio at a local supermarket.
Ty Pendlebury
The Sony XBR-84X900 will feature what the company now calls "4K Ultra High Definition" resolution. Sony

Sony has announced that it will keep the 4K name for the successor to 1080p, despite the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) deciding on the new Ultra High Definition tag.

Sony's new name for the technology will be 4K Ultra HD and follows the CEA's announcement yesterday that resolutions of 3,840 pixels horizontally and at least 2,160 would be called simply Ultra HD.

A Sony spokeswoman has contacted CNET and said the company "lauds the CEA's efforts to come up with a common language" but the company wanted to make the name more clear.

"To ensure clarity for consumers and delineate between today's and tomorrow's technology, Sony will continue to use the 4K moniker for its products and will market its future products as 4K ultra-high-definition (4K UHD)," she said.

Ultra HD or 4K is designed to be the next consumer format after 1080p -- and has four times the resolution -- and this year has seen compatible televisions launched from the likes of the $25,000 Sony XBR-84X900 and the LG 84LM9600, with more expected at CES 2013.

Will the new name "ensure clarity" or does it just make the name longer and more confusing? Let us know in the comments.