Netflix has sure come a long ways from its humble beginnings as a company that simply made it exceedingly easy to watch DVDs. These days, Netflix is a media powerhouse with its own stable of award-winning and increasingly popular original content.
What’s awesome about Netflix is they’re not just pushing the envelope content wise, they’re leading the charge on the video quality front as well.
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For example, we recently reported how the most recent season of House of Cards was shot in full 6K. That’s no typo — we’re talking full 6K quality which delivers 9 times as many pixels as normal HD. Of course, the series wasn’t delivered to Netflix users in 6K, but Netflix, in their infinite wisdom, decided they might as well future proof their content in anticipation of the TV industry and Internet providers someday catching up.
In other words, Netflix isn’t just preoccupied with giving users the best media content available, it’s doing all it can to ensure that the video quality of said content is absolutely mind-blowing.
Taking a closer look at how Netflix is at the forefront of a video quality revolution, Wired recently explored how the moves Netflix is making is influencing all major players in the industry to step up their game. By throwing their weight and support behind ultra HD video for instance, Netflix influenced Amazon to do the same.
In addition to spearheading 4K content, Wired reports that Netflix is also getting a head start on high-dynamic range (HDR) content.
HDR sounds like just another buzzword, but like 4K, it can significantly improve your TV viewing experience. Think of it as contrast ratio on steroids. Whites are whiter. Blacks are blacker. And together, they create an image that feels less like the washed out approximation we’re used to and more like being there. Greengart calls the technology the “clean winner” when compared to 4K, in terms of noticeable benefit to the consumer.
While HDR content still apears to be a ways away, Netflix isn’t leaving anything to chance and is already taking measures to prepare for an HDR world.
Much like in 4K, Netflix gains the first-mover advantage of not just providing HDR content to early adopters, but being effectively the only provider of any quantity. It’s also a clever bit of future-proofing. If and when HDR does populate our living rooms, Netflix will have a back catalog of original series like Marco Polo waiting for it.
Netflix’s transformation over the years has been quite incredible. Again, the company has, in the blink of an eye, morphed from a purveyor of DVDs to a must-have TV service with its own fleet of compelling and original programming. Most recently, Netflix released two acclaimed shows — Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Bloodline. Looking ahead, a Wet Hot American Summer series is slated to launch later this Summer. Most recently, we reported that Netflix recently tapped David Cross and Bob Odenkirk to develop a new sketch comedy show
