Sony announces 4K player for US, nothing for “us”

If you were planning on grabbing one of those big new 4K TVs that were launched late last year in Australia, you’ve probably asked the question “where can I find some proper UHDTV content.” Well, Sony has announced availability for its solution, but there is no good news yet for 4K owners in Australia.

In November, one of Sony’s officials made mention that Sony was working on a solution that would be made available to customers who purchased the 84 inch 4K Bravia TV, even coming preloaded with movies.

Several months later, Sony is talking up the solution properly, with the FMP-X1, the first 4K Media Player that also acts as a distribution service for downloading 4K movies.

“This summer our 4K media player, followed in fall by the video distribution service will demonstrate how Sony continues to lead in bringing the 4K entertainment experience to viewers,” said Mike Lucas, Sony Electronics Home Division in the US.

The solution will be available without purchasing the 4K TV for $699 in America, and will be preloaded with several films, including “Bad Teacher,” “Battle: Los Angeles,” “Salt,” “Taxi Driver”, “The Amazing Spider-Man,” as well as a few others.

Sony’s FMP-X1 will later on be able to access 4K movies distributed digitally from Sony’s film house, as well as “other notable production houses.”

Australians interested in Sony’s 4K solution will be out of luck at this time, however, with Sony not moving on so much from last year’s comment that this was “a local US initiative with Sony Pictures Entertainment,” and a representative for the company telling GadgetGuy this week that “at this stage the product is only available in the US.”

Meanwhile, Sony is also eyeing off possible Blu-ray discs that have been “mastered in 4K,” for release with select future 4K TVs from the company in America, with titles including “Spider-Man,” “Angels & Demons,” and “Ghostbusters.”