As promised earlier this year, the UHD Alliance (UHDA) has published a specification that spells out the minimum requirements of what qualifies as ultra-high definition and has arranged to have testing labs around the world certify UHD products that meet those qualifications. (See UHD Alliance Aims for Early-2016 Release.)

UHD, a.k.a. 4K TV, has been around for more than a decade. But companies involved with the production, editing, distribution and display of UHD have not always agreed with each other on minimum requirements for the many characteristics of UHD video, which include not just resolution but also color bit depth, color palette, dynamic range and more.

The new UHD spec dictates minimum video characteristics and makes recommendations for audio as well. Companies that produce products that meet the standards can license a new logo from the UHDA. The organization has also created a new category of participation -- Adopters -- for companies that are interested simply in getting their products certified.

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The UHDA's spec is broken into three categories, one each for device's (currently, television displays, with other devices under consideration) distribution and content. Image resolution in all cases must be at least 3840 x 2160.

The device category includes the following specifications:

Any distribution channel delivering the UHD Alliance content must support:

The UHD Alliance Content Master must meet the following requirements:

The UHD Alliance recommends the following mastering display specifications:

The UHDA said the specs were developed in concert with film studios, consumer electronics manufacturers, content distributors and technology companies.

UHDA members include DirecTV, Dolby Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: DLB), LG Electronics Inc. (London: LGLD; Korea: 6657.KS) , Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX), Panasonic Corp. (NYSE: PC), Samsung Corp. , Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE), Technicolor (Euronext Paris: TCH; NYSE: TCH), Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), 20th Century Fox , NBC Universal , Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. , Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN), Arris Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRS), DreamWorks LLC , Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC), Nvidia Corp. (Nasdaq: NVDA), Orange (NYSE: FTE), Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , Rogers Communications Inc. (Toronto: RCI), Sharp Electronics Corp. , complink 813|British Sky Broadcasting Group plc}, Toshiba Corp. (Tokyo: 6502) and others.

"The diverse group of UHDA companies agreed that to realize the full potential of Ultra HD, the specs need to go beyond resolution and address enhancements like HDR, expanded color and ultimately even immersive audio. Consumer testing confirmed this," said UHD Alliance President Hanno Basse. "The criteria established by this broad cross section of the Ultra HD ecosystem enables the delivery of a revolutionary in-home experience, and the Ultra HD Premium logo gives consumers a single, identifying mark to seek out so they can purchase with confidence."

— Brian Santo, Senior Editor, Components, T&M, Light Reading