Sony's PlayStation 4 Pro cannot play 4K Blu-Ray discs

It's been just over 12 hours since Sony officially took the wraps off of the Playstation 4 Pro. Both that console and a refined Playstation 4 are Sony's response to Microsoft's Xbox One S and future 4K behemoth, code-named Project Scorpio. Sony's new consoles are welcomed improvements and iterations on previous hardware but it seems Sony forgot to support one thing: 4K Blu-Ray discs.

If you buy the Playstation 4 Pro, you'll be able to game and stream video in 4K when available but you will not be able to put in a 4K Blu-Ray disc and watch movies. That's because the Playstation 4 Pro's optical drive is only built to support standard Blu-Ray and DVD formats, something that can be confirmed on the company's own website. Microsoft has seen the opportunity to land a small punch because the Xbox One S, a less-powerful piece of hardware compared to the PS4 Pro, does support 4K Blu-Ray discs.

It's at least a little puzzling that Sony would omit support for 4K Blu-Ray disc media, especially when Sony is the company responsible for bringing Blu-Ray to market in the first place.

Though online streaming might be a popular method for watching video content, there's still plenty of people and places in the world where online services aren't stable enough (if available at all) for 4K streaming. With the dropping prices of 4K TVs and few people with 4K Blu-Ray players, it would seems like a no-brainer to include that feature with the PS4 Pro to make it even more of a centerpiece in our living rooms.

via: Venture Beat