At the HPA Tech Retreat, Sony Pictures Television announced its plans to shoot between three and five pilots in 4K this season, perhaps signifying the beginning of a shift towards popularizing 4K. At last month’s CES in Las Vegas, there was a big push for the Ultra HD platform; about 50 sets were unveiled. But after the conference, many were left to wonder if content and delivery would be made available for the currently expensive TV sets.

“Sony has been bullish about starting content creation in the format, which represents four times the amount of data as today’s HD,” writes Carolyn Giardina for The Hollywood Reporter.

“My guess is we’ll be doing half a dozen shows in 4K if they are picked up,” said Phil Squyres, Sony Pictures Television senior VP of technical operations, who reports that the directors of photography on the upcoming pilots are exploring the use of a variety of 4K cameras including Sony’s F65 and F55.

4K photography has already been used on some TV shows, including the now cancelled CBS drama “Made In Jersey” and the ongoing FX drama “Justified.”

“The F65 is also used on the half-hour comedy ‘Save Me’ for NBC and one-hour drama ‘Masters of Sex’ for Showtime, as well as Michael J. Fox’s half-hour comedy pilot for NBC,” explains Giardina. “All three are also posted in 4K at Sony Pictures’ post facility Colorworks, which is based on its Culver City lot.”

Colorworks recently launched a 4K TV post division, which according to Bob Bailey, Colorworks’ senior vp sales, will enable 4K episodes to be made on the same schedule as HD episodes. But with the increased data comes an increased price tag and Colorworks plans to “share” that additional cost with its clients. “Colorworks intends to provide the additional production storage and ask clients to pay for the 4K archival storage, which would be LTO tapes,” notes the article. 

Sony has already begun remastering the AMC drama “Breaking Bad” in the higher-resolution format. Instead of having to go back and remaster, as Squyres notes, shooting in 4K upfront will save companies money in the long run: “…remastering costs twice as much, because you are doing the work twice,” he said.