Amazon's Prime members and all customers can now enjoy movies, TV shows and Amazon Original Series, in Ultra HD picture quality. Available at no additional cost to their membership, Amazon Prime members can now watch Amazon Original Series including the sophomore season of Alpha House, the Writers Guild of America nominated series Transparent, and children's series Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street in high-quality 4K picture resolution exclusively on Amazon Prime Instant Video.

In addition, Prime Instant Video is the exclusive online-only subscription home for streaming the hit BBC thriller Orphan Black, which is now available in Ultra HD.

The upcoming new line-up from Amazon Studios including primetime series Mozart in the Jungle, Bosch, Hand of God, The After and Red Oaks will be available for streaming in Ultra HD on Prime Instant Video later this year and next year. The seven new pilots from Amazon Studios - Cocked, Down Dog, Mad Dogs, Man in the High Castle, Point of Honor, Salem Rogers and The New Yorker Presents - will also be offered in Ultra HD when they debut early next year.

Amazon's Prome subscription service costs consumers $99 per year.

In addition, all Amazon customers will also have access to purchase a selection of movies, with some starting at $19.99, in the 4K picture resolution of Ultra HD from Sony Pictures Entertainment on Amazon Instant Video including After Earth, American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Elysium, Godzilla, Hancock, Moneyball, The Mask of Zorro, The Monuments Men, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, The Da Vinci Code, The Patriot, Think Like a Man Too, This Is the End, and many more.

4K Ultra HD content is still hard to come by. There is no formalized broadcast standard yet for delivery of 4K Ultra HD to the home, and no 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray players and discs (expected to be available late 2015). However, Sony released a 4K Ultra HD Media Player which comes preloaded with 4K content that can be viewed using Sony 4K TVs. Samsung also has a 4K Ultra HD Video Pack that can be viewed using Samsung 4K TVs.

Amazon's announcement comes on the heels of news that Netflix, which began delivering 4K streaming video in April, will quietly raise its monthly rate to $11.99 for new subscribers who want access to the 4K stream. Netflix raised the price of its standard HD package service from $7.99 to $8.99 for new subscribers on May 9th. Current subscribers who have been paying for 4K service prior to Aug. 12th were grandfathered into the older $7.99 a month plan until Aug. 12, 2016.

To watch the 4K streams from Netflix or Amazon, you'll need a 4k TV with HEVC decoding and the compatible app.