Super Bowl LVII takes place on Sunday, February 12 when football fans can watch the mighty Kansas City Chiefs take on the equally formidable Philadelphia Eagles. It promises to be a hair-raising game that will be watched by more than 100 million viewers across the US on TV screens big and small.
The good news this year for owners of The best 4K TVs is that the game will be broadcast in 4K with Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range. Imagine how incredible that will look – every detail, from the mesh of the players’ uniforms to the light reflecting off their helmets, should come through with vivid, startling clarity. But there’s a catch: Only subscribers to Comcast’s Xfinity X1 cable service can watch the game in Dolby Vision HDR format.
According to Dolby, Comcast cable customers will need a compatible X1 cable box and, of course, a compatible TV to experience Dolby Vision HDR goodness when watching Super Bowl LVII.
However, those who don’t subscribe to a Comcast cable aren’t completely barred from experiencing the game in 4K and HDR. Apps like YouTube TV and fuboTV allow you to stream sporting events that are typically broadcast over TV broadcasts and cable. Many viewers will see the game like this on February 12, and Fox Sports, which has the broadcast rights to Super Bowl LVII, will also be making the game available in 4K on its Fox Sports app – just not with Dolby Vision. Instead it uses the basic HDR10 high dynamic range, a format supported by virtually all 4K TVs, including Dolby Vision-compatible ones.
But wait – there’s a catch. While the idea of 4K football, no less with Dolby Vision, is exciting, Fox Sports will actually be broadcasting up-converted normal high-definition video on February 12th. This is because major sporting events like the Super Bowl require large numbers of cameras to capture the action from every possible angle – including drones – and 1080p is a more manageable production format than 4K. Fox Sports previously broadcast this year’s NFL playoffs games in up-converted 4K, and it did the same thing back in 2020, when the network last broadcast the Super Bowl.
Analysis: More sports should be broadcast in 4K – and HDR
Super Bowl LVII, which gets the Dolby Vision treatment, is an interesting development that’s been a long time coming. With televisions generally getting bigger, brighter and jam-packed with goodies like Dolby Vision HDR, sports fans can expect premium events like the Super Bowl to be broadcast in the highest possible quality. Even inexpensive TVs now support Dolby Vision, and anyone who owns a compatible TV will no doubt want to use this feature to improve picture quality.
However, it seems strange that the Super Bowl’s Dolby Vision debut is limited to a single cable TV service. Viewers have cut the cord in droves over the past decade The best streaming services have stepped up to offer a viable alternative to subscription-based cable television packages. I gave up mine years ago and have never looked back. But Super Bowl LVII in Dolby Vision is something I want to see and I now regret not being able to watch the game in premium HDR format.
While movies and TV shows in actual 4K — not upconverted — are easy to come by via streaming services, 4K sports is slow to arrive. The FIFA World Cup was presented in 4K and HDR in 2022, but it could only be streamed via the BBC iPlayer app. (Fox Sports in the US showed the same, but upconverted back from 1080p.)
While cable TV providers and streaming services are slowly creeping up on presenting sports in 4K and HDR, digital TV channels in the US are proving to be even more sluggish. The next generation ATSC 3.0 digital TV standard in the US supports 4K and HDR broadcasts along with immersive Dolby Atmos audio, but we have yet to see TV broadcasters that have made the transition from the older, HD-only ATSC 1.0 broadcast format take advantage of these capabilities. In fact, the situation has gotten so bad that the National Association of Broadcasters has done it called the ATSC 3.0 transition “stalled” and urged the FCC to set up a task force to expedite the process.
Ultra High Definition 4K with HDR is the future of sports broadcasting – our televisions have long supported both, and many streaming services are willing to offer both for many programs other than sports. It would be a welcome advance to see games in these formats, and while you’re at it, broadcasters, please add Dolby Atmos audio to the mix.
