Super Bowl LVII will screen in 4K and Dolby Vision, but there’s a catch
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Super Bowl LVII takes place on Sunday, February 12, when football fans take on the mighty Kansas City Chiefs against the equally formidable Philadelphia Eagles. It promises to be a hair-raising contest, one that will have more than 100 million viewers in the US tuning in on big and small TV screens.
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. Just think how incredible that will look – every detail, from the mesh of the players’ uniforms to the light reflected 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 the 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 the goodness of Dolby Vision HDR when watching Super Bowl LVII.
However, those who don’t subscribe to Comcast cable won’t be completely barred from experiencing the game in 4K and HDR. Apps like YouTube TV and fuboTV let you stream sporting events that you normally see on television and cable. Many viewers will watch the game that way on February 12, and Fox Sports, which has broadcast rights to Super Bowl LVII, will also make the game available in 4K on its Fox Sports app — just not with Dolby Vision. Instead, it defaults to HDR10 high dynamic range, a format supported by virtually all 4K TVs, including Dolby Vision-enabled TVs.
But wait – there’s one more catch. While the idea of 4K football, with Dolby Vision no less, is exciting, what Fox Sports will actually be broadcasting on February 12 is upconverted regular high-definition video. This is because major sporting events like the Super Bowl require a large number of cameras to capture the action from every possible angle – including drones – and 1080p is a more manageable production format than 4K. Fox Sports had already broadcast this year’s NFL playoffs games in upconverted 4K, and it did the same in 2020, the network’s last broadcast of the Super Bowl.
Analysis: More sports should be broadcast in 4K – and HDR
Super Bowl LVII getting the Dolby Vision treatment is an interesting development, long overdue. With TVs generally getting bigger, brighter and packed with extras like Dolby Vision HDR, sports fans can expect premium events like the Super Bowl to be broadcast in the highest possible quality. Even cheap TVs now support Dolby Vision, and anyone who owns a compatible TV will no doubt want to take advantage of this picture quality enhancement feature.
However, it seems odd that the Super Bowl’s Dolby Vision debut is limited to a single cable TV service. Viewers have cut the cord en masse over the past decade the best streaming services have been stepped up to provide a viable alternative to subscription-based cable TV bundles. I gave up on mine years ago and never looked back. But Super Bowl LVII in Dolby Vision is something I’d like to see, and I now have a pang of regret that I can’t watch the game in the premium HDR format.
While movies and TV shows in true 4K — not upconverted — are easy to find on streaming services, sports broadcast in 4K is slow to take off. The FIFA World Cup was presented in 4K and HDR back in 2022, but it could only be streamed through the BBC iPlayer app. (Fox Sports in the US showed the same, but reconverted from 1080p.)
While cable TV providers and streaming services are making their slow progress toward showcasing sports in 4K and HDR, digital TV channels in the US are proving to be even slower. The next generation ATSC 3.0 digital TV standard in the US it supports 4K and HDR broadcasting, along with immersive Dolby Atmos audio, but we’ve yet to see TV stations making the switch from the older HD-only ATSC 1.0 broadcast format take advantage of those capabilities. In fact, the situation has gotten so bad that the National Association of Broadcasters has done just that called the ATSC 3.0 transition “stalled” and asked the FCC to create a task force to speed up the process.
Ultra high-definition 4K with HDR is the future of sports broadcasting – our TVs have long supported both, and many streaming services easily offer both for plenty of programming other than sports. It would be a welcome advancement to see games in those formats, and while you’re at it, broadcasters, please add Dolby Atmos audio to the mix.