The Super Bowl Will Be Streamed and Broadcast in 4K HDR For The First Time

Fox Sports announced in December that it’ll be streaming the game on supported media streaming devices in 4K HDR, and in 4K with certain cable TV providers. 

Now, I should nitpick that this year’s Super Bowl won’t be streamed or broadcasted in true 4K. The game is being produced by Fox Sports in the more standard 1080p resolution, and Fox Sports is “upscaling” the video and delivering it to you in 4K resolution. Upscaling is an artificial enhancement to convert lower resolution video to higher resolution. It’s typically pretty good, but it’s not always as good as true 4K. Still, the game will look great regardless.

Fox Sports executives said during an industry summit that true 4K resolution in sports can create blurry scenes during fast-paced action shots, at least when TV standards display a certain number of frames per second (60, in this case). 

If you want to watch the game in the utmost quality possible, check out everything you’ll need:

It may be obvious, but the most essential thing you’ll need is a 4K, or UHD, TV to watch the game in 4K. Super Bowl LIV will also be streamed in HDR, so it’s a bonus if your TV has HDR.

HDR, or high dynamic range, gives you enhanced colors and contrast compared to SDR (standard dynamic range). It’s absolutely not the end of the world if your TV doesn’t support HDR. But if your TV does have HDR, it should at least support a standard called HDR 10, which is a universal standard that Fox Sports says is necessary to watch Super Bowl LIV with HDR.

The best way to watch the Super Bowl in 4K and HDR will be with a media streaming device, but only a few devices will stream the game in 4K HDR.

The supported Roku streaming devices include Roku Premiere, Roku Premiere+, Roku Streaming Stick+, and 4K TVs that run on the Roku operating system. 

For Amazon streaming devices, only the Amazon Fire TV 4K will support the game in 4K and HDR.

And as for Apple TV, only the Apple TV 4K will support the game in 4K, but no Apple streaming device will support the game in HDR, according to Fox Sports. 

The above media streamers are only for 4K resolution. Super Bowl LIV will be streamed in more standard resolution on a wide variety of devices, including those from Roku, Amazon, Apple, Android TV, Xbox One, Samsung’s smart TVs (models from 2017 or newer), smartphones and tablets, and web browsers on computers. 

You’ll need the Fox Sports app installed on your media streamer, and you can watch the game for free if you already have a Fox Sports profile, or by creating a Fox Sports profile.

An internet connection that’s capable of at least 25 megabits per second (Mbps).

To check whether your internet connection is fast enough to stream the Super Bowl in 4K, you can head to speedtest.net, and click “Go.” Speedtest will then check your internet speeds, and if your download speeds are above 25 Mbps, you should be good to go!

If your internet speeds are under 50 Mbps, it’s probably best to make sure no one else at home is also streaming a 4K video at the same time as the game.

You’ll also be able to watch the game in 4K on cable TV from certain providers.

If you get your cable TV from Altice Optimum, DirecTV, Dish, or Verizon Fios, you may be able to watch the Super Bowl LIV in 4K if you have the right cable package and set-top boxes. To find out whether you have the right channels and boxes, your best bet is to get in touch with your cable TV provider.