From a presentation standpoint, Super Bowl LIX will largely be sticking to the status quo on Sunday. Fox Sports is capturing the game in 1080p HDR and upscaling that to 4K for its own networks and the free Tubi live stream. Comcast just announced that it’ll be airing the game in Dolby Vision, which it has done before, but now with Dolby Atmos for the first time. The latter is certain to be a virtualized surround signal, but it could still lend some extra atmosphere to the game if you’ve got a nice home theater setup.
Comcast says the Dolby Vision / Atmos broadcast of Super Bowl LIX will be available to Xfinity TV customers as part of its Enhanced 4K offerings, which “provides customers with an unmatched viewing experience with the best picture and audio quality, delivered to the home in the fastest way possible so the action customers see in their living room is only seconds behind the game unfolding in New Orleans.” If you’re an Xfinity Stream subscriber, you can also watch it there as well.
The game’s picture quality will be similar to what we’ve seen in recent years, but you might notice some unique shots as the Eagles and Chiefs face off. Fox Sports says it’s using a Super Slowmo / 4K SkyCam, which is a first for the Super Bowl, so I’ll be curious to see when and how that’s used.
I’ve got friends who still insist on the OTA antenna method of watching the Big Game for the “purest” feed, but I definitely prefer the HDR experience over that — wherever you can find it. The wider color gamut makes a real difference, and the upscaled 4K image apparently meets the “good enough” bar for the enormous audience that will be watching on Sunday if we’re still doing it this way. For reference, last year’s game tallied 123.4 million average viewers across all platforms, according to the NFL.
(Disclosure: Comcast is an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.)
