This year's Super Bowl won't stream in 4K or HDR

[Shawn Knight]

Editor's take: Super Bowl LV won’t be available to stream in 4K or HDR this year due to production limitations imposed by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Combined with a handful of other changes, this year's big show could look vastly different from what we've come to expect from the championship game.

CBS Sports Digital, the division of CBS Interactive that handles coverage on “digital screens,” confirmed the news to The Verge this week. NBC was originally supposed to air the big game this year but elected to let CBS handle it in exchange for the right to cover Super Bowl LVI in 2022.

Per The Verge, CBS has never offered an NFL game in 4K / HDR before. Previous 4K streams of the Super Bowl were actually shot in 1080P and HDR, and upscaled to 4K for broadcasting.

Super Bowl LV takes place Sunday, February 7, 2021, from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. Due to the pandemic, this year’s extravaganza is likely going to be a much more subdued affair. In-person attendance is expected to be capped at around 20 percent capacity and many traditional Super Bowl week festivities will likely be limited or canceled entirely.

Canadian singer the Weeknd is scheduled to perform at halftime.

Things will be different when viewing at home, too. According to a recent report from Hyperbeast, both Coca-Cola and Pepsi have decided not to run any commercials for their sodas during the Super Bowl “due to this year’s social climate.”

Image credit Melinda Nagy, Arina P Habich

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https://www.techspot.com/news/88365-year-super-bowl-wont-stream-4k-or-hdr.html

 

[TomSEA]

That's OK - it's the Super Bowl. I'd watch it at Nintendo Game Boy resolution.

 

[McKocoa]

Bummer. We've had 4k television tech for a decade and there is very little content. And I view the superbowl as a leading indicator of where things are going broadcast wise. Guess we'll wait another year.
Edit: I thought the coolest thing about last years upscale to 4k was that you could clearly see the whole field and all the players on the field in one shot--you get more detail and more action on the screen.

 

[Uncle Al]

As long as there is plenty of popcorn & beer I won't notice but I may need a wake up call after half time!

 

[axiomatic13]

Laziness.

 

[Bulllee]

The hardware has been seriously scalped then.
Maybe.

 

[Jpe1701]

What does "this years social climate" have to do with soda ads? I would think that keeping an American tradition like the super bowl as normal as possible would be a comfort of sorts for a lot of people.

 

[terzaerian]

̶B̶r̶e̶a̶d̶ Beer and Circuses

 

[defaultluser]

And we finally have official release of ATSC 3 TVs lastyear (from both Samsung and LG), and a number of pilot stations to broadcast it on.

This just screams of laziness (and won't be good for the format's uptake either)

 

[p51d007]

Won't matter to me. I gave up on the National FELON League years ago.

 

[s3thra]

Super Bowl? Is that an old SNES game?

 

[HofyPC]

NFL lost me when they started supporting BLM and ANTIFA.

 

[NicktheWVAHick]

Super Bowl of what? Kneeling? BLM? Convicts & felons? No thanks, I’ll save my 4K processing power for Netflix.

 

[Thretosix]

The Super Covid Bowl... Don't want to infect my TV with that crap. Just going to have to pass this year.

 

[mbrowne5061]

̶B̶r̶e̶a̶d̶ Beer and Circuses

That was pretty much exactly what I was saying last year when they started canceling all the sporting events: you know things are serious when they cancel either the bread or the circuses. They canceled one, and ran out of the other.

 

[axiomatic13]

NFL lost me when they started supporting BLM and ANTIFA.

Bwahahahahahahahaha! So you're pro-fascism? Ahahahahahaha!

 

[terzaerian]

Bwahahahahahahahaha! So you're pro-fascism? Ahahahahahaha!

Be careful what you wish for

 

[axiomatic13]

Be careful what you wish for

Bring it.

 

[Bamda]

I will be watching regardless. Go Bucs!

 

[Sir Alex Ice]

I don't understand what the hell the coronavirus has to do with 4k broadcast, it's not infecting 4k equipment.

And no cola commercials due to so called social climate is just bullshit, that's another way to get your brand talked about.

 

[mbrowne5061]

I don't understand what the hell the coronavirus has to do with 4k broadcast, it's not infecting 4k equipment....

Probably equipment availability. Cornavirus keep people out of factories and warehouses, lowering supplies and increasing costs. My bet is CBS traded NBC for this superbowl because they (CBS) were planning on using it as an excuse to upgrade their equipment and treat it as a tax write-off. But with the increased prices/decreased supplies, CBS probably did the math and determined they wouldn't make enough money to make it worth it to buy new equipment.

I would expect to see CBS fight for the 2023 superbowl, and that one be in 4k HDR (or even 8k at that point).

 

[Avro Arrow]

Meh, I've watched a crap-tonne of Super Bowls (and even more Grey Cups) in all resolutions and it never really mattered to me as long as it wasn't a snowy signal.

Sure, 4K looks nice but it's kinda like ray-tracing. When you're focused on watching the actual play, you really don't notice it.

 

[bviktor]

But but 8K is the future already...