How to Watch the 2024 Summer Olympics in 4K

NBC’s 4K signal will reportedly be lower-resolution 1080p that’s upscaled to 4K. Although upscaled 4K may not look as detailed as native 4K, the resulting streams are still likely to look sharper than NBC’s standard 1080i HD broadcasts thanks to the better compression schemes used for 4K, and of course the HDR benefits should be the highlight.

Although all Summer Olympics sports can look better in HDR, we expect that outdoor sports such as track and field will really shine (pun intended). HDR’s ability to show more details in shadows while simultaneously producing especially bright highlights can make sunny outdoor sports look more like they do in person than they ever have before.

Outdoor sports can also showcase the full benefits of ultra-bright LCD TVs and can make their picture look even better than that of OLED TVs.

As for the sound quality, Dolby Atmos can put you in the middle of an environment, such as a stadium, and let you hear sounds all around you.

NBCUniversal’s USA Network will be offering 24/7 coverage of the Games, and that will be the only channel showing a 4K HDR feed; this is in contrast to NBC’s 2021 Summer Olympics coverage, in which 4K offerings were scattered around the family of networks. NBC’s marquee primetime broadcast, including the opening and closing ceremonies, will not be shown in 4K, nor will the Peacock streaming platform include a 4K option.

USA Network’s coverage will focus on Team USA events, including basketball, soccer, track and field, swimming, beach volleyball, water polo, and cycling. For details, see the full schedule of Olympic events.

Watching the Olympics in 4K HDR requires a 4K HDR-capable TV (you can read more about our favorites) and an HDR-capable source such as a 4K cable or satellite box, streaming media player, or smart-TV platform. For Atmos sound, you need a source device that can output the Atmos format, as well as an Atmos-capable home theater system (with a compatible AV receiver and surround-sound speaker system) or soundbar.

NBC will distribute the 4K HDR feed to Altice, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV and DirecTV Stream, Dish, Fubo, Verizon, YouTube TV, and “select participating NCTC members.” It’s doubtful, though, that all of these providers will include the HDR element, so you’ll need to check with your provider to see if your feed will be available in 4K, HDR, or both.

Here’s what we have confirmed:

• Finding the 4K HDR coverage should be easiest for people who have an X1 set-top box from Comcast (which owns NBCUniversal). Comcast has confirmed that the 4K HDR content will be available through the X1 box and that it will be in Dolby Vision HDR with Dolby Atmos sound. As long as your X1 box and HDR TV are set up correctly and they’re tuned to the 4K HDR feed, you should be good to go. Comcast will group all of the Olympics content together in one viewing portal to make it easier for you to find what you want to watch.
• DirecTV will show the 4K feed on channel 105, but we don’t know if HDR will be part of the package.
• Sling TV, which is owned by Dish, recently added 4K support to select streaming devices, and the provider has confirmed that it will offer some 4K Olympics coverage. But the service does not support HDR.
• YouTube TV customers need to subscribe to the 4K Plus add-on package to view live 4K broadcasts. This provider usually groups the 4K version of a channel right next to the standard version in the channel lineup but also highlights 4K content on your Home page. YouTube TV supports HDR, but it isn’t available through all devices, nor were we able to confirm whether the Olympics coverage will be shown in HDR.
• Fubo says that it “will present select NBCU coverage of The Paris Olympics on USA Network in 4K High Dynamic Range (HDR) on USA Network to its subscribers with compatible devices.”
• Because the 4K coverage is only on the USA Network cable channel, cord-cutters who rely solely on an over-the-air antenna are out of luck.

We will update this article if we get more specifics on other providers’ plans.

This article was edited by Grant Clauser.