Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Max will serve up live sports in Dolby Vision

By Phil Nickinson February 15, 2024

Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

Max — the streaming service from Warner Bros. Discovery — maybe isn’t the first one you think of when it comes to live sports. But that might need to start to change, given its Bleacher Report add-on and the fact that it makes up one-third of an upcoming live sports mega-streamer.

And here’s another reason, at least if you’re the sort who cares about picture quality features: Max will offer live sports in the Dolby Vision standard. If you’re not yet familiar (and it is OK if you aren’t), Dolby Vision is one of the HDR standards by which supported televisions can show brighter brights, darker darks, and more colorful colors. There are a few flavors of high dynamic range and Dolby Vision — which is a proprietary standard that has to be licensed — is generally believed to be the leader at this point.

“We know how crucial it is for sports fans to have a top-notch live video player experience so they can truly engage with the action,” said Sudheer Sirivara, Executive Vice President, Global Technology, Warner Bros. Discovery. “We’re excited to launch this industry-first feature and bring fans even closer to the game.”

Recommended Videos

The list of devices on which Max supports Dolby Vision includes Amazon Fire TV, Android TVs, Apple TV 4K, Cox Contour 2 and Contour Stream Player, Chromecast Ultra, Chromecast with Google TV, LG smart TVs, iPhone and iPad, Roku devices, Vizio televisions, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, Comcast Xfinity X1 and Flex.

That pretty much covers the gamut, and just in time for events like the NBL All-Star Game. You’ll also find more than five dozen regular-season NBA and NHL games, plus the NHL Winter Classic and more. Again, you’ll need the Bleacher Report Sports add-on, which originally was to be free until March and $10 a month after that. But Max has extended that trial “for a few more months.”

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Section Editor, Audio/Video

Phil spent the 2000s making newspapers with the Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal, the 2010s with Android Central and then the…

Audio / Video

The upcoming sports streaming service is a textbook case of a ‘trollout’

There’s a phenomenon in the phone world that’s as smart as it is frustrating. That’s the one where a company announces an exciting new feature, only to eventually note that it’s going to roll it out in stages. You can’t get it now. You might not get it for a while. And if anything goes wrong, it’ll push things back further. (And you’ll likely not get any further communication.)

That, friends, is the “trollout.” It's mean to roll things out in a responsible way, in case things go wrong.

Audio / Video

Paramount serves ‘true sports fans,’ CEO says

Paramount may find itself in a bit of a weird spot when it comes to the upcoming super sports streaming service set to launch this fall. That is, that it's not involved in the joint venture that plans to combine the sports whose TV rights are currently held by Disney (as in ESPN), Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery.

But if there's any real consternation, Paramount CEO Bob Bakish wasn't showing it during his company's fourth-quarter earnings call this week. And, in fact, his reaction to a question during the call was much the same as ours.

Audio / Video

New streaming service looks to end endless Googling for sports

Warner Bros. Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav Jeff Kravitz / Warner Bros. Discovery

We still have a million questions about the upcoming sports streaming service that combines the live options from the likes of Disney (as in the full ESPN family), Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Most important for what we're currently calling the super sports streaming service will be a name. And a close second will be what it's going to cost.