This year, NBC touted that their Olympics coverage would be available in 4K Resolution with HDR (High Dynamic Range) and Dolby Atmos immersive surround sound. NBCUniversal’s remote broadcast center in Connecticut is apparently a state of the art facility with several thousand dedicated employees involved in the operation. So would we all get to see the fruits of their labor?
From the announcement at NBCUniversal’s Upfront event, one would think that anyone with access to NBC’s Peacock app would get to see and hear the 2024 Paris Olympics “24/7” in all of its audio and visual glory. But this hasn’t really turned out to be true for many viewers.
As an Olympics fan (and fan of high quality video and sound), I was excited. NBC said they were mixing the Olympics feeds in 1080p HD resolution with HDR and Dolby Atmos, then upconverting that to 4K resolution. From my initial research, it seemed like I would need access to both the Peacock and USA Networks in order to get all the options. I’m already a Peacock subscriber (which includes USA Network access) but to make sure I had the most choices, I signed up for a trial of YouTube TV as they also provide access to live network broadcasts of my local NBC affiliate.
With all the apps ready and loaded on TCL’s flagship QM851G Mini-LED 4K TV ($1,499 at Amazon), connected to LG’s S95TR Dolby Atmos soundbar ($1,199 at Amazon), I tuned in for the Olympics Opening Ceremony. Apparently the prime time broadcast of the opening ceremony on YouTube TV was only available on the NBC affiliate feed. It was not available on Peacock or USA Network in prime time. The local NBC feed on YouTube TV was not in 4K, no HDR, no Dolby Atmos. The quality was certainly OK, but not 4K, and not in surround sound. YouTube TV was broadcasting the local NBC affiliate feed of the Opening Ceremony in primetime in 1080i HD with 2-channel (stereo) PCM sound and no HDR.
After the disappointing opening ceremony, I loaded up the Peacock and USA apps on Google TV and did some searches. USA did have select Olympics events available in 4K, but on the Peacock and USA apps on Google TV, the sound was also in 2-channel PCM, not Dolby Atmos. I did an agonizing 80-minute chat session with Peacock support trying (and failing) to get it to work. When I asked why both NBC and Dolby were advertising that the Olympics would be available in Dolby Atmos on Peacock, the support manager Amritpreet’s final answer before disconnecting from the chat was “if you don’t see the Dolby banner, it isn’t in Dolby.”
Maybe It’s the Device?
After the Google TV app and YouTube TV failures, I tried the Peacock app on a FireTV 4K, and was able to get 5.1-channel sound from some Olympics events, but not Dolby Atmos. I also tested three additional streaming boxes: an Apple TV 4K, a FireTV 4K Max (latest version), and a Roku 4K+. In all cases the best I could get for sound was regular Dolby 5.1, though some of the content was only in stereo. On the latest Amazon FireTV 4K Max and on the Roku 4K+, I was able to verify that the Peacock app itself did support Dolby Atmos, as certain movies were available in 4K with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos surround, but none of the Olympics events were available in Dolby Atmos, including both live and previously recorded events. So if the Peacock app really did support the Olympics in Dolby Atmos, it wasn’t doing it on any of the five streaming devices I tested.
Checking in with NBCUniversal’s “Advanced Audio and Video” page for the Olympics broadcasts, they list the following caveats and limitations for 4K/HDR and Dolby Atmos. Note specifically the device limitations. No Apple TV, No Google TV and only “select” X1, FireTV, LG, Roku and Samsung devices are supported.
Peacock*
- NBC Olympics Primetime coverage will stream live on Peacock in 1080p HDR with Atmos.
- NBC Olympics Morning and Daytime coverage will stream live on Peacock in 1080p HDR with 5.1 surround sound.
- “Gold Zone,” a daily whip-around show featuring the most exciting Olympic moments across sports as they’re happening, will stream on Peacock in 1080p HDR and 5.1 surround sound
* HDR and Atmos are supported on select X1, FireTV, LG, Roku and Samsung devices
USA Network**
Altice, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV/DirecTV Stream, Dish, Fubo, Sling TV, Verizon, and YouTube TV will be carrying USA Network’s 24/7 coverage of the Olympics in 4K HDR and 5.1 surround sound.
**Some of these distributors will be further enhancing USA Network’s 4K HDR coverage with Dolby Vision and Atmos. Contact your provider for more information.
So USA Network was supposed to have 5.1 surround and 4K/HDR 24×7 but this didn’t work on a Google TV so it’s likely that the same device limitations from Peacock also apply to the USA network coverage. Also, I tested the prime time Peacock broadcasts on both a FireTV 4K and Roku Stick 4K+ (both of which are listed as supported), but received standard Dolby 5.1, not Dolby Atmos as the NBC web page stated.
The One Bright Spot: Over the Air Broadcasting
I admit, I haven’t always been a big supporter of ATSC 3.0 as it just seems like it’s taking forever to roll out. New York City, one of the top markets in the country, only got its first ATSC 3.0 broadcasts in late 2023, more than six years after its initial rollout. ATSC 3.0 (or “NextGen TV” as it is also called) is the latest version of free over-the-air broadcasting. It’s capable of delivering multi-channel immersive surround sound (including Dolby Atmos and MPEG-H), 4K resolution with HDR, and even interactive features as it has an internet-based component. But it also had DRM (Digital Rights Management) added after launch which caused many early adopters to lose access to the broadcasts from their legally purchased tuners.
In addition to NBC’s unfulfilled promise for Peacock streaming, the network also said that its Olympics coverage would be available in in 1080p/HDR with Dolby Atmos in eleven U.S. markets via free over-the-air ATSC 3.0 broadcasts. Happily, New York City was one of those eleven markets. So once I obtained a Zapperbox M1 Dual Tuner ATSC 3.0 DVR ($275 at Amazon), did a channel scan and connected it to my 4K Epson projector: Bingo! Live Olympics events in 1080P High Definition with HDR and Dolby Atmos immersive surround.
I know: 1080P isn’t 4K, but any good 4K TV or projector can upconvert the 1080p signal to 4K resolution with pretty good results. The HDR component is more important as it allows for a wider, more dynamic color palette. Also, the progressive 60 Hz broadcast allows for super smooth motion reproduction, instead of the motion smear or jaggies that can occur on an interlaced broadcast.
The games have never looked (or sounded) better. Soccer fields were a verdant green, with a bright white ball sailing above as Spain eked out a victory over France in extra time for the gold medal in the final Soccer game. Team USA’s gymnastics outfits took on extra sparkle as they returned to the top of the podium in the team competition with Simone Biles flying high, nearly 12 feet above the mat. You could almost taste the chlorine in the crystal clear blue waters as Leon Marchand rewarded his native host country fans with four gold medals and a bronze and USA’s Katie Ledecky swam to her ninth lifetime gold medal in the 800m freestyle. Now this is how you watch the Olympics.
As for the Dolby Atmos surround sound, this was a bit more subdued than I would have liked. I could hear some reverberation of the venues and crowd noise from around and above me, but I would have liked a more heavily immersive mix, personally. It was definitely a big improvement over the two-channel stereo mix on the Peacock app (Google TV), but it wasn’t quite as dynamic or enveloping a mix as I would have expected.
Sadly, I had to leave New York City before the Olympics ended. And now I’m back to the land of no over-the-air broadcasts. I’ll try again to find a streaming option with live 4K and Dolby Atmos surround for the closing ceremonies. But I’m not optimistic.
Update: The 2024 Olympics Closing Ceremony was broadcast live on Peacock on the Roku 4K+ streaming stick in 1080p/HDR with Dolby 5.1-channel sound. It still wasn’t Dolby Atmos, but it did look great and the audio was certainly better than the 2-channel PCM mix I got for the opening ceremony. However, as noted earlier, the surround effects were not that dramatic or noticeable.
The Bottom Line
NBCUniversal clearly put a great deal of effort into delivering high quality audio and video coverage of this year’s Olympics. And these results were evident on the one device that I could find that was fully supported (the ZapperBox ATSC 3.0 tuner). While the 4K and 1080p/HDR events that I could view, in either Dolby 5.1 or Dolby Atmos surround both looked and sounded exceptionally good, most viewers would have seen and heard a diminished version of this. We need more devices that can support this effort, including the popular GoogleTV platform used by TV manufacturers such as Sony, TCL and Hisense. The fact that I, as an A/V journalist and reviewer with access to multiple streaming devices, had this much trouble getting it to work doesn’t bode well for the average viewer.
How about you, dear readers? Are you watching or did you watch the Olympics in 4K/HDR with Dolby Atmos? If so (or if not) let us know in the comments.
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