There hasn’t been much news lately concerning Max, the mega-streamer formed through the merger of the HBO Max and Discovery Plus streaming services, aside from an announcement that it would finally be launching outside the US (though not in the UK or Australia). But there is another recent Max update that flew under the radar: the addition of Dolby Vision HDR to B/R Sports, a Max add-on tier featuring live NBA basketball, NHL hockey, MLB baseball, US soccer, and more.
We selected Max as the best streaming service of the year in the TechRadar Choice Awards 2023 owing to its wide selection of movies, original series, and traditional TV content. B/R Sports is one of Max’s most recent offerings, debuting in October 2023. And while many movies and original Max shows such as The Last of Us and True Detective: Night Country are available in Dolby Vision with Dolby Atmos sound, it was only in mid-February 2024 that Dolby Vision was added to B/R Sports.
Dolby Vision is a feature found in many of the best TVs that enhances picture contrast on a dynamic basis, allowing for brighter highlights, deeper blacks, and more vivid colors. Sports fans with a Max subscription can now benefit from this picture enhancement, which is available on all current NBA and NHL games and also the forthcoming March Madness NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
The good news for sports fans, and Max subscribers in general, is that the B/R Sports add-on is completely free, and it will be for the foreseeable future. As reported in Deadline, Max’s original plan was to make the sports tier a $10 extra charge starting in March 2024, but complications in integrating B/R Sports with platform partners have pushed that change back to a now-to-be-determined date.
Eyes on with Dolby Vision sports
I’ve never found sports to look particularly great on TVs, especially via cable and streaming. That’s because the bright lighting used to illuminate stadiums gives the image a flat look, while the video compression applied for cable transmission and streaming can add a “smeared” quality to fast-motion plays. And while certain flagship events, the recent Super Bowl LVIII for example, are distributed in 4K resolution on some platforms, it’s upscaled 4K, which never looks as crisp as the real thing. Could Dolby Vision HDR make a difference?
I started my Max Dolby Vision sports journey with two matches: Florida Panthers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins hockey and Milwaukee Bucks at Memphis Grizzlies basketball.
Hockey is a sport I often watch when testing TVs since games are usually non-stop fast action, and they provide a good opportunity to test a set’s motion handling. On the Hisense U8K mini-LED TV I used for viewing, the Max B/R sports stream triggered the TV’s Dolby Vision IQ picture mode, which automatically applied a degree of motion processing. Normally, I would turn motion processing off, but for certain sports like hockey, it can help.
The ice rink in games typically comes across as a uniform white mass, but Dolby Vision HDR appeared to bring out a higher level of detail that gave it some dimensionality. The Panther players’ white uniforms also showed a good level of detail, and so did the Penguins’ black ones. Colors on both their uniforms and the signage surrounding the rink were likewise detailed and rich, which gave the image a vibrant quality I’m not used to seeing in sports.
When I watched the Milwaukee Bucks at Memphis Grizzlies, I experienced the same picture quality upgrade – a good indication that Dolby Vision HDR is being applied consistently on the B/R Sports platform. As with hockey, there was a noticeable depth to the picture, and colors “popped” in a way that made watching the game more engaging.
Dolby Vision and sports: a slam dunk
After having a “meh” time watching the Super Bowl – and not just because the team I bet on lost – getting to view NBA and NHL matches in Dolby Vision on Max has renewed my interest in watching live sports. I’m now looking forward to next month’s March Madness, and if Max offers B/R Sports for free beyond that, I’ll be sure to check out some baseball. Dolby Atmos sound also adds to the experience of watching games on Max, although its contribution is more subtle than that of Dolby Vision HDR.
At some point in the future, live sports will be available to view for free in 4K with HDR and Dolby Atmos sound on broadcast TV stations in the US, though the adoption of those higher-quality formats has been stalled by the sluggish transition to the next-gen ATSC 3.0 broadcasting standard. Until then, we have sports in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos on Max, and as long as you’re a Max subscriber, it’s available to watch for free – for now at least.
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