Megan Ellis / Android Authority
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TL;DR
- ESPN appears to have quietly expanded its 4K HDR support to Google TV, following its initial rollout on Apple TV last month.
- Early Google TV reports suggest the experience still needs work, with users complaining about choppy playback and HDR not triggering properly.
ESPN launched its upgraded 4K HDR streams on iOS and Apple TV last month, promising more connected TV platforms would follow this fall. Now, Google TV users are seeing 4K HDR badges inside the ESPN app, suggesting the rollout has reached another major living-room platform. Unfortunately, getting the badge and getting the picture quality ESPN promised may be two very different things.
In a recent Reddit thread, a TCL Google TV owner said an ESPN app update added 4K HDR labels to supported programming. But their TV never switched into HDR, while the picture looked choppy rather than sharper. Another Android TV user reported similarly poor playback, with frequent pauses during 4K events.
The complaints aren’t limited to Google’s platform. ESPN’s 4K HDR rollout began on Apple TV in September, but users in the same discussion say supported games still don’t consistently trigger 4K HDR there. Roku seems to be faring better, with one commenter saying ESPN’s streams automatically trigger HDR across multiple Roku devices.
The platform’s 4K HDR lineup covers Monday Night Football, NBA and NHL games, select college football and US Open tennis events, plus Super Bowl LXI. The company previously said more platforms would come online through the fall, so Google TV’s apparent addition is still a welcome step.
The rollout also follows ESPN Unlimited’s full integration into YouTube TV, giving eligible subscribers another way to watch ESPN content. For Google TV owners, though, ESPN’s next job is making that shiny new 4K HDR badge consistently live up to its name.
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