Fox tomorrow will stream game one of both American League Division Series in 4K HDR (High Dynamic Range) on the Fox Sports app.
Game one of the Chicago White Sox-Houston Astros series will begin on Thursday (October 7) at 4:07 p.m. ET while game one of the Boston Red Sox-Tampa Bay Rays matchup will commence tomorrow night at 8:07 p.m. ET.
See Fox In 4K: Which Devices Are Compatible?
Fox will simulcast both games in HD on FS1.
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The 4K broadcasts will be available on the Fox Sports app, which means they can be watched in the format by using your TV Everywhere user name and password from your pay TV provider.. Pay TV services that are expected to also carry them on special 4K channels include DIRECTV, Dish, Comcast, Verizon, Optimum, YouTube TV, and FuboTV. Check your on-screen guide for more details.
Fox plans to stream other games in the two ALDS (October 7-14), and the American League Championship Series (October 15-23), in 4K HDR (High Dynamic Range) with the exception of games that will air on the MLB Network. (The National League playoff games will air on TBS, which does not offer 4K yet.)
And the network is set to offer the 2021 World Series (October 26-November 3) in the format as well. This will be the second year that the World Series will be available in 4K.
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Fox has emerged as the leading provider of live 4K sports broadcasts. The network also will once again offer Thursday Night Football NFL games in 4K this season, starting with tomorrow’s contest between the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks at 8 p.m. ET.
While some might quibble that Fox’s live 4K games are upscaled, few will deny that the picture is normally a marked improvement over High-Definition. (Fox’s 4K broadcasts are upscaled from 1080p HDR. Upscaling is the process when one video format is converted to another. Fox takes the 1080p HDR signal and converts it to a 4K format. Upscaling 4K is not considered as good as native 4K, but the inclusion of HDR can offer heightened colors and vividness.
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Was curious if Directv is still working on a fix for HDR capability on Channels 105-106 on which most of their 4K sports programming airs. My Sony 2020 X800H android tv does not receive Directv programming with HDR–in fact it washes out much of the color and it looks somewhat dark. This is not a problem with other 4K w/HDR sourced media like HBO MAX via ROKU or 4K w/HDR blu-ray discs viewed on my tv. Currently I just turn off the HDR when tuning in Directv’s 4K channels (104-107). A Directv spokesperson told me months ago that HDR is not available on 104-107—just Channel 108 (a PPV 4K channel). Channel 104 even advertises in the Directv guide that some of its programming is available with HDR–but have not found this to be the case with my Sony TV.