Super Bowl 2025: Did It Buffer? How Did the 4K Picture Look?
By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man – Follow me on X.
TV Answer Man, my Super Bowl 4K signal on Tubi looks really good. What are you seeing and hearing? Is there a lot of buffering on streaming? – Gene, Pittsburgh.
Gene, the Philadelphia Eagles last night won Super Bowl 2025, crushing the Kansas City Chiefs, 40-22.
But how did the big game look on streaming, you ask?
Well, it depends upon who you ask.
Scanning social media sites, and online outage monitors such as DownDetector.com, it would appear that a large majority of streaming viewers were pleased with the Super Bowl picture, reporting little or no buffering or picture freezing. Tubi, the free Fox-owned streaming service which offered the game in both 4K and HD, was singled out for praise by many fans.
“Tubi Super Bowl coverage is looking excellent in 4K!” KTLA-TV reporter Rich DeMuro posted on X, formerly Twitter.
‘Tubi aint glitch or freeze this entire game. never disrespect tubi ever again,” added @osleep2dream.
However, as is usually the case with live streaming, even if most viewers experience no problems with the picture, some will. It’s the nature of the technology. Due to a myriad of reasons, including faulty home Internet service, location interference and server snafus, it’s rare for everyone to be happy. And Super Bowl 59 was no exception. Numerous viewers did report issues on social media.
”Is anyone else having a terrible viewing experience with @Tubi broadcasting the @NFL SuperBowl. Buffering every 10-15 seconds. Every advertiser should sue Tubi into nonexistence,” wrote one angry fan on X and his lament was shared by many others.
The online publication, Decider, also noted that some fans were not pleased with Tubi, calling it the ‘Buffer Bowl.’
As for picture quality, I watched the game at different times on Tubi and YouTube TV and found that the 4K images were very good for an upscaled broadcast. (Fox produces its 4K live sporting events as upscaled 4K, meaning it takes a 1080p HD picture and converts it to 4K for the home transmission.) The Super Bowl 4K feed was clear and vivid, although not as eye-popping as you would hope for.
Gene, hope that helps. Happy viewing and stay safe.
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The TV Answer Man is veteran journalist Phillip Swann who has covered television for more than three decades. He will report on the latest news and answer your questions regarding new devices and services that are changing the way you watch television. See the bio for Phillip Swann here.
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I watched the Super Bowl on Tubi. I streamed it on my laptop in a web browser and piped it to my TV through an HDMI cable; I didn’t care all that much about whether I could get it in 4K. There was no buffering or pixelating, but there were numerous minor hiccups in the stream when there were fleeting interruptions in the video or audio. Later on, there were a few times when significant chunks were skipped, and I’d miss a play here and there. The first time that happened was during the Eagles’ retry of their first field goal after a penalty. The announcers were starting to ask the rules analyst about what had just happened, and the next thing I knew the play was over and I didn’t get to see it. I had a decent experience with it overall, though it left something to be desired.