Game of Thrones now streaming in 4K HDR on HBO Max

Game of Thrones fans had many problems with the show’s final season, and one of their most vehement criticisms involved a technical issue rather than a concern about plot: Viewers complained that they couldn’t see the action unfolding during the Battle of Winterfell, because the episode was just “too dark.” Now, more than three years after the episode aired, HBO is offering a new way to stream the show that may help.

HBO Max customers around the globe can now watch all eight seasons via streaming. Game of Thrones in 4K resolution with HDR color — both Dolby Vision and HDR10 — and Dolby Atmos surround sound, HBO announced Monday. These new video and audio formats offer the ultimate home viewing experience.

House of the DragonThe first Game of ThronesThese formats will be also available for spinoff series when the show premieres Aug. 21 on HBO, said HBO.

This is an important milestone for the business. Game of ThronesThis is the HBO’s first series that supports these innovative formats. House of the DragonIt will be one of the first to offer this support. This will allow the cable TV network, which is almost 50 years old, to compete with Netflix, Disney Plus and Amazon Video. Each of these networks has provided programming in 4K HDR since long ago. The premiere of HBO Max in 2020 marked the start of support for these formats. Wonder Woman 1984, but until Monday, the service’s 4K catalog was limited to films, not TV series — and only about 30 of them.)

These caveats are important. For one thing, only customers who subscribe to the ad-free tier of HBO Max — which costs 50% more than the version of the service with ads — can stream content in 4K. (This kind of feature gating isn’t exclusive to HBO Max; 4K streaming is available only in the most expensive Netflix plan.)

HBO Max works on multiple devices. However, it is not available for all 4K-capable devices. The HBO Max help site lists the Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X as 4K-capable platforms, but it does not mention the PlayStation 4 Pro or PlayStation 5 — which is curious, considering that the PS5 app was reportedly upgraded with 4K support in mid-June. I downloaded an episode from HBO Max. Game of ThronesOn my PS5, it didn’t appear to be able to play in HDR10 or 4K. (Unlike Xbox devices, PlayStation consoles do not support Dolby Atmos or Dolby Vision.) We’ve asked HBO for clarification, and we’ll update this article with any information we receive.

I can’t stress enough how much your ability to watch Game of ThronesYour setup will determine how these formats work. Only way to make the show play in 4K was to use both Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Vision HDR. AndYou can get Dolby atmos sound by downloading the HBO Max App to your LG C1 television. I was able to get 4K, in HDR10 and Dolby Vision. My Chromecast received 4K HDR10 video with Dolby Vision. However, it had Dolby Digital Plus sound and not Atmos. And despite the information on HBO Max’s help site, my Xbox One X’s HBO Max app produced 4K HDR10 video with Dolby Digital Plus. All of these apps/devices should support 4K and Dolby Vision.

Let’s assume that you are able to stream successfully Game of Thrones in 4K HDR at home, it might be worth loading up “The Long Night” — the infamous episode that was “too dark” — to see if you have a better viewing experience than you did back in April 2019. You can still watch the show via HBO Max in 4K HDR. Absolute best possible experience; to get that, you’d have to pick up a copy of Game of ThronesOn 4K Blu-ray which will provide better-quality video. However, the streaming option is an upgrade from the HBO Max experience that was 1080p with Dolby digital Plus 5.1 audio.

Days following the Game of Thrones finale aired, Polygon published a lengthy article in which I investigated why “The Long Night” looked so rough. The explanation came down to a confluence of multiple factors, including the filmmakers’ creative vision and how it came up against the limitations of broadcast television and streaming video technology. You can read the story for more — like, a Lots more — details, but a key issue was the lack of HDR.

HDR provides HDR with a larger color gamut that greatly decreases banding. Smooth gradations of colors are often broken into separate bands. And indeed, I noticed much less banding (and much less pixelation) when I watched “The Long Night” in 4K Dolby Vision. Although I felt the need to dim the lights to see the entire scene, in this instance, the video compression was not an issue.

In the aforementioned article, I said that HDR “has the potential to be the most impactful advancement in TV technology since the introduction of HD resolution and digital television in the [2000s],” while lamenting that “it hasn’t yet reached widespread adoption on the content side or the consumer side.” I also said, in a hopeful note in the article’s conclusion, that “a lot can change in a relatively short period.” And I laid out a path forward for HBO:

HBO might now start 4K HDR mastering of its content, just like Netflix does for its live-action originals. That would allow the company to broadcast the existing 1080i standard-dynamic-range version of Game of ThronesThe linear HBO TV channel will deliver 4K HDR to streaming viewers via HBO Go/Now.

This was in the spring 2019. Now, in the summer of 2022, that’s exactly what HBO will be doing with House of the Dragon. We are now in the long-awaited future.