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Watch Wimbledon 2024 in Ultra HD 4K and HDR

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2 days ago

July 2, 2024

Watch Wimbledon 2024 in Ultra HD 4K and HDR

Wimbledon 2024 tennis is here and games are once again available to watch in Ultra HD 4K resolution. Here’s everything you need to know about Ultra HD live streaming, including supported devices and minimum internet speeds.

In Britain, where Wimbledon is held, the BBC has been running 4K tests in recent years, along with other events such as the European Football Championship. As usual, it’s available in four times the resolution of Full HD if you have the right equipment.

The tournament started on Monday, July 1 and runs until Sunday, July 14.

Wimbledon Ultra HD in Great Britain

If you’re in the UK, you can watch live games in Ultra HD (aka 4K) thanks to the BBC (on BBC One and Two) and while we were hoping for more coverage than in recent years, it’s still limited to games on center court.

This information is available on the Wimbledon website, which states: “WBS provides multi-camera coverage of all 18 championships, with Center Court in UHD/HDR.”

This means you can watch Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina and many more in sharp 4K detail. Naturally, both the men’s and women’s finals will be shown in Ultra HD.

This is what you need:

Fast enough internet
A compatible 4K TV or streaming device
A BBC account
A valid TV license

When it comes to broadband speed, the BBC says it should be 24 Mbps for the ‘full 3840 pixel Ultra HD experience’, or 12 Mbps for lower resolution 2560p. Find out how to test your broadband speed.

If your Wi-Fi is unreliable, consider connecting your TV or media player to your router with an Ethernet cable for a better connection. You can also upgrade your home network with a powerline adapter or mesh WiFi networking kit.

You’ll also need a compatible TV or media player (if your TV is 4K but not supported itself) and luckily the list is long, including many Samsung, LG, Philips and Hisense 4K smart TVs.

Supported streamers and set-top boxes include Amazon Fire TV Cube, Virgin Media TiVo, and various Roku models.

Go to the BBC site and click on the manufacturer or search the page for your exact model number. Unfortunately, Sky Q is still not supported and you cannot watch in 4K via a web browser on your phone or laptop.

Please note: if you want to watch in HDR, you need a TV that supports HLG (hybrid log gamma). It’s the HDR standard used for iPlayer, so check your TV’s specs to see if it’s supported.

If you have the right hardware and are fast enough, all you have to do is open the iPlayer app and find the Wimbledon matches via the homepage or the sports section.

Make sure you set the video quality to ‘Best Quality’ in the settings menu and check the iPlayer interface for little ‘UHD’ icons so you know it’s in Ultra HD.

The good news is that this is no longer an Ultra HD trial, so there is no limit to the number of people who can join the 4K stream.

Eurosport has previously shown Wimbledon in 4K Ultra HD, and although the broadcaster confirmed it would not do the same for 2021 “due to broadcast rights” the women’s and men’s finals were Reportedly broadcast in 4K.

It’s unclear what the situation is for 2024, but official communications have made no mention of high resolution at all.

Note that for those in Ireland, the 2023 tournament has struck a deal with Premier Sports for “the very best matches”, and will return to these channels in 2024.

A blog post said: “Premier Sports will dedicate both its linear channels to Wimbledon coverage (Premier Sports 1 and Premier Sports 2) and to offering continuous three-red button court feeds for the duration of the event.”

Wimbledon Ultra HD in the US

Although you can watch Wimbledon in the United States via ESPN+ (ESPN on TV) or Tennis Channel Plus, neither appears to offer 4K. ESPN+ is limited to 720p and the Tennis Channel site only lists HD quality.

However, you can watch in 4K via the BBC iPlayer using the method below. Please note that BBC America will not be showing Wimbledon.

Wimbledon Ultra HD outside Great Britain

If you’re not in the UK (perhaps you’re on holiday abroad) then watching Wimbledon in Ultra HD via the BBC iPlayer becomes a little more difficult, but it is still possible.

You’ll still need all the above requirements, but you’ll need to install a VPN on your TV or device to browse virtually from Britain, otherwise the content will be geo-restricted.

We advise NordVPN And SurfShark but you can see more in our best VPN review. You’ll need to download and install it before signing up and selecting a server in the UK. Then launch and browse iPlayer as if you were in Great Britain.

Please note: there are other restrictions when it comes to watching BBC iPlayer outside Britain, such as needing a valid TV license and having a BBC account with a UK postcode.