Amazon Prime Video adds HDR to Thursday Night Football — but there's a catch

Pictured (L-R): Tony Gonzalez, Charissa Thompson, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Andrew Whitworth, Richard Sherman
(Image credit: Harrison Barden)

NFL live streams are in full effect and Week 1 just wrapped up. While this past week you watched football on FOX, CBS, NBC or ESPN — or if you’re like me, you spent the weekend watching NFL Sunday Ticket — Week 2 adds Prime Video into the mix. 

This season, every remaining Thursday Night Football game will be found exclusively on Amazon’s streaming platform. That’s not so bad if you already have an Amazon Prime subscription since Prime Video is included with Prime, but the rest of us may be scrambling to get a Prime Video subscription in time for kickoff on Thursday Night.

It’s not all bad news though. While you now need to add another streaming service to get a full slate of NFL games, Amazon is giving you a serious upgrade for your money. In a blog post, Amazon announced that Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football coverage will now come in native HDR. This is a new addition this season and in terms of picture quality, it’s a serious upgrade. In fact, on most TVs, Thursday Night Football may have the best picture quality of any NFL broadcast thanks to this boost. 

Prime Video

Prime Video is the home to every Thursday Night Football game this season except Week 1. You also get access to a new, special Black Friday football game. On top of all this football, a Prime Video subscription gets you access to tons of TV shows and movies. Start your 30-day free trial today.

What is HDR and why does it improve your TV? 

HDR, or high dynamic range, is a popular buzzword in display technology and photography. But in essence, HDR uses a picture’s pixels to produce higher-quality contrast and color than in a standard dynamic range (SDR) picture. This gives you a more realistic image on your TV screen when watching TV shows, movies, or in this case, sports.

There are four common HDR formats: HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision and HLG. HDR 10 and HLG are both freely available and open HDR standards. However, it’s unlikely that Amazon would use HLG, as this is designed for over-the-air broadcasts.

HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, however, are proprietary. HDR10+ is developed by Samsung but is available on a variety of TVs. It improves HDR10 by supporting higher brightness (up to 4,000 nits) and uses dynamic metadata rather than the fixed metadata used in HDR10. That means it can adjust color and brightness information scene-by-scene or frame-by-frame. 

Dolby Vision, developed by Dolby and also available on a range of TVs, also uses dynamic metadata. However, it can sometimes be preferred by directors and editors since the metadata can be set to match their intent rather than improve existing SDR footage.

Will my TV have access to this upgrade? 

There is a potential catch with this upgrade to Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football broadcast. First, your TV needs to support HDR formats for this upgrade to be visible. If you have one of the best TVs, or really any 4K TV, your TV most likely supports some HDR formats, but you need to check your specific TV to be sure.

But unfortunately, we don’t know which HDR format Amazon is using. As previously mentioned, not all four are always supported by your TV, a problem that affects even flagship TVs. Often, TVs will have HDR10 and HLG, along with only HDR10+ or Dolby Vision — not both. So, for example, if Amazon is using Dolby Vision and you have a newer Samsung TV, you might miss out on this HDR upgrade. 

My guess is that Amazon will use HDR10 because I think if they were using a proprietary HDR format, Samsung or Dolby would want that publicized in the announcement. Additionally, while HDR10+ and Dolby Vision are superior, HDR10 is much more widely available. It would be an odd decision to limit the number of viewers that can experience this upgrade given the positive buzz Amazon wants for the announcement. Hopefully, I’m right, and we can all enjoy some Thursday Night Football in HDR this week.

More from Tom's Guide

Malcolm McMillan
Streaming Editor

Malcolm McMillan is a Streaming Editor for Tom's Guide, covering all the latest in streaming TV shows and movies. That means news, analysis, recommendations, reviews and more for just about anything you can watch, including sports! If it can be seen on a screen, he can write about it.

Before writing for Tom's Guide, Malcolm worked as a fantasy football analyst writing for several sites and also had a brief stint working for Microsoft selling laptops, Xbox products and even the ill-fated Windows phone. He is passionate about video games and sports, though both cause him to yell at the TV frequently. He proudly sports many tattoos, including an Arsenal tattoo, in honor of the team that causes him to yell at the TV the most.

Read more
Patrick Mahomes vs Jalen Hurts in Super Bowl 2025
Xfinity TV customers just got a huge upgrade for watching Super Bowl 2025
NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube shown on a TV and phone
How to get NFL Sunday Ticket for 2024-2025 season — Pricing, where to watch and more
Amazon Fire TV Stick (2020) review
Super Bowl 2025 on Fire TV Stick: How to watch Chiefs vs Eagles for free
NFL livestream: How to watch every NFL game online
NFL livestream: How to watch every 2025 NFL game online
The Philadelphia Eagles playing the Kansas City Chiefs on a big-screen TV.
5 Super Bowl TV settings you need to change to get the best picture for the big game
Watch Super Bowl 2024 in 4K
How to watch today's Super Bowl 2025 in 4K online
Latest in Prime Video
Rosamund Pike as Moiraine Damodred in "The Wheel of Time" season 3
Prime Video top 10 shows — here’s the 3 worth watching right now
Prime Video logo appears on a tablet surrounded by a can of soda, spilled popcorn, headphones and a cactus
5 must-watch action movies you can stream for free on Prime Video
Cruel Intentions on Prime Video
Amazon cancels 'Cruel Intentions' after one season on Prime Video
Will Smith as Robert Clayton Dean in "Enemy of the State"
This action-thriller with Will Smith and Gene Hackman just crashed Prime Video’s top 10 — now's the perfect time to stream it
Nina Oyama and Kate Box in Deadloch
One of my favorite shows on Prime Video has been totally overlooked — and it's got 100% on Rotten Tomatoes
Prime Video logo appears on a tablet surrounded by a can of soda, spilled popcorn, headphones and a cactus
7 new to Prime Video movies with 90% or higher on Rotten Tomatoes
Latest in News
Nintendo Switch 2
New Nintendo Switch 2 FCC filing suggests this beloved Nintendo controller could make a comeback
(From L to R) Rohan (Nik Dodani), Josh (Brandon Flynn), Dorothy (Edie Falco), John (Dean Norris), and Liddie (Lisa Kuthrow) in The Parenting
Max top 10 movies — here’s the 3 worth watching right now
Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE renders
Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE price leak is bad news for budget-conscious buyers
Google Assistant
Gemini to kill off Google Assistant on most Android phones — here's what you need to know
MacBook Air M4
MacBook Air M4 teardown reveals familiar repairability pain points
NYTimes Connections
NYT Connections today hints and answers — Saturday, March 15 (#643)