The Tech & Numbers Inside the MSG Sphere

Welcome to another edition of VP Land. We’ve got a very immersive edition today.

In this issue…

🌏 The tech inside the MSG Sphere
🏈 NFL goes to Toy Story
📷 RIP to Apple’s Aperture

Let’s jump into it!

MAIN STAGE

The MSG Sphere by the Numbers

It’s been nearly impossible to miss on social media: the Las Vegas MSG Sphere.

We’ve seen the exterior light up for months and now we finally got a look inside with U2’s opening concert (Darren Aronofsky’s specially created immersive film Postcard From Earth premieres tomorrow. We previously covered the specially made camera they’re using to film it.)

Let’s look at some of the mindblowing numbers behind the 8th wonder of the world.

• Mega Structure: The MSG Sphere, standing 366ft tall x 516ft wide, is currently the world's largest spherical building. It has a seated capacity of 17,600 and a standing capacity of 20,000.

• Unparalleled Visuals: The Sphere boasts the largest LED screen on Earth — both externally and internally. Its exterior offers a fully programmable 580,000 sq ft LED display. Inside, attendees are enveloped by a 160,000 sq ft screen with a staggering 16K x 16K resolution, the equivalent of 72 HD TVs or a 12k screen resolution (Noah Kadner has a write-up on the SACO custom LED tech).

• Sonic Evolution: Dome venues typically suffer from audio issues. The Sphere overcomes this with a groundbreaking approach: 168,000 speakers offering spatial audio based on HOLOPLOT's X1 speaker module. Every seat is equipped with its own speaker, ensuring studio-quality sound for every audience member (CEO Roman Sick has more on this accomplishment).

How much to play a video on the sphere?

The pitch deck to buy out a day on the sphere has been circulating online. The cost?

$450,000 for a day
$650,000 for the week

The price tag does include working with MSG’s design team on creative.

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SECOND UNIT

To Volumetric Sports, and Beyond

If you watched the Atlanta Falcons vs Jacksonville Jaguars NFL game this past Sunday, you had an option to watch an alternate telecast - inside Andy’s bedroom from Toy Story.

Each player had a chip in their shoulder pad to track movement, which combined with Hawkeye optical tracking to animate the CG characters in real-time.

The companies behind the tech and broadcast include ESPN’s Edge Innovation Center, Next Gen Stats, Beyond Sports, and Silver Spoon.

Toy Story is a fun theme, but this is also a step towards creating volumetric sports broadcasts, which was teased at in the launch video for the Vision Pro with a 3D NBA game.

As John LePore points out, another sport that’s been very data-centric and would be primed for a volumetric broadcast is Formula 1 (which Apple made a bid on for global broadcast rights).

@espn

It’s the #littlethings #Disney100 #slinkydog #ToyStory

VIDEO VILLAGE

AKS

🌐 Around the Web

👾 VashiVisuals posted an in-depth Unreal Engine virtual production tutorial with Thiago Carneiro

🌄 Comments from an Apple developer on the decision to discontinue their popular photo editing app Aperture.

🎯 Sony’s strong hardware play: Increase the stakes in virtual production business

🌐 Schedule posts and track your social media with Metricool*

🗣 Zelda Williams is not a fan of using AI to replicate her late father Robin Williams' voice

🏟️ Bluebox reconnects with ROE Visual to collaborate on a new extended reality studio

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