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Music

The Technology Behind the New Las Vegas Sphere (cnn.com) 71

Posted by EditorDavid from the theatre-in-the-round dept.
The world's largest spherical structure "squats on the Las Vegas skyline like an enormous spaceship, black and mysterious," reports CNN, "until night falls, when it will glow like the Earth from space."

The $2 billion arena — called "The Sphere" — was built just east of the Venetian hotel/casino. It's 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide (or 111 meters tall and 157 meters wide) — and it boasts the world's highest-resolution wraparound LED screen: Its exterior is fitted with 1.2 million hockey puck-sized LEDs that can be programmed to flash dynamic imagery on a massive scale — again, reportedly the world's largest... The acts onstage will be dwarfed by the towering 16K LED screen, which wraps over and around much of the audience.
It was fully illuminated for the first time on Tuesday to celebrate the Fourth of July, CNN points out (offering some video footage). When it opens in September, the plan is to light up its exterior with animations every day and night.

Slashdot reader Tony Isaac says the news "got me wondering how they got such great video on the curved surface of the sphere." It turns out there's a whole lot more than just the exterior that breaks new ground in audio and video technology. An older IBC article goes into detail about how they accomplished both the exterior and interior screens, and the high-resolution audio inside.
CNN reports: Rich Claffey, Sphere's chief operations officer, says that more than 160,000 speakers spread around the bowl will deliver the same pristine sound to every seat, whether someone is in the top row or down on the floor. The venue also is equipped with haptic seats that can vibrate to match whatever is happening onscreen — an earthquake, for example — and 4D machines that can create wind, temperature and even scent effects.

"The way I describe it to my friends and family is, it's the entertainment venue of the future," Claffey says. If it all sounds a little over the top, well — this is Vegas.
The arena's first act will be 25 concerts by U2 (with tickets starting at $140). "There's nothing like it. It's light years ahead of everything that's out there," says U2's The Edge during a tour of the venue in a recent Apple Music video...

And U2's Bono adds that "Most music venues are sports venues. They're built for sports — they're not built for music. They're not built for art. This building was built for immersive experiences in cinema and performance... "
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The Technology Behind the New Las Vegas Sphere More

The Technology Behind the New Las Vegas Sphere

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  • What a waste (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ugen ( 93902 ) on Sunday July 09, 2023 @10:42AM (#63670851)

    Much like everything else in Las Vegas, it's a waste of resources and human ingenuity. It will be underutilized, and eventually (fairly soon in building terms) subject to poor maintenance, decay, abandonment (when the owners go bankrupt) and then, one day in the not-too-distant future, will be demolished with little to remind of it.

    Meanwhile, Las Vegas still is an unsustainable depressing poor slum (anywhere outside the "strip") in the middle of waterless desert, trying way too hard to make a show of being a fun and attractive place.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I'm more appalled at 25 consecutive U2 concerts. What is the typical U2 concert goer like? I really can't imagine that person. About the only song of theirs I can listen to is Out Of Control.

      • U2 has only One good song https://youtu.be/ftjEcrrf7r0 [youtu.be]

      • u2 (Score:2)

        by hawk ( 1151 )

        *that* is the part that worries you?

        U2 never needed these haptic boosters to cause seismic events.

        Living about seven miles away, I'm going to have to check my earthquake coverage for man-made tremors . . .

        there's been nothing like this since they stopped the underground tests . . .

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Etcetera ( 14711 )

        I'm more appalled at 25 consecutive U2 concerts. What is the typical U2 concert goer like? I really can't imagine that person. About the only song of theirs I can listen to is Out Of Control.

        I assume you're being flippant, but FWIW U2 has a long history of multimedia (and mixed-media) experimentation. Their early '90s ZooTV tour (which I saw in person) really was kind of groundbreaking for the time. And they're not afraid to take advantage of things beyond simply enhanced audio tech.

        "A U2 concert" wasn't exactly at the top of my list generally, but I'm interested in seeing what they do with this specifically and might try to attend.

    • and eventually (fairly soon in building terms) subject to poor maintenance

      They spent $2 billion creating the thing. I think they'll spend the five dollars to keep it maintained.

      That said, having been to Vegas (once), my thoughts turned to two things. First, how much electricity is this thing using? I don't care if they are LEDs. You put enough of them together and they will use a chunk of electricity. And certainly the inside, with its lighting and sound system, to name just two items, uses a buttload of

      • I bet most of the energy will be spent on making the inside of the dome inhabitable, i.e. keeping the temperature down & the air relatively fresh when the sun's baking the outside & thousands of bodies & electronics are giving off heat & fumes on the inside. That's a lot of heat exchangers & ventilation systems working very hard. But apparently, Las Vegas is completely solar powered these days. Makes sense, I guess.

    • I dunno, it's a fairly inspiring structure. I saw it some months ago (not lit up). I don't know what it costs per hour to operate those 1.2 million LEDs, but my guess is even if they go bankrupt it won't be demolished. The structure could be used to show ads. Anyway, recovering $2.3 billion will probably take 30 years or so I guess. Let's see, if they didn't finance it (ie, no interest) to pay off the $2.3 bil they would need to generate 76 million a year .. or $1.5 million a week. With operating costs, tha

      • I dunno, it's a fairly inspiring structure.

        I'm not so convinced. If you want to see a truly inspiring spherical structure that's much, much larger than whatever they are building in Las Vegas just look out of your window. If you do it during the day you'll get to see a bonus, even larger spherical structure in the sky which is lit up so brightly you should not look at it directly and at night you may get to see a smaller spherical structure in the sky instead.

        The universe is full of spherical structures much larger and much more interesting than

        • Humans didn't build the Sun or any stars, so it's less inspiring. In fact, it could make a person feel small in the context. The sphere communicates a different vibe.

      • I dunno, it's a fairly inspiring structure. I saw it some months ago (not lit up). I don't know what it costs per hour to operate those 1.2 million LEDs, but my guess is even if they go bankrupt it won't be demolished. The structure could be used to show ads. Anyway, recovering $2.3 billion will probably take 30 years or so I guess. Let's see, if they didn't finance it (ie, no interest) to pay off the $2.3 bil they would need to generate 76 million a year .. or $1.5 million a week. With operating costs, that's probably $3 million. A bit tough I guess, even for Vegas, but doable.

        The bolded bit? I guarantee, 100%, without any doubt at all, that within five years or less, that giant ball will be nothing but a huge ad dispenser. Whether the venue inside remains functional or not, that will be the end-run for this big round lighted billboard.

    • Slum? Lol. It is an assortment of expansion suburbs, no more no less. Equal to the suburb in San Diego I live in, rows and rows of beige 2500 square foot houses with meticulous landscaping. You don't have to make things up to make a point.

      • Just because people are tricked into taking out loans amounting to hundreds of thousand of dollars to pay and equip their cardboard and glue shacks - that does not mean those collections of temporary housing (under 8 years on average [attomdata.com]) are not slums.
        And if one has to own a car just to get groceries or visit a dentist/doctor, go to school/work etc. - that's literally not being able afford to have essential services available and being forced to drive for miles to another community just to access them.
        That's

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by qe2e! ( 1141401 )
      Even the strip is a waterless desert. I spent 8 hours straight there, walking around, searching for a water fountain. No luck.

    • Possibly not (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Okian Warrior ( 537106 ) on Sunday July 09, 2023 @12:02PM (#63671097) Homepage Journal

      Much like everything else in Las Vegas, it's a waste of resources and human ingenuity. It will be underutilized, and eventually (fairly soon in building terms) subject to poor maintenance, decay, abandonment (when the owners go bankrupt) and then, one day in the not-too-distant future, will be demolished with little to remind of it.

      Las Vegas got the idea that it wanted to be "family friendly", and so built shows in front of the hotels such as the pirate ship battle, got the Star Trek hotel running, and so on. The theory was that the family could be entertained while you went out and gambled.

      Over several years this idea languished because, on balance, no one wants to bring the family to Las Vegas - that wasn't something that people really wanted to do. That's not to say that there weren't impressive things to see or that no one brought their families along, it just wasn't as broadly popular as (for example) Disney.

      I'm not saying that you're wrong, only that there was an underlying reason that previous LV languished and decayed the way it did. Those same reasons don't apply to LV of the present, including the sphere, and so it might work out OK.

      One thing about LV that I really like is the shows. Any show - even from a 2nd tier hotel - will be excellent quality and highly entertaining, for the simple reason that a bad show doesn't last long in LV.

      A tip for getting into shows: If you want to see a show, go to the hotel ticket counter on the day of the show you want and ask if there are any cancellations. There's usually 2 or three of these for any showing, and you can usually get good seats for a discount with no hassle (ticketmaster) by simply showing up and asking. I've done that for numerous high-profile shows.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by hawk ( 1151 )

        >The governor doing it single-handedly in this fashion most likely is overreaching his authority.

        that was largely the fantasy of our former dingbat of a mayor, who previously showed up in a black velvet jumpsuit as her own evil twin (among other cheesy gimmicks) to hawk cars for her then-husband's family's dealership.

        We laughed at her then, and still do.

        This was about the same time that a small slot casino on Fremont street reopened after renovations as, instead, a bimbo joint.

        Come to think of it, it's b

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dfm3 ( 830843 )

        Las Vegas got the idea that it wanted to be "family friendly", and so built shows in front of the hotels such as the pirate ship battle, got the Star Trek hotel running, and so on. The theory was that the family could be entertained while you went out and gambled.

        Over several years this idea languished because, on balance, no one wants to bring the family to Las Vegas - that wasn't something that people really wanted to do. That's not to say that there weren't impressive things to see or that no one brought their families along, it just wasn't as broadly popular as (for example) Disney.

        Aside from the casinos (and all the shows/restaurants/etc they've incorporated to draw in guests) there are basically two reasons anyone visits Vegas:

        1) There's a concert or sporting event you want to see. Usually, those are more popular among people with no kids, or you leave the kids at home and enjoy a parents' weekend out.

        2) You have a business conference there. You almost never bring kids to those.

        That being said, I've seen quite a few families with kids on the strip, and honestly I've felt muc

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by antdude ( 79039 )

        Back in January 2001 during its long Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, I saw O show at the last minute in person. However, the seat was way up on the balcony's right side near the walkway wall. Is the last minute ticket purchases any better now? Although, Blue Man Group ticket was ordered online in advance for decent center back seats. I want to see Penn and Teller one day.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Toad-san ( 64810 )

      They just need more golf courses, like Palm Springs.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by stikves ( 127823 )

      I think it is cool, and it might actually be a net positive in the long term.

      Yes, it will eventually decay. Until that time, it rejuvenates the interest in the area, will bring lots of new tourists, and they have sold out events with tickets going as far as over $500 per seat.

      (Even if the average is $200, they only need to sell 10 million tickets to make up. 18,000 seat capacity, assume 30% utilization, and it pays for itself in 10 years).

      Anyway, they even have a cool "science" page https://www.thesphereve [thespherevegas.com]

    • > Meanwhile, Las Vegas still is an unsustainable depressing poor slum (anywhere outside the "strip") What a weird, demonstrably false claim to lie about.

    • How does one define "waste"?

      Is all entertainment "waste"? I don't know about you, but to me, entertainment is an important part of life. Sure, we need to work, wee need transportation, we need to eat. But as humans, we want more than just the basics, it's part of what makes us human.

      Beauty is not necessarily "waste," even if that beauty is expensive.

      Another aspect of this sphere is the technology behind it. Many people thought the original space race was also a "waste." But not only did humanity achieve som

    • Classic to mention U2, the poster children for selling out.

    • My thought is about power consumption. I'm guessing it's the opposite of a zero-energy building.
  • Makes me want to visit Vegas. The video was well worth the time to watch.

  • will require a LOT of pre-processing to eliminate comb filtering artifacts
    Phase matters

    • They probably have a lot of line arrays, which are relatively well behaved.

      As for the rest, maybe if they were able to find a really progressive audio engineer. The old guard seems to recoil in horror when you mention AFMG FIRmaker. Lousy sound is the industry standard.

      • This. Crappy sound is apparently normal.

        I rarely go to concerts, but the last two: (1) Peter, Paul and Mary: the entire left channel was dead - no sound - for the entire concert. (2) Piano Guys: one of the speaker cones had a crack, and buzzed every time a particular note was played.

        Both were things a sound check should have found. The totally dead left channel was utterly bizarre - how did the sound techs not notice during the concert?

      • So this is like the principles of phased-array radar applied to the audio domain? holy shit that's cool
  • ...The architect has a fondness for big balls? I'll be here all night.

  • R2 (Score:2)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 )

    When I first saw R2D2 and C3PO on the big screen, I was thinking, "I'll never see something like those bots in my lifetime". But, now that goal doesn't seem unrealistic at all. AI still makes really screwball fuckups, but the rate of progress has been amazing, shocking even.

  • I believe this to be incorrect.
    • It should read ... most "large" music venues are sports venues. If you count the smaller venues from quite good theaters down to bars, you are correct. It is the stadiums and arenas that suck for music. The only "big" venues for music are amphitheaters, and they are not that big and there are not that many of them (and they are often not that good).

      • Yeah, it's more like "most venues that U2 plays are sports venues".

        Most of the small/medium venues suck too, but for different reasons. A lot of them are bars, or are set up like bars, with solid floors and walls and ceilings that are terrible for acoustics and no raised seating so you have to crush to the front of the stage can see anything, etc.

        There are dedicated concert halls without these problems, but they tend to host a very narrow range of music, mainly classical. Obviously for some kinds of shows y

        • There are some good "designed for music" venues. Usually 5K seating max. "The Show" at Agua Caliente in Palm Springs comes to mind. Really comfortable seats (so comfortable it is hard for some groups to get the audience to stand). Good sound. Short unobstructed sight lines. Decent ingress/egress. I am sure somewhere local(-ish) to you is similar, you just need to design for the purpose. My real concern for this layout is not the design, but maintenance. Just who will put a sound analyzer at every s

          • If you can individually mute speakers, you could automatically test them one at a time. Only one microphone needed, and no hurry.

  • ...to Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas? Do you think Terry Gilliam would be up for it?

  • Which is pretty cool and forward thinking, ST2110 [smpte.org] being a standardized video-over-ip format so eliminating a whole ton of coaxial cables and to carry video as well as big honking matrixes to route everything around.

    And while it's massive the space between the pixels is pretty big so according to the article the resolution is 16K x 16K over 170m pixels which to be fair is a-alot but not wildly unreasonable. Make a 4x4 video wall out of 4k LCD's and you are at 16k pixels already.

    Is it ethically a waste of mo

  • They're playing extended runs in Las Vegas now, which means they've realized their fan base is mostly made up of retirees.

    (Hey, I like U2... but I'm not that far from being in that demographic myself)

  • But someone should make an evangelion themed casino next to it, with full sized Eva units, because this thing does looks quite a lot like an angel from that show.

  • This ain't your grandparents Vegas (Score:5, Informative)

    by AlanObject ( 3603453 ) on Sunday July 09, 2023 @01:50PM (#63671425)

    When I was a kid in the '60s my Jewish grandparents loved to go to Las Vegas. They were tight with their money since it didn't come easy for them and they were very disciplined about not gambling more than they could afford. What they loved, as did everyone else who traveled there from smalltown USA, was the sense of flashy elegance and mere presence of money and superficial sophistication. Prostitution back then wasn't legal (still isn't in the cities) but there were plenty of "sin city" attractions that you you couldn't take anyone under 21 to. To this day I don't know if my grandparents were into any of that.

    Back then the hotels had a regular practice of paging celebrities over the casino floors. "Bart Starr you have a phone call." "Mister Sinatra you have a message at the front desk." All complete bullshit but the guests ate it up. It made them feel closer to the elites than they ever otherwise could be.

    What also attracted the generation that lived through the Depression and WW II was how cheap the rooms and the food was. The business model subsidized everything through casino profits. You could have a real nice breakfast with the kids for $1.

    Sometimes they would take their grandkids. Back then there was literally nothing for a kid to do other than sit by the pool all day. The hotel might have a little arcade with pin-ball machines but that was a wan experience next to the flash of the casino floor. They took the rules of no-kids there very seriously. If you wandered three feet over the line for more then 10 seconds you would have some casino dick right on top of you.

    All different these days. After the '70s were thankfully over Vegas declined and that continued into the '90s. They determined that gambling could not be their 80% profit center. Gambling was becoming legal in many states and it wasn't enough to attract the kind of money they wanted. They started to invest in other kinds of entertainment and also made it family entertainment. Roller coasters. Water slides. Shows for kids. Sigfried and Roy. Marine life attractions (in the middle of the desert.) Star Trek. The Stupak Tower. On and on. But the all-you-can-eat $2 buffets were gone, as were the $25/night rooms.

    If there was any one constant to entrepreneurship in Vegas it is that it is a never-ending exercise in one-upmanship. More rooms. Bigger pool! Best asses! (Seriously: Riviera) Most powerful lightbulb! (Yeah that's the Luxor hotel). Anything at all to get attention and to be the "best" at something. Anything.

    So this Sphere thing is nothing more than then next step in that. It doesn't surprise me. I appreciate the engineering and the willingness to push the edge in tech. It isn't a waste, any more than defense spending is a waste, and it is done with private funds and employs a lot of people. It will be fun to go see, but hardly newsworthy.

    • There aren't a lot of theater-centric locations which have significant money behind them in the US. Broadway, Vegas, Branson, Missouri. That's about it. Yes the gambling doesn't pay for it anymore, not all of it anyway, but it can be worth the high ticket price for a unique experience.
  • Miniaturize this to make a globe that I can afford to buy. Then the control computer can be programmed to display all manner of interesting global data graphically. Political entities, global weather, time-series trend videos about many things, etc. etc. etc, How cool would that be?

    • This is something I hope happens as a side effect of these spheres being built. It's not only "cool" but may lead to useful and interesting and useful inventions that we can't fully imagine yet.

  • And I'm not just being Yes Man when I say that.

  • My 1920x1080 computer screen has almost twice as many pixels (2,073,600). A 4K screen at 3840x2160 has 8,294,400 pixels. This sphere only has 1.2 million pixels.

  • Even if the band was something I like and not U2, $140 for a couple of hours of lower quality music surrounded by a bunch screaming idiots is way too much.
    • Plus it is Vegas. Vegas doesn't have anything that I couldn't get here minus mountains.
      But those aren't really anything to go spend money on.

  • Please tell me they test all of their visuals for motion effects on the audience. I can only imagine the horror of being in such a crowd if everyone starts puking.

  • Will Bono be suggesting the owners give away free concert tickets, but pay the band?
    My favorite idiot quote, and made me think much less of the guy, is what's reported over their "free song" fiasco on itunes.

    ****
    When Bono approached Tim Cook, along with Eddy Cue and Phil Schiller about the idea, he was met with some incredulity. "Are you talking about free music?" Cook said, according to Bono. "But the whole point... is to make sure musicians get paid."

    "'No,' I said, 'I don’t think we give it away

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