3 ms·

Any articles on the engineering behind the Sphere? How do they get the data to each individual pixel? Let's assume 10 pixels per inch. One square foot would be

by genter 2y ago

Any articles on the engineering behind the Sphere? How do they get the data to each individual pixel? Let's assume 10 pixels per inch. One square foot would be 14,400 pixels. A PC can easily drive 1920x1080, or 2 million pixels. At our dpi, that would be 140 square feet. The Sphere's display is 160,000 square feet. So we could split that up into 1100 nodes, where each node is 140 square feet. It would be realistic to have each node be a single ARM computer with enough storage for a couple of hours of video. Push the data to the node over ethernet before the show, then have a clock signal going to each node so they stay synchronized.

doesnotexist 2y ago
Here's what I found about the underlying system https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/the-software-behind-the-high-resolution-video-at-sphere-entertainment https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/the-software-behind-the-hi... and the Hitachi Vantara Press Release: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/news/gl240307 https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/news/gl240307 "27 nodes, with 4PB of flash storage for playback within Sphere and streamed in real-time to 7thSense media servers, each streaming 4K video at 60 frames per second" I would be interested to better understand how synchronization is achieved here. Is that a relatively solved problem for applications such as this or was there significant engineering to achieve it at this scale?
- tootie 2y ago
  Yeah it's pretty well solved. You can buy players at retail for many years. I'm not sure what products handle this much scale seamlessly but Brightsign is the one I always preferred. I haven't gone past 4 players but it's really easy to send it a gigantic video and the software will send crops to different players and play them in sync. We did like a 10k display for very up close viewing and there was no code to write or anything. Just spend the money and run the cables.
- jareklupinski 2y ago
  > I would be interested to better understand how synchronization is achieved here. not OP, but worked on similar large displays stitched together using multiple servers with their own GPUs for most applications, TouchDesigner running on each server was used to arrange media on screens connected to that server as a single group, and software Sync (https://derivative.ca/UserGuide/Sync https://derivative.ca/UserGuide/Sync) kept media playing across different groups within a frame or two at worst. for stricter (higher budget) installations, the GPUs were chosen to have native hardware framelock-type features, but you can connect a surprising amount of displays to a single machine if you get the right server motherboard (digital signage is a big customer of those kinds of rigs) syncing the audio with the room speakers was a completely different story
leetrout 2y ago
It is not that dense. Sounds like the interior and exterior are both 16K resolution and exterior pixel pitch is quite large at 225mm. Article below says it uses 30 computers to run things but thats unclear if it is both outside and inside or just inside. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-REJHfi4x5U https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-REJHfi4x5U https://www.techradar.com/pro/worlds-only-16k-display-is-powered-by-one-of-nvidias-earliest-rivals-las-vegas-sphere-uses-matrox-technology-to-power-a-staggering-256-million-pixels https://www.techradar.com/pro/worlds-only-16k-display-is-pow... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_(venue) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_(venue)
dylan604 2y ago
No, having each panel be that smart would be way too expensive. Not knowing the Sphere's specific setups, typical concert/stage setups have "dumb" panels are just screens with no bezel so they can be positioned edge to edge in what ever configuration for size/shape you need. After that, they are all connected back to a central system to control the signals to each of the screens. Also, loading the content to each "smart" panel as you describe would be an absolute nightmare, and very time consuming. That's not how a roadie thinks.
tootie 2y ago
At that viewing distance the pixels are probably far enough apart to stick your pinky between them. If you're ever close enough to a digital billboard you can ran your hand over it and it's like a bed of nails. LEDs on little stalks. The metric is called "pixel pitch". And there's loads of software and hardware options for running massive displays. There are some beefy PCs with like 8 HDMI outs, splitters, combiners. Or more likely you split the video into multiple segments and then use software to keep multiple players in sync.

by genter 2y ago

doesnotexist 2y ago

Here's what I found about the underlying system https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/the-software-behind-the-high-resolution-video-at-sphere-entertainment https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/the-software-behind-the-hi... and the Hitachi Vantara Press Release: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/news/gl240307 https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/news/gl240307 "27 nodes, with 4PB of flash storage for playback within Sphere and streamed in real-time to 7thSense media servers, each streaming 4K video at 60 frames per second" I would be interested to better understand how synchronization is achieved here. Is that a relatively solved problem for applications such as this or was there significant engineering to achieve it at this scale?

tootie 2y ago
Yeah it's pretty well solved. You can buy players at retail for many years. I'm not sure what products handle this much scale seamlessly but Brightsign is the one I always preferred. I haven't gone past 4 players but it's really easy to send it a gigantic video and the software will send crops to different players and play them in sync. We did like a 10k display for very up close viewing and there was no code to write or anything. Just spend the money and run the cables.
jareklupinski 2y ago
> I would be interested to better understand how synchronization is achieved here. not OP, but worked on similar large displays stitched together using multiple servers with their own GPUs for most applications, TouchDesigner running on each server was used to arrange media on screens connected to that server as a single group, and software Sync (https://derivative.ca/UserGuide/Sync https://derivative.ca/UserGuide/Sync) kept media playing across different groups within a frame or two at worst. for stricter (higher budget) installations, the GPUs were chosen to have native hardware framelock-type features, but you can connect a surprising amount of displays to a single machine if you get the right server motherboard (digital signage is a big customer of those kinds of rigs) syncing the audio with the room speakers was a completely different story

leetrout 2y ago

It is not that dense. Sounds like the interior and exterior are both 16K resolution and exterior pixel pitch is quite large at 225mm. Article below says it uses 30 computers to run things but thats unclear if it is both outside and inside or just inside. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-REJHfi4x5U https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-REJHfi4x5U https://www.techradar.com/pro/worlds-only-16k-display-is-powered-by-one-of-nvidias-earliest-rivals-las-vegas-sphere-uses-matrox-technology-to-power-a-staggering-256-million-pixels https://www.techradar.com/pro/worlds-only-16k-display-is-pow... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_(venue) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_(venue)

dylan604 2y ago

No, having each panel be that smart would be way too expensive. Not knowing the Sphere's specific setups, typical concert/stage setups have "dumb" panels are just screens with no bezel so they can be positioned edge to edge in what ever configuration for size/shape you need. After that, they are all connected back to a central system to control the signals to each of the screens. Also, loading the content to each "smart" panel as you describe would be an absolute nightmare, and very time consuming. That's not how a roadie thinks.

tootie 2y ago

At that viewing distance the pixels are probably far enough apart to stick your pinky between them. If you're ever close enough to a digital billboard you can ran your hand over it and it's like a bed of nails. LEDs on little stalks. The metric is called "pixel pitch". And there's loads of software and hardware options for running massive displays. There are some beefy PCs with like 8 HDMI outs, splitters, combiners. Or more likely you split the video into multiple segments and then use software to keep multiple players in sync.