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Apple wants to make even greater use of the Vision Pro headset's capabilities and take sports broadcasts to a whole new level. The company has announced that on 28 August it will, for the first time, broadcast a Major League Baseball game live in the Apple Immersive format. The footage will be captured in 3D at 8K resolution with a field of view of as much as 180 degrees, so the user should feel as if they were right at the stadium.
Apple Vision Pro will offer an MLB game view from a unique perspective
The first broadcasted matchup will be the Boston Red Sox versus the New York Yankees, one of the most famous rivalries in the history of American baseball. Apple plans to use special shots in the transmission that cannot be obtained during a traditional TV broadcast. The cameras will show, among other things, moments at the plate, players' reactions in the dugouts and key plays along the outfield fence.
Apple Immersive broadcasts are designed to give the user a much greater sense of presence than a standard 3D recording. The footage is captured using Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive cameras, which can record 180-degree 3D imagery at 8K resolution per eye. The camera also allows recording at up to 90 frames per second at 8K, which is intended to help preserve detail and smoothness during fast on-field action.
Baseball will not be the first sport Apple has tried to bring into the Immersive world. The company experimented with sports broadcasts in 8K and 3D as early as 2024, and at the end of last year it began offering such material from NBA games. Now the technology is coming to MLB as well, and Apple says more broadcasts are planned in the coming weeks.
However, this is not true 8K on Vision Pro displays
The term "8K 3D" can be a little misleading, because the Apple Vision Pro does not have displays capable of showing full 8K resolution for each eye. The original material is indeed recorded in 8K 3D, but on the headset it is processed into two separate 4K 3D image streams, one for each eye. Apple uses foveation technology, which allows the available resolution to be used more efficiently.
That does not change the fact that the effect can be very impressive. The combination of stereoscopic imagery, a wide field of view and special shots can provide a much more immersive experience than a traditional broadcast. Apple even claims it will feel like the best seat in the stadium, without having to leave home. However, fully exploiting 8K material would require 8K-resolution displays for each eye, whereas the current Vision Pro screens are 4K-class displays.
The first MLB game in Apple Immersive will be shown on 28 August, and in September four of the seven MLB games available in this format are scheduled. The broadcasts will run on both the first-generation Vision Pro with the M2 chip and the newer model equipped with the M5. Importantly, access to the content will be part of the standard Apple TV subscription, so users will not have to pay extra for the Immersive format itself. The broadcasts will be available to Apple Vision Pro users in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
Apple will for the first time show a live MLB game using Apple Immersive technology, offering Vision Pro users 3D footage captured in 8K with a 180-degree field of view. The first broadcast will be the Boston Red Sox against the New York Yankees game scheduled for 28 August, and in the following weeks the company will show selected baseball games in this format. Although the material is recorded in 8K, the headset itself does not display full 8K to each eye and uses two 4K 3D streams as well as foveation techniques. Even so, the combination of high quality imagery, spatial 3D and a wide field of view could provide one of the most immersive at home sports viewing experiences.
source: flatpanelshd
