Technology from Matrox Video is being employed to drive SMPTE ST 2110 routing, orchestration, conversion, and control inside Sphere in Las Vegas.
Sphere’s interior includes a 160,000-square-foot, 16K wraparound LED canvas with 256 million rendered pixels — the largest and highest resolution LED screen in the world.
For U2’s U2:UV Achtung Baby Live residency at Sphere, the band’s content development team worked with integrator Fuse Technical Group to develop a video playback system that could handle 16K resolution while running a complete SMPTE ST 2110 backbone.
Fuse deployed 23 Matrox ConvertIP DSS dual-channel SFP SDI-to-IP devices to convert high-resolution SDI from the media servers into SMPTE ST 2110 and deliver content to the IP video backbone for display on the LEDs. The company selected ConvertIP for its 12G SDI and 4K (DCI) support, low latency, and 25G speeds, said Matrox. Fuse subsequently requested 6G support, and Matrox Video added the capability to ConvertIP.
Matrox ConductIP is within the workflow to route and orchestrate SMPTE ST 2110 sources on its internal network. The production system uses 30 computers, with one programmer and two technicians in the control room handling all the video for the show. Fuse deployed Matrox Extio 3 IP KVM extenders so the operators can access multiple computers from one remote workstation with one keyboard, mouse, and monitor.
“The jaw-dropping spectacle at Sphere sets a new gold standard for video in live entertainment, which demands innovative technological solutions. This scenario embodies Matrox Video’s vision and mission statement: to build innovative products and deliver superior support, enabling our customers to harness the power of video to communicate, entertain, and make critical decisions,” said Francesco Scartozzi, vice president, sales and business development at Matrox Video.
“We’re honoured to have worked with Fuse on this unparalleled project and that our technology and our people played a role in its success.”
