The Work

  • We are tactical.
  • We are agile.
  • We are brave.
  • SUPERBOWL OPENING NIGHT

For the first time ever, latency free 8K 360 video was livestreamed to FOX Sports’ Unreal Engine-powered new LED virtual production facility for the Super Bowl Opening Night Broadcast this year.

The Insta360 Titan VR camera and MeetMo.io 8K encoder livestreamed footage of the Opening Night events at the Footprint Center in Phoenix to the studio set in Los Angeles. This footage was projected onto the LED walls behind the hosts to make it feel like the hosts were right there in the arena for viewers watching at home.

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Together the teams from MeetMo.io, Insta360 and FOX Sports delivered an innovative solution that solves creative and production challenges faced by television studios across the world.

Here’s how it happened:

1. Insta360 Titan camera captures the Phoenix arena in 8K 360
The first step of pulling off this game-changing solution was capturing the events live at the arena. Opening Night is traditionally a day for media to meet the Super Bowl teams in public, but for the first time FOX Sports’ decided to bring this experience to fans, too.

Insta360 Titan captured true-to-life footage of the arena with excellent dynamic range and color depth.

“FOX Sports has a history of production innovation especially around football and we figured this was a good chance to push the boundaries of our new set with cutting edge technology innovation.” - Zac Fields, FOX Sports

2. MeetMo.io 8K encoder delivers the perfectly-stitched and secure live stream
Fresh off its maiden voyage with the NASA Artemis Launch, the MeetMo.io 8K encoder enabled the 8K 360 live stream directly inside the Unreal Engine,

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3. Unreal Engine powers the stream onto the LED walls in FOX Sports’ virtual production facility

Then it was time to bring it all together into a complete remote solution. “In a very short time, we went from remote collaboration to remote telepresence. FOX Sports had brought their expertise in the Unreal Engine and their best practices on their new innovative set. Our job was to bring our expertise in our encoder, decoder and stitching to integrate an unmatched immersive experience for the viewers at home. The wide shot from the studio projected in the LED wall made it feel like the hosts were right there in the arena,” said Andrew Schwartz, MeetMo.io Technology Director.

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Unreal Engine Breakthrough
In the end the collaboration between MeetMo.io, Insta360, and FOX Sports was a testament to true collaboration and innovative spirit. Each team brought an expertise in production and experience in problem solving that resulted in a first in broadcasting history.