
X Games Aspen 2022: ESPN Brings Back Crowds, Debuts 5G-Powered Immersive Viewing Experience on App 20 manned cameras across 40 different positions are planned By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, January 21, 2022 - 1:49 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
After going a year without its signature raucous crowds and festival-style atmosphere, X Games Aspen is back in full swing beginning today with the return of fans and a larger onsite presence at Buttermilk Mountain from ESPN and production partner Echo Entertainment. For fans who can't attend in person, ESPN Edge and Verizon have teamed up to create a new immersive viewing experience within the X Games Aspen 2022 App. So, whether they're in Aspen or watching at home, the 2022 edition of Winter X promises to be a welcome return to normalcy for fans.
ESPN has brought back the CondorCam point-to-point aerial system.
Clearly, last year, operations were very different and scaled down to ensure safety in a pre-vaccination world, says Tim Reed, VP, X Games, ESPN. We were thankful just to make that event happen and get it in the books last year. This year, the biggest change is obviously having fans here, and we could not be more excited about that because we really missed them last year. We're excited about the size and scope of show we're going to have, and it should be pretty epic while also being a safe environment for fans and crew.
Immersive Experience: 180 and 360 Cameras Take Viewers Onto the Slope For the first time at an X Games, the event app - built on Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband - will provide fans with an immersive viewing experience via 180- and 360-degree cameras positioned throughout the Slopestyle, SuperPipe, and Big Air courses. Within the app, fans are able to select among multiple live cameras and access immersive views exclusive to the app (now available to download on iOS and Android/Google Play stores).
YBVR has deployed several four-camera arrays to create the 360-degree experience.
Within the app is an immersive viewing experience where you would essentially be your own director while watching the X Games, says Reed. In some cases, the program feed will be fed into the app, and the end user will be able to select different cameras to view. Then, in addition to those cameras, there are also 180- and 360-camera options that allow the viewer to move around and determine their own [viewing] angle.
The new immersive experience is the result of a collaboration between ESPN's X Games team, the ESPN Edge Innovation Center (which launched in September), and Verizon (a Founding Partner in ESPN Edge).
In Aspen, ESPN and Echo Entertainment have teamed up with Verizon, YBVR, and Ghost Hand Productions to deploy nine 180/360 camera systems on the Slopestyle, SuperPipe, and Big Air Courses. The 180-degree systems comprise two Panasonic Lumix BGH1 4K cinema cameras; the 360-degree systems feature an array of four BGH1's. Although some camera arrays are supported by fiber connectivity (laid down by Echo), others are fully wireless and connected via a Verizon 5G network established at Buttermilk.
They've worked with our director on the best places to put those cameras to get the views that will be different from the television production, says Echo Entertainment Technical Manager Pierce Williams. The course designers even had some input just to make sure we can get that most immersive shot possible. We are all pretty psyched to see some of these angles that have ever been seen before.
Two Lumix BGH1 4K cinema cameras create the 180-degree-camera array at X Games.
Besides providing these 180- and 360-degree views for the app, ESPN plans to integrate these views into the linear telecast. Throughout the three-day event, Verizon's onsite team will take the feeds from the 180 cameras, stitch them together, and distribute them to the production truck as EVS replay clips.
We're planning to use those angles within our broadcast as replays, which will be pretty cool, says Reed. We will be able to grab those replays to tell [TV viewers] about this unique experience and actually show them what it is. We will be driving people to go download the app through the use of the replays within the broadcast.
YBVR is overseeing the Verizon 5G-powered immersive-experience production at X Games.
The Return of Crowds: Reinjecting the Fan Element Into the Broadcast Although this year's festivities may not have full-fledged concerts as X Games Aspen did in the pre-pandemic era, the 2022 iteration is most certainly a partial step in the return to normalcy. With fans back onsite (all attendees and staff are required to be vaccinated), ESPN and Echo expect this week's broadcasts to feature a return to the party-like atmosphere of years past.
ESPN is back in full force for X Games Aspen 2022.
As the producer, says Echo Entertainment President Hugh Arian, you can't speak enough to how much the fans make a difference in terms of the energy of the event, the noise and audio, how it makes events look bigger, and how all of that rubs off on the athletes. The fans are what ties it all together. So we're all extremely excited about having them back.
Although there won't be full concert-level musical performances, ESPN is planning a smaller-scale music performance in the corral at the base of the SuperPipe course on Sunday night prior to the Men's Ski Pipe competition.
ESPN and Echo are back to a larger-scale production this year after a smaller operation in 2021
In addition to having fans back onsite, ESPN will also have its full team of announcers in Aspen after having limited the headcount in 2021. Host Jack Mitrani will return, along with reporters Jonathan DC Oetken and Victoria Arlen and the play-by-play/analyst teams for each event.
We have not
Most recent headlines
04/11/2022
The best gamers know DTS Headphone:X technology ups their play. Now major magazines have caught on, too.
DTS Headphone:X technology creates immersive soundsc...
14/05/2022
Critics of the $8 billion-plus purchase of Tegnas TV station group by investment fund Standard General have told the FCC it needs to collect more data on the pr...
14/05/2022
Comedies Kenan and Mr. Mayor, and drama The Endgame will not return on NBC. Kenan lasted two seasons, as did Mr. Mayor. The Endgame lasted one....
14/05/2022
Gray Television said it named Ron Bartholomew as general manager of WNDU-TV, South Bend, Indiana....
14/05/2022
Nielsen, which has agreed to be acquired by a private-equity group led by Elliott Investment Management, said that its go-shop period has expired without an alt...
14/05/2022
The FCC, Department of Agriculture, National Telecommunications & Information Administration (all of which oversee broadband subsidy programs) and the Treasure ...
14/05/2022
Lisa White has been named vice president and news director at KPIX-KBCW San Francisco Bay Area, which are part of the CBS News and Stations group. She has been ...
14/05/2022
CBS has ordered three dramas for the 2022-2023 season, cop drama East New York, firefighter drama Fire Country and private investigator drama So Help Me Todd....
14/05/2022
Warner Bros. Discovery's U.S. Networks Group will be reorganized under Kathleen Finch, chairman and chief content officer, with long-time Discovery executiv...
14/05/2022
Natasha Lyonne will host the season finale of Saturday Night Live on NBC May 21. It is her first time hosting....
14/05/2022
ABC has renewed unscripted series America's Funniest Home Videos, American I...
14/05/2022
BRISTOL, Conn. ESPN has unveiled a record-setting 23-game NFL slate for the 2022 Season that includes 21 regular season games, plus the Monday night Super Wild ...
14/05/2022
SAN FRANCISCO Veteran local news executive Lisa White has been named vice presid...
14/05/2022
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision's audio network Uforia has announced that it is expanding its podcast offerings....
14/05/2022
ATLANTA Gray Television has named Ron Bartholomew the new general manager of WNDU, the NBC affiliate in South Bend, Indiana (DMA 99)....
14/05/2022
FREMONT, Calif. Blackmagic Design has announced that a Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K digital film camera was used to capture visual effects (VFX) plates for the ...
14/05/2022
MUNICH Rohde & Schwarz has announced that its high-performance intelligent storage network, as well as its media servers for content preparation have been deplo...
14/05/2022
NEW YORK The NFL and Amazon Prime Video have unveiled the schedule for the Thursday Night Football (TNF) games that will be streamed exclusively on Prime Video....
14/05/2022
Kendrick Lamars New Album Is Full of Berklee Collaborators Berklee alumni played significant roles in every step of the creation of Kendricks double album, Mr...
14/05/2022
Ukraine wins 66th Eurovision Song Contest...
14/05/2022
A mischievous, musical experience for the whole family where the children are in charge and the adults get to be kids again!
From 10th December 2022
The Aud...
13/05/2022
Thursday 12 May 2022 Award-winning documentary maker, Stacey Dooley MBE, is set to take her hit W show overseas, in the brand-new three-part series Stacey Doole...
13/05/2022
Thursday 12 May 2022 UKTV today announces that it has commissioned two new serie...
13/05/2022
(L-R) Sian Gibson and Johnny Vegas
Friday 13 May 2022 The nations favourite com...
13/05/2022
-- John Nein is a senior programmer for the Sundance Institute....
13/05/2022
Ryan Coogler and Ludwig G ransson have worked together on several films, including Fruitvale Station.
By Vanessa Zimmer
Why do people say they watched a movie...
13/05/2022
La m sica mexicana tiene una rica tradici n narrativa. Canciones como La Jaula ...
13/05/2022
Mexican music has a rich tradition of storytelling. Songs like La Jaula de Oro ...
13/05/2022
Nations around the world - from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea - are facing increasingly aggressive actions from adversarial superpowers and terrorist orga...
13/05/2022
Imagine the scene: it's midday, and, somewhere in eastern Europe, a special operations team patrols through thick woodland to find and fix enemy positions c...
13/05/2022
SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku has announced that its most powerful streaming player, the Roku Ultra, will include Roku's top-of-the-line remote, the Roku Voice Remo...
13/05/2022
LOS ANGELES Scener, a destination for finding and sharing streaming entertainment, has announced the launch of a new mobile application designed to enhance and ...
13/05/2022
TEL AVIV, Israel Radcom has announced that it was selected by Dish Wireless to provide its Radcom Ace solution to monitor customers experience across Dishs 5G S...
13/05/2022
WASHINGTON, D.C. The NAB Leadership Foundation (NABLF) has announced that it is now accepting applications for the 2023 Technology Apprenticeship Program (TAP)....
13/05/2022
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. Gaian Solutions unveiled its Mobius Marketplace NextGen TV monetization platform, an AI-based ATSC 3.0 spectrum planning tool intended to e...
13/05/2022
albert is working on building an accredited network of equipment suppliers for the UK production industry
By Jenny Priestley
Published: May 13, 2022
albert...
13/05/2022
V-Studios will be powered by the disguise Extended Reality (xR) workflow, featuring Absen's 10m x 5m LED wall
By Jenny Priestley
Published: May 13, 2022 ...
13/05/2022
She takes over from Sir William Sargent who has led the company for 26 years
By Jenny Priestley
Published: May 13, 2022
She takes over from Sir William Sar...
13/05/2022
A lot of the work weve done around innovation within BT Sport has been about loo...
13/05/2022
Blackbird plc announced the appointment of Sumit Rai as chief product officer. He will join the company in June, to lead the strategic development and direction...
13/05/2022
STAMFORD, Conn. & PHILADELPHIA, Penn. Charter Communications and Comcast Corporation have selected Marcien Jenckes as president of their recently announced stre...
13/05/2022
Julius P. Williams Composes Song for 54th Massachusetts Regiment Memorial Rededi...
13/05/2022
At BroadcastAsia 2022, Broadpeak will highlight how pay-TV operators, content providers, and OTT players can provide a compelling video streaming experience to ...
13/05/2022
Rohde & Schwarz, a global leader in broadcast media technologies, has today anno...
13/05/2022
Zero Density is proud to announce that its AI-powered, talent-tracking system, TRAXIS talentS, has won a Product of the Year award at this year's NAB! The a...
13/05/2022
WATCH UZALO: Tonight's episode, Friday, 13 May 2022 - E50 S8Don't get left behind, catch up on Uzalo now!
by SA TV and Soapies
13-05-2022 15:46
in ...
13/05/2022
WATCH: Gomora episode, 13 May 2022 (E15 S3)Don't miss out on what's happening on tonight's episode of Gomora, and watch the latest episode every wee...
13/05/2022
Actress Zoe Mthiyane chats about her role in Generations: The Legacy'The actress Zoe Mthiyane chats about playing Zitha in Generations: The Legacy', m...
13/05/2022
Generations: The Legacy' June Spoilers: Sphe kills serial killer' Winst...
13/05/2022
The way I found out about Studio One and PreSonus: I had lunch with Bob Moses (president of the Audio Engineering Society at one time) and I asked him some que...