Sports Vision
Don’t we all remember the promise of immersive sports on Apple Vision Pro, during WWDC ‘23? Though that promise has a long way to go, given the current technology and deals that Apple has (not) made that we are aware of1,2, viewing sports on a Personal Entertainment Device (PED?) seemed like a dream come true, for catching the live action.
This weekend, I decided to try just that. Oh boy, was I in for a treat.
Super Bowl LVIII was this weekend, where the Kansas City Chiefs took on the San Francisco 49ers (Chiefs won in OT). I looked around for options to catch this on Apple Vision Pro and ended up using the Paramount Plus app. This is one of those “Compatible Apps” for the Vision Pro, where the developer hasn’t yet released an official version for the device, but chose to allow their iPad app be available for use on the Apple Vision Pro.
I signed up for the service online and logged into the App on my device. The process was pretty effortless. The credentials were available from iCloud and within no time I was logged in. The app opens up to the default view of the channels list with the live stream playing on the top. Of course it lacked the fit and finish of a native app. But it was definitely usable. Though I did run into some usability issues:
- The click target for expanding the view to full screen would sometimes become non-responsive.
- The view would sometimes expand beyond the viewport clipping the video on the sides.
In both cases, quitting the app and relaunching it fixed it. A minor hassle, but the workaround was bearable and fortunately it didn’t happen during the prime times of the game, so I was not that disturbed.
The real advantage of watching this on my Apple Vision Pro kicked in, when I actually reached out to expand the view by using the handle on the bottom-right corner of the window. This was so effortless and I was able to get a theatrical feel right in the middle of my bedroom. The display filled up to the ceiling and occupied one of the walls of the room. In the real world one could imagine how much a display of that size would actually cost. Then I cranked up the dial up top and got myself immersed on the moon surface. Now this experience was surreal. Sports on the moon, was out of the world 😄. I personally had some neck pain issues this weekend (unrelated to the Apple Vision Pro), where sometimes I need to keep my head turned in a fixed direction to alleviate the pain. During those times, the option that I could hold on the lower handle bar of the App window and move the app to face me directly was a blessing in disguise. No more was I limited by the position of the TV in my room. I could continue watching the show even when I am not facing the TV in the room, as I am no longer bound to its physical location. Now that's a rather small use case but it was pretty handy to me
Of course the game didn't end in the way I wanted (49ers lost in OT), but the experience was phenomenal and gave a glimpse of what we can expect from this device in future.
2.https://www.thestreet.com/media/apple-2-billion-move-streaming-f1-sports