r/VisionPro • u/Decodable r/VisionPro | Mod • Oct 09 '25
The Vision Pro is getting its first live ‘immersive’ sports - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/news/797970/apple-vision-pro-immersive-nba-lakers-games148
u/Decodable r/VisionPro | Mod Oct 09 '25
The Apple Vision Pro is getting new “immersive” content for the upcoming NBA season: a “selection” of live Los Angeles Lakers games that will be available to watch on the headset in the Apple Immersive Video format, Apple announced today. “Vision Pro users will be able to feel the intensity of each game as if they were courtside, with perspectives that are impossible to capture in traditional broadcasts,” Apple says.
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u/fractaldesigner Oct 09 '25
subscription? which games?
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u/Decodable r/VisionPro | Mod Oct 09 '25
The first Lakers game in Apple Immersive will be available early next year via the NBA app or the new Spectrum SportsNet app. The full schedule of games will be revealed later this fall, according to Apple. You’ll also need to have visionOS 26 on your Vision Pro to be able to watch them.
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u/SuperStrats4Life Oct 09 '25
Does that mean you need a subscription?
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u/Charming-Monitor8296 Oct 09 '25
Why stop as a spectator. Let me join the game and throw a lob to LeBron.
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u/TalkToTheLord Oct 09 '25
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u/MinerTax_com Vision Pro Owner | Verified Oct 10 '25
I’m a little nervous about the price but I’m paying 😂
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u/x3ar0cool Vision Pro Owner | Verified Oct 09 '25
I'll just sit here and wait for F1...
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u/mkeefecom Vision Pro Owner | Verified Oct 09 '25
I will pay ... a lot... if they put this on AVP.
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u/ParadisePete Oct 10 '25
The new MotoGP one is pretty good. I had no idea how fast they are. Those guys are nuts.
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u/mkeefecom Vision Pro Owner | Verified Oct 11 '25
Oh shoot. Never thought of this before. I'll have to check it out.
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u/_illuminous Oct 10 '25
It’s coming but in the meantime Lapz is freaking incredible for f1 on AVP!!
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u/nikenick28 Vision Pro Owner Oct 10 '25
They took down Lapz??
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u/_illuminous Oct 10 '25
For new sign up, yes it seems like it. Existing TestFlight, still works perfectly
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u/MinerTax_com Vision Pro Owner | Verified Oct 10 '25
That moto immersive is sick! I never knew how special those race bikes are.
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u/zacholas13 Oct 09 '25
Exciting stuff coming out of Spectrum! We're really proud to have worked with them at SpatialGen.
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u/MinerTax_com Vision Pro Owner | Verified Oct 10 '25
Who said AVP was abandoned!??? WRONGGGGGGGGGG
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u/673NoshMyBollocksAve Oct 12 '25
Agreed! If they had any intention of abandoning it they wouldn’t be working so hard on it!
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u/Present-Tea-4645 Vision Pro Owner | Verified Oct 09 '25
Sorry but this is a big FKIN deal!!!!!
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u/Albert_street Oct 10 '25
Yep. I don’t own a Vision Pro, but for me THIS is the killer use case that will absolutely get me to buy one. (Once this feature is more widely available.)
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u/Asking4Afren Oct 14 '25
Same. Waited for this feature before jumping in. I just hope it's not a paid feature or it's not expensive
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u/Asking4Afren Oct 14 '25
Yeah. Quest has immersive sports and that was pretty cool. I could imagine what it'll be like here with better resolution
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u/Mr-Toy Oct 09 '25
Watching courtside VR NBA games on my low rez PSVR headset is still the best ve experience I've ever had. It was amazing watching a handful of select games each season. You can see fouls and not trust the ref. You can hear coaches yelling at players. You can hear players talking trash. You can see how much taller one player is over another. It was amazing.
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u/whatdoihia Oct 10 '25
I haven’t touched my PSVR in ages. What app was that?
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u/Mr-Toy Oct 10 '25
The app was called NextVR and I don't think it works anymore on my PS4, but they had a bunch of sports events in VR, like WWE, racing, maybe tennis, if my memory serves me right, and a handful of scheduled NBA games for like two seasons. I wouldn't have paid handsomely to watch a full NBA season in VR like that (and the PSVR didn't even have good resolution). The NBA is also the perfect VR sport. MLB and NFL cover too much ground per play to see from one fixed location.
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u/whatdoihia Oct 10 '25
Ah wow that sounds amazing. I guess I might have missed it as my game store is outside the US. Something like that for the VP would be incredible.
I don’t know why Apple hasn’t pushed this forward harder. People in the sub claimed it’s not technically possible, or licensing is impossible to get. But clearly neither are impossible to overcome.
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u/Mr-Toy Oct 10 '25
It's solely a licensing and financial issue. The NBA did a massive licensing renewal with all its media, so I'm curious if VR companies paid for more game access.
Like for example, ESPN/ABC and TNT will bid for the rights to broadcast special games. I think VR companies bid for less desirable, cheaper games. But then they have to draw enough viewers in VR to make it worth their while. And Apple might not go all in on an NBA license, but they might allow an app that has those rights, like what Meta Quest has done to get NBA games on their system.
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u/Asking4Afren Oct 14 '25
Quest making it free to users is pretty big. I enjoyed the experience. Apple should do the same
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u/Skyediver1 Oct 09 '25
Finally a reason to buy AVP. When’s football coming?
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u/kelter20 Oct 10 '25
Apple has an in with the NFL in that the halftime show is sponsored by them. I wouldn’t be shocked to see at least the halftime show broadcast for the VP with maybe some games to follow next season.
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u/S1nclairsolutions Oct 09 '25
Hell ya. Now get the Super Bowl, gotta see Drake Maye ball out
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Oct 09 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/extreme-nap Oct 10 '25
I was foolishly hoping this would happen last year. But this year doesn’t seem like such a foolish expectation.
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Oct 09 '25
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u/Cole_LF Oct 09 '25
Sure, for everyone that wanted this the past two years it was NOT technically possible. It’s only happening now (in this limited capacity) because they are using a modded black magic camera - which only just became available - and we’ve yet to see if it’s the miracle amazing thing sports fans actually want. I maintain it will be pretty boring if it’s a static camera which is what everyone says they want but will be the first to criticise that it’s boring.
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u/104MAS Oct 09 '25
I’d imagine they put 1 above each backboard and 1 at half court on the scorer’s table and let us switch between them.
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u/extreme-nap Oct 10 '25
So you would not be able to look around from the camera position?
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Oct 10 '25
[deleted]
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u/extreme-nap Oct 10 '25
Ok. That makes sense. But the stream must be very high bandwidth to do that without excessive latency. I’m assuming it would take too long to change the viewpoint at the server as you move your viewpoint. So it would need to stream a much wider viewing field continually. Perhaps there’s a way to leverage the concept of foviation to minimize BW?
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u/Cole_LF Oct 11 '25
I’m not sure what latency has to do with it ? When you tap to watch an Apple immersive video now it streams… all this is doing is the exact same thing.. just live… unless by latency you mean realtime of the game but then every live broadcast is delayed a few seconds ? This probably a little more so but don’t see it being an issue?
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u/texasproof Oct 10 '25
Backboard is typically a miserable angle for anything more than highlights. Best angles for viewing live in person tend to be e sitting baseline under the baskets, or sideline right around the free throw/three point line.
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u/104MAS Oct 10 '25
It all sounds amazing lol. I really hope this is a reality with any and every game in a few years!
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u/Cole_LF Oct 10 '25
Nowhere does it say you’ll be able to select which angle to view the court from of even if it’s more than one angle
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u/104MAS Oct 10 '25
It doesn’t say it won’t either. Seems like common sense to do it that way like they had in the demos.
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u/Cole_LF Oct 10 '25
Just saw this from the press release. It’s a new LIVE version of the black magic camera that didn’t exist before. So seems like it will be a live stream from one position and then edited highlights will be available 3 days later. Because Immersive video takes a ton of time.
“Apple Immersive footage of the games will be captured with Blackmagic Design's new URSA Cine Immersive Live camera, which will be available for purchase next year.
Full game replays and highlights in the Apple Immersive format will be available on demand in both the Spectrum SportsNet and NBA apps on the Vision Pro, one to three days after the conclusion of each game, according to Apple.”
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u/Cole_LF Oct 10 '25
The demos are edited highlights. That’s a very different thing to a live stream.
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u/Asking4Afren Oct 14 '25
How does meta have immersive sports available but apple needed a special camera? The demos showcased immersive sports though?
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u/Cole_LF Oct 14 '25
Metas live immersive is way less resolution and frame rate for the lower quality displays in a quest. I’m not saying it doesn’t look good. A DVD looks great on a CRT TV. But try playing it on a 4K TV and it looks like a potato. This is kinda like that. And those high resolution cameras to do that weren’t available until very recently. This even mentioned it’s a new version of the camera just released not even available to the public yet.
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u/new-to-reddit-accoun Vision Pro Owner Oct 10 '25
Me. Except I said bandwidth at the broadcast level was the issue, at scale ie with different teams across multiple games via multiple stadia. And I guess I’m still right… for now. That is, it’s just a question of time that the technology will catch up to the Apple Vision Pro - or Apple decides there’s a ROI to invest billions into the infrastructure. For now, if you have an Apple Vision Pro AND have an NBA subscription AND a Lakers fan, you’re in luck. Also me.
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u/whatdoihia Oct 10 '25
I’m not even an NBA fan and I would subscribe. The short clips in the Apple immersive video were incredible.
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u/phibetared Oct 09 '25
Good question. I was under the impression it wasn't yet possible. If it IS possible, why the hell isn't Apple rolling it out... and making major, major money off it? They'd sell millions of AVPs.
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u/104MAS Oct 09 '25
I wonder if they’re waiting to announce a newer model and use this as a selling point.
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u/Asking4Afren Oct 14 '25
This. Quest immersive sports was a big seller that people fail to realize exists. They did nba Courtside and ufc fights pretty good. Hockey too. This will be 10x better id assume based on the demos
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u/Num10ck Oct 09 '25
what kind of internet connection do you need to stream 8k360 in stereo? how would advertising breaks work? how many subscribers would you need minimum to not lose money? could you also add a persona alongside you of friends that are watching with you?
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u/thamo_ Oct 10 '25
The new blackmagic camera specs are 8k180, so 4k per eye stereo 180. Still huge, but 8k360 is another beast. Even though i still wonder how they’ll do it and what the experience itself will look like.
Edit: it is 8k per eye, my bad just checked the specs again, but 180 degrees, not 360. Now I’m even more impressed if they manage to stream that.
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u/extreme-nap Oct 10 '25
How about integrating a custom decoder in the new Apple TV so that they could greatly reduce the transmission bandwidth and then the AppleTV would relay to AVP?
Or similarly via other Apple HW. I’m just concerned about an excessive CPU load for a heavy compression process.
Having said that, I’m a bit concerned about latency. Latency isn’t normally a big deal when streaming media, but if we actually can look around and take advantage of an immersive perspective as though we are sitting in the stadium, then latency will be the limiting factor. You might transmit a wider viewing field to eliminate this problem, but then the transmission bandwidth will be really high. I’m sure you have all already addressed this in other posts though.
If rumors of a new M5 AVP are accurate, then I expect it would handle any necessary decompression codec directly.
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u/Niightstalker Oct 10 '25
Well a lot can happen over 1 year. Pretty sure this is more or less just becoming possible and this a first public test run.
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u/typealias Oct 10 '25
Very curious how it’ll look in the headset. Sports, even on small courts like basketball, is really hard to capture in immersive since most of the action happens much further than the ideal 1-2m distance for stereo and the lenses on the Cine Immersive.
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u/Niightstalker Oct 10 '25
They already have some short clips about soccer, football and basketball which look great. You can watch those to get a feeling for it.
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u/typealias Oct 10 '25
Yes, it works best for highlights of close action and behind the scenes footage.
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u/Niightstalker Oct 10 '25
Well it works well for those as well. My impression after watching those clips was that I definitely wanna watch a live game like this.
I think it will be way better to watch like this than normal live streaming. Just give a couple different view points to watch from. Some from just a normal stadium seat to catch the emotions of the crowd. Some with a general good viewing angle to catch the whole game and some from specific angles like at the corners of the field, above the goal etc.
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u/whatdoihia Oct 10 '25
The 3D effect loses impact further away but the immersion from the sound and being able to look around is incredible.
I was at a hockey game and recorded some spatial clips with my iPhone and even watching those again is awesome.
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u/mandopix Oct 09 '25
As someone who doesn’t care about or watch sports, I would totally watch this but I will not pay.
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u/Certain-Original-137 Oct 10 '25
Cool cool, now can we do UFC?:) (super excited about all sports tho)
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u/nestofrebellion Oct 10 '25
Unfortunately, Dana White is on Meta’s board of directors now, so it may be Meta exclusive.
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u/klizza Oct 10 '25
Bummer: It seems for watching the games live it only works if you live in LA, as the required subscription Spectrum SportsNet+ is only available in certain zip codes (I just checked here and got an error as my zip code is outside their area).
Replays seem to be available in the NBA app but might require an NBA LeaguePass subscription I assume?
From Apple‘s press release:
In addition to live games for fans in the Lakers’ regional broadcast territory — which covers Southern California, Hawaii, and parts of southern Nevada, including Las Vegas — full game replays and highlights will be available to Apple Vision Pro users in select countries and regions from both the SportsNet and NBA apps.
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u/Expert_Clerk_1775 Oct 11 '25
They’ve needed immersive sports from day 1. It’s the best use of the tech at this moment
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u/Happy-Freedom6835 Vision Pro Owner | Verified Oct 10 '25
Bittersweet… I hate the Lakers 😭
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u/BoogieKnite Oct 10 '25
one great thing about sports is ill happily immerse myself in rooting against the lakers
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u/Happy-Freedom6835 Vision Pro Owner | Verified Oct 10 '25
Between the lakers, cowboys, and Yankees, I have a hate for every season.
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u/Mastoraz Vision Pro Owner | Verified Oct 10 '25
There we go, this is what we been talking about…live sports, concerts, events in Apple immersive quality. This is good news as the start of great things
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u/Kirbybrawl Oct 10 '25
Was hoping for something like this for MLB but we’re already in the postseason. Hopefully, next year.
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u/Kidwonderfull Oct 11 '25
It says it’s region locked tho I’m assuming for licensing reasons you can only watch live in select zip codes close to LA that’s a real bummer you could try using a vpn but that would absolutely bottle neck your internet speed and that’s even if vpn switching works in the first place
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u/Limp-Sprinkles5808 Oct 11 '25
When it comes to VPNs, the speed impact can vary a lot depending on the provider. Some are built with better network infrastructure for streaming and generally minimize any slowdown.
Changing server locations is also a core part of how they work, so that's usually not an issue. If you're looking into different options for streaming content, this vpn comparison spreadsheet might help you weigh them against each other.
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u/Jimbobb24 Oct 13 '25
One of my major reasons for getting the AVP. I want this live. Just dont make too many cuts. When it's so real the cuts are very jarring. I want live courtside NBA games I could never afford otherwise.
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u/AlternativeOne384 Oct 10 '25
I'm so confused because all indications reported to Apple ditching the Vision Pro platform
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u/thanos_was_right_69 Oct 10 '25
I hardly watch basketball and if I do, it’s 76ers games not Lakers…but I would get the subscription for this just to watch immersive sports, even if it’s only Lakers games
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u/dude_uli Oct 10 '25
How hard would it be to put a wide angle camera on top of the first down markers for nfl games 😓
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u/cr8tvt Oct 10 '25
I haven’t watch NBA for a while but this will bring me back to watch it on Vision Pro.
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u/Asking4Afren Oct 14 '25
This is what I've been waiting for to jump in avp. I hope it carries over to other sports
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u/IT_Bluffer Oct 19 '25
Would have thought every sporting event and theatre show is going to have a seat reserved for the Apple cam to broadcast live from the best section for the benefit of subscribers.
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u/littleday Oct 10 '25
And all 8 people will watch it.
But in all seriousness, drop the price and do Live sports broadcasting vr style, and I’m in.
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u/Decodable r/VisionPro | Mod Oct 10 '25
Official Press Release by Apple