420 Of Those Madly-Spinning LED Sticks Create Big Visuals In Las Vegas Sphere Atrium

October 3, 2023 by Dave Haynes

I’ve never been able to work up the level of trade show attendee enthusiasm I see for those madly-spinning LED light sticks, mainly because moving parts inevitably fail and conventional display products can often do a better job for many of the suggested use cases. But there are times when I think it can work, and a massive installation at the new Sphere in Las Vegas looks like one of them.

AV Interactive has a post up about what would be the largest installation to date of these things done by the UK firm Hypervsn, which at least outside of China seems to be the clear arket leader for this tech.

The atrium lobby of Sphere, which opened this past weekend with the first of several U2 concerts, measures 9 x 15 metres and uses 420 individual SmartV Hypervsn displays, fixed to the atrium wall.

I wish the mounting infrastructure behind all those spinning blades was a little less noticeable, but do like how this is up high and out of the way – so nobody is going to lose a nose tip or finger by getting too close. For floor level installs, I see everything from acrylic shields to barriers being used to keep people back.

The display is also tied to the venue’s very high end “beam-forming” audio system.

Presumably, just as would be the case with the other tech at this $2B+ venue, the service level agreement to repair or replace elements of this display would be measured in hours.

They’re not holograms, by the way (for the 1,000th time). Holograms have depth.