Spectrum & SpatialGen:
How SpatialGen delivered the world's first NBA Apple Immersive Video experiences. On-site, on pre-release hardware, with zero downtime on game day.
Executive Summary
Apple Vision Pro created demand for a new tier of video infrastructure. One capable of 16K ingest, sub-millisecond synchronization, and the precise metadata requirements of Apple Immersive Video. No existing broadcast platform could deliver it. Spectrum needed a partner who could.
SpatialGen deployed the “Spectrum Front Row” experience. Front Row has the world's most technically sophisticated Apple Immersive Video streams, delivering live Los Angeles Lakers games to Vision Pro users. SpatialGen engineers embedded on-site at Spectrum's headquarters, integrating directly with fiber-optic and SDI infrastructure and deploying purpose-built encoding hardware for real-time 16K MV-HEVC compression.
The result: 10.5 billion pixels per second processed in real-time, zero encoding fees, enterprise-grade DRM, and a flawless launch that set the standard for the entire industry.
“Holy fu*k! Why isn't Apple using this? I have never seen anything better.”
On-Site Engineering & Infrastructure
This wasn't a Zoom call. SpatialGen engineers flew to Spectrum's headquarters and embedded with their broadcast team to build the infrastructure from the ground up. Zero margin for error. Zero tolerance for dropped frames.
- Real-time MV-HEVC encoding at 16K ingest, 90 fps
- Hardware-accelerated GPU compression pipeline
- HLS fragment generation for adaptive Vision Pro delivery
- Apple Immersive dynamic metadata embedding for visionOS features
- Closed-loop system minimizing data hops
Comparative Data Throughput
Pioneering Hardware & Formats
No documentation. No support tickets. No production firmware. SpatialGen took delivery of pre-release Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive cameras and built encoding workflows from scratch on hardware that didn't ship with a manual.
In a 180-degree stereoscopic environment, even a microscopic lens misalignment causes eye strain. SpatialGen's engineers corrected unstable beta workflows on the fly, and delivered streams that became the commercial standard, before the cameras and format were commercially available.
Performance Validation
Before the public launch, Spectrum's leadership required rigorous executive testing. SpatialGen didn't just meet the benchmarks, we exceeded every one.
| KPI Metric | Target Threshold | SpatialGen Achieved |
|---|---|---|
| Ingest Resolution | 8,640 x 4,320 | 16,320 x 7200 |
| Bitrate | 90 Mbps | 180 Mbps |
| Glass-to-Glass Latency | 30s | <20s |
| Frame Stability | Constant 90 fps | 90 fps, 0% dropped frames |
Five Perspectives And One Shot
Not one pre-release camera. Five. Each with its own lens profile and metadata, all flawless on game day.
The Math of Presence
To maintain visual authenticity at 90 fps, the SpatialGen real-time pipeline processes unprecedented data throughput.
Processing this in real-time while applying MV-HEVC compression, generating HLS fragments, and embedding per-frame dynamic metadata for visionOS. Entirely in one box with zero intermediate files.
SpatialGen doesn't ship from a distance. We show up. For Spectrum, that meant Timbs on the ground at headquarters. We worked side-by-side with broadcast engineers, CDN architects, and developers to solve problems no one had solved before and no AI chatbot could answer.
Enterprise-Grade Protection
NBA content is among the most valuable intellectual property in sports. Delivering a 180 Mbps immersive feed at scale demanded DRM and distribution infrastructure built for the highest-stakes content in the world.
- End-to-end professional DRM with built-in licensing server
- Zero-storage processing — no intermediate unencrypted copies
- Global CDN edge servers optimized for high-bitrate AIV
- Adaptive delivery across 8K and 10K immersive video
Security Comparison
Technical Architecture
Under the hood of the world's most advanced live immersive streaming pipeline.
The New Standard for Immersive Delivery
Legacy encoding companies were built for 2D television, not the spatial computing era. While they struggle to adapt bloated, slow hardware stacks, SpatialGen already streams over 90% of all immersive content on the Vision Pro. Having presented at Apple, we've proven that the future isn't a "repurposed" broadcast box. The future is a modern, end-to-end delivery engine. We've replaced predatory, complex yearly licensing with simplified, lifetime pricing and swapped clunky rack units for a streamlined "delivery-of-the-box" approach that sees more immersive pixels than anyone else on earth.
MV-HEVC Encoding Expertise
The Multiview High Efficiency Video Coding standard is the bedrock of Apple Vision Pro's immersive capabilities. It allows efficient storage and transmission of each eye by exploiting spatial redundancies between them. Optimizing this requires deep understanding of inter-view prediction, where the encoder predicts the right-eye frame based on the left-eye frame plus a disparity vector, reducing bitrate without compromising the stereoscopic effect.
visionOS Integration
With visionOS 2.0 and later, Apple introduced features like Static Foveation and Apple Positional Audio Codec (APAC). SpatialGen integrated these standards before they were publicly documented — ensuring Spectrum's content was optimized for features that competitors hadn't even heard of yet.