What's inside of the Sphere? (Las Vegas)

- [Jared] The Sphere is the newest attraction in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. In this video we'll go on the inside, see the different levels, learn about the building and the incredible technology on the inside. This building is redefining entertainment as we know it.

(smooth ambient music) The Sphere is an entertainment venue that was completed in September of 2023. It has an incredible light show on the outside. (ambient music) There's no limit to what this building can display.

The inside contains seats for about 18,000 people, and it has the biggest wraparound LED screen in the entire world. For comparison, here's the size of the largest IMAX theater screen. It's about 18 times smaller.

The official name of the building is the Sphere, but it's also referred to as the Las Vegas Sphere or the MSG Sphere. But if you just say Sphere, most people will know what you're talking about. It's almost like they've redefined the meaning of this word.

(ambient music) It took five years to build and it cost 2. 3 billion US dollars. It's now owned by Sphere Entertainment Company.

The building stands 112 meters high. For comparison, here's the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. (ambient music) Alright, geography time.

This is the United States. The state of Nevada is here, and this is the city of Las Vegas. The popular place to be is commonly referred to as the Las Vegas Strip or just the Strip.

It's a place known for as extravagant resorts, casinos, entertainment, and nightlife. It's always been known for its bright lights, but just recently it got a whole lot brighter. (ambient music) The outside of the Sphere is called the Exosphere.

This is the part that has the giant screen that wraps around the entire building. From far away, it looks like one big continuous screen, but it's actually made up of 1. 2 million lights.

As you get closer, you start to see what's going on. Each of these lights are made of LED modules, but they're nicknamed Hockey Pucks because of their size and shape. They're about as big as the palm of your hand.

Each module has 48 light emitting diodes or LEDs capable of showing any color. (ambient music) If you're walking by the Sphere, you can actually see these lights up close. There's no fence and they let you walk right up to it.

(ambient music) For some people, seeing that giant emoji face on the Las Vegas skyline is a bit much, but hey, there's always surprises when you're in Vegas. If you want to visit the Sphere, you've got a few different options. You can go see a concert.

As of early 2024, these are the bands currently playing at the Sphere. Or you could go see "Postcard From Earth. " This is an hour long movie specifically filmed to show inside the Sphere.

You want to get to your show early because there's a lot to see inside before the show. There is some parking right next to the Sphere, but you can also use some of the parking garages nearby like this one. You can also take the monorail, which can help you get within walking distance.

If you're coming from the Venetian, that's this hotel right here, you'll have direct access into the Sphere. The pedestrian bridge will take you straight there without needing to go outside. Right up next to the Sphere, there are three entrances, the west entry, east entry, and plaza entry.

Most people will use the plaza entry to get inside. They'll confirm your tickets, do a security check, and you'll be on your way. There are nine floors inside of the Sphere, but most visitors will only be concerned with these seven.

The other two floors are likely a basement and a sky deck lounge, but there's not much public information on these. We came in through the event level and next we'll explore the main level. (ambient music) There's actually a lot to see here.

This area in the middle is called the Atrium. When you're walking through it, it may feel a little bit like a science fiction movie. (ambient music) One of the highlights of your visit will be saying hello to Aura the Robot, considered to be the world's most advanced humanoid robot.

She uses AI to interact with those around her and have real time conversations. There are five of these robots around the atrium floor. You'll notice there are four rings in the middle of the floor.

This is to demonstrate the speakers which are behind Aura the Robot. Inside each one of these circles, you'll hear different sounds. (upbeat music) As soon as you step outside of the circle, you can no longer hear it.

(jazz music) (gentle ambient music) (dramatic music) Later in the video, we'll learn more about the speakers. Up above is a large holographic display. It's made of 420 individual SmartV HYPERVSN displays.

These are kind of like fans that spin really fast. There are four LED strips that spin faster than the eye can see. Then images can be displayed, which look, well, holographic.

It's like something straight out of Star Trek. This technology isn't just being used in the Las Vegas Sphere. Many other places around the world are using it as well.

Escalators can take you up to the next floor so you can find your seats. Many of the floors have places to get food and drink, and there's also plenty of restrooms as well. There are also elevators and stairways, which can be used if needed.

To find the way to your show, you'll need to use the entrance closest to your seat. (ambient music) Let's look at the seats. There are four sections, 100, 200, 300 and 400.

(ambient music) The floor area is usually standing room only. You can get to here through the event level. For 100 seating, you enter from the main level.

For the 200 seating you can enter from the terrace level, and then the 300 seating from the lower gallery level. The 400 seating you can enter from both the lower gallery level and the upper gallery level. Some people have mentioned that the upper level seats are actually quite steep.

If you look closely, you'll notice two areas of seating that look a little bit different. These are the private suites. There's the lower level suites and the upper level suites making a total of 23.

It's a way to reserve individual rooms for a bit more of a private experience. The screen wraps around the entire back wall, giving each viewer a completely immersive experience. It's the biggest theater screen ever built.

The movies must be shot on a special camera called the Big Sky. This shoots footage at a much higher resolution than a regular movie camera. A regular movie camera only sees pretty much what's right in front of it, but the Big Sky camera has a much wider field of view to match up to the screen that it will be shown on.

While filming, they have to angle the camera up so that the action happens towards the bottom part of the screen. Inside the Sphere, the bottom part of the screen is most visible to the audience. This is where their focus will be.

Right now, there's only one movie that's been made for the screen, "Postcard From Earth," The movie we talked about earlier. This is currently showing at the Sphere. (ambient music) There are 160,000 speakers that are directly behind the screen.

Here's a closeup look at what these speakers look like. They are a lot more advanced than regular speakers. These are the same speakers that were mentioned earlier in the video behind Aura the Robot.

They use something called beamforming technology. This can direct sound to specific areas in the audience. With typical speakers, sound disperses and spreads out so everybody in the room hears the same thing.

However, with beamforming technology, it's possible to focus these sound waves in a specific direction. This technology is so precise that it can do things like personalize the language of different parts of the audience. So for example, these seats might have the audio in English, and these seats might have it in Spanish, these seats in French.

It is said that this is headset sound without the headset. It's absolutely incredible. Many of the seats have something called haptic technology, which means they will vibrate along with the show or movie.

Combine this with other simulations such as as fog, scent, and wind, and this creates a completely immersive experience, making you forget that you're in a theater. The Las Vegas Sphere is the first of its kind, but it might not be the only one. There are rumors that more Spheres might be built, but at this point, nothing is set in stone yet.

But is it worth all that effort? Is it really as good as they say? Don't take my word for it.

You'll have to go see the Sphere for yourself. My name's Jared. Consider supporting these videos on Patreon by clicking here.

Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.