CNN Hologram Technology Explained (VIDEO)

CNN introduced a new feature for their live reporting: holograms of their correspondents in the studios. They debuted this with Jessica Yellin. Watch the video below for a behind the scenes look at the technology.

Comments

[Dave24]

So stupid. Can't these people just REPORT THE NEWS.

[liberaldawg]

Its very cool. However, speaking as someone who has been in the
production side of tv news for 25 years, its useless.

[mky267]

'Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night' -- Daryl Zanuck, movie producer, 20th Century Fox ,1946

from http://www.scribd.com/doc/458943/30-Failed-Technology-Predictions

[Dystopic]

and there will only be a need for 5 computers in the world - IBM

Everything than can be invented has been invented - forner head of the patent office

[dnno1]

Wrong! It's a great visualization tool. CNN's presentation of it is just an inspiration. It it got them ratings it wasn't useless.

[Myshkin57]

How could it have gotten them ratings when no body knew they were going to have it? It got them nothing.

[dnno1]

By the way, CNN received 12.3 million viewers on election night (the second highest behind ABC and the highest on cable). You can't dismiss the fact that the 3-D imaging projections gimmick didn't contribute to that.

[Dystopic]

wasn't 3D ... was a simple composited effect. You could do much of the same think in Adobe's After Effects ...

[billrott]

Help me Wolf Blitzer...­.You're my only hope

Help me Obi-Wan...­.You're my only hope

[mscriblerus]

It would have been crazy funny if she had said that....mo­re funny if Will had said it.

[Heathnyy5]

Thank you...I knew I wasn't the only one who thought that. When Daily Show mocked it, they didn't go for the easy Star Wars reference, which I readily expected. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who expected it, or thought of the obvious scene. This is our darkest hour!

[RevSpaminator]

I think Jon Stewart pretty much summed it up last night with his segment about the election coverage titled "Why?!".

[crayola 08]

watching this was a strange sensation. here we were moments from electing our first black president, then seeing the holographic communication on CNN. the combination was almost like a sci-fi movie's depiction of the future, except it was happening now. all in all, really cool.

[DrVeruju]

Weren't holograms use to show "Paulson" at the White House in January?

[Grundibular]

"the sound was really complicate­d..."

How's that now? Surely that's just a...microp­hone, like any regular transmission.

[frantaylor]

It's not a hologram, but it is a holographic projection.

A hologram is like a photograph, a frozen moment, except in 3-D.

This is not a 3-D holographic projection. The people could not see each other in 3-D. We could see both, so it is a 2-D holographic projection.

It is extremely cool nevertheless. All those hi-def cameras and the green room are a little over-the-top for anything but demos. I suppose one could go low-budget and use little tiny cheap cameras in a standing-room camping tent. You'll still need lots of compute power to crunch all those video streams.

"Wow, it really feels like I'm playing virtual skee-ball"

[retrocozayshin]

I'm not a fan of CNN, but this is pretty cool. They didn't do a very good job of explaining the technology though, in terms of how the hologram is projected.

[J.J. Hunsecker]

Beam me up, Scotty...

[saman7]

what this means is that eventually Anderson Cooper can be in chest high water anywhere in the world without leaving Atlanta.

[motley2]

Why bother with holograms? Why not create CGI avatars for all the talkers at CNN? Maybe they could license them to Sony for use on Playstation 3? Wolf Blitzer in WWE Smackdown!

[CammyV]

Yeah, who can forget Max Headroom?

[johnb3950]

No, it's not just silly. It is amazing and the first implementation of what sci-fi writers have been describing for ages. Yes, this first demo is trivial. Yes, the setup requirements at present are too huge to make it practical for any extended use. But mark my words, fifty years from now when they are writing the history of their widespread telepresence, this will be noted as a seminal moment.

[Daly]

Content - presented plain and simple without the slant; theatrical tricks won't do what Rachel Maddow does.

[InofTouch]

Content in hologram?

[Kerra52]

They are just show offs. So silly.