The sports report from CES

Everywhere you looked last week in Las Vegas, sports-related technology was playing a prominent role at the International Consumer Electronics Show. Here are products that caught staff writer Eric Fisher’s eye::

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■ What is it?: We probably don’t need to explain after VR exploded in a big way in the sports industry in 2015. Numerous companies are aiming at sharply accelerating virtual reality content. NextVR, which as worked with the NBA and Fox Sports among others, struck a deal with Qualcomm to have phones using the Snapdragon processor, representing the majority of late-model Android devices, be optimized for virtual reality.

■ Who showed it?: Several companies, notably NextVR, Qualcomm and Samsung.

■ Who’s excited by it?: Most of the sports and entertainment industries, particularly those trying to find additional ways to bring their content and event experience to remote audiences.

■ How much will it cost?: Little to nothing. Dedicated virtual reality headsets such as the $599 Oculus Rift have been red-hot sellers, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. But placing virtual-reality optimization directly within smartphones will now provide an immersive experience with mobile devices that users already have and low-cost cardboard glasses.

■ What are the hurdles?: Creating more content. Live games in the format are still one-off events instead of regular occurrences. “The goal is absolutely to make this content much more of a regular thing,” said D.J. Roller, NextVR co-founder.

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■ What is it?: Hopper 3 is Dish Network’s latest digital video recorder, capable of recording 16 programs at once, as well as splitting a 4K-resolution screen into quadrants in a “Sports Bar Mode” that airs four programs at once. HopperGo is a pocket-size portable device that records up to 100 hours of recorded content and plays it back on smartphones and tablets without an Internet connection.

■ Who’s excited by it?: Anybody who struggles with channel conflict, something Dish Network insists is prevalent, even with prior DVRs that could record six or eight programs at once. The “Sports Bar Mode” goes well beyond most prior split-screen offerings and will be a boon for fans.

■ How much will it cost?: HopperGo is $99. Hopper 3 will cost $15 a month.

■ What are the hurdles?: Will the extreme portability of HopperGo create carriage issues between Dish Network and programmers or amplify the satellite company’s already active history of legal battles with networks? Time will tell. Dish Network will also need to prove HopperGo will not be susceptible to piracy.

NEULION PROJECT 88

■ What is it?: A forthcoming mobile application, still bearing NeuLion’s code name for the project, that will make it simple to show 4K-resolution video shot on smartphones and cameras on other connected devices without the need for wires, special hardware or software.

■ Who’s excited about it?: Anybody who wants a better way to watch the high-end, user-generated video shot on late-model iPhone and Android smartphones or GoPro cameras. The product promises to be a boon for parents shooting video of their kids’ soccer games.

■ How much will it cost?: Initially free to users and ad-supported, a nominal cost will be applied to remove the ads.
■ What are the hurdles?: Using the app requires the phone and other display devices to be sharing the same Internet network.

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■ What is it?: A focus on sports-related products and solutions by a company known for computer processors. The strategy is taking form through partnerships with ESPN, Red Bull Media House, New Balance, and Replay Technologies, among others.

■ Who showed it?: Intel, with the aid of several of its partners. ESPN President John Skipper (above, with Intel CEO Brian Krzanich), still nursing a torn Achilles tendon, even hobbled out on crutches in front of more than 2,000 people during Intel’s keynote presentation.

■ Who’s excited by it?: Intel’s partners, each of which did not internally possess the technology resources to bring all their ideas to life.

■ How much will it cost?: Varies. Some elements, such as Intel-powered statistics and motion tracking during
X Games broadcasts on ESPN, present no additional cost to viewers. Other initiatives, such as custom 3-D printed New Balance sneakers that use Intel technology, will affect the price consumers pay.

■ What are the hurdles?: Convincing more potential partners, and the public, that a maker of processors and servers can serve lifestyle and media markets. Intel executives see the transition as natural. “We’ve always been about performance,” said Steve Holmes, Intel vice president and general manager of its new device group. “Before, that performance was under the table, in a box, under the hood, so to speak. Now that notion of performance becomes tied to people in a more intimate way.”