Watch Miss USA Pageant on Virtual Reality App

NBC may not be covering the Miss USA Pageant this year, but viewers can go behind the scenes with IC Real Tech’s 720-degree cameras and an app called Miss USA 720 Experience.>

Julie Jacobson
Photos & Slideshow
View the slideshow View the slideshow

Thanks to Donald Trump’s antics, NBC Universal and Univision will no longer air the Miss USA Pageant, but thankfully there’s a viewing alternative for pageant fans: the Miss USA 720 Experience virtual reality app from IC Real Tech, maker of 720-degree cameras for all-around video coverage.

Thank goodness!

You can choose to watch “behind-the-scenes views of the 51 contestants as they do their final mirror check before heading out on-stage,” according to IC Real Tech. Or you may prefer “new perspectives of stage views and catching what takes place in the audience.”

The views are provided by three ALLie dual-lens cameras that will stream live 360×360-degree video, capturing the entire scene—up, down, left and right – in 4K splendor. The app lets users select who and what they’d like to see by pointing or panning their smart device in any direction, or by traditional touching, swiping and pinching the screen.

You can get a real fine look at every last bead and bauble pierced into ears and threaded into swimsuits and evening wear. You can even zoom in on tattoos and hone in on blemishes, tweeting any #MissTexasPimple or #MissLouisianaRash you may find.

“Pageant fans will find our Miss USA 720 Experience App will make them feel like they’re right there, alongside their favorite contestants,” says ICR CEO Matt Sailor.

Photos: Inside the app and the camera that makes it possible

There’s more: users can view previously recorded “Road to the Crown” footage that was shot in the 360×360 format on the ALLie camera.

“Footage includes hometown visits with a few randomly chosen contestants and behind-the-scenes previews of dress rehearsals and pre-show events in Baton Rouge,” ICR explains.

Dena Muehlfeld, director of digital multimedia for the Miss Universe Organization, adds that the pageant will be the most interactive show to date for fans and viewers.”

The Miss USA Pageant takes place July 12 in Baton Rouge, La. The app is available now for IoS and Android.

IC Real Tech, the sister company of IC Realtime for professional integrators, tells CI sister publication CE Pro they considered the racist remarks of pageant owner Donald Trump before moving forward with the Miss USA project. In the end, the company determined that its service would reward the hard work of pageant contestants and staff.

And though the partnership with Miss USA might give our readers a good chuckle, we all know that IC Real Tech and IC Realtime offer some of the most professional and useful cameras and software on the market.

If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!