Eurovision 2023 technology: more spectacular than innovation

LED screens once again dominate the staging of Eurovision 2023, a contest that, whether due to its own nature or due to a lack on the part of the delegations, relies on all its spectacularity and not so much on innovative approaches in its broadcast production.

Eurovision 2023 returns with a production in which the BBC has made available to the UER an important arsenal of technical solutions. All with the aim of transforming the Liverpool Arena on the ideal set for the veteran musical competition, which will add 8 hours of live television that a potential audience of 160 million viewers can enjoy.

Los numbers They are significant. 600 rigging points, a 140-ton steel structure, nearly 13 kilometers of wiring for lighting, sound, video and special effects, a main stage of 950 square meters, 165,000 lighting control channels, 23,700 individual light sources, 2,500 robotic lights controlled by 9 consoles or 150 microphones account for the dimensions of an event considered by Kate Phillips, director of BBC unscripted, as “one of the biggest events the BBC has ever produced.

Engineering and Technology sheds additional technical data on the event, in which the LED screens They once again have a leading role. The British firm Creative Technology is the supplier of more than 220 square meters of screens with mobile capabilities, which are added to the more than 700 panels integrated into the floor of the main stage. In this regard, disguise will have an important role in the celebration of the event, as it will offer support throughout the event and has developed a personalized solution to address the coordination of the visual assets of each performance. The audio of this production, carried out with the technical support of NEP, it is 100% IP through the already standardized network Dante and will be offered by the UER tanto en estéreo como en 5.1 para aquellos broadcasters interesados. Las postales, grabadas desde 111 localizaciones en Reino Unido y Ucrania, se aprovecha de tecnologías habituales como drones, y no tan frecuentes como cámaras 360.

Al margen de tests de I+D que posiblemente podrán ser descubiertos a lo largo de los próximos meses, Eurovisión 2023 sigue apostando por una tecnología efectiva, si bien a todas luces conservadora, en la que conceptos como producción virtual, realidad aumentada o extendida pasan de largo, al tiempo que la estandarización de la UHD sigue esperando su oportunidad. La fórmula, en definitiva, se perfecciona, ¿pero necesariamente mejora?