COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The 2014 Eurovision Song Contest was staged at B&W Halls here, with semi-finals on May 6 and May 8 and finals on May 10. The event included a cube-shaped central stage, with visual support from 32 Barco projectors and three Encore presentation switchers provided by Mediatec Solutions.
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Barco projectors also factored heavily into looks for the 2013 contest semi-finals and finals, held in Malmo, Sweden. There, projected visuals were beamed via 60 Barco projectors, including 26 units of the high-brightness HDQ-2K40.
That same HDQ-2K40 played a key role in the 2014 Eurovision contest as well. There were 16 HDQ units to display the brightest images along with 16 HDX-W20 projectors. Three Barco Encore presentation switchers were used to control and map the video content.
Projecting Onto the Cube
The 2014 35m x 20m Eurovision stage was designed around a glowing cube, showcasing the industrial heritage of the B&W Hallerne venue — a former shipyard.
The cube itself consists of 120 moduled with a special surface of projection film, which allows the display of pictures or animation. Mediatec Solutions integrated the Barco gear into this setting (as they did for the 2013 contest).
“It was an absolute delight to work with Barco’s HDQ-2K40 projectors at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo,” said Niclas Ljung, Project Manager, shortly before the 2014 event. “We are confident that the projectors will perform as flawlessly this year. The HDQ-2K40 projectors are so bright and powerful that they can project high-resolution images from the most extreme angles. The HDX-W20 projectors are equipped with class-leading on-board image processing for extreme scaling. They are, therefore, perfectly up to the challenge of projecting onto the cube from a very short distance.”
Millions of Viewers
“Barco is delighted to be the Official Technical Event Sponsor of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, together with Mediatec Solutions. Year after year, the ESC show manages to amaze 120 million spectators, dotted around the world, with its incredibly creative set-up,” said Richard Marples, Strategic Marketing Director Venues and Attractions at Barco. “This year again, every projection the TV spectators will see on their screen will be powered by Barco. We can’t think of a better way to showcase our innovative projection solutions.”
About the Eurovision Song Contest
Since 1956, the Eurovision Song Contest has been Europe’s favorite TV show. After more than five decades featuring some 1,100 songs, the contest has become a modern classic, strongly embedded into Europe’s collective mind. The competition is broadcast throughout Europe, but also in Australia, Canada, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Jordan, Korea, New Zealand and the United States, even though these countries do not participate. Without interruption, the Eurovision Song Contest has been broadcast every year since 1956, which makes it one of the longest-running television programs in the world.
