RTVE chooses Alfalite LED screens to upgrade all its TV studios in Spain

Datos Media Technologies wins the concession bid to supply 964 Alfalite LED cabinets for Spain’s largest state-owned public media company

Huelva (Spain), 3 April 2023. Alfalite, the only European manufacturer of LED screens, is pleased to announce that it has supplied 964 units of its ModularPix Pro 1.9 ORIM LED panels for RTVE studios, Spain’s national state-owned public television broadcaster. The operation is being carried out by Datos Media Technologies, who won the concession bid to provide the equipment.

RTVE has started an ambitious project to revamp all its studios in Spain to provide new features and cutting-edge technology that will improve the experience of its viewers at home, providing flexible, different, and more exciting ways of presenting information.

All studios are fitted with state-of-the-art versatile AR technology that will allow the production teams to deliver a greater sense of space and creative versatility in a more vibrant, innovative, and impactful way that will make a real difference to its audience.

The path to winning the tender to supply the screens for RTVE’s studios was not straightforward. RTVE analysed each of the solutions available in the market to find the best fit to lead the visual line for all its programmes. For this purpose, RTVE’s technical team hired an independent laboratory to assess the response of the screens from the leading industry players in a real environment.

While analysing the best-LED screens for the studios, RTVE engineers particularly valued issues such as the viewing angle, the ability to maintain their colourimetry at low light levels or, for example, the electromagnetic compatibility of the screens, and this is why RTVE chose Alfalite. Its ModularPix Pro VP panels feature 1.9-millimetre pixel pitch, optical parameters and cd/m2 brightness > 1,800 nits, providing outstanding viewing angle stability and enabling filming the LED wall even from extreme camera angles. 

RTVE’s engineering team commented, “These large screens work in TV studios where there is a lot of communication between radio stations, earphones, or wireless microphones. It is essential to consider this electromagnetic environment, which is why we required these screens to comply with European laboratory standards”. RTVE’s engineers also noted, “We looked for parameters of low power consumption of the display and the absence of lead residues in the soldering of the components. One of our concerns was that the LED screen manufacturer met all the environmental criteria, as the LED screens will be used extensively”.

And the fact is that regarding sustainability and compatibility, two features make Alfalite cabinets stand out from other LED modules in the market. One is the low average consumption (35 watts), and the other is the low levels of electromagnetic compatibility (Certification EMC), which allow Alfalite panels to coexist with other electronic systems without interference, as is often the case on TV studios or film sets.

Datos Media Technologies is the company in charge of integrating Alfalite LED screens in RTVE. The media company will also use Mo-Sys camera tracking systems integrated in Alfalite cabinets to work in a VP XR environment in their news bulletins, which was another of the corporation’s requirements when selecting the LED modules. In addition, RTVE will use Epic Games’ Unreal Engine as its graphics engine.

240 Alfalite ModularPix Pro 1.9 ORIM LED panels were allocated to "Canal 24h" news set –the corporation’s 24-hour news channel– located in the famous Torrespaña (Spain Tower) in Madrid; the studio now enjoys an elegant renovation dominated by large screens that provide a tremendous amount of flexibility with endless ways to bring stories to life.

Also, RTVE deployed 550 Alfalite LED cabinets across the fourteen territorial centres located around the country. The sets now have screens for images and graphic resources to provide modern storytelling methods and a more flexible and efficient space with options for interviews and debates.

Likewise, the weather studio in the production centre of Sant Cugat (Barcelona) will enjoy a LED wall made of 174 Alfalite modules. This LED screen will allow a bigger and better weather map to let the presenters tell the day's climate story dynamically.

Sebastián Cabrera, CTO Alfalite, said, "We are very proud of the work we carried out with Datos Media Technologies and the technical team of RTVE for the revamp of all their studios. We are also proud that our product passed all the independent laboratory tests for brightness, colourimetry, viewing angle, frequency, consumption, and CE test, which were tender requirements.”

Cabrera also mentioned, “This was a challenge that Alfalite could overcome because of all the work, research and development that we put into our ModularPix Pro P1.9 ORIM panels, to make it the best performance LED cabinet on the market, with the lowest consumption and immense reliability. Again, we thank Datos Media Technologies and RTVE for their confidence in Alfalite”.

Alfalite collaboration with RTVE started in 2021 with the implementation of Alfalite ModularPix Pro P2 6 SMD LED panels in RTVE Prado del Rey, from where TV shows like "España Directo", "La Hora 1" or "Aquí la Tierra" are broadcasted. That same year, RTVE also revamped the daily news studio 2 located in RTVE Torrespaña with Alfalite ModularPix PRO P1,9 ORIM, and RTVE Sant Cugat sports studio was modernised with Alfalite ModularPix Pro 1.9 SMD.

The LED panels used in RTVE studios have ORIM (Optical Resin Injection Module) technology, a new termination system for LED panels through an injection of optical resin that improves precision between modules (<0.5mm). It also provides a magnified 175º horizontal and vertical viewing angle.

LED panels with ORIM technology have superior antistatic electricity protection (ESD > 10kV), improved thermal dissipation parameters, and excellent resistance to impacts, liquids, chemicals, and fire (with UL94 compliance). Also, they are easier to clean, suffer less deterioration and have the shortest repair time on the market. 

About Alfalite

Alfalite is a leading European LED screen manufacturer based in Spain, with different facilities that carry out LED screen design, manufacturing, and certification. Alfalite manufactures screens using the best materials and components on the market, which allows them to meet the highest standards and the most demanding customer specifications in critical environments. Visit https://alfalite.com