Redefining Live TV: What ALEXA 35 Live Brought to Eurovision
The Eurovision 2026 production using ALEXA 35 Live cameras is a large-scale cinema camera live broadcast that replaced traditional television cameras with 24 networked cinema systems to deliver higher dynamic range, richer color, and a more cinematic feel to a complex, time-critical music show. For the first time, the entire Eurovision Song Contest relied on cinema cameras from opening rehearsal to grand final, aiming to answer a clear question: what if live TV could look like cinema? The event, hosted at the Wiener Stadthalle and watched by roughly 180 million people, demanded speed, reliability, and zero tolerance for failure. ARRI’s ALEXA platform, long a standard for feature films, was pushed into a broadcast universe with its own workflows and expectations, proving that professional cinema deployment can scale to the pressure and precision of a top-tier live entertainment format.
From Milled Metal to Multi-Camera Rig: Building the System
The story started in Munich about six weeks before the first broadcast, where every ALEXA 35 Live was hand-built from milled blocks of aluminum and titanium, with sensors and electronics assembled at ARRI’s headquarters. At the same time, ARRI’s Vienna team prepared LPS-1 Live Production System units, the fiber camera adapters that gave the cinema bodies familiar broadcast-style control. This early integration work was essential for a professional cinema deployment at Eurovision 2026 production scale, where 24 cameras had to behave like a unified broadcast fleet. According to ARRI Managing Director David Bermbach, all cameras and system components were produced only a few hours away by train, allowing tight feedback loops between engineering, testing, and on-site needs. By the time the gear reached the arena, every camera chain had already been stress-tested as part of a coherent end-to-end workflow.
Inside the OB Truck: Shading, Control, and Coordination
Backstage, the cinema camera live broadcast depended on an OB truck originally designed around Grass Valley systems, now adapted to host ALEXA 35 Live camera chains. NEP integrated eight camera control units into the vehicle, connected to special rigs like cable cams, cranes, and wireless setups through Riedel MediorNet infrastructure. A small interface adapter handled intercom and tally translation; the rest was careful signal routing, tele-return, and intercom planning. Inside the truck, each shader oversaw six to eight cameras, matching exposure, color, and contrast in what ARRI described as coordinated chaos. Veteran NEP Engineer-in-Charge Erhard Thüringer reported that shading the ALEXA 35 Live felt identical to standard broadcast cameras, yet with noticeably different image quality. His independent verdict was clear: if he had to choose cameras for this production himself, he would also choose the ARRI cameras.
Look Management and Real-Time Creative Control
A major challenge was keeping 24 ALEXA 35 Live cameras visually consistent while allowing each performance its own character. The production tied ARRI’s predefined looks directly into the LiveEdit rundown system, so camera color settings could follow the show’s running order in real time. This meant that as acts changed, the shaders and vision engineers were not rebuilding looks from scratch; they were recalling tailored profiles and then fine-tuning exposure or white balance to respond to stage variations. The larger Super 35 sensor and high dynamic range gave colorists room to preserve skin tones, even under intense colored beams and LED backdrops. Custom looks were designed to keep highlights, fire effects, and pyrotechnics natural rather than clipped, reinforcing the cinematic feeling while still meeting live broadcast needs like fast response, instant intercutting, and reliable matching across all camera angles.
What the Super 35 Sensor Changed On Screen
The most visible shift for viewers was how the ALEXA 35 Live cameras rendered the stage. The Super 35 sensor, larger than typical broadcast imagers, brought higher dynamic range, smoother highlight roll-off, and less moiré on bright LED walls, which often trouble smaller sensors. Fire and pyrotechnic effects showed detailed texture and accurate color instead of flattening into featureless blobs of light, and performers’ skin tones stayed believable despite constantly shifting lighting cues. These differences were not subtle enhancements but practical advantages for directors and lighting designers, who could push contrast and spectacle without breaking the image. At full Eurovision 2026 production scale, this proved that cinema-grade sensors and processing can operate in a multi-camera, time-critical environment, opening the door for future shows that want the flexibility of broadcast workflows with the depth and nuance of high-end cinema imaging.