ESPN Unveils New 148-Million-Pixel Studio W in Bristol

ESPN unveiled its rebuilt Studio W at Digital Center 2 in Bristol on Aug. 29 during college football coverage. From Sept. 9 it becomes the permanent home of NFL Live, also hosting college football, NHL programming and Fantasy Focus Countdown. The space spans over 9,200 square feet of LED displays, with a purpose-built XR volume alone rendering about 44.7 million pixels; total pixel count tops 148 million. It's Bristol's first 1080p HDR and UHD facility, running on SMPTE ST 2110 infrastructure. A custom camera system using Sony HDC-5500 units shoots the same virtual scene from multiple angles at once, cycling LED walls at up to 480 Hz. The eight-month build combined ESPN, Disney and Pixotope engineering on a custom rendering system.