Barcelona's RCD Espanyol football club hosted the first game in its new, purpose-built stadium in Cornellà -El Prat. Two 7.6 x 4.3 metre Diamond Vision screens and more than 90 Mitsubishi Electric LCD displays have been installed at the modern sporting venue.
LED and LCD displays supplied by Mitsubishi Electric are a central feature of the new facility, rated as a four-star venue by UEFA. Two Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Vision screens overlook the 40,000 seat stadium, while a network of more than 90 large screen LCDs installed throughout the complex ensure visitors are kept entertained and informed wherever they happen to be.
Installed in opposite corners of the ground, the Diamond Vision ODQ15 screens are 7.68 m wide x 4.32 m high, delivering a resolution of 512 x 218 pixels at 15 mm pixel pitch. The Diamond Vision’s 5,000 cd/m² light output and wide viewing angles help fans get a clear view of the action wherever they are sitting.
Both screens are controlled using Mitsubishi’s XDC-4000 processor, which manages all screen content. The processor accepts DVI, SD-SDI and HD-SDI inputs and has a built-in "picture-in-picture" facility enabling the screens to show more than one video signal simultaneously. XDC-4000 was specifically designed to cover the display requirements of sports venues and features state-of-the-art image processing for the highest possible clarity.
Cornellà-El Prat is considered one of the most innovative football arenas in Europe. Solar cells built into the roof can deliver up to 500 kW of pollution-free power and the whole stadium has been designed for maximum energy efficiency. Mitsubishi Electric LED screens automatically adjust their power output to suit the prevailing light conditions, and internal monitoring ensures optimum operating efficiency is maintained.
Mitsubishi Electric also supplied the LCD screens used throughout the stadium’s retail and hospitality areas as well as corporate facilities and a museum. A total of 70 Mitsubishi Electric 32" LDT322V displays and 20 42" LDT421V2 units were installed in private boxes, VIP suites and meeting rooms, with additional displays used in the public areas and entrance foyers.
The Mitsubishi displays add extra flexibility to the meeting room facilities, allowing them to be used for conferences or presentations on non-match days. Remote management of the displays allows different content to be routed to different areas of the stadium, or multiple inputs to be displayed on individual monitors via their built-in picture-in-picture feature.