VP is the winning technology for Winter Games

BBC Sport’s virtual studio set for the Summer Games in Tokyo last year remains a talking point, showing just what can be achieved with virtual production (VP).

For the Winter Games event in Beijing, VP is once again very much front and centre for both Discovery and the BBC allowing the broadcasters to work around restrictions on roaming film crews.

Discovery put Mo-Sys technology at the heart of its 'Cube' presentation virtual studio, which has undergone an evolution since it was first used during the Tokyo Games. All the greenscreen studios for the Cube make use of Mo-Sys' tracking software, which allows multiple studios to sync precisely. Mo-Sys camera tracking systems were also installed at the broadcaster’s greenscreens around Europe to ensure all the locations have identical timing, and perfectly synchronised precise tracking data, with accuracy to one millionth of a degree. These multiple greenscreens also allow athletes will also be 'beamed' in live for three-dimensional interview from Beijing.

BBC Sport has once again created a new VP set for the Winter Games, that will take viewers from a mountainside log cabin to a virtual ski resort. To match the smaller scale of a Winter Games, compared to a Summer Games, the broadcaster has scaled its VR set back with a more compact studio. Although only 84 metres square, the studio will still bring a virtual ski resort, more than five different presenting positions - both inside and outside – to life as well as reflecting various times of the day. While smaller than the Dock 10 studio used for Tokyo, this is still the largest virtual footprint the broadcaster has used to date.