ESPN collaborated with Precision Lasers to capture in-camera broadcast assets for the 2026-27 NHL season using 80 lasers and motion-control robotics. The production utilized a technique called Laser Banding to create practical visual effects, providing the network with a customized library of player portraits and promotional elements.
This technical collaboration demonstrates a strategic preference for high-fidelity practical effects over traditional CGI for premium sports branding. By capturing these assets in-camera, ESPN reduces post-production timelines while creating a distinct visual identity that is difficult for competitors to replicate with standard software. Within the broader streaming ecosystem, this move highlights the increasing importance of bespoke, high-production-value promotional content to differentiate live sports offerings in a crowded market. Watch for whether other Disney-owned properties or league partners like TNT Sports and Amazon adopt similar motion-control and laser synchronization techniques for their upcoming seasonal refreshes.
Precision Lasers has built a growing reputation in live sports and entertainment production for combining high-power laser systems with motion-control robotics to create in-camera visual effects. The company's Laser Banding technique, which synchronizes laser arrays with robotic camera moves, has been deployed across multiple sports properties and entertainment events. Precision Lasers previously collaborated with ESPN on NHL content creation, using laser-based practical effects to generate broadcast-ready player assets without post-production compositing. The approach appeals to networks seeking distinctive visual identities that cannot be easily replicated with standard software pipelines.
The broader production hardware market for sports broadcasting is shifting toward automated and robotic systems that reduce crew requirements while increasing visual output per session. TVBEurope reported that Bitmovin's 2026 Video Developer Report found 98 percent of video professionals now use AI or ML somewhere in their workflows, with visual quality and optimization cited by 30 percent of respondents. While that report focuses on software-defined video, the underlying trend of automating production workflows mirrors what ESPN and Precision Lasers are doing at the hardware layer: reducing manual intervention while raising output quality. Sports productions increasingly demand assets that serve both linear broadcast and digital platforms simultaneously, pushing vendors toward solutions that deliver finished visuals on set rather than in post.
In the competitive landscape for sports broadcast production technology, MpegFlow's analysis of encoding and video platform vendors noted that Bitmovin has multi-year production AV1 deployments and supports multi-codec strategies including AVC, HEVC, and AV1 for premium workloads. That codec breadth matters for ESPN's NHL assets because the player portraits and promotional elements captured during the media tour must be delivered across multiple resolution tiers and color spaces. Mux detailed how its Robots product evolved from an open-source TypeScript toolkit into a first-party API for video analysis and moderation workflows, illustrating how the broader video tooling ecosystem is consolidating AI-driven post-production tasks. For ESPN, the strategic logic remains clear: capture premium visuals in-camera with practical effects, then distribute them efficiently across encoding pipelines that support the full range of delivery formats.
ESPN utilized 2.5 kilowatts of laser power and motion-control robotics to capture NHL player portraits during the 2026-27 preseason. By using in-camera practical effects instead of CGI, the network reduces post-production timelines and creates a unique, high-fidelity visual identity that helps differentiate its live sports broadcasts in a competitive market.
ESPN used a total of 2.5 kilowatts of laser power for its NHL preseason content gathering, an increase from one kilowatt in 2025.
Laser Banding is a technique used to synchronize camera sensors with laser beams, allowing for the creation of practical, in-camera visual effects during production.
Capturing assets in-camera reduces post-production timelines and creates a distinct visual identity that is difficult for competitors to replicate using standard software.
ESPN collaborated with Precision Lasers, a company specializing in combining high-power laser systems with motion-control robotics for live sports and entertainment.
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