Sponsored Content

Since 1981, Jupiter Systems has been at the forefront of command and control, serving customers in transportation, military, security, traffic, and more. AV Network recently caught up with Craig Stumbaugh, Jupiter’s acting global vice president of Sales, at InfoComm to discuss product offerings, cybersecurity, and a reputation of reliability.

Watch the full video interview below.

While Jupiter’s 21:9 5K displays, direct-view LEDs, and collaboration software featured prominently in this year’s booth, a particularly exciting new addition to their video processor lineup took center stage.

“This year we're debuting our new Catalyst Element video wall processor, augmenting our existing product portfolio by offering more capability in a smaller package,” Stumbaugh said. “It's a single-rack unit processor that comes with our Canvas collaboration software, and it also has the ability to drive content on up to 32 HD displays from applications, streams, direct connect sources, webpages, et cetera.”

Another new development involves JITC certification, which places Jupiter products on a short list of those vetted specifically for military and government applications.

“JITC is going to take Jupiter into the future in cybersecurity applications, both on-prem and virtually,” Stumbaugh said. “Our PixelNet product, which was JITC certified, will expand our penetration into those markets and allow us to have more and larger deployments that might come in contact with multiple classifications and networks.”

And just generally, Stumbaugh concluded, there are some pretty significant advantages to being the oldest manufacturer of video wall processors in the Pro AV market.

“What just sets us apart is that we're developing solutions from the rack of equipment all the way to the display, so we're able to control that entire environment from end to end,” he said. “What that does is it guarantees a solution, the performance of that solution, and how that solution is deployed, not only today, but in the future because we can anticipate customer needs.”

Jupiter is the world leader in video wall processors for over 40 years and continues to drive technological innovation with its industry-leading 21:9 ultra-wide LCD and MicroLED display solutions.

“The most significant trend has been that LED products are being accepted as a mainstream technology for a wide range of vertical markets,” said Fred Cain, industry development director at Absen.

“Pixel pitch and pricing are on a downward trajectory and are beginning to move to well below the 1.0 mm pixel pitch. New technologies like Micro LED are driving that movement and are going to bring us higher resolution in a smaller form factor. Other new technologies, like flip chip technology, will bring high brightness and high contrast with a wide viewing angle in a form that protects the pixels from the type of damage that they can sustain today. These new technologies are more efficient in terms of power consumption and heat dissipation, adding an element of sustainable design to the solutions,” he explained.

[ The Integration Guide to Video Walls ]

Cain added that LED is being specified more frequently in commercial spaces—not just in large lobby displays, but in functional meeting and presentation settings.

“Large-format ‘all-in-one’ solutions in the 110-inch to 165-inch size range are also becoming normal in these spaces,” Cain said. “Bigger displays are featuring in smaller rooms. Other trends like AR/VR are rapidly expanding within the virtual studio solutions. Video production sets are also becoming virtual, and LED video walls are playing a big part in that.”

Bigger and Better

Another growing area of interest is curved and flexible LED solutions, according to Samsung’s Mark Quiroz, vice president of marketing, Display Division, at Samsung Electronics America.

“We are seeing a growing interest in curved LED walls, flexible install positions, seamless content management tools, increased picture quality through shrinking pixel pitches, and larger sizing overall. The term ‘bigger and better’ comes to mind with updates in the LED video wall space, and this is true of our new The Wall (IWA Series). It offers 8K resolution with 120 Hz refresh rate and simple 8K playback. Its massive screen can be configured to over 1,000 inches. As a company, our main focus has been understanding how video walls optimize a space and offering options that enhance the area they are in,” said Quiroz.

[ Getting Ahead of the Curve with Today’s Advanced LED Video Walls ]

As far as direct view LED (dvLED) goes, there are some major changes taking place, said Megan Zeller, director of business development, Peerless-AV. One of these has been a technology transition from SMD (surface-mount device) to CoB (chip on board) or Micro LED.

“This development will eventually result in even lower-cost dvLED displays, which increases accessibility even further and presents opportunities for dvLED solutions anywhere. This means that products with finer pixel pitch are available for various businesses, despite their size or budget.”

Versatility Pays

Displays with the flexibility to accommodate a variety of install environments is another trend, added Zeller.

“Another thing I’ve noticed within the dvLED video wall space is a change from the usual, standard installation. We’ve seen an increase in large-scale installations in areas where there is high foot traffic or extreme weather conditions. Integrators within the AV and dvLED video wall space have had to pivot for the consumer to provide more secure installations and mount solutions, in addition to the most durable video wall systems possible.”

She is also keen to highlight substantial developments in high-quality digital content. “The use of HD content in video walls increases their attractiveness and is likely to fuel the growth of the market. The 16:9 format became the standard, and OEM television manufacturers were continuously developing in quality and design. The availability of HD content has increased rapidly in the past five to eight years, and now, unique forms of displays are beginning to make an appearance for lifestyle integration.”

According to Zeller, direct view LED displays offer perfect picture quality, are flexible for a modular configuration, and are unaffected by ambient lighting conditions, thus making them excellent candidates for deployment in any space.

[ Absen Acclaim A2725 Plus Video Wall Review ]

“The rise in the development of 4K content will further provide a growth opportunity to vendors as these displays provide a more compelling experience and add an artistic touch to the video walls.”

Opening Up Access

Another noteworthy trend has been accessibility. Better affordability over the last year or two has been a huge part of that, said Zeller, as manufacturers learn to optimize their operations and technology becomes more widely available.

“Despite dvLED’s reputation of being pricey, integrators have gotten more creative with how they market and sell their products, so smaller-budget customers who may have felt dvLED was beyond their reach are now met with an array of options well within their means. More businesses and business owners are being welcomed into the dvLED video wall market, where they’d previously been underserved by large-format displays. We have taken major strides in presenting dvLED solutions to the masses, and I predict that we will see more diverse displays within museums, schools, public transportation facilities, restaurants, banks, and even the home.”

The topic of accessibility is a point that Daktronics product manager Adam Gilliland is also keen to mention. “LED has become more cost-accessible and has a performance advantage over older generations of digital technology.”

Other major trends, said Gilliland, include pixel quality and mounting expectations. “Expectations for pixel pitches and resolution are getting tighter and tighter and the market is driving toward more options sub 1 mm. Manufacturers are exploring new pixel technologies to reach these tighter resolutions. Solving the durability problem with narrow-pixel-pitch technology and improving speed of install and reliability is another area in development.”

[ What’s Trending Now for Video Walls? ]

Another significant trend is the increasing demand for “all-in-one” LED solutions in applications like meeting rooms, auditoriums, and lecture halls, with standard size LED kits that include the ability to connect to Wi-Fi easily and quickly share presentations, added Gilliland. He added that LED installations in live entertainment, cinema, and corporate applications are helping to entice people back to public spaces after months of COVID-19 isolation.

What’s Next?

What does the future hold for LED video displays in a pandemic-shaped world?

“It is hard to predict what a post-COVID landscape will look like for the LED market,” said Cain. “If you look at some of the trends I mentioned earlier, it is clear that end users are going to have performance expectations of LED moving forward. Meeting spaces will evolve into something new. The hybrid workspace is something that everyone is trying to define. All-in-one solutions are easy for designers to specify, and they can be rapidly deployed by integrators. Technical staff will need to be able to understand the technology and the design considerations to make the most of these solutions. Things like proper wiring and cabling techniques for wall controllers, frame rate, viewing angles, scan mode, scaling and resolution matching are all important to a successful LED solution design.”

Newer vertical markets like XR, AR, and VR will likely require a greater understanding of design considerations, too. “The other item that integrators need to be able to communicate to their clients is the ROI and life cycle component of their LED investment,” said Cain.

It’s clear that the LED video wall space is a developing market. “LED will become the dominant display technology over the next few years. As pricing comes down and resolution goes up, it is replacing other display technologies like projection and flat-panel displays. New products with more efficient and sustainable designs will make adoption more likely in markets like residential and consumer applications. Retail is also poised for a huge investment in LED in the United States, as brands attract people back to the store.”

Looking ahead, new technology will certainly drive new products into the space, said Cain.

“Today we think of it as a display that has ‘other’ equipment connected to it, but manufacturers are beginning to incorporate those ‘other’ pieces of hardware into their all-in-one solutions. We have solutions with integrated audio, control, switching, and scaling in them already. Next, we may see IoT devices, touch and gesturing, new forms of interactivity, and artificial intelligence being incorporated into these LED solutions.”

Click here to read more stories from the October 2021 issue of SCN.

Related Stories

The Need for Adaptability Drives LED Video Wall Installs • Video walls that were used for promotion pre-pandemic are being repurposed to attract and engage with audiences in a different way.

How Video Walls Can Bridge the Virtual Chasm • With virtual events, meetings, and learning sticking around, video walls are helping to take visualization and entertainment to new levels of immersion. Find out how leading manufacturers are driving this revolution.

Outdoor Fine Pitch LED Video Walls: 4 Trends on Display • Planar's Romeo Estores dives into outdoor LED trends including weatherization, versatility, and more.

LED Video Walls in Corporate Environments • While LED video walls previously seemed unattainable for a large portion of companies (think small- to medium-sized businesses), the technology and content needed to successfully wow internal and external clients is becoming more accessible.

Video Walls: An Evolving Landscape • Bigger, brighter, and blending better into their environments, today’s video walls are transforming the way we look at everything from entertainment to critical data.

A newly deployed Matrox and AGELEC video wall solution is a central feature of the French National Railway Company’s (SNCF) new operational center at Lyon-Part-Dieu station. The operational center there includes two control rooms that are purpose-built for 24/7 site management and customer support.

According to Manuel Amenedo, project director at SNCF’s Auvergne Rhône Alpes Regional Station Management Team, the operational center (COEG) plays a vital role in the SNCF’s daily operations. “The head of the COEG translates railway language to the passengers in the station,” he said.

Field-Proven Video Wall Solution

The SNCF was looking to modernize the Lyon-Part-Dieu station’s operational center for a few reasons. The first goal was to ensure real-time display information is transmitted to passengers at the station, especially in disrupted periods. Second, the update supports COEG in becoming the station control center with the conductor present in the station.

The Lyon-Part-Dieu station operational center would therefore need to be equipped with a high-density capture and output video wall solution that could provide reliable passenger information through real-time, high-quality display. Already having had a positive outcome with the AGELEC AGCWall video wall solution—controller systems featuring Matrox capture and IP encode/decode cards and multidisplay graphics boards—SCNF chose to incorporate these technologies into the Lyon-Part-Dieu installation.

[ VuWall Control Solutions Streamline Operations for French Rail Network ] 

“The combination of Matrox and AGELEC video wall technologies has proven itself in SNCF’s demanding 24/7 environments,” said Guillaume Guerin, CEO of SNCF. “We have already deployed 20 of these robust, reliable systems throughout the network, and our operators have noticed enhanced decision-making and information-sharing abilities thanks to the high-performance video walls in each control room installation.”

Easy Train and Passenger Flow Management

In the primary control room, an AGCWall controller equipped with Matrox Mura IPX capture cards and Matrox multidisplay graphics boards captures and displays 14 HDMI video feeds across a 10x2 video wall with 49-inch screens. This video wall configuration gives operators access to comprehensive information about train departures, arrivals, and connections. In the secondary control room, the SCNF uses a second Matrox-powered AGCWall controller to capture seven HDMI video feeds for display on a 3x2 video wall configuration with 40-inch screens.

With the flexible Matrox-AGELEC solution, SNCF is able to distribute the sources of information in each space. Thanks to scenario recording that corresponds to specific railway problems that may occur, SNCF is able to ensure the most relevant information is displayed in each scenario. Additionally, AGELEC’s AGCWEB software enables SNCF to disseminate information within its COEG.

[ Matrox-Powered Control Room Video Wall Streamlines Operations for Paper Pulp Company ]

Maximizing Efficiency While Minimizing Costs

Matrox video wall cards enabled the rapid installation of the AGCWall video wall solution for both Lyon-Part-Dieu station control rooms. The ability of Matrox’s video wall technology to capture multiple video sources while driving multiple, high-quality video displays allowed SNCF to achieve fast display of simultaneous, easy-to-read content from all available data points—all of which is critical to the around-the-clock monitoring and management of the Lyon-Part-Dieu railway station.

“The Lyon-Part-Dieu operational center has seen several key operational improvements since deploying the Matrox and AGELEC video wall solution,’ said Amenedo. “The video walls play an integral part in managing communication between carriers and station managers, and minimizing delays caused by service disruptions.”

More on Video Walls in Transportation Hubs

Inside the 21st-Century Transit Hub • Today’s airline passengers want personalized travel that is tech centric, app enabled, and stress free. 21st-century transit hubs are answering the call with AV and personalized technologies.

Transit Trends • Many transportation facilities have used the extended period of reduced passenger loads during the pandemic to make improvements to their digital signage and communications networks.

AV Technology Keeps Passengers On Track and On Time • Airports are prioritizing speediness, installing technology that will help move travelers through airport terminals as quickly as possible.

The Integration Guide to Video Walls

Guntermann & Drunck (G&D) has announced ControlCenter-Xperience, a new showroom to present the company’s latest KVM solutions. Starting October 1, visitors will be able to tour the facility to see how KVM systems interact with different applications in a control room environment. Guests will also get a live demonstration of how G&D's KVM systems and their control options can be optimally integrated into an installation.

In the ControlCenter-Xperience, G&D will present their equipment on site, but also remotely via live video. In the future, the company will be able to offer its customers and partners a platform for personal live consulting on a real control room application and present its comprehensive product range in action, independent of time and place. This way, customers will not only benefit from G&D's know-how but can also book individual live or remote tours to fit their projects.

Related: The Technology Manager's Guide to Command and Control

The ControlCenter-Xperience showcases a complete control room setup where the computer equipment has been moved to a separate technology room. The main focus here will be on the interaction of the systems and technologies for customers or partners and the company as a consultant. Among other things, visitors can experience functions for control room applications, control options via API, and solutions for optimal control of video walls.

Reservations for live demos can already be made on G&D’s ControlCenter-Xperienece website.    

Size is not a determining factor when it comes to mission-critical control centers. Video walls can comprise just a few displays receiving feeds from only a dozen cameras, to hundreds of inputs streaming on 64 displays.

As facilities scale in physical size or the scope and their monitoring needs increase, it’s essential that the control room system can scale as well.

Darin Crosby, Global VP Sales at Datapath’s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania headquarters suggests choosing a system that’s modular so that you can start small and build out based on budget and key requirements. “This allows facilities the ability to expand easily and gradually, and in a cost-effective way,” he says.

A modular system will help scale the primary security room, surrounding crisis rooms, or huddle spaces need to access and share all the same sources from a single control point without requiring extra routing switchers.

Sharing mission-critical content from a central control room to a crisis room or another secure location is a desired feature. Today content can be encoded and securely share any source to authorized users anywhere via IP. Until recently, this has required duplicate AV equipment for each room.

Faster Decision Making

The relationship between the centralized main video wall display and control room operators has been long established. Video wall content is monitored for events, and the operator analyzes the details on his/her station display to make an informed decision to escalate an event to the next level.

New collaboration software tools enable operators to isolate a particular source from the video wall, bring it to the desktop and resize windows to help them make a decision, then share the content over IP to any location on the secure network. This enables faster decision making, especially when key people are in the field. Ensuring the signal from any source can be securely encoded over IP and sent wherever is a game-changer.

This peer-to-peer networking model makes collaboration possible without the cloud. Control center communication stays behind the company firewall and allows teams to collaborate directly without any traffic through a central server.

User Rights Management

Like an enterprise network, not everyone should have full access to every area. A video wall control system should have the ability to set user rights. “For example, certain operators might be responsible for specific sources in certain zones in a casino,” says Mark Bohs, Director of Sales for the Americas at Datapath’s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania headquarters.

There are many subsets of user rights management, and the ability to set multiple levels is critical. Making sure restricted areas aren’t displayed will help ensure an operator can’t mistakenly try to view one. “Being able to separate out your sources with a security level, and then grant access to only the right people is a critical part of security,” adds Crosby.

Sharing Software

Developed to work seamlessly with Datapath wall controllers is Quant, an intuitive software that allows users to share application windows.

Operation of critical control rooms benefit from using Quant to allow the seamless sharing of information.

Physical sources connected to the controller can be streamed to any Quant user on the network, giving them up-to-the second information wherever they are. Video wall content can be accessed by users in different locations, allowing for better-informed decisions and faster response times.

Quant also enables you to share numerous application windows to both video walls, and to other peers who are able edit the application in real time.

Users have full control to decide what to share, with whom to share and what permissions are given. The interaction with shared application windows can still be made even without the file software on your own computer.

Application windows can be simply shared using a dedicated Quant icon or the drag and drop curtain. Real-time interactivity with the same application window means changes are seen as they happen.

Quant uses a peer-to-peer networking model that makes collaboration possible without the cloud. This means all communication stays behind the company firewall and allows the clients to collaborate directly, i.e. without any traffic going through a central server. The software uses TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) as the connection and data encryption protocol.

Read more on the cutting edge video wall control.

The What: VuWall is now offering its TRx solution as a fully functional AV management system, including encoders, decoders plus their control software.

The What Else: TRx 2.0 is VuWall’s next generation of distribution of AV signals and content over standard IP networks. The solution combines high-end quality streaming up to 4K resolution to drive unlimited numbers of inputs and outputs designed for presentation rooms, control rooms and complex distribution across multiple buildings.

Using VuWall’s Tx series of single stream (Tx100) or multi-stream (Tx400) encoders, the system is centralized on a VuWall TRx server before being switched to a choice of single end points or multi-stream outputs for video. End user experience is simplified by drag and drop GUI. The system is wholly scalable and operates with 3 party hardware including Matrox Maevex and AMX/SVSI networked solutions, as well as all the devices compatible with the SDVoE standard.

The TRx software platform makes it easy to configure, operate and maintain the pool of encoders and decoders on a large AV network. Being compatible with any Windows, Mac, OS, and Linux operating system, the TRx software is preloaded on an appliance server, which is included in the package. Video runs at H.264 compression – allowing for high quality and low bandwidth distribution for AV over IP.

The solution comes with a preconfigured standard 1GBit Network switch (24/48 Port). The switch is configured to handle large numbers of streams in unicast or muticast mode. By adding multiple switches, it is easy to upgrade; and with 10Gb uplink, a big network can be built with stacked units.

The Bottom Line: Although engineered to work seamlessly with VuWall’s Tx and Rx hardware, TRx is also designed to work with third party hardware. Just like all other VuWall products, VuWall’s TRx is open to multiple hardware platforms and already supports some of the major manufacturer brands as well as all hardware which is SDVoE compliant.

The price of AV over IP cameras has become cost-effective, making them the go-to for surveillance. However, some installations comprise hundreds of legacy analog cameras, making it impractical to replace all of them at once. Without an infrastructure or video control system that can accommodate both on the same network, facilities are burdened with ‘ripping and replacing’—or buying old camera technologies.

Control centers are moving to open architectures, enabling some to have phased upgrade paths. It’s critical to ensure the video wall controller can concurrently accept old and new camera sources such as DVI, SDI, DisplayPort, older IP methods as well as the latest IP codex—and with varying resolutions.

“Big installations may have cameras that have been there for years, and if they want to add new ones, some are going to be HDMI or DVI out, others will be IP out,” says Darin Crosby, Global VP Sales at Datapath’s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania headquarters. “Being able to switch instantly between the sources and display them all on the screen, and size them any size you want, is probably the most important point.”

This flexibility comes with the ability to have multiple SQX boards and baseband capture cards in the chassis of the video wall controller. “You need a system that can ingest all of those seamlessly, display them side-by-side, and make it so that the operator doesn’t need to care if it’s the old system or the new,” says Mark Bohs, Director of Sales for the Americas at Datapath’s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania headquarters.

Recent technological advances are enabling AV designers, integrators, and managers of control centers to rethink lifecycle planning, reduce the amount of video wall controllers, and share content with satellite rooms more easily and securely for their customers. Sharing mission-critical content from a central control room to a crisis room or another secure location was once a desired feature, and is now a trend. Until recently, this has required duplicate AV equipment for each room.This white paper discusses how the role of advanced AV/IT video wall control technologies and content collaboration tools is undergoing a sea change.

A video wall control system should be able to integrate with an open video management system (VMS) platform. “If an incident occurs, the operator can bring up the live camera feed from the IP cameras themselves, and at the same time go back and pull up a recorded feed from a network video recorder (NVR) on the VMS,” says Bohs. At the same time, they can look at the existing live stream and the NVR stream. “The VMS can tell the video wall what streams to display so the operator can then manipulate what they’re looking at on the video wall through the VMS,” he says.

Think beyond camera sources. “During a crisis event, the control center might want to see CNN News on the video wall, or they might want to have the Weather Channel on there as well,” Crosby adds. “Being able to grab all these different sources, regardless of where they come from, various web pages containing maps, media networks, or wherever and being able to throw them on screen is very powerful.”

Click here to read more on the current state of video wall technology.

In the past few years, technology has created a sea change in user expectations affecting many aspects of business. Users expect to instantly share information such as video and data from one device to many, video conference with multiple people, enjoy security features such as facial recognition, and have fingerprint and multi-level user access control. High-resolution displays are a given, and the ability to pinch and zoom has been around for more than a decade. Yes, we’re talking about smartphones.

The smartphone has been pushing technology innovators of large-scale commercial applications to deliver the same or better experience. Intuitive user experiences have become a must in today’s fast-paced control rooms.

Kristian Sigston is the Equipment Services Co-ordinating Engineer at an NHS Foundation Trust, which provides the CCTV system comprising 350 cameras and access control for the public-facing premises of a single site hospital in the county of Kent in southeast England. “All the security staff needs to do, using a mouse or with the swipe of a finger, is flick an image from a camera up to the video wall much in the same way they would with their smartphone,” says Sigston. “The less they see of the backend stuff, the better.”

Control center technologies such as this are quickly evolving, enabling a more agile approach to how video data is used and shared. Teams can act quickly—as operators isolate and share secure mission-critical visual information inside and outside the primary control center.

Related Reading: Recent technological advances are enabling AV designers, integrators, and managers of control centers to rethink lifecycle planning, reduce the amount of video wall controllers, and share content with satellite rooms more easily and securely for their customers. Sharing mission-critical content from a central control room to a crisis room or another secure location was once a desired feature, and is now a trend. Until recently, this has required duplicate AV equipment for each room.This white paper discusses how the role of advanced AV/IT video wall control technologies and content collaboration tools is undergoing a sea change.

Open architectures and IP technologies allow flexibility, modularity, and scale—ultimately changing how AV/IT consultants, integrators, and end users approach the design of today’s control room.

When researching video wall solutions, look for the elements below:

7 Mission-critical Elements of Today’s Control Room

1. Share Secure Content

Encode and share any source securely to authorized users via IP, wherever needed.

2. Source Flexibility

Ensure the video wall controller can concurrently accept old and new camera sources, as well as varying resolutions.

3. Modularity and Scale

Easily expand from small systems with a dozen cameras on a few displays to hundreds of inputs on up to 64 displays.

4. Flexible Layout Creation and Switching

Customize layouts and easily switch sources to make the overall operation more streamlined and efficient.

5. Easy Integration

Integrate multiple external control surfaces to customize each operations room. Ability to integrate with third-party applications.

6. Carousel Inputs

Enable hundreds of sources to be monitored on a rotating basis.

7. User Rights Management

Like an enterprise network, not everyone should have full access to every area.

Read more on the latest developments in video wall technology.

• Every second counts in a mission-critical environment, and user friendliness is required. That’s why Digibird created the new Unified Work Station KVM Solution. Clay Stahlka, Market Development Manager, Starin, explains what makes this system so unique, including seamless switching, AV over fiber, and USB-HID compatibility.

Unless a facility is building a new control center, it is unlikely to receive a fork-lift renovation of mission-critical AV equipment.

“There are a lot of existing control centers that were deployed one, two, three decades ago,” says Anthony Ferreira, Solutions Engineer at ICON Media Communications, a division of Ontario-based Icon Digital. “They’re not going to be able to shut down for two weeks and completely rewire everything.”

Such was the case for a recent ICON Media project at the Greater Toronto Airport Authority in Ontario. The Automated People Mover (APM) Control Centre hadn’t been upgraded in nearly 30 years. The upgrade was done in two phases to minimize downtime.

The first phase was to replace the 14 small 4:3 displays that were fed analog video content through multi-viewers, which were then quad-split to each display, explains Ferreira. ICON created a large, near-seamless video wall canvas using eight Samsung 55-inch video wall displays, with 3.5mm bezel-to-bezel seams arranged in a 4x2 landscape pattern.

“The client wanted to be able to resize any of the camera feeds into whatever size they wanted on the video wall canvas,” says Ferreira. Varying window sizes helps prioritize images displayed on the wall. “Some larger regions of the wall are used to display the more important cameras needed to monitor on a regulator basis.” The remaining cameras are displayed in smaller areas around the canvas. A Datapath VSN1172 video wall controller was chosen for its ease of use and flexibility.

“It’s essentially a Windows-based program,” says Ferreira. “Most people are familiar with resizing windows and the general navigation inside of the Windows operating system. This made it very simple for the end user to be able to resize and configure all of the windows to their liking.”

Flexible Architecture

During the second phase of the upgrade, more than 50 analog video cameras feeding the video wall will slowly be replaced with IP cameras. Ferreira says, “Datapath’s architecture is designed so you can select the type of input and output sources or target devices that you want to connect, and order [and] replace the appropriate input and output cards.” For this installation, Ferreira is using seven primary and one backup analog input cards (eight inputs per card) to connect up to 64 analog cameras.

To integrate IP cameras, just power down the system and switch out an analog card for an IP capture card to serve 20 IP-based cameras. “The customer can remove an analog card, put a digital card in, and start upgrading the analog cameras to digital,” says Ferreira.

Set It and Forget It

Ferreira can’t overemphasize how easy it is to use the Datapath system. “It is essentially a Windows-based computer as opposed to proprietary hardware,” he says. “If users are comfortable using the Microsoft Office software suite, the Datapath interface will look and feel familiar.” From being able to drag-and-drop layouts, to online help saved into the Datapath device, or visiting the Datapath website, an end user can get all the information needed.

Related Reading: Recent technological advances are enabling AV designers, integrators, and managers of control centers to rethink lifecycle planning, reduce the amount of video wall controllers, and share content with satellite rooms more easily and securely for their customers. Sharing mission-critical content from a central control room to a crisis room or another secure location was once a dream.

This white paper discusses how the role of advanced AV/IT video wall control technologies and content collaboration tools is undergoing a sea change.

In addition to being easy to use, Ferreira says, “if an end user doesn’t wish to go through an integrator and wants to set up a base and command center on their own, it’s very straightforward to do.”

Not so fast! In addition to replacing the old system, the new displays required extending the digital output signals from Datapath via HD Baluns. Ferreira ensured that it would be easy for his client to configure new layouts in the future. He renamed all the camera feed inputs from “input one, input two, and so on” making it easy for them to configure and save new custom layouts or revert to previous versions.

For more on the latest video wall control systems

Related Reading:

IP-based Video Wall Controller Creates Flexibility and Delivers Intuitive UX