How do you stand out in a city known for spectacles? The University of Las Vegas Nevada (UNLV) took a gamble on a concave LED media wall for its new Hospitality Hall—with winning results.

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UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hospitality attracts students from around the globe for its best-in-class programs. The new hall for such a distinguished institution, now open to the public, had to be sensational.

“We wanted a ‘wow factor’ with this new hall,” said UNLV’s Frank D. Alaimo, AV systems specialist, CTS-I, DMC-E-4K. “You can’t plan a hospitality building for these amazing students who will be working in Las Vegas facilities and not have something that is on par with what the casinos offer.”

DETAILS MATTER

Hospitality Hall’s attention to detail is notable. From AV-equipped classrooms to the finest flooring and finishes, the entire building is high end.

Keven J. Yue, senior sales manager, Western United States at Datapath and provider of the Fx4 wall controller used on this unique project, sees how the new AV supports school’s mission as a hospitality leader. “They were building a new state-of-the-art building for their world-class hospitality department,” Yue said, “and they wanted to have something dazzling in the front area.”

The new media wall—uniquely shaped and installed a tricky corner—had to be big, dynamic, and sunlight-readable, “because of the ambient light in the lobby, with many two-or three-stories-high windows,” Yue said. “They wanted something absolutely astounding.”

SIGNAGE THAT BRINGS THE SIZZLE

The new media wall is a statement piece and so much more. The 2.5mm pixel-pitch NanoLumens Nixel LED concave display is a knockout. Weighing around 600 pounds, and measuring 16.5 feet by 5.4 feet, this wall is an eye-catcher even though installed in the corner of the hall’s vestibule. The pixel pitch and vivid 4K resolution imbue the screens with a truly immersive quality. Used in concert with NanoLumens’ proprietary AWARE software platform, the media wall was installed by National Technology Associates.

The UNLV technology team knew this curved digital signage application would be a surefire way to add sizzle to the building’s grand lobby. 12-bit throughput ensures vibrant colors, and 4K resolution adds extra pop. At 800 nits, the wall is extremely bright, even with massive windows and the blazing Vegas sun. Even on its low-power settings, the wall is easily viewable and readable.

QUICK CONTENT UPDATES

This media wall is a hub of up-to-the-minute department information, cultural offerings on campus, video streams, and community news, with quick and easy content updating thanks to the NanoLumens AWARE platform. As a hardware-enabled, software-as-a-service platform, AWARE aggregates real-time diagnostics and integrates apps, services, and myriad content sources.

“As long as I always have the internet, I can log into their software and make content changes on the fly,” said Trevor Brown, assistant director of technology operations at UNLV. “Once I update and save the playlist that I am working on, it will be on that screen within two to three seconds.”

CUSTOM AUDIO FOR A WONDER WALL

James Loudspeaker was chosen for the custom audio component of the media wall application, according to Brown. “The special loudspeaker was built for the specific shape and size of the wall. The James Loudspeaker team worked with NanoLumens’ engineers; they developed the speakers off site.

NanoLumens custom-built the mounting points for the soundbar and matched it with the speaker enclosure for a completely seamless look and feel. “When they got to NanoLumens’ warehouse, they bolted it up and it matched perfectly. James Loudspeaker really knocked it out of the park,” Brown added.

LED: THE RIGHT (AND BRIGHTEST) CHOICE

While there is diversity in the product category, depending on size and feature sets, the prices for LEDs have (generally) decreased as this technology becomes more commonplace in the market. Now established as a viable alternative to traditional video walls, LED’s growing accessibility has attracted the attention of integrators and technology managers.

With media walls, customer support and service are also important. NanoLumens offers a six-year warranty, and it has a facility located in Las Vegas, conveniences appreciated by Brown. “They have a Visualization Center with sales and technical teams so if we need something, they’re here on site. That was a huge selling point for that wall, in particular.”

Moving forward, Brown said that he has several projects in rooms in which he would normally use projectors or large monitors. But now: “I’m trying to lean toward LED. It’s a little bit of a hard pill to swallow up front with the larger cost, but your ROI works—there are no projector screens to worry about. No lamps to change. No having to worry about multiple inputs and outputs and extra points of failure. It’s a lot easier to deal with from a technical standpoint.”

Brown noted that he will still have to “make the case” with the architects, engineers, and budget leaders of the new rooms; but, reflecting broader industry trends, LED is certainly a bright and energized segment in the display world.

Frank Alaimo agreed that LED is compelling, particularly for immersive content experiences. “We were the first ones on campus to do an LED wall,” he said. “If you get the right aspect ratio with your LED wall, you can put so many content boxes on there.”

IMPRESSIVE WALL CONTROLLER

Datapath Fx4, a standalone, multi-faceted display controller, is at the heart of this curved digital signage stunner. The AV technology team wanted a solution that could be easily scalable. The NanoLumens media player connects to the Datapath Fx4, and whatever it is fed, the Fx4 will scale and push it to the wall. “The Fx4 doesn’t care what it’s being fed,” Yue said. “They have that latitude and flexibility to give the Fx4 anything they want. The Fx4 is a tried and trusted, award-winning workhorse. It functions to process and scale whatever it’s told to do.”

For their first time using the Datapath Fx4, Alaimo and Brown were impressed with the ease of use and quality. “Because our wall is 4K, the Datapath Fx4 box is, in essence, acting like a pass through to get the content out to the wall. That is important as we have an unusually sized wall. It’s impressive: I can connect a PC to the AWARE product quickly, and even without a 4K card—it’s a standard, integrated video card—when we pump it out to wall, the 4K was clear as a bell.”

USER EXPERIENCE

For Alaimo, not only is this technology important to raise the bar of excellence for UNLV, it’s an important tool for engaging instructors. “Teachers are advocates for us. They use the touchpanels, for example, and the way that they interact with the technology influences how the students learn the technology.” He added that standardizing across the building is a major priority going forward.

COMMUNITY PRIDE

Even for a school with the cachet of UNLV, technological purchases need to support the organizational mission and provide return on investment. This AV installation checks those boxes and more.

Frank Alaimo said that one of the applications they are most excited about with this concave LED media wall is celebrating UNLV alumni. “It’s the ideal way to share their stories,” he said, “particularly their success stories on where they have gone since they left us, what properties they’re running. We can show the companies they’ve started. It’s all about putting a spotlight on them.”

PERSONAL TOUCH

The Hospitality College hosts frequent tours, Alaimo added. Visitors arrive on campus from every corner of the casino industry, and the world, to view the new building. When VIPs or notable attendees are on site, the technology team can easily place their company logos on the curved LED wall.

“We can quickly add their logo with a ‘Welcome’ on the screen,” Alaimo said. “The fact that Trevor can update content so quickly and we can do this on the fly—it is super. We can make it personable for visitors and make them feel special. They offer personal touches at the casinos, and we do the same thing here.”

The influence of this dynamic LED media wall is sure to extend far beyond its installed location, inspiring the UNLV community and greater hospitality industry.

More Online

DATAPATH
datapath.co.uk

JAMES LOUDSPEAKERS
jamesloudspeaker.com

NANOLUMENS
nanolumens.com

UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA LAS VEGAS
unlv.edu/hospitality

When you are trying to attract the attention of college students with content on a display screen in a city overflowing with video screens like Las Vegas, you better have a solid plan along with an even more solid display. The University of Nevada Las Vegas faced exactly this challenge with a recent on-campus LED display installation in Hospitality Hall.

UNLV’s classroom technology team also had to deal with installing this display in a tricky corner location in the Hospitality Hall lobby. They turned to Nanolumens and its True Curve Nixel display technology and AWARE software platform.

“We needed a concave curved solution as the spot we were given to work with was in a corner and we also were interested in this technology because we felt we wanted to do something a bit different that would really stand out," said Frank Alaimo, AV systems specialist, UNLV. "We were confident that a NanoLumens display would answer the call on both of those fronts."

• Shane Snell of National Technology Associates was tasked with performing this tricky install and knew the 2.5mm NanoLumens concave display would be the attention-grabbing solution UNLV was looking for.

“This particular display, measuring 16.5 feet by 5.4 feet, was the ideal solution for this install as it offered the necessary combination of brilliant image quality and ease of installation and operation UNLV was looking for,” Snell said. “Their display technology is very lightweight, consumes very little power, and generates a minimal amount of heat—all of which were important factors in the university’s decision-making process.

“Another unique thing about this display is that there is a custom made-to-match soundbar across the top of the wall made by James loudspeaker. NanoLumens fabricated the mounting points for the soundbar and they lined it up with the speakerenclosure and it made for a nice integrated look. It would be hard to tell that two different manufacturers actually took part in this build and this is something NanoLumens does so well.”

UNLV’s Alaimo further amplified the same point, noting that, “We researched many other manufacturers but no one could create a truly curved, concave display at the pixel pitch we required," he said. "The primary reason we chose NanoLumens was for their ability to create the precise solution that the space required. The NanoLumens Nixel Series was the best choice to fit in this particular tight space as with Nixel technology there are no gaps or facets and it simply offers superior viewing angles.”

Nixel is the company’s flexible building block for all NanoLumens Nixel Series displays. This patented technology is flexible for both convex and concave curves and bends with the curvature of the display, creating a truly curved display with no gaps or facets and with superior viewing angles. The end result is a better horizon view with no black or loss of visibility up to 170 degrees. The Nixel technology is actually NanoLumens’ intellectual property and a competitive advantage it is proud to claim.

Trevor Brown, assistant director of technology operations at UNLV Hospitality College runs promotional videos for the university playing on two-thirds of the display along with a slide show of testimonials from alumni on the other third. Brown uses the NanoLumens AWARE platform software to update and push content to the display.

AWARE is a versatile and expandable content and digital display management system that positions users to stay ahead of today’s constantly evolving digital marketing needs. With real-time analytics and engagement measures now playing a crucial role in crafting and improving marketing messages, ad space owners need to offer the latest technologies to meet any customer’s needs.

“The AWARE software is web based so that makes it easy to make changes on the fly from wherever I might be,” Brown said. “This content runs approximately 12 hours a day during regular business hours and AWARE seamlessly combines our diagnostics and support functions with the ability to choose a variety of apps, services, and content sources.”

Brown added that NanoLumens even provides training to the end users on the operation of the display as well as the uploading of content. He said the plan is to include more entertainment/news content such as various UNLV game highlights and additional school-related activities.

Once the installation was complete, NTA’s Snell was delighted with how it turned out. “The finished product looks great. The fit and finish of the panels, legs, and trim are important and NanoLumens does a good job of packaging the items so they look fresh and unmarred when we unbox and install them,” he said. “Lots of people stop to watch the presentations. It seems to be getting a lot of attention from visitors.”

The NanoLumens team was also excited to be able to help UNLV provide their students with a winning LED display solution in a city that knows a thing or two about grabbing attention.

"Las Vegas is a city renowned for offering the world an extraordinary range of gaming and entertainment experiences that depend upon LED displays to stand out," said Dave Merlino, NanoLumens VP of sales, U.S. West. "The city is equally renowned for being the home of a world-class university that understands the importance of standing out in a city of dazzling displays. We're thrilled to have been able to create a stunning visualization solution, custom formed to meet the requirements of the space."