A video wall is an example of digital signage.  A video wall consists of multiple monitors, cubes, projectors or panels that are tiled together. Most often they are tiled tightly together to form one large image, but they are sometimes tiled loosely or into several separate sections for multiple images and messages or unique results, especially for performances.

Typically, video wall displays have detailed, high resolution content which makes them engaging and powerful and they receive a lot of attention. Because of the impact and increasing affordability of video walls, they are growing in popularity and they are used in a wide variety of ways:

• To enhance viewing for concert/sports event attendees
• Advertising
• Control Rooms
• Security
• Interactive Communications
• 3-D Simulation

A flexible tool, video walls can help brand a product, encourage collaboration and interactivity in venues ranging from lobbies, museums, and zoos, to sports and entertainment arenas and shopping malls  – to name a few. They are placed in high traffic areas to attract the most attention.  A video wall can be used indoors or out; it can be flat or curved, and it can be designed for permanent or temporary displays. In short, their uses are almost limitless and your video wall can be as complex and creative as you want.

A very important step when you decide to utilize or install a video wall is to define your goals.  All successful audiovisual systems require a clear set plan of action and results desired. A complete video wall system requires a number of components with a wide range of options available for each, starting with the selection of the type of display. An enormous range of technologies, resolutions and sizes are available on the market today and can make selecting one bewildering. A video wall can be designed with LCD’s, LED’s, cubes or projectors.  Each has its own unique characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages so you need to understand the inherent strengths and weaknesses of each. What is an ideal type of display for one environment is often a disaster in others.

Do you want one image, called a blending, over all the screens? If so, the image has to be as close to seamless as possible and a very narrow bezel (frame) is vital to avoid lines running through the image or text. High resolution keeps the image sharp. Does your video wall require a touch screen to engage the viewer or to provide information? How many touch points are desired? The number can range from one to 32.  Do you want to allow multiple users to simultaneously interact with video wall without affecting other users?

There are applications that call for 3D video walls such as molecular modeling, engineering, and simulations. Is your display compatible with the graphics cards you want to use? For video walls the software is as critical to the design as the hardware.  All video walls are software based; many have software built in that can fulfill your needs but others require a network based software controller.

Installation presents its own series of challenges in mounting, power, and cooling. Video walls can also be subject to heating problems. Does the video wall have heat sensors and cooling fans that come on automatically when needed? Where the video wall will be installed impacts your decision making as well. Is the infrastructure in place  to hold the weight?  Is the installation hardware integrated as it is for the Chauvet® MVP models (which our Production division has in inventory for rent) or do you need to buy it separately?

Is a mission critical 24/7 application that requires a redundant power supply module that provides continuous operation even in the event of a power failure required?.Even the number of power outlets and their locations comes into play. There are video walls that do not require the power to be behind the display and that can handle multiple devices. That reduces the rack space and the number of outlets needed and helps reduce the costs.
A video wall is an excellent way to communicate, enhance your presentation and make an impact, but it takes a sufficient budget and level of commitment to the project. We have alerted you to only a few of the questions that need to be answered before you install one. Zeo Systems expert technicians are  capable of designing, installing and servicing your video wall or if your needs are for a single event, our Production division can provide a rental from our in house inventory as an alternative. Give us a call.

By: Carol R. Emmens

Digital signage  (digital displays of information or video) fulfills the needs of all types of corporations and businesses, educational institutions, houses of worship, bars and restaurants, retail stores, and hospitals; it is used everywhere from airports to zoos and everyplace in between: hallways, lobbies, classrooms –  even at gas pumps and in elevators. The proliferation of digital signage has occurred because the associated costs have come down, it is a quick and efficient way to communicate in real time, and it saves the costs of printing.  Digital signage has enormous potential communication applications:

• Post schedules of meetings, events, works assignments, menus
• Share news, stock prices, traffic reports, sports results and information
• Recognize achievements and milestones
• Warn about severe weather and security threats
• Sell a product or service

And those are only a few of its uses.

 As the costs come down and the quality goes up, there’s no better time than the present to consider the addition of a digital signage display to your current signage or an addition or upgrade to your current digital signage display(s). But, prior to any decision, there are many questions that you have to answer.

First, what are your goals? They will impact the design and content of the digital display and every decision you make about the hardware and the software for it. Content is king and it affects every decision beginning with the design: a single display, multiple displays, a video wall?  In turn, the type of digital signage determines the flat screen display specifications such as the resolution, the size, and the number. It also determines the appropriate location within your business or venue to be seen by the greatest number of viewers to have the maximum impact and to avoid problems such as washout of the images due to bright sunlight.

The greatest challenge digital signage presents is in creating it or adapting it from existing printed materials or PowerPoint presentations. For example, if the content exits, is it “digital ready” or does it need to be reformatted to ensure that it fits the display in the correct resolution and that the text is a color and size that can be read easily. Do you have writers and graphic designers in house who are available to adapt or create the content?

What software will you use and where will that software and the content reside? Who will have access to it? Will it be on your network or in a cloud? Determine the role of your IT department. Is it desirable to do more than display static messages?  Do you want to display messages or information in real time? Do you want to access the internal network and/or outside sources of information such as Reuther’s or the Weather Channel? Do you need IP-addressable displays? Social media grows in importance every day. Do you want to integrate it and if so, how difficult will it be do it?

For many digital signage displays, it is no longer enough to deliver information; the information needs to engage the viewer – it needs a “wow” factor such as video or audio. Is the location suitable for an audio zone that will immerse the viewer without blasting the speech, sounds or music throughout the room, lobby or store?

Do you need an interactive display? For example, retail stores are especially under pressure to make sure that the digital signage displays deliver a positive “return on investment” (ROI). Their displays MUST be innovative, eye catching and engaging.  They were among the first users to adopt interactive displays and the pixel density of 4K, which is four-times the resolution of HD, and allows up to eight quadrants in the display and they, in turn, offer ways to have up to 32 interactive touch points. Today it is possible to see how you look in a new hair style, try on glasses or clothes, even see what it would look like to decorate or paint a room with digital signage.

The questions we raised are the tip of the iceberg, but digital signage does not have to be a daunting task if you partner with an experienced audiovisual company.  Zeo Systems has a successful track record designing, installing and supporting digital signage systems that are extremely effective and affordable. Contact us today for a free consultation to discuss your digital signage needs.

By: Carol Emmens

Lecture hall seats are often empty now as college and universities increase or initiate “flipped learning” or “inverted” classrooms.  In a flipped classroom what is normally done in class e.g. lectures and what is normally done as homework are switched or flipped. In a flipped classroom, students read materials or listen to audio and view video podcasts before coming to class.

Using capture systems and video conferencing, lectures and PowerPoint presentations are stored remotely in a “cloud” and made available online, generally through the Internet. Homework such as problem solving and essay writing is done in class with both professors and peers guiding the students.

Now scores of classrooms resemble corporate huddle rooms or medical and scientific labs. Class time is reserved for hands on learning, discussions in small groups and collaboration instead of note taking. Flipped classrooms provide an opportunity for students to ask questions and to apply what they learned in the online lecture. It also provides students with more time to use scientific equipment in class and to utilize healthcare simulation labs which prepare them for real life health problems and emergencies.

There are two aspects to the “flipped classroom:” online learning and classrooms with the audiovisual equipment to allow content sharing and analysis. Professors usually create their own video lectures.  Although it takes time and skill to do a video, it is becoming easier as manufacturers bring new equipment for video capture and dissemination to the market.  The equipment is becoming easier to use and numerous, affordable storage solutions are readily available. In addition to their own videos, videos by publishers, and professional use apps;  course materials are often posted to YouTube or managements systems like Blackboard.

Retrofitting classrooms for the digital world is likewise becoming easier. There are products that make it possible to connect devices with different signals and connectors, multiple control options, and interactive flat screen devices and whiteboards.

Video podcasts or video courses are audiovisual files distributed via the Internet. They are not the sole source of instruction and differ from MOOCs or massive open online courses. MOOC’s such as those offered by MIT are often open to anyone not just enrolled students.

Because clouds based storage makes it easy to store and share information, many universities are members of consortiums such as Unizen which includes the University of Michigan, Indiana University, Colorado State University, Penn State, the University of Florida and others. They share lectures, lesson plans and research and make course materials and information available from the best minds in education, organizations and corporations. The authorships are noted.

The Open Cloud Consortium (OCC), which is one of many worldwide, operates a cloud to support scientific, medical and health care research; it members include the University of California (Berkeley),  Florida International University, Johns Hopkins, NASA,  international universities and organization such as AIST (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology).  OCC, in turn, has joined Matter, a workspace in Chicago with all types of rooms and AV/IT resources. Matter is a partner with the American Medical Association, and shares the same goal: to bring entrepreneurs and physicians together to “collaborate and test new technologies, services and products.”  Research universities are among those that benefit the most from flipped classrooms.

Technology, used effectively, is not a mindless way to teach but a way to open minds and to create paths to success. When flipped classrooms are introduced, both professors and students are often skeptical but not for long. They often flip their opinions on flipped classrooms once they have experienced the positive results:  grades and attendance go up, retention increases, team skills improve and applications of the course materials are discussed, analyzed and demonstrated.

Zeo Systems expertly trained technicians can assist you in determining the equipment you need to adjust today’s classroom to today’s technology. Flat panel displays, video and projection systems, microphone and voice systems, or complete control systems; No matter if we are integrating new technology to an existing system or building a new one from scratch, you can count on Zeo Systems to help you capture or record lectures and to design the audiovisual systems needed for your institution to successfully implement flipped classrooms.

So you’ve decided that you need an upgrade to your current system or you are having some sort of technical issue with your sound, video, or lighting system that you cannot resolve.

These issues can range from the more common ‘Rice Krispie’ sounds of snap, crackle or pop to microphone signals dropping out, unidentified hums, speakers or lights not working, etc.

Whatever the situation, your search for a solution to your audio/video issue has led you to Zeo Systems. Now what?

AudioVisual Performance – Free Consultation

Your first step will be to contact us to request a free consultation online or call us toll free at 800-837-8935. We will then send one of our fully trained and certified technicians to your location to determine exactly what is going on within your audiovisual system.

During this walk-through we will diagnose the problem and then present you with options to correct the situation. We will work within any potential structural and budgetary constraints to come up with the solution that makes the most sense in making your system whole again.

Or, should the situation warrant, we will recommend new system options that may be a better long term value than putting more money into an older system.

AV System Recommendations

Below are several variables that we consider when reviewing your current audiovisual system:

What AV System Update Do You Need?

• Are we installing a completely new system?
• Are we looking to replace only certain pieces of a system?
• Are we integrating new equipment with the system currently in place?

What AV Components Need To Be Added Or Replaced?

• Are we adding video capabilities to an already existing audio system?
• Are we replacing (or adding) speakers, a mixing console, or power amplifiers to the current sound system?
• Are we replacing wired microphones with wireless microphones but keeping everything else?

What Visual Elements Need To Be Considered?

• Does the equipment need to match the decor?
• Does it need to be hidden or at least unobtrusive to the casual eye?

These decisions alone may affect things such as the color of your installed speakers, which in turn may affect equipment brands available to accomplish the project.

Finally, is your AV System update a multi-phase project, or do all changes need to be accomplished at once?

Financing Your AV System Project

If you require financing to completed your AV system update, the choice of brands available is worth considering as certain manufacturers offer special financing deals, should their product be among the best solutions for your project.
There are lots of elements to consider even in just the beginning phase of a project. Zeo System’s experts can guide you through these, as well as the more detailed decisions that manifest themselves as a project progresses towards completion. Of course, this only scratches the surface of options and decisions to be discussed and decided during the course of a project. We will get into more specific issues in future postings.

To learn more about how Zeo Systems can help you out with your audiovisual system needs, contact us today.