Probably the most well-known application of the video wall is in the area of sports. Almost any professional sports franchise has this system to both entertain the fans during commercial breaks and give them the ability so see what is happening in the field of play, no matter if it is at the far end of the field, or their seat is in what is affectionately known as the ‘nosebleed section’.
With today’s high-definition television and aerial track videography, as well as the computerized motion and focus, without videowall, being at the event would not be much of a thrill. You would have a much better, close-up view while sitting in your own living room than would be possible at the stadium or arena, even sitting in the closest seat possible.
Since franchise owners want as many seats filled as possible; not only for the income generated by those seats, but a filled stadium generates more interest/excitement in the television audience as well. They want to continue to keep the revenue stream from broadcasters trending upward instead of losing revenue because the Nielsen’s show a dip in viewership.
So- how does a videowall system work? Innovations in both hardware and software within the computing industry are what have made this system not only ubiquitous, but practically mandatory.
First, it is not one screen, but many, linked together to create one giant screen image.
This reduces the initial cost by not requiring the manufacture (and finding some way to transport once it WAS made) of an enormous screen. It also reduces maintenance costs because if weather (hail, for instance) destroys a portion of the screen, you end up replacing a panel as opposed to the entire wall.
This is where all these innovations become necessary. One of the biggies is 64-bit architecture. The previous generation of computers used 32-bit which had a memory usage maximum of 4 Gigabytes. Since this included the information the computer itself required in order to function, the net was less than that. Although this is a tremendous amount of information, the levels of complexity were limited to what the system could use. 64-bit architecture raises that ceiling exponentially; meaning the limit is more than 2 Petabytes (a Petabyte is a quadrillion bytes).
Another innovation is the continued shrinkage of the memory chips and processors, making it possible to put the computer portion of the system on a desk, rather than requiring a warehouse.
Flat panel monitors are another series of innovations that make videowall possible. They use less power than conventional screens; require less space ‘behind’ the image; as well as a smaller area from the edge of the viewable screen to the edge of the frame. Reducing the non-viewable area increases the impression that it is one large screen. (Not to mention not having to visually deal with the humps from the curved screen monitors.)
The next time you are at a sporting event, really look at that system, and think about all the work that went into making it a reality.