Project Profile: GE’s 58-Foot Video Wall At New Toronto Facility
October 4, 2012 by Dave Haynes
So the cheeky side of me – and yes there is one – now understands why my energy bill for this summer arrived by forklift.
A little bit of it, just a little, perhaps went indirectly for a massive new video wall at a GE Digital Energy facility in suburban Toronto – with GE being a big supplier of the stuff that moves and manages power around Ontario.
The origins of GE’s Grid IQ Research & Collaboration Centre’s date back to 2009, with the Ontario government allocating $50M in support for new technologies that make the energy power grid more intelligent, efficient and robust. The new facility in Markham is focused on looking for ways to boost energy conservation and shift more electricity use to off-peak times.
Part of the facility is a customer experience center, which has 175 Prysm display tiles as part of a 58-foot wide curved laser phosphor display wall. It would definitely be one of the bigger video walls in the country, and another sign that Prysm is starting to get some traction selling against Christie. This deal undoubtedly irks Christie, as Markham is a couple of hours (or days in traffic) from Christie’s Kitchener home base.
The integrator, Advanced Presentation Products, says in a case study the wall is:
Driven by multiple unique PC’s, the video signals are processed by a scalable videowall processing system which allows for a cascade of images and a variety of display image scenarios. Utilizing a custom-designed control system, users can interact with the displays in a meaningful way, managing the various scenes and images presented by way of mobile ipads or touchpanels.
A digital audio presentation mixer, combined with powerful amplifiers and speakers, provides a truly zoned audio system with absolute user control in various areas of the centre further enhancing the interactive and immersive nature of the solution.
The centre opens on Tuesday.
I like, because of the big floor-to-ceiling impact. A big space demands a big digital canvas.
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