When one of the world’s largest high-resolution video walls was due for a technology refresh, leading media and Internet company IAC chose Christie CorePlus SeriesLED tiles, with a third-gen Spyder X80 driving the imagery.
IAC occupies a striking Frank Gehry-designed building overlooking the Hudson River. The lobby design incorporates two separate video walls. At 120-feet long by 10 feet-high, the larger west wall spans almost the entire city block of the headquarters. It can be seen by passersby on the street, drivers on the West Side highway and even glimpsed from across the river. The east wall, measuring 20 by 10 feet, tops the security reception desk.
Christie partnered with integrator VCA on the update to 4K@60Hz. The new installation also features 12-bit color depth, High Dynamic Range (HDR), and 12G SDI support. One Spyder X80 and one backup unit are dedicated to each video wall for 100 percent redundancy. The pixel density of the X80 enables just one unit to deliver 4K content to each video wall.
The expansive west wall is comprised of 77 CorePlus LED tiles and the east wall 13; both walls are six tiles high. Multiple Christie E600 LED controllers are used to interface with signals to both walls. The Spyder X80 can easily handle the 53 million pixels required for the west wall, and its 12 inputs and 8 outputs are more than sufficient for managing IAC’s 4K content sourcing and delivery.
Custom floor to ceiling support structures for the two video walls were designed and engineered by rp Visual Solutions (RPV).
“The project marks the third generation of Christie Spyder products driving the video walls,” notes Victor Vettorello, Senior Applications Specialist, Content Management and Processing, Christie. “IAC’s first video walls used the Spyder 200-300 series, working in tandem with rotated, blended projectors. The second-generation video walls used laser phosphor display tiles, operated with multiple Spyder X20s. Now, the new video walls are Christie CorePlus Series LED tiles, with 1.4mm pixel pitch, paired with Christie Spyder X80 multiscreen windowing processors.”
