The Ale Emporium in Indianapolis has transformed three locations into immersive video experiences, claiming the most video walls of any place in Indianapolis, according to the chain’s long-time AV integrator, Nathan Robison, owner of Robison Digital Solutions. For years, Robison has slowly been updating the large fleet of analog TVs to digital displays, as time and budget allowed. While the bars had invested heavily in the best analog video matrixes at the time, they couldn’t support the digital crossover. “We were standing at the edge of the analog cliff and with every new display we bought, we had to buy an A-D converter.” Needing an all-digital alternative, Robison discovered Just Add Power’s AV-over-IP video distribution system.
Pandemic closures created the opportunity to go for a complete overhaul for 80-110 displays at each of the three locations. At the Greenwood location, there is a total of five LG video walls made up of 51 video wall monitors, with one 2 x 13 system that covers the length of one entire wall. There are also a 3×3, 2×4, and two 2×2 configurations. At the Fishers locations, there’s 3×4, 2×4, and a 3×3. The Indianapolis location includes 8 video walls made up of 96 video wall monitors, with a 2×2, 2×3, 2×4, two 2×5’s, 2×8, 2×9, and a 2×12 configurations. In addition to video walls, each location has a handful of 65- to 80-inch displays with the potential to add more at any time.
Sixteen sources include twelve DirecTV boxes, two cables boxes (for redundancy), and two auxiliary inputs to distribute a laptop or other video sources. To distribute these to hundreds of displays, the J+P modular approach to AV-over-IP distribution was essential–in this case supported by Luxul switches and Cat5/6/7 and fiber-optic networks.
Robison specified the VBS-HDIP-508POE receiver and the VBSHDIP-707POE transmitter. Designed for any size of 4K HDMI distribution and HDMI matrixing application, these models allow integrators to better manage their hardware budget on projects with 4K HDMI distribution requirements — including 4K — with HDR distribution. These entry-level models can be mixed and matched with other J+P AV over IP devices without sacrificing enhanced functionality, such as audio extraction, downmix from Dolby 5.1, and CEC control in zones. The pair distributes up to 4K Ultra HD visually lossless video with no latency over a single Cat-5e cable. They also support 4K with seamless HDR and HDR10, HDCP 2.2, 4K to 1080p scaling for legacy displays, two-way RS-232 and IP control, as well as support for video walls and all audio formats up to and including Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.
In addition to the 508 receivers, Robison installed the VBS-HDIP518AVP receiver at key video walls. The 518AVP model features a stereo audio output 3.5mm with adjustable delay. This way, occupants in each video wall zone can listen to audio from that central display or the music that’s offered from the bar’s music provider.
For the owner and staff to control the system, Robison installed an RTI XP-8v control processor, which is interoperable with Just Add Power and the audio system featuring Klipsch speakers. From one of three RTI KX7 touchpanels featuring a graphic screen Robison himself designed, staff can see what’s playing on each source and push it to any of the 80-100 display destinations in each location.
