Principals at Sidecar Social, a popular upscale sports bar chain in Texas, understand the importance of video in crafting premium guest experiences. When opening their newest location in Frisco, Texas, they once again enlisted Save Electronics to design and install their AV system. Building on the success of the original Sidecar Social in Addison and multiple BoomerJack’s locations, Save Electronics brought their proven game plan to the Frisco project.
The location set the bar high for its AV installation. The 25,000 sq ft space spans two levels indoors, with several karaoke and meeting rooms and a 7500 sq ft outdoor patio. The venue features over 75 displays, including three massive video walls inside and one on the patio. With such a large video footprint, ensuring reliable, high-quality video distribution with minimal latency was paramount. The system needed to distribute 21 content sources, including DirecTV, Apple TV, and digital signage, while maintaining instantaneous switching between them.
Another challenge was integration with the Crestron control system, enabling staff to see what content was playing on each display and easily switch sources from an iPad interface. The AV system had to be intuitive enough for simple, one-touch operation while ensuring that every display — from the video walls to the individual TVs — played the right content at the right time without delays or errors.
Additionally, managing EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) was critical to ensure that each display, regardless of resolution, received the correct signal and displayed content flawlessly. This required a video distribution solution that could switch smoothly between 4K and 1080p signals.
To meet these demands, Save Electronics turned to its standard: Just Add Power. The installation features 21 Just Add Power 3G Ultra transmitters and 75 receivers, which distribute 4K video to every display across the venue. The 3G Ultra family provides a video-over-IP solution that delivers 4K@30Hz Ultra HD, enabling installers to distribute HDCP 2.2 content to multiple displays via HDMI 2.0 or otherwise over a 1Gb network. The built-in scaler on the receiver allows for display on both 1080p and 4K screens.
For Sidecar Social, the Just Add Power system together with NETGEAR Pro AV switches distributes the range of video sources to any of the TVs and video walls in the network. The system is infinitely scalable, so when additional screens are needed, they can be easily integrated by simply adding another receiver, while each new video source requires only an additional transmitter for distribution.
Demonstrating Just Add Power’s modular, flexible approach and lineup, Save Electronics installed Just Add Power’s 3G Ultra 4K transmitter with stereo audio extraction for its DirecTV sources, which enabled sound to be routed throughout the venue, from the three video walls inside to the four outdoor-rated displays on the patio. This advanced setup ensures that even during the busiest game days, the AV system performs flawlessly, providing an immersive viewing experience.
