— Buffalo, NY pizza institution’s new third location has flawless video and lots of it, thanks to Key Digital components including KD-IP822 series encoders and decoders and Compass Control® Pro software —
MOUNT VERNON, NY – “You’ve tried the rest, now try the best!” That ubiquitous pizza-box motto is famously true at Santora’s Pizza Pub & Grill, whose origins go all the way back to 1927, when Fioravante Santora became the first person to sell pizza in Buffalo, NY. One branch of the family now owns the modern iteration of the business and recently opened its third location, in the city’s Walden Galleria. And that maxim also applies to the location’s AV footprint, which features 50 video displays (including two massive back-to-back 138-inch 3×3 video walls) running on an extensive network infrastructure made up largely of Key Digital components, assuring that patrons never miss a game. Designed and installed by Lancaster, NY-based AV integrator Theater Connection, the 11 x 48 AV over IP AV system, combined with Key Digital’s Compass Control® Pro software, offers Santora’s a cost-effective, highly flexible and reliable solution for managing a huge number of television screens.
“The restaurant staff can easily run the entire video system and its audio from a single iPad running Compass Control Pro, and that’s pretty amazing,” says Vic Scaccia, COO of Theater Connection. “Compass Control Pro is fully customizable and scalable, so it’s the perfect solution for a business like Santora’s.”
For instance, shares Scaccia, the nine 46-inch displays that make up each of the two 138-inch video walls can be configured to have separate content on each display, or any combination of any of the channels coming into the property from cable or the local networks. “One channel on six screens and three more on the other three, no problem,” he says. “Any combination they want.” And every picture is as vivid as possible, thanks to the 11 KD-IP822ENC 4K UHD AV over IP Encoders, representing the total number of sources available to the restaurant, and 48 KD-IP822DEC 4K UHD AV over IP Decoders, one for each display in the venue. These use PoE and support HDMI and 4K video, as well as video-wall processing.
The encoders are supported on a pair of KD-SMS16 Shelf Mounting Systems. A KD-Pro2x1X 2×1 4K/18G HDMI Switcher with Optical, PCM, L/R and Balanced/Unbalanced Audio; and one KD-DA1x2X 1×2 (4K@60Hz/18G/444) HDMI Distribution Amplifier with L/R Optical Audio & De-Embedded Audio Output, are connected to one display and allow it to be used separately as digital signage or to take in a locally streamed game. Finally, 60 KD-Pro6 6-foot HDMI cables, which support HDR10+, Dolby® Vision, HDCP2.3 and Ethernet, connect all of the other Key Digital components, assuring a reliable Key Digital infrastructure for this large video array.
“I wanted to keep it Key Digital throughout, every component, even the smallest piece,” says Scaccia. “The quality and stability of each product means the entire system is completely reliable. And Key Digital provides excellent back-end support. You have a question, they have an answer. And the product quality is there — you can feel it when you pick up a component in your hands. You know it’s going to work.” And now that the Bills’ season has started again, he adds. “That’s going to be really important!”
Learn more about Key Digital at keydigital.org.
Visit the Key Digital AV over IP resource pages here.
