AVPro Edge engineers and manufactures unique solutions for a multitude of situations that custom audio/video integrators face today.
In this piece, we will cover how one installer integrated the Cloud 9: 9 x Unlimited Matrix into a brandnew sports bar. Sports Bars can be an interesting challenge for integrators; in most situations, the bar owner wants more displays and more capabilities, however, the budget doesn’t always match the vision. It then becomes the integrators job to deliver the most bang for the buck. The integrator that handled this installation was Matt Selchow from Madsons AV. Matt is a premiere custom integrator in Madison, Wisconsin and has worked on a wide variety of different projects throughout the area. He has put together many different commercial and residential Audio Video installs, and takes extra pride in his work inside sports bars. It’s safe to say that if you need any AV work and are in the Madison, WI area, Matt Selchow is the one to call!
Sports bars are a very specific, and very tricky type of install. You know the owner will need to play multiple games at the same time, show different sports at the same time, plus have all the NFL games on at noon on Sunday’s. The bar staff also needs to have a simple way to control and easily make changes to any of the displays. There are different ways to accomplish this; using AV over IP, or a large matrix switch (32x32), but IF you choose the Cloud 9, you are going to be able to put together a full professional video distribution system with custom control that is perfect for the sports bar environment, without any of the hassle that comes with AV over IP or the cost of a large matrix switch.
Madsons AV was hired to put together a full audio and video distribution system for a bar that was a part of a brand-new build. After consulting with the owner, Matt determined exactly what was needed.
Once Matt knew exactly what his customer wanted he researched the best way to deliver the desired set-up. Immediately, his mind went to AV over IP as a simple solution for this job. In order to use AV over IP, he would need a separate product for each source (9) and display (17); as well as a network switch. At this point Matt knew how he wanted to put together his customer’s system. Matt, has worked with AVProStore in the past so he called his personal rep Jerry Murray, a top sales engineer at AVPro. Jerry listened to what Matt needed and could have put together an AV over IP system that worked for what Matt wanted. However, he would have to deal with a network switch and compression of the video signal, something that he didn’t want to do. The only other solution Matt knew about would be an expensive 32x32 matrix switch, but that was completely out of the budget.
Jerry listened to what Matt was looking for and as he put together a quote for the AV over IP system, he realized that he might be able to help Matt out, not only with price, but also with delivering a better picture with less equipment – all while keeping space to a minimum on the install. Jerry gave Matt the quote he was looking for, but at the same time presented a better solution:
The Cloud 9, a 9x9 matrix switch built for cascading into additional displays. With the Cloud 9, Matt would be able to put all nine sources into one Cloud 9 and then cascade into the next Cloud 9 giving him 18 outputs to run to displays. This would eliminate the network switch, and many of the IP products on the input side.
Jerry explained that with this Cloud 9 set-up Matt would be able to put any of the pictures from the sources on to any of the displays in the bar, all while avoiding the video compression and network switch that come with AV over IP. Matt loved this idea and since he brought the bar owner a plan that was less than his original quote, the bar owner couldn’t have been happier.
Matt found a discrete area in the back room where he was able to set up all of his sources and the Cloud 9’s. He ran CAT 6 cable from the back room to each display location. After mounting all of the displays, Matt used AVPro Edge’s 70 meter extenders (Rx) HDBaseT receiver (AC-EX70-UHD-R) for each display. Because these extenders are the world’s slimmest, they were hidden perfectly behind each display with a short HDMI cable connecting the HDBaseT receiver and the display. After connecting each display to the Cloud 9 via CAT 6, Matt powered up the switch to see that he immediately got a picture to each display.
Though Matt got a signal on each screen, he noticed a line of pixels that didn’t look quite right on some of Cloud 9’s inputs. Since picture quality was very important to Matt and to his client, the last thing he wanted to let the owner hear was that the TVs weren’t working perfectly.
So, Matt called Jerry and let him know what was going on. Jerry connected Matt with our senior tech support representative. Our tech support had never heard of the issue before and asked Matt questions about this set-up. While our tech support didn’t have an immediate answer, they took all of the information and went to work. AVPro Tech Support ended up replicating the issue in the AVPro Lab, and determined how to fix it – a small update to the current firmware and the odd pixel line was gone. Our Tech Support rep called Matt back right away and using Team Viewer installed the updated Cloud 9 firmware on Matt’s unit remotely. After the new firmware, the system was working perfectly!
In the end, Matt Selchow delivered a beautifully engineered, outside-of-the-box solution that ended up saving the integrator and the bar owner time, money, and headaches down the road. So, if you ever find yourself in Madison, WI during football season (Go Badgers! Go Packers!), be sure to check out LS’s Sports Bar and enjoy the views!
More importantly if you are in the Wisconsin area, and have any kind of Audio Video needs, make sure you contact Matt Selchow at Madsons AV, madsons@gmail. com. He isn’t afraid to look at alternative solutions that may be able to impact your install in the best w a y and save you money along the way!
