Your attention is immediately drawn to and retained by video walls. But what kind of content is the most effective choice for making an impact? Should you create an interactive multi-touch, multi-display experience, present distinct material on many screens, or display large-scale moving graphics?
To choose the ideal solution for your setting, you must consider the objectives of the video wall, the audience, and the main messages that must be communicated. Several samples of the various choices are provided below.
What is a video wall?
System integrators of AV projects use different physical devices to show video or graphic data. The visualization equipment must be chosen according to the specified services, such as area size, pitch size, brightness, resolution, vertical frequency, response time, 24/7 operation, or others.
A video wall is a sizable surface made up of numerous monitor screens that have been tiled together to create a single, seamless display. The small bezel minimizes the distance between the active display portions on these monitors or TFT/LCD screens.
Instead of a single giant monitor, a video wall allows the audience to view large movie images or a lot of information spread across a sizable surface. The video wall may make different layouts by displaying personalized material on each tile.
In addition to showing video or graphic content, a video wall’s primary function is to carry out this task in real-time and on a larger scale. Furthermore, it is unnecessary to emphasize that all this information must be shown simultaneously on a sizable display area. Thanks to modern technology’s constant advancement, video walls and resolution can now provide an incredible visual experience that was unimaginable decades before.
How to Create Content for Video Walls for Digital Signage:
Video walls are helping to dominate the market for digital signage, which is a vast industry. Experts at the Digital Signage Expo predicted that during the following few years, video wall sales would climb by double digits and reach 1 million units by 2015.
Video walls present an intriguing potential for high-profile, high-end digital signage projects for value-added resellers (VARs). But working with video walls has its own unique set of difficulties. The gear and software are, of course, a little different, but you also need to be ready to adjust the material to the particular scope of each video wall project.
The following six factors should be taken into account when developing material for digital signage video walls:
Avoid certain effects:
Specific graphic effects on massive video walls result in distorted images, dark lettering, and a failed message. Avoid shades or glossy text effects for most video wall projects since they will warp the text on the full-size display. Additionally, remember that some color combinations can make it quite challenging to see writing. For the best contrast ratio, the following color combinations are advised by industry best practices: Yellow on black, white on blue, black on yellow, green on white, blue on yellow, and white on white.
Make the most of the technology:
Most frequently, a video wall’s objective is to produce a single, cohesive display rather than the impression of numerous screens jammed together. Be sure to consider your gear and software’s capabilities (and limits) to get that seamless look. Then, create your content to fit the video wall’s proportions, maximizing the use of the available real estate and technological resources. Remember that elements like pixel resolution and pitch can significantly affect the quality of your presented information.
Carefully weigh simple vs. complex messaging:
Naturally, your writing will show better on enormous video walls if it is more straightforward. Nobody wants to read 600 words in 200-point type. But perhaps a more nuanced message is required. Sometimes the most acceptable advertisement is a plain, clear one (“Nike: Just Do It”). The content may need to go further for other projects. Knowing your audience will help direct you to the particular message you should be conveying.
If the content is well, video walls present an attractive commercial opportunity for VARs. What guidelines for video wall material have you found to be most effective? Is it just getting started with video walls?
High-quality content is a must:
Some VARs could focus less on the content design stage for particular digital signage applications, such as wayfinding or corporate announcement boards. In many projects, the content—rather than the overall appearance and feel—reigns supreme. However, high-quality content is necessary once digital signage is scaled up to video wall size. Even the slightest error can have epic proportions in a video wall display, so double- and triple-check your work.
Images and text should be right-sized:
Small font and image sizes are the most significant factor in a video wall’s amateurish appearance. Both ought to be visible and understandable at a reasonable size. Always remember that information on your computer screen may seem powerful, but it may not translate to the enormous universe of video walls. Create with scale in mind.
What are video walls used for?
Video walls with large images are frequently employed in a variety of applications around the globe. Because of the unique services it offers to inform a big audience or to supply information for centralized supervision and control, even this industry is increasing.
There are challenging AV projects for bigger audiences when the application is unique and requires a customized visualization solution. A single monitor screen is insufficient for projects like show rooms, board rooms, public displays, university halls, lecture halls, conference centers, traffic control centers, police supervision centers, utility supervision rooms, security supervision rooms, industrial control, and supervision centers, or even mission-critical control rooms, which require more information.
In these projects, the answer entails using a video wall, which allows numerous visitors or operators to view a sizable area of multiple monitors that displays all the necessary information. They require the information for management, regulation, operator cooperation, or entertainment.
How is a video wall set up?
Step 1: Select the number of monitors for your video wall. The design must meet both the general project criteria and the application needs.
Step 2: Buy a video wall controller.
Step 3: Install and enjoy.
How to Build A Video Wall:
Unique ways to show video material include video walls. They work well in lobby and workplace entrance settings. Additionally, they can be beneficial in theatres, museums, and even schools.
Building a video wall largely depends on its purpose and what you want it to be able to achieve. This post will cover several ways a video wall can be built and set up. A video wall is just a bunch of monitors connected to make one big screen.
OnSign TV is available for video walls. Creating content is essentially the same as publishing it to a standard screen. Screen resolution and aspect ratio are the only two minor considerations.
An overview of the available technologies is provided below. The video wall construction can be done in one of three methods. Look them up:
Daisy Chain:
Video wall creation is made more accessible by built-in features on professional digital signage displays. They link one screen to the other through DVI, HDMI, or DisplayPort. Daisy chaining is the name of this procedure. Additionally, each show is set up based on where it is on the video wall. Player to the first monitor, and depending on how your video wall is set up, all TVs will display the correct “tiled image.”
Video Wall Controller:
The simplest video wall implementation is this one. A little box called the Video Wall Controller has input choices for one or more video feeds. Your video feed will subsequently be divided by the box into several outputs. You can change the output’s format based on the Video Wall Controller. For instance, 2×2, 3×3, 4×4, 4×1, etc.
Graphic Boards:
The simplest method for creating a video wall is to add more than one video card to the Windows machine being used as the player. Regular video cards will work for this, but we advise purchasing professional graphic cards if you want multiple displays. This will make adding 12 or more screens to a single Windows PC simple!
Installing and configuring your Windows desktop will allow the monitors to be set up as needed for your video wall. Run the OnSign TV Windows Player App at this point. Set screens if you right-click the application and choose “Toggle Full Screen.”