Tale of Two Screens

Monitor based video walls and Direct View LED Video walls both have their places but do not yet directly compete with each other. It’s important to understand some of the key differences between these two display approaches.

NEC Display Systems, one of the few manufacturers that offer deep choices for both technologies, had impressive examples of both types of video walls on display at their recent NEC NYC 2018 Showcase.

RPT’s DigitalSignMount.com business specializes in challenging and non-conventional mounting of video walls, modular and portable in most cases and often without a wall to mount on. We try to follow trends that might affect our growth and to become aware of new business sectors we can provide modular video wall mounts for and for those changes that might obsolete or require new thinking in our expertise.

Except for some trade show modular displays of Direct View LED systems for importers and resellers, our video wall mounts are usually for simple and artistic arrays of narrow bezel video wall monitors from 22”- 65”, but we are expanding into creative modular mounting systems for Direct View LED.

RPT 98″ Pop Up Portable Video Wall with 2 x 2 Array of 49″ Monitors with 1.8mm bezels:

Two Hypothetical Walls:

For this discussion we’ll build two hypothetical top quality 110” Video Walls for discussion. We’ll ignore video wall controllers and mounts for this discussion; those choices should be part of the planning only after you’ve chosen the appropriate display technology for your application needs and budget.

Direct View LED:

This discussion is based primarily on indoor video walls, so for Direct View LED wall we will choose the NEC F Series in the finest available pitch (1.26mm). Conveniently the F Series are a 16:9 aspect ratio and when arrayed matches well in size to NEC 55” Monitors. The 1.26mm pitch is the finest in the NEC Direct View LED line, and in the standard 608mm x 342mm module there are 480 pixels wide x 270 pixels high.

Sixteen panels of NEC LED-F012i, in a landscape array 4 modules wide x 4 modules high, assemble into a nominal 110” diagonal Video Wall with resolution of 1920 x 1080 ( Full HD). In Oct 2018 we searched online for best pricing and the best price we found was $ 6,829.99 per panel, for a cost of $ 109,279.84 for 16 panels only.

Monitor Based Video Wall

For equal size comparison we have chosen the NEC UN551VS Ultra Narrow Bezel (0.9mm) 1080P Video wall monitor. Four of these monitors form a 110” diagonal Video wall with pixel pitch of 0.63mm and total resolution of 3840 x 2160 (Full 4k). Typical pricing at this writing is <$4,500 per monitor, total approximately $18,000.00 for monitors only.

Cost per resolution comparison

On an equal surface area, panels only basis, the Monitor based video wall is 1/6^th the cost for 4x the displayable resolution. Stated in another way a single pixel of Direct view is about 24 times more expensive than a single pixel on a 55” monitor. These costs will move closer with time, but are unlikely to become anywhere near equal in the near future.

Viewing distance differences

The use case where most people currently find Direct View LED video walls is large physical format walls where the viewing distance is long so that pixel pitch can be larger without affecting the visual image. In these applications the significantly higher pixel density of Monitors adds no improvement in visual quality because the human eye can’t resolve the extra resolution and all that extra resolution is essentially wasted. One significant benefit of the NEC F series Direct view video walls is the ability to choose from a variety of pixel spacing on the same mechanical framework.

There are many viewing distance calculators available online, for this discussion we have used one from Starico. They calculate a factor called Visual Acuity Distance which they define as:

“The Ideal Viewing Distance based on Visual Acuity: This distance is calculated based on the reference resolving power of the eyes. The human eye with 20/20 vision can detect or resolve details as small as 1/60th of a degree of arc. This distance represents the point beyond which some details in the picture are no longer able to be resolved, so pixels begin to blend together. Closer to the screen than this may result in the need for higher resolution display.”

The calculated Visual acuity distances for our hypothetical video walls:

110” 1920 x 1080 (1080p) resolution Direct View LED Video Wall calculates at 14.3 feet.
110” 3840 x 2160 (4K) resolution Monitor Based Video Wall calculates at 7.2 feet

Depending on use, video walls are often quite close to the customer, and at those distances the Monitor based video wall enables a much cleaner visual without visible (to viewer) pixels at closer viewing distances. Even a 110” video wall at the rear of a storefront window display is generally too close for good visual image quality even using the finest resolution Direct View LED Video Wall modules, but if the budget permits, a high mounted storefront video wall designed to be viewed from further way inside a retail mall benefits from the lack of bezel gaps, higher brightness and better reliability that Direct View LED offers.

Other differences and considerations:

Direct View LED can have very high refresh rates, much higher number of displayable colors and higher contrast ratios and often higher maximum brightness.

Direct View LED panels have longer life and when well installed less maintenance will be required over the lifetime of a video wall. Failed modules can be replaced in small sections while Monitor based video walls will require replacing an entire monitor.

Monitor based video wall monitors with ultra thin bezels are fragile units that must be carefully handled and mounted to avoid inter screen contact and especially edge and corner impacts which will destroy the screen. In portable or rental applications, we recommend 3.5 mm A-A monitors for reliability at the expense of larger bezel intrusion into the image.

Summary:

Direct View LED Video Walls will grow in the number of applications and installations as pixel pitches get finer and costs drop more significantly. To properly justify the higher cost of Direct View LED will require a complete understanding of the applications they are being proposed into and the benefits that derive from Direct View LED. In a small but growing subset of video walls, Direct View LEDs make perfect technical sense. Monitor based video walls won’t compete where they can’t meet technical advantages of Direct View LED.

Monitor based Video Walls will continue to dominate the Video Wall market. The significantly higher resolution and lower cost per pixel or area of screen, plus the ability to view high quality visuals (albeit with small bezel gaps) from closer distances will continue to make monitors the best choice in most retail and commercial installations. In this hypothetical example, you could potentially deploy six monitor based 110” video walls for the display cost of a single 110” Direct View LED wall.

Often Direct View LED are chosen for portability reasons. The simplicity, accuracy and rigidity of the modules and connection systems are an excellent advantage for large portable video walls that need to be hung or ground stacked. RPT Motion has great reliable systems for portable arrays of Monitor based video walls perfect for events and trade shows at significantly lower capital cost. Please contact us for more information:

Multi Deployment Portable Video Wall Systems

Introduction:

RPT Motion ( www.DigitalSignMount.com) designs and builds two related portable Video Wall systems:

RPT Modular Portable Video Wall System: For larger video walls (up to 5 high usually) and specific use cases like trade or road shows. These systems are custom Modular Custom built portable free-standing video wall structures designed to support larger arrays in a single or a variety of configurations. Building block modules connect quickly via precision machined quick connectors. Individual modules are small enough to be hand mounted by one or two people to quickly form a rigid ground supported precisely spaced system of RPT GHB drop on monitor mounts.

RPT PopUp Portable Modular Video Wall System: A system of rolling Monitor Stack modules that deploys 2 or 3 monitors high. Monitor Stacks connect horizontally with precision machined structural spacers building arrays as many monitors wide as required. RPT PopUp Modular Video Wall Systems are designed with RPT GHB drop on monitor mounts for fastest simplest deployments almost anywhere. This system is ideal for rental use where flexibility and speed of deployment adds significant value.

RPT’s GHB Mount is common to both of these systems. The GHB mount was developed for portable applications and is a precision machined 3 axis adjustable modular mount that allows quick drop on of monitors to an exactly repeatable position as last adjusted. The GHB mounting system maintains the planarity of the monitor faces and the three axes of micro-adjustability allows quick and precise non-contact bezel alignment and the use of monitor manufacturer corner connection keys.

White Paper:

Multi-Deployment Options for Modular Portable Video Wall Systems

Wall mounted video walls are now relatively common and are becoming more affordable. Larger arrays are becoming more popular as video wall controllers evolve making them easier to configure and simpler to deploy and manage content.

Direct View LED panels and Thin Bezel LCD monitors each have their respective places and uses in the marketplace. Each technology brings a set of limitations, control and mounting complications and costs to potential uses. One key differentiator is that any requirement for the audience to be physically close to the video wall favors the use of high resolution LCD monitors.

This paper concerns portable video walls based on arrays of ultra thin bezel monitors, typically 49” or 55” 1080P video wall monitors.

Video walls return investment by enhancing image or by improving event and meeting results by displaying informative presentations with content and resolution that is difficult or impossible to present well on a single monitor or projector based system.

Video walls usually rely on delivering an audience to the video wall and are mounted permanently in high traffic area. Portable video walls can remove that constraint, letting you take the video wall on the road, allowing you to deliver the content to potential customers at events, trade shows, training or product launches.

Video walls are a significant investment, whether rented or owned, and they become more expensive when they need to be portable. Portable video walls must to bring their own wall structure to the deployment, be free-standing and modular for quick precise assembly. To maximize use portable video wall systems need to be able to be moved quickly and deployed into multiple configurations and locations. The simpler and more reliable a portable video wall deployment, the lower the overall cost of operating it becomes and the more places it will find good uses.

This document explores the use of a very complete and flexible RPT Modular Video Wall System combined with RPT PopUp Modular Video Wall System with using a single pool of Ultra Thin Bezel LCD monitors to serve multiple use cases within a single corporate environment or rental operation.

Example Monitor Pool: 25 x Ultra Thin Bezel 49” or 55”

Use Case One (Largest Deployment): 5X5 for Event or Theater Use

Use summary: Performance or presentation stage backdrop to replace front projection display.

Frequency: 4-6 Times per year for 2-14 days per event.

Mounting Structure: RPT Modular Video Wall: 5 high x 5 wide Landscape ground supported freestanding for 49” 3.5mm bezel to bezel monitors.

Video Wall Controller: Userful Software Video Wall Controller with ThinGlobal Minipoint DS POE Zero Clients mounted on structure. Userful allows maximum flexibility to quickly configure large video walls for a wide range of inputs and content in any layout desired on the 5×5 array. The HDMI over IP basis of Userful allows small POE Zero Clients to be mounted on the modular structure so that any monitor can drop onto any mount without re-configuring the video wall array.

Mounts: RPT GHB-L3 provide secure drop on and easy adjustment of monitor alignment.. The GHB-L3 mounts were designed for portable video wall use. The GHB-L3 mounts maintain planarity of video wall arrays and have 3 axes of micro-adjustment to quickly align bezel to bezel spacing. The mounting system is slightly asymmetrical to allow the ease use of corner key alignment plates common on video wall monitors.

Layout: Fully modular, six legs with leveling feet, two layers. Bottom layer is 3 monitors high based on 3” x 6” structural t-slotted aluminum. Top layer is 2 monitors high based on 3” x 3” structural T-slotted aluminum. Longest module is less than 90 inches long and heaviest module is less than 75 lbs for easy assembly by two workers without heavy lifting equipment.

Flexible Deployment options: This RPT Modular Video Wall structure will allow the video wall to be quickly deployed as either 3 or 5 high and user choice of 2, 3, 4 or 5 wide.

Expansion: One video wall five monitors high will be the vertical limit, but additional columns wide can be added at any time in the future, subject to continued same monitor model availability.

Storage of frame and mounts: RPT Modular frame and RPT GHB Asymmetrical mounts will be disassembled and stored on wheeled storage carts. RPT, as much as possible, will present modules on storage carts in normal assembly order with allowance for less than full deployments if possible.

RPT Modular Portable Video Wall Full 5×5 Frame assembled:

RPT Modular Portable Video Wall 5×5 with Monitors:

Note: Height of bottom monitors is a design variable and can be higher. Front feet will typically be covered with a modular carpeted step.

Use CaseTwo:

Multi-wall multi-facility Deployment for varied uses of smaller video walls

Use summary: When not deployed in Event or Theater mode: Some, most or perhaps all of the 25 monitors will be deployed into smaller arrays in one or more rooms or perhaps different facilities.

Typical deployments will be freestanding 2 x2 and 3 x 3 video walls. The mounts for this use case will be RPT PopUp Portable Video Wall System. We will suggest a mix of 2 High RPT PopUp Monitor Stacks and several RPT PopUp Stacks with the 3 High fold up option. This allows easy expansion should a location require a larger deployment (more walls, bigger walls, or both) for any specific event or purpose.

RPT PopUp Portable Video Wall deployment options:

The RPT PopUp Portable Video wall system uses the same RPT GHB monitor mounting system interface. This reduces overall cost and allows easy exchange of monitors between the RPT Modular 5×5 Video wall and the RPT PopUp video walls. Any monitor in the system can drop onto any mount in the system.

For simplicity of content and set-up, these smaller Multi Purpose Video Wall deployments may or may not have a Userful controller. The controller may have local PC with enough HDMI outputs, or be a controller-less 2×2 or 3×3 daisy-chained tile mode from 4K monitor input.

Here’s a 2 x 2 RPT PopUp Portable video wall, front and rear view for typical trade-show or against the wall use. For corporate or event use we usually propose optional rear covers and doors.

Usually one monitor stack per deployable video wall will have a RPT Modular Rack for the power distribution and video player or controller for each 2×2 or 3×3 RPT PopUp video wall.

The RPT PopUp Stacks are wheeled and flexible. The optional third level deployment is via a fold-up top layer shown folded down in picture below, so they can be deployed 2 or 3 high.

This back folding option keeps the rolling height under normal office and truck door levels and allows rolling onto passenger elevators. The stacks without monitors can roll and deploy almost anywhere in any of your facilities.

Basic Two high stacks can have the third level retrofit at any time, making it easy to start small and expand over time.

Flexibility of deployment:

RPT PopUp Monitor Stacks quickly connect horizontally with precision machined structural bars, and multiple arrays of like or different deployed height can be connected. This allows the great flexibility of deployment almost anywhere,

RPT PopUp Monitor Stacks can be deployed as wide as you have monitor stacks and connectors. Mixed height arrays are easy, so 2 high and 3 high stacks can move and deploy easily and be connected into much larger video walls.

Here’s an example of a 17 monitor array connected from two 2×2 RPT PopUp Video walls flanking a 3×3 RPT PopUp Video Wall. In this deployment case with this hypothetical 25 monitor pool, there would still be eight monitors free allowing two more 2×2 arrays available for deployment at the same event or elsewhere in the company.

Monitor Road Cases:

Monitors must be removed to clear doors when the video wall is moved room to room. For monitor safety during transport or for storage road cases are required.

Some number of Monitor road cases will be required to reasonably protect and transport the monitors from Theatre Use deployment to Multi-Purpose deployments. If required, the transport of monitors and mounts will generally be accomplished by private truck with ramp, lift gate or loading dock level load and unload. Any monitors moving location to location will require road cases and also road cases for any monitors not deployed for safe storage between deployments.

The monitors may not need to be all loaded into road cases at any one time, but more road cases mean fewer trips to harvest and re-deploy monitors between uses. The Calzone-RPT road cases we supply are specially designed for monitors with the RPT GHB interface bracket attached and each holds two monitors.

For a 25 Monitor pool, presuming local deployments for mixed use cases like this system we’d suggest at least seven double monitor road cases to store or transport up to 14 monitors. This limits a complete re-distribution of all monitors to maximum of two loads and assumes that at least 11 monitors must remain deployed on structures at all times.

Summary:

Portable video walls expand your opportunities to present your message to more audiences at more events than a fixed video wall installation. Flexibility and ease of deployment will increase the opportunities.

RPT Motion supplies portable video wall systems with precision modular mounting technology that allows fast reasonable cost deployment. The ease of deployment will result in higher utilization of the significant investment that portable video walls represent.

A system like the comprehensive 25 monitor one outlined here is a very significant investment. It is important to remember that the modularity of the RPT systems will protect your investment by allowing expansion. Acquisition of this comprehensive 25 monitor system could be staged over a period of time by a series of fully functional sub-set acquisitions. A single 2×2 RPT PopUp Portable Video Wall can immediately bring a new dimension to your presentations and events and become the first part of a much larger future system.

Request more information or ask us for a copy of this white paper in pdf format.

Array Tilt?

April 16, 2018
by PeterRatcliffe

Should a Video Wall Array have tilt? If it’s mounted above the viewer’s head, probably. Stand in a fast food restaurant with digital signage high up and you’ll find most of the monitors are tilted downward. Easy in a single row of monitors, less easy for a large array.

Logically, we usually see video walls mounted flat on a wall. This is perfect when the visual center of the array is at about eye level. It’s easy and simple, but perhaps not as effective as it might be.

Many arrays will be mounted at a higher level. Often they are at a level where pedestrian traffic can walk under the video wall. We recently proposed an array to be mounted on a large structural pole in a public display. In that location, and due to the audience viewing position, we felt it would be critical to seriously consider tilting the array downward towards the viewers, who would be standing 15-25 feet away.

Most mount manufacturers don’t want to have this discussion because they can’t tilt an array conveniently or safely. RPT’s GHB Mount was designed to modular and with the option to be tilted as needed.

Some boring numbers are essential. If we use home theater guidelines for viewing distance (2-5 times width), a 2 wide x 2 high array of 55″ monitors should be best viewed from between 16 and 40 feet. If we mount the bottom of the array above door level, say 96″ off the floor, and an average person standing has their eyes about 65 inches off the floor, we’d need to tilt the monitor between 7-18 degrees downward to aim the visual center of the array at the viewers eyes more comfortably.

Here’s a rendering of a front view of such an array

And here’s a view from the side showing 7 degrees of downward tilt. Depending on monitor and installation, RPT GHB Mounts can be installed with up to 15-20 degrees without custom design.

If you’re mounting an array above the heads of your viewer, make sure your message doesn’t go over their heads and talk to RPT Motion about a tilted array mounting system.

RPT Motion can quickly propose solutions to allow you to mount tilted arrays of large monitors which will improve the presentation of your message.

RPT PopUp Video Wall Integration

From naked RPT PopUp Monitor Stacks ready to integrate into your own PopUp Portable Video Wall, to custom fully integrated systems, RPT has got you covered. We know what is required and available to help you ensure that your RPT PopUp Portable Video Wall system is a reliable success in the shortest possible timeline.

We don’t sell monitors with our RPT PopUp mounting systems, because that would just add to the final cost of a portable video wall. Instead, we qualify and approve several high quality Video Wall monitors in both 49″ and 55″ sizes and build standard quick delivery systems to use with those monitors. We can likely build custom dimension RPT PopUp Stacks to accommodate customer needs or existing fleets of monitors in rental programs that want to add RPT PopUp video walls to their offering. In today’s competitive market, you’re frankly better off buying monitors on our list from the best priced dealer or re-seller in your area or on the Internet.

Monitor Road Cases are a must for any Portable Video Wall, even one that stays in the same facility for its entire working life. We don’t sell Monitor Road Cases, but we have a monitor case partner, Calzone Case Co. who build reasonably priced, very high quality custom road cases that store, protect and safely ship two monitors per case. We work with Calzone Case Co. to ensure that the approved monitor with RPT GHB mount interface attached fits perfectly. RPT supplies a part number for the case and then you deal directly with Calzone Case Co. or you can choose to get your own cases built at your own effort, time and risk.

The RPT PopUp Portable Modular Video Wall System is purposely designed to allow very flexible customer integration. We’ve done a lot of integration and the results are available for our customers. RPT can provide a lot of advice and components to simplify integration of the perfect PopUp Portable Modular Video Wall system for your own choices of hardware. We’ve solved most of the problems you or your local integrator will face. If you’d rather, and are willing to work with the hardware the RPT knows will work, RPT can build and deliver custom fully integrated RPT PopUp Portable Video Wall systems.

Modular means flexible. We can offer many optional features like rear door panels to fully enclose and hide the wiring and mounts while still allowing easy access for adjustment. Because our system is based on structural t-slotted aluminum extrusions, we have tremendous flexibility to add things that you may need.

Unless you’re doing the simplest tiling of a single input 4K image onto a single zone 2 x 2 or 3 x 3 video wall, you will need to choose a suitable multi output media player, or a PC that can handle as many monitors as you want, or a hardware video wall controller, or a software video wall controller like Userful or MonitorsAnywhere. Each solution has specific benefits and costs, as well as limitations. But in any of these solutions, being portable means you’ll need to enclose and transport electronics and wiring.

We prefer having a RPT PopUp Video Wall system with a master stack that has the Video Wall Controller and network infrastructure on-board and connected. The basic video wall controller infrastructure rolls in with one of the stacks.

RPT is a fan of Zero-Client based Video Walls. Zero Clients are basically HDMI over Ethernet decoders. The same exact Zero-Clients and network infrastructure can handle MonitorsAnywhere’s PC based Network Video Wall or Userful’s Software Video Wall Controller. Userful has huge capacity for monitors, inputs, content and complex layouts including artistic layouts and Cloud based management. MonitorsAnywhere basically turns your video wall array into a giant Windows monitor, so anything you can display on your Windows PC can display on your video wall.

Here’s an example of an integration option: RPT PopUp 19″ Rack (4U) that can be added to the rolling base of any standard RPT PopUp Video Wall stack at the rear.

There is a latching rear door and a latched down top cover to protect wiring once your system is deployed. We use industrial grade wire mesh on all other sides for airflow. We can easily customize the height (rack depth) and the types of panels or mesh as needed.

A small PopUp Stack detail that we include standard: You’ll note that just on the other side of the rack is a wire bin that’s built onto every RPT PopUp Stack. It’s an open top enclosed place to drop the extra wire you’re sure to have when quickly setting up RPT PopUp video walls.

This rack has a small format (not rack mount) PC based Userful Server held in place with an RPT CPU Clamp and there’s also a 19″ rack mount POE (Power Over Ethernet) Gigabit Switch. The T-Slotted construction makes it easy to add tie-down points for cables with a low cost quarter turn wire tie mount.

With the top cover off below, the black cables are power cables to the Userful CPU and to the Network POE Switch from the left side mounted surge suppressed power strip, the Blue cables on the right are Ethernet cables to this stack’s two ThinGlobal Minipoint DS POE Zero Clients, and the red cable is to our in-house network. Note at the bottom left are the only two external connections required to this stack: Power and if needed for content a wired Network.

Userful is immensely powerful and can handle up to 100 Monitors per high-end Userful Server. RPT PopUp Video Walls can connect as many stacks wide as you own monitors. If you needed a really large array, we’d simply add a second RPT Rack onto an adjoining PopUp Stack to your system to house a Rackmount 4U high-powered Userful Server and of course a much more powerful POE switch with enough POE Ports ad power plus a 10 Gigabit Ethernet to link the few feet between them.

Even with low monitor count Zero-Client based video walls, you’ll probably want to mount a power strip on each RPT PopUp Monitor Stack to supply power to up to four monitors. Then between stacks you need only run an Ethernet cable to each Zero Client on the other PopUp stacks to the POE Switch connected to the Userful Server or Monitors Anywhere Windows PC.

On large arrays, you will likely place the Server Equipped PopUp Stack somewhere in the middle of the array and cable the network outwards towards both sides. The latching door makes it easy to reach the Userful Server power switch or make a connection even when the top cover is latched down to cover the wiring.

Please contact us with any questions you have, we’re happy to be on your RPT PopUp Portable Video Wall integration team.

RPT PopUp Portable Video Wall Stacks

RPT PopUp Stacks are the building blocks of the RPT PopUp Portable Modular Video Wall System. Each RPT PopUp Stack is a precision mount for a column of two, three or four 49″ or 55″ Ultra Thin Bezel Video Wall monitors in landscape orientation.

An introductory YouTube video on this system:

Here’s the PopUp Stack family picture for the RPT PopUp Portable Modular Video Wall System. Each model shown folded and in the stages of deployment: Folded (if it’s a foldable version), Two High, and Three High. Not shown is the RPT PopTopUltra, an optional quick connect fourth row of monitors, which can be selectively added to RPT PopTopMax and RPT PopTop three high stacks if you need to deploy huge arrays.

RPT PopUp Stacks, without monitors, are designed to roll through standard office doors, onto passenger elevators, and for local deliveries into trucks or trailers, or for Common Carrier LTL freight into the smallest possible road-cases.

RPT PopUp Stacks connect horizontally with precision machined quick connect spacers. In a few minutes these precision spacers form RPT PopUp Stacks into a precisely spaced, rigid and precision aligned structural array of RPT GHB series 3-axis micro-adjustable mounts ready to drop monitors onto.

RPT PopUp Starter System:

RPT PopUp Portable Modular Video Walls protect your initial investment by offering an upgrade and retrofit path to build larger arrays, so there’s nothing to lose by choosing a small starter system.

RPT PopUp Portable Video Wall basic starter system, a 2 x 2 array, front and rear deployed views. This level is the starting point for small business local rental offerings as well as for corporate or commercial uses where a video wall that can quickly move to a different location within a facility or a different facility is valuable.

Extending the RPT PopUp Video Wall System:

By adding as many additional stacks as you need, any rectangular array of 2, 3 or 4 monitors high can be quickly deployed. Larger arrays require a proper Video Wall Controller. RPT can add optional custom mounted ThinGlobal POE ZeroClients and with an HDMI over Ethernet video wall controller like Userful’s Software Video Wall Controller or MonitorsAnywhere Network Video Wall it becomes very simple to reconfigure one or multiple video walls and display contents from one or multiple inputs to quickly display complex content on the array. For speed and connection convenience, RPT has options for including a small rack mounted Power Distribution and Gigabit POE Network Switch options on some of your stacks.

Here is an example of a 2 high x 4 wide array, assembled from two RPT PopUp starter systems plus one extra set of precision connector bars.

RPT

RPT PopUp Portable Video Wall Multi-Height Arrays:

PopUp Stacks in an RPT PopUp Video Wall have the same bottom row height, but don’t need top be deployed at the same top height. Here’s a simple multi-height deployment assembled from a single three high stack added to a 2 x 2 starter array:

Here’s a PopTop 3×3 Portable Video Wall

Thinking outside the box a bit, owning a 3 x 3 system with 9 monitors, adding a single extra RPT PopUp Stack to your RPT PopUp Video Wall System allows you to deploy two 2 x 2 Arrays in the same or different locations. Or deploy a single 2 high x 4 wide array, plus as many other combinations of 4 single or joined stacks as you have monitors for. That kind of deployment flexibility maximizes flexibility of uses, as well as customer options and deployments in rental businesses, significantly increasing use and payback or income.

The RPT PopUp Portable Modular Video Wall System allows you to quickly deploy small 2 x 2 to truly monster video walls quickly, accurately and reliably. To protect your investment you can start with a small system small and upgrade or expand capabilities incrementally as your needs or markets grow.

Single facility, corporate road show circuit, or small to large rental programs: just let us how big your array should be and how you would imagine using a freestanding portable video wall and we’ll propose a system that meets your needs today and expands to your future needs. Contact RPT Motion for more information on the RPT PopUp Portable Modular Video Wall System:

RPT PopUp Video Wall Introduction

This will begin a series of posts leading to the launch of RPT Motion’s Portable PopUp Video Wall.

PopUp Kiosks, PopUp Boutiques and PopUp Stores are modern buzzwords and marketing tools. We’re also seeing growth in small private single supplier trade shows, training events and seasonal product launches. Usually self-managed, these events are popping up in more locations, at smaller venues, even local hotels.

Portable PopUp Video Walls would be a great marketing tool, but quality video wall arrays are difficult to PopUp. As a result, rental video walls are usually not available in smaller markets or hotels where lower potential volumes make local supply either inaccessible or very expensive. Even in larger markets Rental Video Walls are usually expensive to deliver, set-up and configure. With high set-up costs, smaller or shorter events just can’t afford a video wall. As a result, conventional Video Walls are expensive to rent and unavailable in many smaller markets.

Portable Video Walls are difficult to deploy multiple times quickly and usually difficult to reconfigure to different array sizes and inputs. This is largely because there has been no available fully integrated Portable Video Wall deployment solution that is flexible, cost effective and convenient. As well, the deployed quality and ease of content presentation varies widely from horrible to acceptable.

RPT Motion Inc. has been in the industrial automation business for 37+ years and has built custom modular portable video wall mounting systems for close to a decade. These have generally been custom built for customer trade shows and corporate road shows. Some of these systems have been deployed hundreds of times since new and are still in use. When we’ve attended trade shows with our custom modular video walls, we consistently have the fastest installed and best aligned wall in the show. But our first generation modular video walls were aimed at single layouts, rectangular or artistic and were excellent free-standing mounting systems without full integration.

Integrating a complete plug and play, high quality portable video wall system is a complex multi-disciplinary task that takes time, money, knowledge and risk beyond what most Video Wall end users are willing to invest and usually beyond their level of technical competence. Often the solution chosen is expensive and more often it’s a tinkerer’s nightmare to set-up and configure late into the night before the show.

What if you could walk in and confidently PopUp an aligned and configured video wall and display content in under an hour? Then anytime you needed to move that wall, even through people sized doorways, down hallways, into passenger elevators and again have content up in an hour or less at the next location? What if, using the same hardware you could configure a 2 x 2 wall today, a 3 x 3 wall tomorrow and even a 3 x 30 wall or any other combination of walls if you had enough monitors, space and content?

An example of RPT PopUp flexibility adding value would be a small Video Wall rental operation owning 18 monitors, usually deployed as two 3 x 3 arrays. Each 3 x 3 array could also be deployed as two 2 x 2 arrays, so you could service one large (3 x 3) and two small (2 x 2) rentals from the same pool of monitors, or deploy a single super wide array of 3 high x 6 wide at the CEO’s mansion for a March Madness Bash or Superbowl Party displaying multiple feeds from 4K and 1080P sources? With our top level PopMax series, you could deploy a 4 x 4 Array of 55″ monitors and output full resolution 8K content on a 220″ diagonal screen

In 2018 these scenarios are not just possible, it’s all easy and quick with RPT PopUp Video Walls.

RPT PopUp Video Wall: What’s Changed?

There needed to be a better way.

It’s the start of 2018 and we’re in the right place at the right time. Over the past few years a lot has changed in the technology of video walls to help enable RPT’s PopUp Video Wall Systems. The two major industry changes are Monitors and Controllers. One makes a video wall less expensive and one makes a video wall less expensive and easier to configure and implement.

Monitors: Video walls need a bunch of big monitors. You don’t need 4K monitors in Video walls because you don’t have content or display ability to benefit from all that increased resolution in an array. High quality 49” and 55” ultra-thin bezel 1080P video wall monitors, the sweet spot for RPT PopUp Video Wall Arrays, are now dropping significantly in price.

Controllers: The evolution of modern and flexible software video wall controllers with HDMI over Ethernet Zero Clients, such as Userful’s Software Video Wall Controller is advancing rapidly. The configuration of video walls and connections of content and inputs to video walls is now easier and more flexible than ever. In the simplest deployment a mid-range Userful Server can be configured as a simple appliance directing a single user output (4K or 1080P) to one or more video walls networked with Gigabit Ethernet. Extended to maximum, a high end Userful server can configure one huge or multiple smaller video walls, can use 4K and multiple 1080P inputs, Ethernet cameras, web and locally stored content all configured, scaled, scheduled and looped as needed.

A high end Userful Software Video Wall Server can handle one hundred monitors. If you needed a 2 high x 50 wide, 3 high x 33 wide, 4 high x 25 wide or multiple arrays of some random mix of heights and widths, Userful can deliver content to it. The RPT PopUp Video Wall System is 100% ready to deploy in that or any other configuration. A more likely real world example is that a 20 wide foot trade show booth rear wall can be completely filled with a 2 or 3 high x 5 wide array of 55” monitors.

Ask us for more information on RPT PopUp Portable Video Walls

Mount Basics

How much adjustment is enough?

We at RPT just can’t walk past a video wall without looking at and most likely critiquing the installation and alignment. Most video walls are not well aligned and we wonder why. Recently, at InfoComm 2017, the AV industry showcase convention, I walked the floor and estimate that fully 75% of the video walls could have been improved significantly with proper alignment and 25% of them were just plain awful. Our own industry should be showing perfectly aligned video walls, if not something is wrong with either the mounts or the installers.

Let’s face it; mounts are usually the final afterthought in any video wall project, the last thing to worry about and buy before slapping those expensive monitors onto the wall. Mounts are simple, aren’t they?

If mounts are so simple, then why are there so many badly aligned video walls? Perhaps installers aren’t as skilled as they should be? The wall was more crooked than we expected? We ran out of time, money or both?

A poorly aligned, badly installed video wall is a poor reflection on your brand and your attention to detail, so you should understand how to avoid installation problems. It begins with understanding what a mount needs to do and buying a mount that can be adjusted in your application.

RPT has researched monitor mounting and developed our own mounts where we couldn’t find acceptable alternatives in the industry. We’ve proven, in our testing, that quality Monitors are very accurate and a rigid precision assembled structure can deliver acceptable alignment without any adjustments. In the real world, walls aren’t precision structures, and installers don’t have the tools to measure and mount to less than a hundredth of an inch. SO adjustment will always be required.

There are six axes of possible monitor adjustment:

Lateral (X axis)
Height (Y Axis)
Tilt (Top to bottom relative to wall)
Pan (Side to side relative to wall)
Roll (Rotation about center of Face, clockwise or counterclockwise)
Depth (Z Axis)

Mounts you choose may offer all of these axes of adjustment, or only a few. Some axes may be achieved by combination, example Roll is most commonly adjusted by differential adjustable heights left and right and that works well. Buy onyly what you need, but choose too little adjustability and even the best installer won’t be able to deliver a perfectly aligned video wall.

The Minimum number of adjustable axes to easily achieve good alignment really depends on the flatness of your mounting surface, the skill of your installer and the time allowed to align the array.

Three axis Mounting

A well built flat wall can align an array with three axes: X, Y and Roll only. The bezel to bezel spaces can be near perfect but the planar alignment may not be 100% perfect if the array face is viewed from the side at a steep angle.

RPT’s MVW-GHB L3 Modular Portable video walls are precision assemblies. We build them with RPT GHB 3 axis precision machined mounts of our own design with excellent results. Our customers move these video walls many times per year, and set-up and alignment must be fast and accurate each time. One big advantage is that we don’t need or use a wall; we mount onto a precision modular free-standing structure that assembles flatter than most walls,

Six Axis Mounting

A badly out of true wall will generally need all six axes of adjustment and if the mount chosen has the range of adjustments, and the installer is well equipped, skilled and allowed enough time, the array can be adjusted absolutely flat and perfectly aligned. A badly aligned array with excellent mounts is the installer’s fault.

RPT’s MVW ConnexSys L6+ single or double sided freestanding video wall structures are a great six axis example. We integrate them with the Chief ConnexSys mount that provides wide range full six axis stress free adjustment system with a pull-out for installation and service.

Pull out or drop on?

Monitors should be easily loaded onto the mount. Small monitors drop on easily to some mounts. Large arrays of large monitors should have a pull-out feature to allow center monitors to be removed and replaced without removing a bunch of other monitors. Pull outs also allow easier connections after that heavy monitor is supported. There’s more engineering with pull-outs. You must confirm that the mounting wall’s structure can safely accommodate the overhung loads of your monitor’s weight pulled out to the maximum the mount allows, and one shouldn’t presume that only one monitor at a time will be pulled out at a time. You’ll need to manage a strategy for releasing the monitors or ensuring that they can’t be released by just anyone.

Stress-Free

Hard for me to believe and I won’t name names, but some big name six axis pull-out mounts for large monitors can be adjusted in combinations that twist and stress the frame of that expensive thin bezel monitor. Thin bezel monitors are expensive, and fragile. At RPT we insist that mounts never impart extra stress to the monitor no matter how they are adjusted.

Arrays of small monitors

Small monitors (VESA 100×100 and 200×200) present special challenges because there are few fully adjustable options for those smaller monitors. As a result, RPT has developed the RPT Wall Mount 3 Axis Artistic Drop on that handles rectangular and artistic layouts of small and medium monitors. We will soon release a full six axis version of the same mount, making perfect alignment of small monitor arrays easy.

Goals

Arrays of monitors should have tiny spaces between bezels. Commonly described as the thickness of a business card, approximately 0.025 Inches or 0.6mm is perfect. Not all monitor bezels are perfectly straight, so we set the design gap at 0.040 or 1 mm and ensure that there is a small gap everywhere along each edge. Gaps are essential to ensure that the weight whole stack of monitors isn’t pushing down on the top edge of the bottom monitor. A business car should slide down the gap without binding. Easy to adjust mounts make that perfect gap easy to set while harder to adjust mounts get the “good enough” in frustration and the result rarely is good enough.

Arrays should present as flat a face as possible. If the array is set back some distance and only viewed from relatively narrow front angles, this is far less important than other adjustments. If a person can walk past parallel to the face of the array, planar misalignment becomes much more obvious and just looks sloppy.

Summary

The cost differential between great mounts with enough adjustment and terrible mounts that can’t be aligned is a tiny fraction of what your video wall will cost. Don’t blame your installer if you choose the wrong mounts and they can’t install a perfect video wall, usually for cost reasons, and the results are less than optimal. On the other hand some installers don’t have the skills or attention to detail even with the best available mounts.

If you want more information on RPT Video Wall Mounting Systems or wish to discuss challenging video wall installations please contact us.

RPT Modular Video Walls

RPT Motion Inc. specializes in Modular Video Walls Structures

What exactly does “Modular” mean in the world of RPT video walls?

Basically it means that we engineer and manufacture our structural and video wall mounting systems in modules, building blocks that form a cohesive system of re-useable engineering to reduce costs, increase accuracy, speed delivery, increase confidence while allowing for very quick proposals and budgetary quotes followed by quick delivery.

Where to use RPT Modular Structures:

We generally like to start discussions by saying that if you have a structurally solid wall to mount your monitors on, then that’s a really simple problem and we’re probably not your best choice. There are many great options to mount and align your monitors. In fact we use them in many of our Modular Video Walls wherever they work well because they’re made in huge volumes and we can’t compete on the actual mounting and adjusting part of the video wall.

So at our core, RPT are the creative structural guys for video walls and large arrays. The big mount suppliers may offer custom fabricated structures, but it’s usually not their specialty or sweet spot, especially in low quantity arrays of one off or a few off.

We want you to contact us for the Digital Signage and Monitor Mounting applications that challenge you the most, the ones where you have few or no good ideas for except reaching for custom design and fabrication. Because our Modules are

Several descriptive words in explaining your array should trigger a discussion with us:

Freestanding: If your array must stand alone, bolted to the floor, or floor to ceiling posts, then we’re got many options and solutions, especially for large arrays.

Double or Multi Sided: If your array will have monitors on two or more sides, we got solutions, usually these are freestanding fixed arrays, but we can provide double sided portable arrays as well.

Portable: If your array needs to be deployed quickly and/or re-deployed many times, we’ve got great solutions.

Designed to travel Userful Modular Tradeshow Artistic Array Example:

Here’s a picture of the entire kit of RPT Modules for the RPT Modular Video Wall six monitor artistic display at Userful Booth #611 InfoComm 2017:

Here’s the frame assembled (15 minute assembly time) in our demo shop prior to shipping:

Here’s the original rendering of what we proposed:

The Userful InfoComm Booth as the array was being adjusted, an easy task with Userful:

There are 4 x 55″ ThinGlobal screens 2 x 2 with rows offset, a 39″ Vizio bottom right overlay on a rotatable VESA 100×100 Mount, and a 24″ Monitor Top left overlay on a rotatable VESA 75×75 mount. On site assembly of RPT Modular frame was less than 20 minutes, mounting and physical aligning of monitors took another 30 minutes, Userful Zero Client wiring and connection to server 30 minutes, Userful Array adjustment 20 minutes.

And playing 4K demo Content on six screens of three different manufacturers, sizes and rotations:

Modular is good for fixed installations too:

Modular construction is equally applicable to arrays that will be assembled once and left in one place for their life.

We’re seeing more requests for large freestanding interior arrays of monitors. Some of these are destined for interior outward facing video walls on widow walls. Having the wall inside the mall reduces cost by reducing monitor environmental challenges and also often simplifies permitting challenges.

Large arrays need perfect adjustment and a pull-out mounting system. RPT’s MWV-ConnexSys L6+ system integrates the excellent Chief ConnexSys Mount into the flexibility of RPT’s precision modular structural system.

Here’s an LG 47″ Digital Signage Monitor on an RPT MVW ConnexSys L6+ mount (closed) in our test area.

Here’s the same mount pulled out for wiring or service.

RPT’s Modular Structure allows rapid on-site assembly of large arrays, from a easy to move and assemble precision modules. This reduces handling issues in existing structures while increasing the finished quality of the array assembly.

Q: What do you put on the back of a large freestanding array?

A: Why not make it a back to back large array?

The RPT MVW ConnexSys L6+ can also be used back to back. They can move from concept to quote to install very quickly when compared to custom designed and fabricated options, because we’re assembling a custom structure with existing RPT modules and structure.

These arrays can be very large. Because we build on precision T-Slotted aluminum extrusions we can increase the size of components like the legs, and use all of our existing monitor mounting options. That allows us to build high stacks of monitor mounts that install one mount at a time without heavy lifting. The central leg modules connect two stacks, so we can build arrays as many monitors wide as you can imagine, afford or push content to.

I hope this explanation of what RPT’s Modular Video wall structures give you some ideas of our capabilities.

Bring us your ideas for big, small, complicated, portable, fixed, freestanding, or other ideas that need a structure for fast concept renderings, quotes, delivery, and deployment.

RPT CDS 8K Cart

Resolution moves upward constantly, and 8K video content is quickly becoming a reality. When you need to render, or edit full 8K Video or other ultra high resolution digital signage presentations, how can you present or demo your content to a group in full 8K 7680 x 4320 or even higher resolution? Userful’s Software Video Wall Server can output full resolution 30 fps 8K video and even larger resolutions for highest quality static images.

There are very few good 8K display options: Dell has an incredible but small 31.5″ 8K Monitor that you could huddle a small group around. Several manufacturers offer large very expensive and hard to move single screen 8K TVs, or you could set up a significant and power hungry direct view LED wall and move way back to lose the pixelation effects of direct view LED.

Real world deployments of 8K video in the digital signage market will likely be either 2×2 arrays of 4K Monitors or 4×4 arrays of 1080P monitors. Using 4K monitors will limit the maximum size of the deployed video wall, while the 4×4 array of 55 inch thin bezel monitors will present as a larger 220″ diagonal 8K video wall, or if you want larger choose 65″ monitors. Another benefit of the 4×4 array is that it can be divided into more discrete zones in some end uses.

Obviously, these large scale video wall deployments are technically complex and expensive. They must deploy quickly and function perfectly. How do you test hardware and software to demo a concept and content for such a huge video wall? Content over the life of a large video wall is the key to success and return on investment: Does your ongoing content development process hardware and software functionally exactly match the real world deployment?

RPT’s CDS 8K Cart, an integrated wheeled cart 98″ diagonal portable 4×4 array of the digital signage quality 24″ NEC EX241UN Ultra Thin Bezel Monitors. The CDS 8K Cart is best powered by an ultra high performance Userful Software Video Wall Server as a great answer that can grow with your future needs.

RPT’s CDS 8K Cart is fully integrated and designed to be self-contained. It’s sized to roll through a standard 32″ commercial door from your development area to your boardroom, and plug into a standard outlet. Connected to your network, content playback can be managed from a tablet or laptop via Userful’s UCC.

At present, 8K input cards are not yet available, so 8K content to be played is transferred via Ethernet to the Server for playback. We’re confident that Userful will be among the first to support 8K input cards once they become available, and RPT’s Modular CDS system allows us to expand your CDS 8K Cart array to those higher resolutions in the future.

RPT’s CDS 8K Cart is outside the 2017 normal box, but it’s not just for 8K video projects:

Portable Control Room display: The RPT CDS 8K Cart’s Userful Server can be equipped with a 4K input card, or up to 16 HDMI or SDI inputs, any or all of which can be mapped to individual or grouped monitors within the RPT CDS array. Of course, Userful’s full range of source capabilities and video wall mapping is available. Userful can support 100 monitors from one server, so a hypothetical mobile control room could even network daisy chain six RPT CDS 8K Carts (server on first cart) for a portable 96 monitor security or control system for events. For more on Userful’s Control Room capabilities see: Userful YouTube Control Room Video

The RPT CDS 8K Cart is an ideal digital signage content development platform: RPT’s CDS system is modular. The monitor array can be easily reconfigured into other layouts at any time. These include landscape, portrait, mixed and artistic arrays. One example: Userful’s Rise Vision CMS player allow you to configure any part of the 4×4 array into a Rise Vision Display. Userful can set up different Rise displays for Userful video wall groupings or single monitors and then display different presentations and schedules on each.

Multiple Array Content Development: If you need to demo, develop, present and co-ordinate high quality content for multiple arrays of different sizes and layouts, perhaps arrays in a single storefront or in different locations within a store. RPT can build smaller or larger CDS carts of any array configuration. Each additional CDS cart’s network switch would connect to the CDS 8K cart network switch with a single Ethernet cable. Once tested and deployed into the retail application, the single Userful server installation topology would be identical and the content resolution and user control functionally identical, only the size of the monitors changes. The RPT CDS 8K Cart’s Userful Software Video Wall server can control up to 100 screens in almost any combination of array layouts and input or CMS sources.

The future will have higher resolutions, bigger arrays, and more arrays per installation. RPT’s CDS 8K Cart is just one example of a unlimited number of RPT Content Development System configurations that we can build to help your video wall and content development sales grow into that future.

In a fast moving industry, we at RPT Motion Inc. look forward to helping you with your toughest challenges.

Contact RPT for more information:

RPT Content Development System

RPT Motion Inc. CDS: Content Development System for Video Walls

Content Providers are a key market driver in the expanding video wall business.

Content attracts and engages target customers to ensure best possible return on the significant investment of video walls.

Concept stage:
In the concept stage of any project, your customer seeing real content on a real video wall is an important part of the decision process.

Video Wall Content providers need better tools to develop and demo concepts and layouts, as well as ways to test hardware, software and content in preparation for “going live” with zero surprises.

Lifetime Stage:
Once a video wall is deployed, especially a large or complex array layout, a constant stream of new content must be developed, adapted, produced, and debugged for the layout of each installed video wall.
Video Wall Content providers need better tools to more efficiently develop the highest quality reliable content.

RPT Modular Video Wall Content Development System (CDS):

RPT’s Content Development System (CDS) has been designed as a highly effective platform to conceptualize, develop, present, and test multi-monitor video walls.

RPT’s CDS is an ideal platform for Content Providers to prepare and test content that exactly matches the customer’s video wall.

What exactly is RPT’s Content Development System?

RPT’s CDS system is best described as a high quality 100% functionally identical Modular Video Wall Array on a much smaller scale (physical and cost) when compared to a full sized installed video wall.
RPT’s CDS allows complete concept development, hardware and software integration and testing of complex video wall arrays in rectangular, mixed or artistic layouts.
Because of RPT’s CDS modular building block structure, the CDS system can be changed at any time to demo an almost unlimited range of array layouts and sizes.
Think of the RPT CDS as a perfect smaller scale model of video walls you sell and supply content for, exactly identical pixel counts, identical hardware functionality and identical layouts but on a smaller scale.
RPT’s CDS allows easy presentation and demo of exactly what a proposed video wall will look like with your content.
RPT’s CDS, like our full sized modular portable video walls, is built on a precision modular structural system that can be quickly reconfigured or expanded at any time to match virtually any layout of video wall that you need to sell or provide content for.
Once a concept, layout and content is tested on the RPT CDS, real world deployment is easy because the hardware and software remains identical, only the size of the monitors changes.
After full size deployment, the layout matching RPT CDS system is the perfect place to develop the stream of content that will be displayed in the real world. You can own one CDS system and in a few hours reconfigure it to layout match any of the video walls you actively develop content for.

RPT CDS Monitor Block is the building block

The magic of the CDS system is a precision machined and assembled structural monitor block based on the superb NEC EX241UN 24″ monitor. Here’s a picture of 3 CDS Monitor Blocks ready to build into an array.

The CDS Monitor blocks quickly connect into rectangular arrays using a system of precision connectors that key into the CDS monitor blocks. Bezel alignment is controlled by precision assembly, and CDS Monitor blocks can be connected corner to corner or side to side, portrait to landscape with any stagger you might want.

Here’s a typical test stand structure in our perpetually messy demo shop:

This artistic display would take about 30 minutes of assembly time to build onto a CDS Cart and connect to a controller.

You can choose to use any video wall controller you want, but we have never found a better option than Userful’s Software Video Wall Server. RPT’s CDS Monitor blocks are designed with an option for an integrated mount and ThinGlobal MiniPoint Ethernet Zero Client for Userful. That makes only two connections: a power cord and an Ethernet cable.

Our CDS wheeled carts can be built in to your needs in various sizes and usually include a RPT NetPDU module with a small 4U rack containing a Network Switch and a Power distribution. CDS Carts are modular and flexible. You can daisy chain CDS Carts with a single Ethernet cable Cart to cart.

Some RPT CDS Pictures

To help you visualize the power of RPT’s CDS system as well as the power of Userful’s Software Video Wall Controller, from a morning of testing the CDS system with four monitors in different layouts:

These are also a good example of the flexibility and power of Userful’s Software Video Wall Controller. Each new configuration took only a few minutes to set-up and align.

First layout sketch

Reality:

Next layout Zig Zag test. Note that the entire artistic array is supported only on the left leg of the stand, so we can rotate it to see what different angles do with different content. This highlights the rigidity and accuracy of the RPT CDS Monitor Blocks.

Rotated down Zig-Zag, still only supported on left leg.

A 4 monitor CDS Arch layout for a customer considering a large walk through arch with two portrait on each side bridged by two landscape. Again, Userful is wonderful at quickly getting content on any configuration of any shape or size of video wall.

If you’d like more information on how RPT’s CDS Content Development System can help you speed the design, testing and deployment of better video walls and content please contact us: