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.

Portable Video Wall Mount Options

Portable Video Walls aren’t well understood. Frankly, people don’t usually move video walls from place to place because they’re expensive complex systems and the available mounting systems aren’t reliable or simple to move. That’s a shame, we have RPT Modular Video Wall customers who deploy large video walls 40+ times in a few months each year at self-managed trade shows and product launches in smaller cities. Our new RPT PopUp System makes it even easier.

Before you consider the RPT PopUp Portable Video Wall System, you should first look at how you will use your portable video wall. The following questions will help you define your needs and narrow down your selection of portable mounting systems.

Basic questions you need to answer:

Have you ever rented a video wall? A 3×3 video wall will typically cost roughly $10K for a three day event, where they are available. Many smaller cities won’t have easy access to rental video walls, and the costs will multiply if transport and set-up costs are added.

How many monitors will your video wall have? What size monitors?

How many times per year will you move your video wall to maximize its impact and ROI?

Will your video wall stay in one room for its lifetime?

Do you need to move your video wall to different rooms or deploy it on different floors of one facility through standard office doors or on passenger elevators?

Is the primary use for your video wall to take to trade shows? If so are these events at large convention centers or self hosted events at hotels in smaller cities or various customer facilities?

Will your video wall be part of a rental program?

Will your video wall always be deployed in one layout (example fixed as 2 Wide x 2 High Landscape Array) or do you want flexibility and future expandability (example the nine monitors in a 3×3 array could be deployed as two 2×2 video walls)?

What type of content will you display on your video wall, what resolution is that content produced in, and what type of video wall controller will you select to place your content on your video wall?

Who will be responsible for the basic integration of the Portable Video Wall mounting, monitors, player, power distribution, cabling and any other required hardware? Where will all that hardware be mounted?

Once you understand the purpose of owning a portable video wall, you can start looking at ways to mount it and more importantly move it.

Option to explore:

The first thing we will do is send you to another top-notch supplier, so that you can educate yourself to some options. At first glance, RPT PopUp Video Walls will seem to be significantly more expensive than this option, so if this works for you you might be able to save money. Often we find potential customers have budgeted for this type of mounting without fully understanding the limitations. Or worse, they own these mounts and moving the video wall is inconvenient so it never moves place to place.

The lowest cost and simplest portable video wall mounting system is a single cart type of mount for a fixed number of monitors. If this type of mount works for you, please understand the limitations and then choose a quality cart of suitable capacity.

Here’s a link to typical fine example of a quality cart type of single layout mount from Milestone (formerly Chief):

See: http://www.chiefmfg.com/Products/LVM2X2U

It handles up to 50” monitors and provides micro adjustments mounts for the monitors. It is assembled on site from a kit of parts (Assembly manual link: http://downloads.chiefmfg.com/MANUALS-I/LVMSeries-I.pdf) and the completed assembly measures 80.5” high x 72.5” wide x 40” deep without monitors.

This type of simple single layout cart is a good choice for a simple low cost self-integrated video wall that won’t ever be moved room to room or facility to facility. Even without monitors these carts won’t fit through standard office doors or onto passenger elevators unless you take the cart apart to move it. There are wiring passages in the frame, but you will need to integrate and enclose your power distribution and any network or video wall controller hardware you require to move with the video wall.

All of these integration issues multiply if you’re deploying larger arrays (example 3×3) and each layout of array requires a specific model of cart, there is no clean upgrade path to larger arrays or deploying a large array as two smaller ones.

If a simple cart type of mount works for you, it may at first glance seem to be lower cost than the RPT PopUp System, but the time, integration quality and total cost may vary widely.

Monitors are the most fragile part, and the most expensive:

We’ve seen a lot of poorly mounted simplistic modular portable video walls at trade shows and other events from smaller manufacturers. These can take a long time to properly align into an attractive and professional looking array, an exercise that repeats every time you move your video wall.

You really need to be 100% confident in the rigidity and accuracy of the mounting system when using Ultra Thin bezel monitors (3.5mm Bezel-Bezel like the 49″ Philips BDL-4988XC is the smallest bezel we recommend for portable video walls).

Ultra thin bezels make for easily broken monitor glass with any impact especially to corners. Quality monitors are the biggest cost in a video wall and are the most likely components to be broken when moving a poorly mounted in a portable video wall.

RPT highly recommends properly designed road cases for the monitors of a portable video wall to protect the monitors during a move. RPT partners with Calzone Cases for dual monitor road cases predesigned for maximum protection of the 49” and 55” monitors we recommend. These cases allow one person to safely move two monitors at a time.

Why RPT PopUp Portable Video Walls?

RPT provides a rugged precision portable video wall mounting system designed for modern Ultra Thin Bezel monitors.

Our RPT PopUp Video Wall deploys quickly, typically a 2 x 2 wall will be content ready in under 30 minutes, often 15 minutes.

Our Monitor stacks include standard front panels and rear cable bins to catch excess cables, this allows simple integration. As well, we build on t-slotted aluminum and that offers an unlimited number of places to secure cables and other hardware.

For more on integrating RPT PopUp Stacks see: http://digitalsignmount.com/2018/02/06/rpt-popup-video-wall-integration/

RPT offers options like rear doors to make your PopUp Video wall look finished from behind if needed:

If you’re using an HDMI over Ethernet Video Wall Controller like Userful or MonitorsAnywhere, RPT offers mounted ThinGlobal MiniPoint DS Power Over Ethernet Zero Clients at each monitor location.

We will integrate our RPT PopUp System to any desired level, from naked non-folding mounts for you to integrate all the way to fully folding and wired plug and play. Because of that experience, we’ve already answered most of the hard integration questions and can quickly deliver what you need: A reliable and safe portable video wall, or components to help you do the integration yourself.

We offer an optional RPT Modular 4U rack mounted to the back of one or more monitor stacks to carry your network, power distribution, Uninterruptible Power Supply and Video Wall Player or Controller hardware securely and neatly.

We always offer expansion and variety of deployment configurations as a retrofit at any time from a basic 2×2 array through 4 high x as many wide as you want, all without losing your initial investment. This can allow multiple smaller video walls or one large one from your pool of monitors. A common example would be one 3×3 trade show Video Wall deployed as two branch office 2 x 2 RPT PopUp Video Walls when not at trade shows.

Or a collection of several branch office RPT PopUp Video Walls merged into a 17 monitor back wall of a 20 foot trade show booth:

Simply put: RPT PopUp Portable Video Walls are a premium option that will make your Portable Video Wall easier to integrate, more flexible, more reliable and easier to deploy more often in more places.

Tell us what you need to do, you’ve answered the questions above, we have the solution.

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:

Tiling Video Wall Monitors

Tiling: Can or should you lose the Video Wall Controller?

The picture above is a 2 x 2 deployment of the RPT PopUp Portable Modular Video Wall System. This modular, expandable and extensible system allows users to safely dismantle, transport and redeploy small to very large video walls quickly, safely and accurately. The modules wheel through standard office doors and using passenger elevators. The 2 x 2 Entry level system above, in a corporate facility or local rental environment, might be a great application that avoids the cost and complexity of a video wall controller and gives users a simple single port input. Any bigger and you probably want the capabilities and expense of a Software Video Wall Controller.

In the chart above, the left column is a 4K resolution array of 2 x 2 landscape array of 1080P monitors (1920 wide x 1080 high). The third column, a 4 x 4 array of 1080P monitors is 8K displayable resolution which has 4 times as many addressable pixels as a 4K resolution.

You can also compare square footage of an array screen. Given same monitor size, a 3 x 3 array has resolution and screen area 225% of the 2 x 2. A 3 x 3 array of 49″ monitors is over 7 feet high (plus clearance from the floor) and over 10 feet wide.

Resolution Confusion

I recently had a conversation with a video wall customer that highlighted significant confusion some users can feel when implementing a video wall. His high resolution content was the simplest possible: a single 4K full screen feed of 4K movie playing from a dedicated PC in a loop for a museum environment on a 2 x 2 array of large monitors.

Were they better off buying 4K monitors or 1080P monitors? What was the simplest and most cost effective video output from the PC to the array? The question of signage monitor tiling came up, and the customer had been confused by prior misinformation. Once they understood the issues at hand, they chose an array of 1080P monitors able to tile 4K input.

What made this application possible without a video wall controller is the simplest possible full screen single input content, and a perfect match between the 4K input resolution and the 4K array resolution.

Typical Video Walls:

Typically Video Wall Arrays are built with 1080P monitors connected to a PC video card with multiple outputs, to a hardware video wall controller, or to a software HDMI over Ethernet video wall controller like Userful or MonitorsAnywhere. The bigger the array, the more wires and configuration options are available. There are excellent reasons to use Userful, Monitors Anywhere, or other video wall controllers, but tiling might be a good choice if your content is simple, your array small and you understand the limitations.

Content is important in your decision:

Sometimes we can avoid the complexities and cost of a Video Wall controller or use of a multi-output video card and the related complexity and cost. Before we evaluate and choose the best option, we first need to understand the limits of the content we will display and also the limits of the controller options we might choose.

Tiling: Input Resolution and Output resolution

Most serious digital signage monitors offer tiling options with single input and a daisy chained array of monitors. Earlier models have generally produced less than satisfactory results because they expand the 1080P (1920 x 1080) input signal to as many monitors as you have in your array. You can manufacture or simulate resolution missing from your input.

Each monitor is assigned an array location at set-up and displays only the proper assigned section of the 1080P signal for that assigned location. A 5 x 5 tiled array of monitors will display each pixel in the 1080p signal at a 5 pixel x 5 pixel “clump” of pixels that may be easily visible. Your array surface may be huge, but your resolution won’t be larger than the original input, so an image viewed from close distances might be grainy.

1080P Full Screen Content as input

If the content input to an array will always be a single 1080P signal displayed full screen, then even the most impressive and expensive video wall controller or monitors can’t improve your displayed resolution. Whether you tile in the monitors or expand in the controller the results will be basically the same. If 1080P will your only content input and will always be output to a full array screen, you will lose display resolution whether you output to a single 4K monitor or an array of 1080P monitors tiled.

4K Full Screen Content

4K inputs might be a single 4K PC monitor output, or perhaps a single 4K output from another 4K source like a 4K Blu-Ray player, 4K AppleTV, etc. If we have 4K content to display, we should have the full 4K monitor resolution from input to screen and be able to display it fully.

A “starter array” of 2×2 landscape 1080P monitors technically has exactly a 4K displayable monitor resolution of 3820 x 2160. If your content is produced and delivered in 4K resolution and will always be displayed full array screen, this seems like a perfect fit.

The newest generations of many digital signage 1080P monitors now offer 4K inputs that can be tiled over daisy-chained arrays, allowing full 4K display at full resolution 4K on a 2×2 Array of 1080P monitors without using a Video Wall Controller. The Viewsonic 49″ and 55″ and Philips 49 and 55″ Monitors that we have qualified for RPT PopUp Video Walls have this functionality to display 4K on 2 x 2 tiled array of daisy-chained 1080P monitors. We suggest that you download the manuals and understand the limitations that may vary between manufacturers and models when 4K to 2×2 Tiling.

These monitors also offer bezel compensation via the monitor set-up menus, so you’ve get everything you need to present a full screen, high quality 4K image from a single 4K input without the expense of a video all controller.

Ultra Thin Bezel (3.5mm Bezel to Bezel) 4K input 1080P signage monitors are common and have been dropping significantly in price as I write this.

In conclusion, for the simplest content and arrays, the availability of 4K monitor tiling on 1080P monitors brings reduced cost and simplicity of set-up to 2 x 2 or larger Video Wall Arrays. If your content is single output full screen understand the limitations of tiling, you can make an intelligent decision whether you should use monitor tiling instead of a video wall controller.

Ask us for more information on RPT PopUp Portable Video Walls in 2 x 2 Arrays with tiling:

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