An integrator upgraded an automobile museum's video wall with Black Box's DKM solution, extending 20 DisplayPort signals up to 4K over fiber, enabling an interactive visitor experience.
BACKGROUND
Car enthusiasts anticipate the glamour of a luxury
vehicle in all its glory at an automobile museum.
Visitors to the museum experience the thrill of a
sportscar via an interactive video wall encounter.
Cars in motion, mechanical information, and much
more display on the Video Wall. The wall enables
visitors to swipe through thousands of photos,
illustrations, and posters, showcasing the history o
f luxury cars.
In an effort to modernize its video wall a museum sought to extend the distance
between video outputs from 5 computers and 1 controller
PC and 20 visitor-facing interactive touchscreens that make
up the video wall.
THE CHALLENGE
The museum was looking for a way to
extend 20 DisplayPort video signals up to 4K at 30 Hz over
fiber to its video wall.
Because the relevant devices have DisplayPort interfaces,
the museum was faced with the challenge of DisplayPort’s
distance limit of 32.8 feet (10 meters). To attain longer
distances, the museum needed to use video extenders, but
the transmitters must take up as little space as possible in
the server cabinet. To transmit additional USB signals from
a touch wall, they hoped to connect a transparent USB 2.0
extension. The museum wanted a system that was failureproof,
so they required redundant power. To modernize
the touch wall, the museum envisioned installing 20 new
monitors in addition to the extender system.
Working with the museum, a large European integrator trusted Black Box for a
solution because they had a longstanding relationship with
us and a history of deploying Black Box extender solutions
for other customers.
THE SOLUTION
Generally, a DisplayPort transmission that exceeds a
distance of 10 m is accompanied by problems. Video
extenders are used to span beyond the 10 m. Since
Extenders usually require a receiver unit at the display
side and a transmitter unit at the source, the transmitters
take up a lot of space in a server cabinet. For space-saving
highly reliable transmission, we chose the 21-port chassis
that just takes 4RU of rack space for all 20 video cards and
the transparent USB 2.0 extension. All units (the chassis
hosting the transmitters and the receivers) support dual
power supplies, providing the required power redundancy
for their fail-safe operation. The transmitter cards and
receivers connect perfectly to the existing fiber cabling
in the museum, allowing not only visibly lossless 4K video
transmission over a long distance but also immunity
against possible EMI/RFI interference.
After Denis, sales representative at Black Box, proposed this
solution, the integrator approached its contact at the museum
with the assembly plans provided by Black Box, their offer,
and the setup scope discussed in advance. The customer
liked the solution very much. However, global supply chain
issues caused a longer lead time for the 21-slot housing. To
combat the problem, Denis offered the customer a demo
unit available on short notice. The customer was pleased
with the flexibility of the system, as cards can be easily and
cost-effectively exchanged in the future. For this reason,
the museum also ordered a few reserve cards right away,
to replace existing cards in case of a failure.
The museum also acquired 20 new displays, which were
procured via the integrator, in addition to the DKM
extender system to update their video wall.
THE RESULT
To address the museum’s need to extend the distance
between the source CPUs and the visitor video wall using
existing fiber optic cables, Black Box recommended a
DKM solution. As a result, 20 DisplayPort video signals
can be extended via a compact DKM transmitter housing
populated with transmitter cards over optical fiber to 20
individual receiver units placed behind the monitors. To
connect the touch control, USB 2.0 signals are transmitted
alongside the video via the Black Box system using fiber
optics.
The installation, which is not yet completed, is part of the
ongoing modernization of the museum. The solution
will enable visitors to the museum to obtain detailed
information about the car manufacturer. The multi-touchscreen
will provide visitors with an interactive experience.
The DKM solution meets every one of the museum’s
requirements: it is failure-proof, is backed by redundant
power, and its compact design takes up hardly any space
in the server cabinet. The museum will be able to distribute
DisplayPort signals up to 4K 30 Hz to the display over long
distances via a compact system using the existing fiber
optic cables. Cards can be replaced quickly and easily in
case of failures or system changes. The museum is very
well equipped for future technologies while maintaining
compatibility with existing equipment. This means that
they can react quickly to innovations and changes in
requirements to deliver a state-of-the-art interactive user
experience to its visitors.