Planar Mosaic Architectural Video Wall Showcases University's Art Program

St. Xavier University takes great pride in all of its educational programs, especially its arts curriculum. Recently, it implemented a digital video wall in a gathering space within its library with the goal of showcasing the curriculum and the work of St. Xavier art students. The unique video wall – developed by Planar Systems – depicts students' work in many art mediums in a way that inspires discussion, interaction and collaboration among current students and faculty, while also helping to build appeal for the program among prospective students and other constituents.

"The Planar video wall is a way to demonstrate the robustness of our art program and show the experience and capability that students gain from it," says Mike Grimm, St. Xavier's Associate Director of Production Services. "It has brought such attention to the art program that other departments have expressed interest in having their own video walls."

Recommended by the systems integration firm, Conference Technologies, Inc.®, based in St. Louis, Missouri and supported out of its Chicago, Illinois location, the new platform is the Planar® Mosaic™ Architectural Video Wall, a pioneering category of display technology that makes use of new sizes and shapes of video displays – including the first truly square display – to both enhance creative expression and take advantage of the new class of content (including 4K) that is now available. Planar Mosaic video walls redefine interior spaces by providing a dynamic new way to deliver art and information. Displays can be mounted in any position relative to each other, and individually at almost any angle. Further, they do not have to be physically mounted next to each other; rather, there can be space between them and content can flow to and through them and a continuous image can still be achieved.

"No other video wall technology on the market offers the visual impact and the configuration flexibility of Planar Mosaic," says John Laughlin, CEO of Conference Technologies, Inc.

Unique display sizes create visual interest, appeal and inspiration

Based on the video wall design that Grimm and his students created, it was determined that a combination of two Planar Mosaic display sizes would work best in the library space: the 22-inch square (AD22- Salvador™) and the 55-inch rectangle (AD55 - Vincent™). The configuration consists of four AD22-Salvador and four AD55-Vincent displays, physically connected to each other and mounted at a 45-degree angle to provide visual interest and a distinctive finished shape. The eight-display array easily accommodates the modest library wall space in width and height. Because Planar Mosaic displays have an ultra-slim profile (a total mounted depth of 3.6 inches and a bezel width as narrow as 5.7 mm), the result is an installation that strongly resembles a piece of artwork. It is one that inspires students to create compositions that capitalize on these new and unique digital platforms.

Planar Mosaic engineered with cost and user requirements in mind

Planar Mosaic also features off-board, rack-mountable power supply modules that can be located away from the video wall, thus minimizing heat and noise. Power cables can be daisy-chained through a group of Planar Mosaic displays. For St. Xavier, this eliminated the need for power outlets behind each display, a feature which kept installation costs down.

The image quality of Planar Mosaic factored into its selection as well, as a goal of the video wall is to attract students, visitors and others into the library space. Whether a video, still photography or other graphical content, it all can be seen clearly from a distance. This owes to Planar Mosaic's brightness (700 nits), clarity and crispness, contrast ratio, and its ability to handle 16.7 million colors. These features, combined with a commercial-grade LED backlight, also enable a vibrant picture even in conditions of high ambient light.

Planar sets high standard for support and backup

The university and Conference Technologies, Inc. both gave high marks to Planar for the support it provided on the library project. First, the company ensured that all of the Planar Mosaic video wall displays and components would be delivered on the university's tight timetable (the video wall needed to be in place and operational prior to opening of fall classes). Second, Planar technicians traveled to Chicago and were on site to assist in the video wall installation. "Few, if any, other manufacturers make this kind of commitment. It was a huge benefit to have these experts on hand to ensure that the installation and startup went smoothly," John Laughlin says. Lastly, Planar stood behind the Planar Mosaic project in a distinctive way: by backing the Planar Mosaic video wall with an industry-leading 3-Year Advance Exchange warranty.