Background 

Datapath's VSN970 processor was utilised as Australia's largest betting company which relocated to new premises in Melbourne. Tabcorp's previous Melbourne office was starting to show its age and as the company merged and grew, there was a need to relocate. The new Collins Square address encourages flexible working and collaboration with more than 50 custom-designed meeting spaces. The new office is open plan with agile working spaces, VC rooms and user-experience tech spaces installed byAV specialists Converged Technology.

The Challenge 

The big move also allowed Tabcorp to revisit functionality, layout and capabilities of its wagering and operations centre. From an AV perspective the most noticeable manifestation are three high-performance video walls. Tabcorp's Raceday control room is the operational wagering hub, controlling parimutuel (tote) wagering across thoroughbred, harness and greyhound races. In 2017, Raceday controlled more than 125,000 domestic and international races. The challenge was to create a video wall management solution that allowed Tabcorp to monitor and disseminate all racing information for up to 60 race meetings daily. The team's primary focus is to uphold the integrity of each race controlled, by stopping betting at the exact moment the race commences, then paying out on the correct numbers as declared by relevant governing racing bodies.

The Solution 

Each workstation has four display monitors and controllers that can select the source for each screen. An audio source selector and level unit allow the operator to hear audio for each of the sources via baby Genelec powered speakers on the desk. At the rear of the room, senior Raceday team members pay attention to the big picture. A 4×246-inch Samsung video wall shows Sky 1 and Sky 2 race meet video along with sources from Tabcorp's IPTV sources.

Powered by a Datapath VSN970 video wall processor, the 4×2 video wall has been a revelation.The new AV fit out has simplified the way they communicate and receive information.In the System Operations room, Datapath solutions power a 5x2 video wall, displaying Tabcorp's digital and online wagering activity. The screens display dashboards, Sky Racing, Keno and wagering results, which are constantly monitored.The highly flexible video wall has the capacity to display as many as 30 different sources. OneSamsung 46-inch panel can display two or four separate sources, or one image can be cast across four screens.

The brains behind the video wall operation is a powerful Datapath VSN970 processor containing a combination of capture and graphics cards that are specified to best serve the needs of the project, running WallControl 10 Pro software to manage the multiple Video walls from the one processor. Having a centralised server, as opposed to one video wall processor per room, met the client's brief, whereby any source can be sent to any of the three walls. With 22-inch Crestron touch panels in each room (which can preview any source), the number of end-point destinations totals six .

Along with Sky TV and PC feeds, the server handles over 100 channels of in-house IPTV. Three Datapath SQX decode cards take the IPTV feeds. BrightSign media players take the IPTV feed then split the audio from the video signal destined for the Crestron DSP. Datapath's Andy Lee said: "The betting industry runs 24/7 and its critical that the technology behind it allows for accurate monitoring and 100% reliability. Working with our Australia distributors, Midwich, and specialist integrators Converged Technology, we have provided a video wall management solution that delivers a win, win, win for Tabcorp – with power, flexibility and Datapath's renowned reliability.

"Michael Broadbent, Managing Director at Midwich Australia, added: "We aim to work closely with our vendor partners and our integrator customers and this project was a pleasure to be involved with. Datapath were the obvious choice for controlling hardware as they have a rock-solid track record in video control that is used in the most prestigious organisations around the world. The flexibility that their VSN processor delivers allows for anything the future may hold, while being able to manage everything with WallControl brings total flexibility for layouts across multiple displays.