Why Video Walls Are Everywhere
There was a time in the not-so-distant past when seeing a video wall in person was a jaw-dropping, tell-your-friends type of scenario. That has changed as video walls -- once the exclusive domain of high-rolling casinos, Times Square and Superfriend’s Hall of Justice -- can be found at your local bank, the bar where you watch the game and the lobby of your doctor’s building.
What has changed?
Video walls have become far more affordable, more functional and easier to install and maintain. It’s good news for those of us who like to be informed and entertained. Meanwhile, it’s great news for businesses that want to communicate messages and engage customers.
Let’s walk through the three factors that have reshaped demand for video walls:
More Affordable – There have always been businesses that would have loved to leverage a nice big video wall to display messages to customers, but simply couldn’t afford them. Instead they’d opt for a video projection, an analog display or no solution at all. Recently, however, manufacturers have launched extremely thin-bezel video wall solutions that are lower in price, hence opening up the product category to a new crop of customers.
More Functional – The thin-bezel factor is critical, because if old-school video walls had a draw back it was those thick lines between panels that broke up an otherwise impressive display. Manufacturers’ research-and-development groups have worked hard toward reducing those lines or bezels and the results are some super-thin options. After all, if video walls are to be pursued by more cost-conscious markets, these folks are only going to pay for them if they look great!
Of course, space is an issue for many customers as well, and the old video wall cubes required more real estate than most are willing to relinquish. New thin-bezel video walls offer a reduction in depth, so while an older video wall might have had to of been placed two or three feet away from a wall, the new smaller-footprint video walls allow clients not to sacrifice most of that space.
Easier to Service -- You might be thinking, why should a business or customer care if a video wall is easier to service? It’s simple. The easier it is to install and repair, the less manpower it requires, meaning lower costs of service and ownership. The thinner panels have facilitated this.
Previous-generation video walls were made of thick, heavy panels or cubes. It’s not difficult to imagine how hard it would be for a service team to remove a damaged panel, repair it and replace it. Now those panels are easier to remove, not just because they’re lighter but because most manufacturers have created easy-access solutions for quickly tilting or removing panels to repair.
If there’s a downside to these three factors, it’s that seeing a video wall is no longer a rare enough occurrence that you’ll tell your friends about it. The good news, however, is that businesses and customers are benefiting from affordable, clear and, of course, large displays that enhance messaging and entertainment functions.
And besides, you no longer need to tell your friends about seeing a video wall. You can Tweet about it and that video wall just might be interactive enough to display your social message. Even the Superfriends didn’t have access to that level of functionality.
