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Scotland's University of Aberdeen enrolls digital signage video walls

Scotland's University of Aberdeen deployed digital signage video walls to create a visually engaging and immersive education experience in its new library building.

August 15, 2014

Scotland's University of Aberdeen wanted to create a visually engaging lobby in its new library building that would provide students, staff and visitors to the library with an immersive educational experience while also keeping them informed about university news — so the school installed digital signage video walls using RGB Spectrum's switching and display processing products, according to an announcement from RGB.

AV solutions provider Streamtec designed the Sir Duncan Rice Library's display system, which consists of two video walls installed on the library's exhibition space. RGB Spectrum's Linx 1800 Matrix Switcher provides flexible routing of signals throughout the system, while its MediaWall 4500 Display Processor and QuadView HDx Multiviewer enable multiwindowing capabilities on the video walls.

Visitors entering the library are greeted by a huge five-by-five video wall of 46-inch monitors. Twelve digital signage players provide input signals that are routed through the Linx switcher to the MediaWall processor. These signals may be displayed in up to twelve windows of varying sizes and positions that are scaled across the 25-screen array of monitors. 

Library staff can select a different preset window layout to quickly change the appearance of the video wall. An interactive console located in front of the large video wall allows viewers to search for and display information about donors to the library.

On the opposite side of the exhibition area facing the rear entrance of the library, is a smaller, three-by-three video wall surrounded by a seating area for up to 50 people. This area is often used for lectures, seminars and presentations during school visits. A lectern located beside the wall allows presenters to input sources from a desktop or laptop computer. The lectern directs these signals to the switcher, which routes them through the QuadView multiviewer and then to the wall for display.

The Quadview multiviewer configures up to four sources plus a background into a multi-window display which is scaled over the video wall by the monitors' internal scalers. Presenters can change the sources displayed by choosing a different preset layout. When the video wall is not being used for presentations, the digital signage players provide signals, such as images of paintings or artifacts from the university's impressive collection, for display on the video wall.

The switcher can also route signals to the exhibition area that is located between the two video walls. This room is typically used to display rotating collections of the University's art and artifacts. The room supports both projectors and monitors, and specific display devices are installed as required for particular exhibits. Cameras mounted within the exhibition space also provide images for display on the video walls outside.