What is a video wall?
A video wall is a special multi-screens setup that consists of multiple computer monitors or television sets tiled together contiguously in order to form one unified large screen. The TV wall, display wall, data wall and media wall will all be referred to as a Video Wall.
Typically, multiple display devices including LCD panels, LED panels or rear projection cubes (DLP cubes) are tiled together in a matrix to create a single logical screen (the Video Wall), on which any large electronic display of a video image or images can be displayed in a presentation format.
Why is a video wall required?
The video wall has several advantages and attributes, such as high-definition display, consistent brightness, more video image quantities, mixed source resolutions and formats, flexibility of customizing presentations and the centralized displaying/control that single displays cannot achieve otherwise.
Reasons for using a video wall instead of a single large screen can include the ability to customize tile layouts, greater screen area per unit cost, and greater pixel density per unit cost, due to the economics of manufacturing single screens which are unusual in shape, size, or resolution.
Video walls can be found in control rooms, command centers, Network Operations Centers (NOC), Tactical Operations Centers (TOC), data centers, call centers, security and surveillance facilities, stadiums, and other large public venues.
What is a video wall controller?
Simple video walls can be driven from multi-monitor video cards (computer graphic cards), however more complex arrangements may require specialized Video Wall Controllers or Processors, specifically designed to manage and drive large video walls. Software-based video wall technology that uses ordinary PCs, displays and networking equipment can also be used for small video walls (Typically no more than 16 displays, for example 4x4 video walls). To make large scale video walls (Typically up to 144 displays, or more), a Video Wall Controller is necessary.
With specialized Video Wall Controller devices, an image is scaled across the whole video wall or multiple images are spread out across the video wall. This can also be a combination of both in the case of Picture in Picture (PIP).
A video wall controller takes one or several inputs (sources), and split the content for delivery onto multiple displays, and generally enable administrators to manage the configuration or contents of their video wall. There are several main types of video wall controllers: hardware-based, PC-based or software-based, and daisy-chain display based.
