Iowa City's Hotel Chauncey uses an Extron video wall processor to create a dynamic entertainment environment

A 51-room boutique hotel located in the heart of Iowa City, the Hotel Chauncey provides a family-friendly entertainment center that offers movie theaters, arcade games, a restaurant, a full-service bar, and two six-lane bowling alleys in addition to a full-service bar and restaurant.A wall-to-wall video wall solutions was planned for the bowling alleys in the hotel when architects were designing the hotel, including a large video display for the video wall above the lanes that would display large videos.During the first floor of the hotel, the bar patrons, as well as bowlers, would have the chance to watch televised sports as well as programs interspersed with advertisements for future events that will take place at the hotel.The content shown on the second floor could be the same or different from the first floor's.

The video wall needed to be flexible so it could be used in various ways to display content in different formats, whether multiple sources were shown in any desired arrangement or a single image filled the whole display.It was also essential that the installation be as economical as possible while always delivering seamless, rock-solid performance.As part of the design process, Extron's Quantum Ultra helped.

“The Extron Quantum Ultra simplified system design and integration,” says Roy Franklin, Project Manager of Audio/Visual at Tri-City Electric. “Its windowing capabilities for the separate videowalls easily met every need at Hotel Chauncey’s SpareMe entertainment area.”

(Image credit: Extron, Hotel Chauncey)

Two SpareMe bowling alleys within the Hotel Chauncey are always busy, especially during football bowl games, March Madness, the World Series, and World Cup matches.Among the media sources within the system are four CATV receivers, two Blu-ray players, and a computer that functions as a media server.In all cases, the seeds are HDMI-based and support HDMI 2.1 specifications.Most of the content is retrieved from the CATV receivers but is accompanied by images and video clips retrieved from the computer. Tri-City Electric installed an Extron Quantum Ultra 610 videowall processor to provide a high-performance solution that is both economical and reliable, as well as enable eight Christie DWU850-GS 1DLP projectors to be driven from a single Extron Quantum Ultra 610 projector. Four professional-grade projectors are ceiling-mounted within each six-lane bowling alley to create seamless video walls. The projector’s HDBaseT input accepts AV signals directly from the Quantum Ultra 610 video wall processor, eliminating the need for individual receivers and reducing system complexity. The processor’s 10‑slot card frame is configured with two Quantum IN4HDMI four-channel HDMI input cards and two Quantum OUT4DTP four-channel DTP output cards. The remaining slots are reserved for system expansion.

The choice of Quantum Ultra was based on its extensive features and high uptime.A seamless image scaled independently across the entire canvas of either bowling alley was an essential requirement for the processor's output overlap function.Among its other desirable features are Extron AV Solutions Vector 4K scaling engine, 400 Gbps HyperLane video bus, and selectable window borders.In addition, a solid-state storage drive with write protection and redundant, hot-swappable power supplies ensured reliable operation.

The facility has two video walls, both controlled by a touchscreen in the manager's office and an identical touchscreen located in the technology room on the second floor, where rack-mounted AV sources and the Quantum Ultra processor are housed. As part of the transmission, both AV and control systems signals are included. As a result, the support staff appreciates that this system is isolated from the hotel's other systems and helps them maintain security over the videowall presentations in the hotel.