Digital signage is a part of everyday life. And, like most of us, I don’t really think about it – except, perhaps, when it captures my attention. Digital signs just do their thing quietly weaving into the background of our lives.
That changed for me this past week when Robert Hanley, CEO of Home Video Studio, invited me to provide Adobe Premiere Pro training at his annual convention which was held at the Peppermill Resort in Reno, Nevada.
(All video images © Peppermill Hotel and Resort)
When I first walked into the hotel I was overwhelmed by huge, dazzling video walls – hundreds of them – filled with amazing high-resolution scenic video imagery from around the world. Panels that were 10, 15, even 20 feet wide. Even standing next to them, the displays were gorgeous.
NOTE: The hotel calls these images “Windows on the World.”
I had not seen digital signage used to this extent before. These giant monitors were filled with unique moving scenery videos, advertising, signage, schedules… moving images were everywhere.
I wanted to find out how they kept images flowing to all these screens.
SOME BACKGROUND
The Peppermill is a Las Vegas-sized hotel/casino. It grew – like Topsy – out of the original Cafe Milano and Fireside Lounge into the mega-hotel it is today. Privately and locally-owned, the hotel was founded in 1971, currently has about 3,000 employees and runs 24/7. It’s a common sight, I was told, to see CEO, William Paganetti, touring the hotel daily, note paper in hand, looking for things that need fixing or ways to make the hotel better.
HOW IT WORKS
During my visit, I contacted Chad Clarno, Director of Technical Serves for the Peppermill, to learn how all this worked. Chad graciously provided a short tour so I could take a look behind-the-scenes.
In brief, each one of these screens – and they could be 20 feet long or tall – act as the video monitor to a hardware video player. The secret is that each of these players stores the video it is playing locally, rather than being fed dynamically from a server.
The scenic videos were the work of Joe Ness. Originally an independent filmmaker who traveled the world looking for captivating nature scenes, the Peppermill was so impressed with his work that they acquired his company. He and his team of five continue to shoot video exclusively for the hotel.
Joe’s library extends back over 20 years, which provides the hotel a vast library to choose for their screens. Once the video is shot, Joe determines which shots appear on which monitor. (Most shots run about ten seconds before the next scene appears.)
Source video is stored on servers in a typical data center. But, videos are not played from the server. Chad laughed and said that if he played live video off their servers for each screen, it would bring their network to its knees.
Instead, source clips are assembled into playlists. A typical playlist runs for 24 hours. However, advertising and room signage will vary, depending upon the display need.
Source clips are built into a playlist, which is downloaded from the server to a local video player attached (or near) to the screen. The Peppermill is transitioning from players from Scala.com to those from BrightSign in order to display 4K images more efficiently.
(A typical BrightSign video player. The hotel uses several different models depending upon need.)
Using software from BrightSign, Chad and his team groups all the monitors into channels. For example, all the monitors displaying ads for a specific restaurant are on Chanel 1, all the signage for the ballroom is on channel 2, horizontal scenery walls on Channel 3, vertical walls on channel 4 and so on. (Though, in truth, channels are much more granular than that. With hundreds of monitors in the hotel, there are dozens of channels.)
Once the playlist is created, each video player checks in every 15-30 minutes to see if the playlist has changed. If so, it downloads the new playlist and stores the video locally so that no network traffic is needed for playback.
(A “rollable” monitor, with an integrated video player)
Video players can be integrated into the sign, like this movable unit. Or a BrightSign player is mounted to the back of a standard monitor screen which is then mounted to the wall using a standard VESA mount; this is the most common option. A BrightSign player receives media via Ethernet and displays the 4K video using HDMI.
NOTE: Many of these monitors are simply standard TV sets in a variety of sizes and rotated vertically. Currently, the Peppermill favors Samsung displays.
(Typical wiring closet. Tripp-Lite boxes convert between HDMI and Ethernet. Two six-channel video players are at the top of the image.)
Or, video players are collected and stored in a wiring closet. This is an example of video players which are near the display, but not actually attached to it. The network signal comes in via Ethernet into the two 6-channel Scala.com video players at the top. These output HDMI signals – one for each monitor – which travel to a Tripp-Lite converter which converts the HDMI signal into Ethernet for transfer to the monitor. There, another Tripp-Lite converter changes it back from Ethernet to HDMI.
All video files are stored locally on the video player. This means that network bandwidth is only needed when the playlists change. Some playlists – like locator signs – never change. Other signs change daily.
NOTE: The reason the converters are needed is that HDMI has an effective distance of 10 feet. Ethernet can carry signals for up to 300 feet. Not all video players can be attached to the back of a monitor.
OPERATION
It isn’t just spectacular scenery that video displays are used for. Signs, with JPEG images, are used to identify locations, like the names of ballrooms…
(There are four discrete digital signs here.)
Or provide a calendar of upcoming events.
Or decorate the general environment with colorful, moving video that changes every ten seconds.
Video walls are everywhere and tightly integrated into the decor of the hotel.
TEAMWORK
Content is created by a variety of sources. For example, ads are created by the in-house advertising group. The scenic videos come from Joe Ness’ 5-person video team. And, clients often bring video content for their events.
The IT infrastructures (servers, switches, cabling et al) is handled by a traditional IT department. I was interested to learn that all this digital signage lives on its own network, totally separate from the internet. This protects against external hacking into a monitor.
Chad’s team works between IT and content. There are 50 people on his team, divided into four departments.
NOTE: I met one of them – Lily – who helped me set-up audio playback for my presentation. She was the person that introduced me to Chad, which is why I’m giving her a special shout-out here.
SUMMARY
From server to playlist to channel to monitor – it was fascinating to go behind-the-scenes and discover how this works. I’m grateful to Chad Clarno for sharing his time and expertise – especially on such short notice.
It was a very fun visit.
10 Responses to Windows on the World – Display Technology on Steroids
An excellent, informative look at other uses of video production out there. Thank you.
Phil;
Smile. Yep, this was a fun busman’s holiday.
Larry
This was a really interesting article. We use Brightsign players to drive our digital signage where I work too and, as a guy who comes entirely from the video production side, I find them very easy to use. They are also relatively inexpensive. You can manage multiple players from a single cloud interface and push new content out to any player from there. For players that don’t have a network connection available, you can also publish your content to an SD card and pop the card into the player. They also support touchscreens which we use at our building entrance to help visitors navigate to where they need to go. One note, I do believe the overall company, like the players, is called Brightsign and not Brightview. Brightview is a different digital media player company and product.
Don:
Thanks for catching the typo – it should be BrightSign. I corrected the article.
Larry
It turns out Larry Jordan is also an excellent reporter. See news. Cover the story.
That was a fascinating look, not only at the video and technical side, but also the fact that the hotel recognizes that part of its business model includes all aspects of AV/video production/IT.
I wonder how long and extensive was the learning curve. There must have been a lot of trial and error before they were humming smoothly. That’s a lot of infrastructure and maintenance. They are also investing a lot of money to maintain that operation.
Great read.
Caesar:
Something I didn’t report is that the hotel started in the mid-1970’s as a restaurant/lounge. Then, it gradually expanded as space around it became available. In other words, it was not all built at once.
Because of this, their IT infrastructure expanded as the property grew. Joe Ness had his own company that shot these gorgeous videos – and because a part of Peppermill as growth allowed.
So, rather than tackle a very complex project all at once, they started small and kept growing.
Larry
I’m wondering if this is similar technology to that used in the Vincent Van Gogh & Disney Experience rooms that are scattered around the nation…anyone know?
I visited the Van Gogh exhibit locally, but nobody there could explain the tech to me!
Greg:
I have no idea. Perhaps another reader does.
Larry
Thank you for your excellent and informative article, Larry.
This on top of your exceptionally fine training sessions at the event.
While teaching, photographing and videoing at the same HVS conference, and even using one of those massive monitors as a giant key light for portraits, I simply took them all for granted.
Your in depth reporting here leaves me with deep appreciation for the Video, Production and IT team at The Peppermill.
( Chris was one of the two lead instructors at the HVS conference where I was also privileged to speak.)
Chris, I was taking them for granted as well. Until I really looked at one and wondered: “How does this actually work?”
Larry