AV Application Note:
Taipei LongShan Subterranean Mall

The Challenge:

Install multiple LCD display screens throughout an underground mall, and keep display broadcast control conveniently centralized.

The Solution:

Beacon AV video extender plus tidy CAT5 cabling.

Products used:

Beacon AV-702S8 Transmitter; AV-701ES, AV-701EXS Receiver

Benefits:

A single, clean, easily installed, economical CAT 5 cable carries both audio and RGB video signals. Broadcast content management is conveniently located in the control room. Additional screens may be added at any time.

Suitable for:

Shopping Malls, Hospitals, Broadcast Stations, Factories, Theaters, Retail Stores, Churches, Schools

The Story

Retailers in a multi-level underground shopping mall in Taipei wanted to increase their exposure and accessibility to shoppers through tailored digital advertising, with video and audio transmitted to multiple display screens. Distance from the control room to the farthest LCD display screen was 250 meters (820 feet).

Formerly, VGA signals were sent via VGA cable, with a maximum feasible distance of about ten meters (30 feet). Now, with VGA over CAT5 solutions, distances up to 300 meters (1000 feet) are practical--more than enough for the proposed mall installations.

Mall management contacted Beacon Computer Inc., and decided to start with a deployment of forty-six 30-inch LCD display screens distributed over two floors. Seven Beacon AV-702S8 transmission units were cascaded in the control room, and connected to the source PC. CAT 5 cable was run, and an AV-701 receiver unit was connected to each LCD display. More distant screens, on another floor, were fitted with enhanced AV-701EXS receiver units with RGB skew adjustment controls to compensate for the signal attenuation normally associated with longer cable runs.

When everything was hooked up and turned on, mall management and merchants alike were happy with Beacon's sharp video images and clear audio.
They also like the convenience of having a centralized, easily controlled broadcast source, and the economy and convenience of CAT5 UTP cabling.