Metropolitan interactive doing business as Metinteractive, which provides strategic solutions for architecture, communication and technology, partnered with Mitsubishi Electric DiamondVision to deliver the massive LED video canvas showcased in the WynnBET Sports Bar at the new Encore Boston Harbor hotel and casino.
The 123 x 10-foot Mitsubishi Electric LED videowall, with sports ticker below, is the showpiece of the venue with its rarified size and resolution: It is one of the biggest fine pitch LED displays located outside Las Vegas. The elevated, wraparound screen immerses customers in sports content as they enjoy a full-service bar and cuisine close to the gaming floor.
Metinteractive, which has enjoyed a previous relationship with Wynn Resorts, was part of the original construction team for Encore Boston Harbor, at the time the sixth-largest private construction project in the US. Metinteractive went on to team with Mitsubishi Electric on the AV install for the WynnBET Sports Bar, a venue that ups the ante for sports bars everywhere.
“Metinteractive and Mitsubishi Electric have worked in tandem on projects for more than five years,” notes Michael Mascari, North American Sales Manager for Diamond Vision Systems at Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc. “This was our first true partnership working with Wynn Resorts and the consultant to deliver a solution that meets the needs of the facility. We complement each other’s strengths very well. Mitsubishi Electric has been a leader in the large-scale LED market for over 40 years, so we brought our strengths in manufacturing and quality assurance to the table. Metinteractive focused on putting pixels where they needed to be and developing the user interface to deliver the complete user experience.”
The nearly 20K Mitsubishi Electric direct-view 1.56mm LED videowall, with a pixel resolution of 19,800 x 1,680 and full 10-bit HDR-ready display for the highest image quality and color fidelity, spans three walls of the sports bar with two 90º wraparound corners.
“It’s built off of our Flagship XL Series including custom curves on the fine pitch with zero clearance technology,” Mascari explains. “It installed quickly with precision connections and did not need a custom mounting frame behind it, which helped reduce costs. Our custom bracketry enabled us to create the smoothest corners with the angles and radius: we wanted to make it perfect.”
The sports ticker below is the same Mitsubishi Electric LED product as the main screen and has a 19,840 x 180 pixel resolution; it streams scores driven by C-Scape’s data service as well as custom content.
“The challenge for the physical display was fitting it within the bar’s architectural design and construction to minimize changes and cost,” says Mascari. “The other challenge was delivering content to a screen that big. Metinteractive led the charge to design a content system and a graphical interface that made operation easy for staff who are not AV professionals. Our collaboration was key to making it work – delivering the best resolution possible within the budget, displaying the content everywhere and anywhere the client wanted it, installing the display with as little impact on cost and scheduling as we could, and providing an architectural fit and finish to match a very architecturally aesthetic building.”
“It was a very collaborative process from start to finish,” says Metinteractive Senior Engineer Richard Gold, “determining the resolution; driving the screen with NovaStar MCTRL4k processors; the up-signal chain with DirecTV, Tripleplay and in-house video distribution; the Crestron control. Everything went smoothly thanks to all time spent in the preparation process so everyone knew what was going on and could contribute to the success of the team. This was a large wall to install in an area where there were many trades working, but we were still able to get it up in under two weeks.”
“The install went very smoothly,” echoes Metinteractive’s Project Manager, Don Ellis. “A lot of that was due to Mitsubishi Electric’s design and specifications and how the LED panels fit together.
“The main screen offers a choice of eight layouts each composed of windows, which can be filled from a list of 50 or more sources,” he adds. “That gives WynnBET a lot of flexibility. Once sports gambling is approved in Massachusetts, they will be very knowledgeable about how to utilize the screen to drive revenue at the betting windows.”
Ellis points out that Metinteractive designed the system’s user interface so the average WynnBET employee without AV training or experience could easily deploy it. “The 24-inch touch control panels are graphical with simple iconography instead of programming,” he explains. “They are easy to use and configurable: If you can pick out a movie on Netflix, you can use this.” Outside the control room, touch panels and iPads are available to the bartenders and wait staff who can fill customers’ requests for content they want to see.
Metinteractive and Mitsubishi Electric also collaborated on the double-sided LED video ring that encircles a huge hanging LED sphere near the entrance to the venue. The ring can display promotional content or the sports ticker feed.
Additionally, Metinteractive installed 24 channels of distributed audio throughout the lounge, two bars and two restaurants as well as 95 flat-panel displays, including seven in the control room. “Any sources available to the system can be sent to any TV on the floor through a unified control interface,” says Gold.
The showcase WynnBET project helped pave the way for future partnerships between Metinteractive and Mitsubishi Electric. “Our partnership can provide a complete, end-to-end solution for customers,” says Mascari. “We can deliver the kind of polished experience premier clients are looking for – and at a surprisingly affordable price.”
“This is a model for the future,” Ellis predicts. “Together we can deliver an entire AV solution from distributed audio and video to LEDs for all markets – performing arts, sports, corporate, public spaces. I’ve seen a lot of LEDs and radius LEDs, and to make them look good and seamless is a challenge. But Mitsubishi Electric’s end results at WynnBET were pretty spectacular.”
Gold observes that he’s “never seen a project go as well and as smoothly as this one did,” and in this era of supply chain delays that’s saying something.
“A lot of manufacturers are having on-going issues with the supply chain, but we have never had to implement a force majeure clause,” notes Mascari. “We delivered the screens on time and kept all of our promises.”
