Overview
A bowling centre near Grand Rapids, Michigan, hung a Taylorleds LED video wall about 22.5 metres wide above 12 premium lanes. The wall is built from 360 tiles and splits into 3 HD zones, one over every 4 lanes. Ohio integrator LED3 chose the panels, tested them at the factory and flew the whole wall on truss.
The job is a few years old now. It still answers questions integrators ask on any large venue screen today. How fine does the pixel pitch need to be? How do you hang it? How do you drive it from the AV system already on site?
AVD distributes Taylorleds LED displays across Australia and New Zealand. Bowling centres, pubs, clubs and entertainment venues here face the same decisions.
About Spectrum Entertainment and LED3
The Spectrum is a 62,000 square foot (about 5,760 m²) entertainment complex in the Grand Rapids area. It has a 40-lane bowling alley and a banquet room that seats 280. It also has 3 full bars, 4 golf simulators and a live music stage. The venue is owned by brothers Mike and Ron Eaton.
About a year before the screen went in, the owners built a VIP space for corporate events. That boutique room holds 12 premium bowling lanes. The Taylorleds LED video wall now hangs above them.
LED3 is an LED company based in Ohio. It started in 1999 as a production company, projecting large screens at events. Founder and partner Clare Neff runs it with a core staff of 8. Technical project manager Brian Barry led the project. He spent 10 years touring with illusionist Franz Harary, whose shows used large LED displays.
The Challenge: One Screen, 12 Lanes, 3 Separate Feeds
Mike Eaton Sr. met LED3 president Bruce Neff at a trade show. The brief was to run HD video above and across all 12 lanes. Corporate clients needed a backdrop for whatever media they brought to their event.
- It had to work as 1 wall or 3. Each group of 4 lanes needed its own feed, so the display had to split into 3 sections.
- Bowlers watch from a long way back. Lanes are a standard 53 feet (about 16 m) deep. The pixel pitch had to look sharp from the foul line, without paying for density nobody could see.
- The building had to carry it. The owners and the builder decided to dead-hang the display from the roof steel. They first checked the structure could take the extra weight plus possible snow loads.
- Crestron was already in. Mike Eaton is a Crestron dealer, so the new wall had to work with the Crestron gear on site.
The Solution: A Taylorleds LED Video Wall on Truss
Barry vetted several manufacturers in early 2019 while construction carried on. He went back to the complex several times to set up demos for the Eatons. He chose Taylorleds Vapor Shine (VS) tiles at 3.9mm pixel pitch.
“This was good enough for the distance from the foul line, and also provided true HD above each zone.”
Brian Barry, Technical Project Manager, LED3
The weight of the tiles and how they are serviced mattered as much as the image.
“The fact that Taylorleds’ panels are ultra-light and slim coupled with the ease of an all in one removable control and power pack, which are accessible from front or back, made this really the right product for this venue.”
Brian Barry, Technical Project Manager, LED3
What Was Deployed
| Component | Detail | Role in the System |
|---|---|---|
| Taylorleds Vapor Shine (VS) 3.9mm tiles | 360 tiles, 45 wide by 8 high | A wall 73.8 by 13.12 feet (about 22.5 by 4 m) |
| Output resolution | 3 zones of 1920 x 1024 pixels | 5760 x 1024 pixels in total, with one zone over every 4 lanes |
| NovaStar MCTRL 660 | LED processors | Drive the tiles |
| Crestron NVX | 12 units | Carry the venue’s existing sources |
| Crestron Multi-View | 3 units | Scale and route sources into the NovaStar processors |
| Power | 100A 3-phase panel | Feeds 15 separate 220V circuits for the screen |
| Data | 24 CAT 5 runs | Main data plus redundancy from processing to the tiles |
| Rigging | 75 feet of 12″ x 12″ Tyler Truss | Holds the wall from 45 Taylorleds header bar points |
How the Signal Gets to the Wall
The control path reuses what the venue already owned. 12 Crestron NVX units feed 3 Crestron Multi-View units. Those route into the NovaStar MCTRL 660 processors, which drive the tiles. Crestron handles scaling and routing for every source on site.
With 3 Multi-View units, each zone of the Taylorleds LED video wall can show its own content. The same setup can also run one image across the full width.
Testing the Panels Before They Shipped
Wiring and power were largely in place by June 2019. LED3 then sent Barry to the factory in China for a Factory Acceptance Test (FAT).
“We like to do this as a matter of form to make sure nothing gets shipped to the US with any problems.”
Brian Barry, Technical Project Manager, LED3
Small sections of the Taylorleds LED video wall were built at the end of the line. Barry checked that panels looked right from angles up to 160 degrees. Pixel tests confirmed the RGBW output was consistent. The team also measured lag to make sure the panels kept up with the processing.
How the Wall Was Hung
Corporate Live of Kentwood, Michigan, supplied the truss, motors and rigging. The Taylorleds LED video wall hangs from 45 header bar points. The points connect to 6-foot Liftall gakflex slings with 5/8″ shackles.
During the build it flew on 6 CM chain hoists, each rated at half a ton. That let the crew add panels as they went. When it was done, the structure was swung into place onto permanently welded turnbuckles. A team of 6 from LED3 handled the install.
Key Outcomes and Results
PLSN’s write-up doesn’t give hard numbers on the results. The article does show what the venue now has.
- All 12 premium lanes sit under 1 Taylorleds LED video wall. It can run 3 separate HD feeds or act as one backdrop for a corporate event.
- Sources from the existing Crestron system can go to the wall through the NovaStar processors.
- The panels were checked at the factory for viewing angle, colour and lag before shipping.
The owners were happy with the integrator. Mike Eaton Jr., who was the link between LED3 and the owners, called LED3 “awesome”. He said “I would highly recommend them to anyone.”
Choosing a Taylorleds LED Video Wall Today
The Vapor Shine tile doesn’t appear in Taylorleds’ current fixed indoor range. If you are planning a similar Taylorleds LED video wall now, start with the lines listed today.
Taylorleds describes its Wafer Ultra (WU) series as true 16:9 panels. Pixel pitches run from 1.2mm to 2.5mm, plus COB options at 0.9mm and 1.2mm. Taylorleds quotes brightness of 600 to 1,200 nits.
According to Taylorleds, the WU cabinets are cable-less and the modules snap into place with magnets. Hubs and power supplies are reached from the front. Each panel has 4 screws for adjusting to an uneven wall. It can hang from a bracket, stack on the floor or mount on a wall.
For a bowling centre, the lesson from this job is about distance. Lanes are about 16 m long, and bowlers watch from the foul line. LED3 chose 3.9mm for that distance. A finer pitch would add cost the crowd can’t see. A boardroom or retail wall viewed up close is a different case. That’s where the finer WU pitches earn their place.
Why Taylorleds Suits Entertainment Venues
This job shows what matters when a Taylorleds LED video wall goes into a working venue.
- Light tiles make dead-hanging simpler. The Spectrum’s wall hangs from roof steel that had to be checked for the extra weight. Barry named the light, slim panels as a reason he chose them.
- Service doesn’t need a wall cavity. The control and power pack comes out from the front or the back.
- It slots into existing control. The wall runs on NovaStar processing fed by Crestron, so the venue kept its source routing.
- Taylorleds has done casino and sportsbook work too. See how a Taylorleds screen anchors a $100m casino sportsbook upgrade.
Venues like this often need to send live sport to many screens as well as one big wall. For that side of a job, read how a sports bar runs 81 displays on AVPro Edge MXNet AV over IP.
Partner With AVD
AVD distributes Taylorleds across Australia and New Zealand, from fixed indoor and outdoor walls to rental LED. Maybe a client wants a screen over their lanes, bar or function room. We can help you pick the pitch and plan the hang.
Contact the AVD team to talk through a Taylorleds LED video wall for your next venue project.
