Featured Project: ClearOne Video Delivery System Helps Volvo Dealership Stand Out

Salt Lake City-based ClearOne, which makes media players and software for digital signage, among other A/V products, is helping the Volvo dealership along Manhattan’s “auto row” stand out among its competition.

Auto row runs along 11th Avenue in this bustling New York City borough, with automobile dealerships representing all the major manufacturers lining 11th from 40th to 60th. Volvo decided that one way it could make its dealership stand out was with stunning visuals and other customer engagement features, so it put in a 5’x7′ panel video wall, a virtual-reality vehicle design room, five zones of audio and a Swedish-design inspired coffee lounge. An advanced ClearOne VIEW Pro IP-based video delivery solution enables custom video sizes and remote management of the content.

Nick Ehr, owner of Florida-based electronics integration firm Broadcast Systems Inc., says Volvo knew the capabilities and aesthetic appeal they wanted but beyond that, the decisions on equipment and system design were left to the professionals.

“Volvo wanted this space to represent the brand with truly captivating designs and an exciting environment, and today that requires integrating advanced AV technologies,” Ehr said. “Their most visible need was the 5’x7′ panel video wall which makes a huge statement because it can be seen from the sidewalk outside the storefront. Because a 5’x7′ design results in a non-standard aspect ratio and pixel count, we required a scalable, flexible video distribution system, and we knew ClearOne could deliver. The dynamic abilities of the ClearOne VIEW Pro solution made it the ideal choice, allowing for custom resolutions, content scaling, and splitting the video wall into any number of custom-sized frames, even across bezels.”

Another crucial requirement of the project, Ehr says, was reliability and remote accessibility, particularly since the integration firm is located 2,000 miles from the job site.

“During the 18-month project period we traveled to New York each month to attend meetings and ensure every detail was considered and every concern was addressed,” he says. “We loaded the software on the server, so all the ClearOne pieces talk to the server. Now I can log into it remotely to check the temperature of all the displays, and if anything does get hot, the system immediately sends us an email. We can remotely update firmware, power cycle, adjust color temperature, add sources, and much more.”