The Client
Harrisburg University of Science and Technology is a private institution located in downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The University provides Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics focused curriculum (STEM). Accredited in 2009, Harrisburg University offers STEM specific bachelor's, master’s, doctoral degrees and certificate programs.
As a member of the National Association of Collegiate eSports (NACE), Harrisburg University has fully embraced the rise of collegiate eSports with their world-class one-and-only varsity team – the Harrisburg University Storm. To further bolster their program and team, a future-proofed practice facility was proposed to ensure continued success. This next-level center would allow players to practice competitive gaming in an environment that is tailor-made for the fast-paced on-line gaming world.
The Challenge
The 2,300 square-foot training facility required a user-friendly system to transport AV signals from multiple gaming stations to a large video wall for team members and faculty to successfully practice and collaborate. With a relatively close viewing distance, the installation needed to be clean and seamless without any display issues or distractions that may potentially impact gameplay during training.
To eliminate the need for any extra hardware, simplify ordering and troubleshooting, a distribution solution with integrated signal processing, scaling and routing was needed to control and support the installation. To ensure the system would handle the high resolution frame rates of simultaneous gameplay and offer zero-frame latency, only a SDVoE™ 10G system would handle such demanding requirements to support the graphics intense gameplay.
The Solution
Working with both Harrisburg University’s faculty and selected manufacturers, New Era Technology was engaged to design and develop the unique space centered around a video wall system and supported by an 10G SDVoE™ AV over IP solution. To fulfill the facilities video wall requirement, a 17 panel Barco UniSee wall was utilized. The bezel-less panels created a near seamless display of the fast-paced action. The flexible configuration allowed the players and faculty to display exactly what they wanted to see on the wall and automated calibration ensured consistent image quality throughout all training sessions.
Aurora Multimedia’s IPX series SDVoE™ 10G AV over IP solution was chosen to fulfill the distribution requirements for this unique application due to its exclusive design and features. 39 IPX-TC2 transceiver boxes and 4 IPX-TC3-WP transceiver wall plates were utilized in the facilities installation. The 10G SDVoE™ AV over IP solution with zero-frame latency met the demand to handle the high resolution and frame rates of fast-paced gaming sessions. The Transceiver design itself allowed devices to be configured as encoders or decoders simplifying setup and troubleshooting. Other features such as integrated video wall processing/scaling/routing, the Dante™ digital audio option to support the gaming stations, PoE (power over ethernet) for powered network devices and the exclusive IPX series IPBaseT® management software for device control made for the ultimate eSports facility distribution solution.
