Visitors to Sprint Center in Kansas City, MO, are greeted by a 70-foot media wall featuring interactive audio and video technology. They can experience music, video, and games through a touch-screen panel, gesture recognition technology, focused audio, or even their own cell phones.

To create this incredible interactive experience for the more than one million guests visiting the Center annually, Sprint enlisted a team of display designers, creative agencies, interactive software developers, and audio/video integrator Mission Electronics. Mission Electronics knew they needed to offer the Sprint management team a reliable system that provided versatility, room for growth, and consistently high-quality images. Their choice for managing the video sources: the Sierra Pro XL™ 3232V5S wideband video and stereo audio routing switcher.

The Sierra Pro XL router was chosen for its performance and reliability. In addition, both Mission Electronics and Sierra Video met the challenge of a tight installation time frame – less than two months to the live date. According to Todd Nelson, certified technology specialist (CTS) at Mission Electronics, “When we were designing the system, we specified a router with a 1920×1080 bandwidth and RS232 control. The client needed high resolution for computer signals, as well as the ability to manipulate the software almost instantaneously. Sierra Video was able to deliver all these things in one product that could meet our deadlines.”

Mission Electronics designed an audio/video system that feeds a 4×4-foot video cube consisting of 16 40-inch LCD displays, plus two additional displays on either side of the video wall. The Sierra Pro XL router is rack-mounted behind the video wall, along with the APC network control and the audio processing unit. The router currently sends signals from eight different computers, but its 32-output capacity allows further expansion as the system changes.

Mission Electronics powered the system with Scala 5 networked software for digital signage and interactive technologies. The displays can showcase a single picture, 16 different pictures, or even blocks of four pictures by using the Sierra Pro XL router to direct the various signals. Visitors to Sprint Center, the nation’s number five arena, have enjoyed interactive games with 3-D infra-red motion-sensing technology, multizoned audio that changes as the content on the screens change, and games and live data feeds controlled by phone commands.

“The Sierra Video router runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and has never had a hiccup,” Nelson said. “The capability of the display is constantly changing, so a reliable, versatile router is one of the most important components in the system.”

Jerusalem, Israel – February 11, 2007 – Kramer, a worldwide supplier of innovative and reliable signal management products, today announced its participation in an extensive HD video project at Gulfstream Park, a state-of-the-art horseracing and entertainment facility, located in Hallandale, Florida. The brand-new park offers simulcast betting, racing replays, and sports TV, distributing high-definition video of the events on over 350 large-screen plasma displays and 11 giant LED and rear projection displays throughout the site. Facility architects and designers deployed an extensive suite of Kramer and Sierra Video products to meet the project’s complex signal management needs.

Owned by Magna Entertainment Corp., North America’s number one operator of horse race tracks and one of the world’s leading suppliers of simulcast racing content, Gulfstream Park is the prototype facility in Magna Entertainment’s mission to restore thoroughbred racing to the top of the betting industry. While the park features amenities such as restaurants and luxury suites, the technological achievement was in its world-class audiovisual system, designed by system contractor Westbury National Show Systems.

Installed over a three-month period, the audiovisual system was designed to give patrons the upscale, exciting atmosphere of a Las Vegas casino. “We had a client with a great vision,” said Brock McGinnis, Sales Manager of Westbury National. “We helped prepare them for the next 20 years technologically.” Requirements such as satellite video conversion to computer graphics video, signal flow, and signal management characterized the challenges of the proposed system.

With input from racetrack architects The McCasey Group and White Radio, the Canadian market leader in audio and video product distribution, Westbury National specified Kramer and Sierra Video products for routing the high-definition video throughout the three-story building to outside displays. Over 700 Kramer and Sierra Video products, including matrix switchers, scalers, distribution amplifiers, twisted pair transmitters, and receivers were used for the project.

“We recommended Kramer and Sierra Video for this project, knowing their quality, durability, and value proposition,” said Serge Pieters, White Radio’s National Product Manager for Video Products. “The race track was looking for a specific feature set, and Kramer and Sierra Video products fit the bill, outranking competitors in installation product variety and meeting nearly every application dead-on.”