ARCHITECTURAL VIDEO WALL GIVES UNIQUE LOOK AND FEEL TO THE CASINO ENVIRONMENT
Located in close proximity to the Rockies, Monarch Casino, Black Hawk has become a popular entertainment destination for residents of metropolitan Denver. Knowing that many of its guests enjoy the mountains and the beauty of the area, the Casino – as part of its recent renovation – has brought some of the outdoors inside, displaying stunning scenic content on a one-of-a-kind video wall from Planar. As guests move from one area of the casino to another, they can't miss the Planar® Mosaic® Architectural Video Wall as a result of the unique way its video wall tiles are mounted – connected, unconnected and overlaid – and the extent to which they resemble an eye-catching piece of art.
Monarch Casino, Black Hawk is a property of Monarch Casino Resort Inc., with its sister property Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, Reno, Nevada. It commissioned the renovation of Black Hawk following its purchase from another owner and finished the renovation in the fall of 2015. The 32,000 square foot casino offers guests a choice of more than 700 slot machines, 14 table games, video poker and food served at a 250-seat buffet-style restaurant.
Video wall meets desire for a modern, fresh display platform
The Planar Mosaic Architectural Video Wall was chosen on the recommendation of systems integration partner, PSX Worldwide Audiovisual Technologies (headquartered in Covington, Louisiana). According to one of PSX's lead technicians involved in the design and installation of the Planar Mosaic video wall, Randy Jackson, Hardware Engineer, "Planar Mosaic is a way to help the casino look ultra-modern and fresh because, among other things, it does not resemble a typical set of televisions that can easily look outdated and quickly decline in performance."
The look and feel of Planar Mosaic owes, first, to its unique display tile sizes, 46-inch and 55-inch rectangles, and a truly square 22-inch tile. All three tiles are extremely bright (ranging from 450 to 700 nits) thanks to a commercial-grade LCD with LED backlight technology. They have a native resolution ranging from 960x960 to 1920x1080. Further, Planar Mosaic, not unlike an artwork, sits very close to the wall, with a mounted profile of less than four inches. "This makes it look like it was part of the architectural design," Jackson adds, "so it meets the builders' wishes and is appealing to guests."
Planar Mosaic tiles enable a creative, scalable layout and flexibility to future change
Zak Gulling - Director of Information Technology for Atlantis Casino Resorts – who was extensively involved in the selection and implementation of Planar Mosaic at Black Hawk, gives high marks for the flexible manner in which the LCD tiles can be mounted. The casino has four of the 22-inch square tiles (AD22-Salvador), three of the largest 55-inch rectangular tiles (AD55-Vincent) and eight of the 47-inch tiles (AD47-Pablo). "The Mosaic Mount™ allowed us to place tiles in a very creative layout – some connected, some un-connected and some overlaid – that has a unique, almost 3D look, so it really attracts guests' attention even in a very busy casino environment."
"In this layout – and practically any other the casino may wish to change to at a later time – the video tiles fill the wall space nicely and content flows almost magically from tile to tile regardless of their proximity to each other," Gulling adds. This is due in large part to the Mosaic Project Designer™ Software, which was used to design and preview the layout and program the assignment of pieces of content to the desired tiles. The software enables individual sources – such as a particular image – to be scaled across all Planar Mosaic LCD video tiles, or fit to appear on one or a few tiles as desired for maximum visual effect. "As a result, the mountain vistas, pictures of the local landscape or even of animals found in this area show up on the video wall in very interesting ways; it's very calming and soothing for the viewer."
Tangible benefits to integrator and end user
In the design of Planar Mosaic, Planar engineers continued the company's concept of off-board power supplies. The distribution of power keeps heat-inducing equipment away from Planar Mosaic video tiles, thereby enhancing the lifespan of the display. "And since we could daisy-chain the power from the video wall to the rack room, we eliminated the need for power outlets behind each Planar Mosaic LCD tile, which significantly reduces the installation costs," PSX's Randy Jackson adds. "But, by virtue of its design and the way Planar Mosaic performs, we only had to do minimal rack room work on it."
Monarch Black Hawk's Zak Gulling sums up the benefits of Planar Mosaic as follows: "It is the architectural art that we envisioned. It delivers beautiful content that our guests appreciate. And, it makes our casino stand out from others and provides a more memorable experience for our guests."
A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.
Doug values time with family, watersports, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. In addition to being a devoted member of his church, Doug serves as Board President for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County, Board member of Schools for Haiti and Scripture Chair of the Gideons-Portage camp.
A graduate of MATC, Lois oversees Fearing’s daily book keeping along with various HR responsibilities.
Along with Doug, Lois is deeply connected to community outreach, serving as a Board member and Fundraising Committee Chairperson for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County. She also serves on the Schools for Haiti Fundraising committee. In addition, Lois’ ongoing passion and commitment to provide care for the elderly comes from her 10-year history of working in a Reedsburg, Wisconsin Nursing home.
Lois enjoys singing, hiking, sunny days on the pontoon, and spending time with her 4 grandchildren.
Ehren drives Fearing’s technology by continually seeking out trends to enhance capabilities while supporting Sales, Engineering and Installation teams. Throughout his years with Fearing’s, Ehren’s talent and vision have joined forces to create a wide variety of projects and strategic solutions that exceed expectation.
Ehren loves music, family time, movies, nature, sustainability efforts and electric vehicles.
With 10 years with Fearing’s and over twice that long in the industry, Ben continues to lead, coordinate, and develop the Commercial AV team.
By consistently delivering an outstanding experience and outcome, Ben contributes to the Fearing’s legacy of long-lasting partnerships that truly make a difference. Whatever the Commercial AV need may be, Ben and team deliver at the highest level.
Ben is an avid fisherman and photographer. He enjoys coaching his sons and other youth.
Chris has been with Fearing’s for 20 years and in the industry for over 2 decades. As a Certified leader in Sales Acceleration and trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems), Chris successfully utilizes his skills to lead the Fearing’s Salesforce. Chris and team are motivated and driven to develop new client partnerships while continuing to reinforce loyal long-term relationships with ongoing Service excellence.
Married for 19 years with 3 children, Chris enjoys skiing, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, camping and golf. He’s also been actively involved as a Youth Football and Softball coach for his family and others.
