PLANAR PS-SERIES VIDEO WALL MAKES A BIG IMPRESSION
The Athletic Club, operating in Canada since 1997, opened a new facility in Waterloo, Ontario in December 2011. The 65,000 square foot club features water walls, a café, two pools, gym and more than 600 pieces of workout equipment. And it welcomes members and visitors with a state-of-the-art video wall from Planar Systems.
"We wanted to impress our members as they walked in the door. The Planar video wall provided the visual impact and upscale feel we were looking for and filled the large open area perfectly!" says Rick Quesnel, Waterloo manager and an owner of The Athletic Club.
Installed in the two-story lobby area by London Audio Ltd. (London, Ontario), the 16-panel video wall is made up of an array of Planar® PS-Series™ LCD displays. With the PS-Series, Planar leads the industry with a line of affordable LCD displays for digital signage, while providing commercial-grade performance and reliability. "Because the Planar PS-Series was engineered as a commercial product, we see it as a superior offering in this class, where many competitive products are little more than re-purposed television brands," says Rick Ho, president of London Audio, Ltd.
Reliability is Key
The Athletic Club's Quesnel acknowledges the importance of the Planar PS-Series' reliability, noting that the Waterloo club is open to customers nearly 24/7. "Whenever we're open and have people coming and going, we want the video wall to be running top-notch. It entertains anyone going through the lobby, provides information about the club and makes a strong visual impression."
The full 1080p high definition (1920 x 1080) display ensures Quesnel that club guests see the content at its best. Currently, the Planar video wall displays PC and cable TV feeds, including fitness programming and live broadcast feeds of sports and entertainment television. Quesnel hopes to expand the range of content that can be shown, and will do so as the club expands its inventory of in-house video and commits to a broader range of cable broadcasting. "We're very happy with what we're showing now, and customers tell us they are really impressed with the video wall's HD quality."
Other features that make the Planar PS-Series appealing include support for a variety of data and video inputs (which will enable The Athletic Club to take feeds from an expanded set of content sources), 500 cd/m2 screen brightness, 1500:1 contrast ratio, and 178-deg. viewing angle (all three important considering the club lobby's often high ambient light) and 190W power consumption (which helps keep operating costs down).
A Time and Money Saver for the System Integrator
Rick Ho from London Audio gives Planar high marks for the ease with which the Planar PS-Series installed at The Athletic Club. "Every panel was ready to go right out of the box. Commercial-grade mounting brackets were where we expected them to be, each panel came with the required power and VGA cables and the panel-to-panel calibration was spot-on." Commenting further on the ease of installation, Ho said: "The product workmanship and installation readiness mean that this system cuts our labor time by at least a day over competitive video walls. Also, there were no hidden costs or unanticipated steps that would have inhibited our productivity—a pretty remarkable situation in this day and age."
For a system integrator, Ho adds, the Planar PS-Series provides a high level of predictability, which is another advantage. "Because of the engineering that has gone into this product, we know that it will arrive on-site and install as we expect it to. We can construct other bids that we know will come in right on both cost and profit goals. This allows us to be more competitive and increases our likelihood of winning business."
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.
