Presque Isle Downs & Casino, located in Erie, Penn., is a prominent entertainment destination featuring a mix of horse racing, casino gaming, dining and entertainment options. The casino sought to upgrade its analog TV system to provide a better visual experience for its patrons inside the 59,000-square-foot casino and at its race track. The old display system failed to deliver the impact or high-quality visuals expected in a modern casino environment.
The Challenge
The casino’s outdated analog TV system was inadequate for delivering high-definition content from the facility’s numerous DirecTV boxes, digital signage and wayfinding sources, and HDMI input sources. Staff said it also was a nightmare to maintain and update. The casino wanted the flexibility to grow and change its display setup and add sources as needed to keep the facility fresh and exciting for patrons. One unique challenge was the size of casino. It required a video distribution system capable of ensuring reliable, lag-free distribution to displays and videowalls not only across the vast casino floor but also its racetrack.
The Just Add Power Solution
Presque Isle Downs & Casino partnered with a local AV integrator, David Mattison, owner of Innovative Audiovisual, who recommended Just Add Power’s AV-over-IP based video switching and distribution solutions. Its video-over-IP system is also suited for large entertainment venues, such as casinos, with a large inventory of displays, digital signage, videowalls and video sources.
Just Add Power differentiates its product family with solutions that aren’t meant to be ripped and replaced as technology changes but can evolve to keep pace with technology innovations on the horizon. For example, Just Add Power receivers can downscale a source’s 4K signal for viewing on a lower resolution screen or upscale a source’s lower resolution signal for viewing on a 4K display, depending on the receiver model.
Another feature is the system’s scalability — adding another display or source simply requires another receiver or transmitter. This flexibility and forward looking product design was ideal for the casino and the integrator since the project has been ongoing for 10 years and counting, with additional displays and sources added over the years.
Courtesy / Just Add Power
Over the course the project, Innovative Audiovisual installed Just Add Power’s 2G Omega and 3G Ultra transmitters and receivers. The 2G Omega Platform provides a way for the casino to make the most of 1080p or 4K systems, distributing VGA, SDI, TVI or HDMI 1080p source to a 4K system. The 3G Ultra transmitters and receivers can be mixed and matched with the 2G Omega solutions, allowing installers to build an affordable 4K and Ultra HD matrix. The 3G Ultra lineup distribute HDCP 2.2 content to multiple displays via HDMI 2.0 or over a 1Gb network.
Both product families provide instant, seamless switching, with support for stereo or multichannel audio. They also offer videowall functionality and image push, pull and freeze features, providing an affordable and rack-friendly alternative to videowall processors. What’s more the platform is engineered to provide complete scalability, so expanding the system with an additional screen or source is as simple as adding another receiver or transmitter.
For the casino, more than 300 displays and videowalls were installed, utilizing the existing network infrastructure and supported by nine SG 500X Cisco switches and fiber optic links to distribute 61 sources simultaneously across the casino and to the racetrack. For control, Innovative Audiovisual used RTI Integration Designer to build out iPad control interfaces customized specifically for various departments and users. With Just Add Power’s integrated endpoint control, the integrator was able to choose the control protocol — RS-232, TCP/IP, IR, and even CEC — optimized for each endpoint.
Just Add Power: A Decade of Unmatched Reliability and Enhanced Guest Experience
Courtesy / Just Add Power
The upgrade to Just Add Power’s video distribution system was the winning move for the casino. It improved the guest experience as well as its operational efficiency. It’s also a system that’s withstood the test of time, with no failures reported in a decade of operation — stability that’s crucial for a high-traffic environment like a casino.
“Just Add Power is a very bulletproof system,” Mattison says. “We’ve never lost a receiver or transmitter in the 10 years it’s been in place. It runs every one of the nearly 300 displays found around the casino — from those at the ATMs and the videowalls and displays that wrap around the bars to the massive 33-foot-wide display on the race track. And it gives us the ability to keep evolving the system as the casino evolves without tossing anything. Just Add Power makes it easy to keep up.”
