USA - Barco has won a contract to provide over 46,000 OLite 510 outdoor LED modules for the new Victory Park development in downtown Dallas. In what Barco say will become one of the largest high-definition outdoor media installations worldwide, 11 individual LED displays will be constructed at Victory Park, one of the most significant master planned urban developments in the country. The Victory Media Network will include two fixed 20ft x 20ft tower displays, a digital portal, and eight movable 15ft x 26'ft LED walls (installed in two four-panel groups that face each other across the 60-foot wide Victory Plaza).

The movable media displays will be mounted on rails, and stacked two-on-two. Using the Barco Screen Movement System, the panels can be choreographed individually with discreet video and surround-sound feeds, or locked together to form 30ft x 50ft HD screens with true 16:9 aspect ratios. The entire project uses four million individual OLite SMT (Surface Mount Technology) LEDs, each with a capability of 185 trillion colours.

Opening in 2006, Victory Park will redefine city living in Dallas with the W Dallas Victory Hotel & Residences, emerging and reputation retail, distinctive dining, modern office space and numerous entertainment venues, including the American Airlines Center. In the open-air Victory Plaza, the Barco LED walls will offer visitors an interactive mix of advertising, education, entertainment and art, and will provide brand advertisers with an opportunity to create unprecedented immersive environments and captivating experiences.

"The project's biggest challenge was the proximity of the crowd," said Steve Simard, Barco's Branding Market Manager for the Media market. "With a maximum viewing distance of 60 feet and sharp viewing angles, Hillwood needed a technology with the highest perceived resolution, and that's why the OLite 510 was selected. With the physical limitations in this Plaza, the Olite proved to be the very best for resolution at short distances," noted Simard. "Equally important, the Olite gives this project the cutting-edge display technology that won't be outdated."

(Lee Baldock)


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