If humanity’s technical advancements were being observed by an alien race, there would certainly be confusion. On one hand, we are striving to make things smaller and more efficient, while on the other hand bigger is proving to be better.

Is bigger better? Well when it comes to attracting and interacting with an audience, we certainly think so. Attracting with size is no new concept, you have seen your fair share of giant blow up monsters when driving past car dealerships, and now the world wants its digital version.

Interactive Video walls allow us to blow past the size limitations of even the largest multi-touch screens. With the advancements in technology, the space between each display is becoming less and less of an issue (5.5mm from active screen to active screen). So why aren’t touch enabled video walls in every lobby, airport, store, restaurant, nightclub, and local dog park? Well, let’s explore.

We buy a monitor and plug it into a computer, wipe our hands and congratulate ourselves on a job well done. What if we had 2 monitors? What if we had a need for multi-touch applications with multiple users? Well, we now need a video card that has two outputs and touch technology sufficient enough to support anywhere from 6 to 32 points of touch.

How about 4, 9, 12 or even 16, screens? Well things just get significantly more complex. Interactive Video walls are complicated, especially if you want to use them to their total potential. How should they be wired? Well let me tell you, there is more than one way. How does content get on the wall? You guessed it, several options.

Some walls stretch 1080p content across the span of the space, while others require each display to operate in its own native resolution. And with the appropriate supporting gizmos, multiple video sources can be displayed on the wall at the same time. A four display cluster can be playing one thing while the rest of the wall is doing something else. It’s important to know how your touch wall is going to be used before evaluating hardware vendors.

They can also be tricky to install. Getting those buggers to line up is not as easy as it would seem, especially when you figure out that walls aren’t straight. There are special mounts that have multiple adjustment points to account for this. It’s also important to think about serviceability. While perimeter displays are easily accessible, having a display in the middle go out can be reason to break into a cold sweat.

That’s why any three or more row/column walls need to utilize special mounts for non perimeter displays. They have springs that allow them to pop out like yesterday’s non roll up garage doors. They pop out letting one access the input/output connections and unhinge the unit if necessary without having to remove surrounding monitors.

Last, but certainly not least… what’s the content? Is the plan to repurpose current content for the wall? Is this a non-standard aspect ratio configuration that will require special content to be developed? Should this be interactive?

Advancements in touch screen response and accuracy have paved the way for multi-touch video walls. Converting the audience from spectators to players is a way to improve your wall’s effectiveness. Software is available to also capture data that allows you to see what your audience is doing. Advertising products?

Wouldn’t it be nice to know how many times something is looked at over another? Deploying nationally, how about knowing which products are more popular regionally? The sky, or rather the top of the wall, is the limit.

Interactive Video Walls may not be the direction to go for every digital project. However if you have the desire to empower and communicate with your target audience at a higher level , there is no doubt they are an impressive, effective tool that has no natural predators.

Yes they are complicated and there are a lot of pieces required to get one up and running, luckily there are companies out there that can manage the whole process for you.

Today, I am focusing my decade of experience on consultation. On the surface, it may seem like a Touch Screen sale, but we will cover everything from hardware to increasing conversion to smoothing out your implementation plan.

My clients are best described as progressive, era defining brands. When it comes to interactive video walls, we think bigger is better. Horizon display is offering stretch touch displays and Interactive Video Walls in configurations of 1x3, 2x2, 2x3, and 3x3 in 6, 12 and 32 multi-touch integration options. These Oversized Touch Display are prefect centerpieces for tradeshows, conference rooms and lobbies!