MARGATE, NJ — Upon entering a lavish private party by a Margate, NJ beach house at summer’s end, video production company Be Terrific treated guests to an impressive 4K beach-themed show playing on large LED video screens lining the walls and floor. The 360-degree immersive experience, powered by Renewed Vision’s ProVideoPlayer2 (PVP2) software, conceptually transported guests to new locations, destinations and worlds. On the dance floor, partygoers were transfixed by simulations of rippling water, surf, and other beach elements.
More details from Renewed Vision (www.renewedvision.com):
The immersive and engaging visual content was delivered to a video wall comprised of hundreds of LED video tiles—including several 60-foot-wide magnifications—by a PVP2 media server running on a single Apple Mac Pro computer. The PVP2 system was configured and operated by Michael Artsis, a five-time Emmy Award-winning video producer and Internet broadcaster whose company, Be Terrific, had produced the video content for the video wall.
While Be Terrific—also known for its live-streamed interviews with technology experts from trade shows like InfoComm, CES and NAB—was hired to produce the video for the party, another production company was hired to handle the video wall itself. The company hired to build, process and program the LED video tiles that comprised the video walls was unable to project video and images due to failing media servers and processors affected by the record high summer temperatures. With guests arriving within 24 hours, and nothing but a tent with black walls and a black floor awaiting them, Artsis voluntarily stepped up to take over.
“It became clear that the company would not have the party’s crucial video wall attraction ready in time for this six-figure event,” Artsis said. “That’s when I suggested to Robin Lathrop, the event producer and owner of ByRobin, that ProVideoPlayer2 might be a viable alternative. PVP2 is renowned as a user-friendly system for creating multi-screen displays, and I was confident it might just be the saving grace for the party.”
Artsis was given the green light to proceed from Lathrop, the creative mind behind the ambitious immersive visual experience. His crew rushed to The Apple Store in nearby Atlantic City to purchase two Mac Pro computers. Working through the night, he set-up the Macs, downloaded PVP2, and quickly taught himself how to run the software. While initially planning to use both computers, he was able to deliver and control the entire PVP2-driven, six-screen presentation from just one.
Using PVP2’s on-screen tools, Artsis mapped out the way specific video content would fill specific displays, and made creative adjustments interactively. In mapping the video to the displays, he programmed how and when the video would display on each screen in real-time. For example, a large video image was programmed to spill over several screens at once. To partygoers, it appeared as if each display was a different window with its own unique perspective of the same scene.
“It was 8:09pm on Friday when I suggested to Robin that ProVideoPlayer would be a viable and reliable solution for creating the multi-screen displays,” said Artsis. “By 6am the next morning, I had all the video content mapped and playing out in perfect sync on all the screens. It looked amazing.”
Based on the success of this event, BeTerrific has now partnered with Lathrop and ByRobin to offer these creative concepts from start to finish for new and existing clients.
“That evening, the party went off without a hitch and the video wall was a hit. PVP2 helped us avert disaster and exceed expectations. Our clients were happy and beyond impressed, and the guests were in awe,” Artsis said.
“Between ByRobin and BeTerrific, we have an entirely new business coming out of this event, and PVP2 provides all the creative tools necessary to pre-build and control a very complex multi-screen video wall,” he continued. “Despite its power and depth, PVP2 was still user-friendly enough for me to figure out how to get a whole show set-up and running reliably in just a matter of hours, which saved the day. We continue to use and deploy it for any event with similar needs, of which there are many.”
