Multiple Simultaneous Sources
Advanced video wall controllers will allow you to output multiple sources to groups of displays within the video wall and change these zones at will even during live playback. The more basic scalers only allow you to output a single source to the entire video wall.
Network video wall
Some video wall controllers can reside in the server room and communicate with their “graphics cards” over the network. This configuration offers advantages in terms of flexibility. Often this is achieved via a traditional video wall controller (with multiple graphics cards) in the server room with a “sender” device attached to each graphics output and a “receiver” attached to each display. These sender/receiver devices are either via Cat5e/Cat6 cable extension or via a more flexible and powerful “video over IP” that can be routed through traditional network switches. Even more advanced is a pure network video wall where the server does not require any video cards and communicates directly over the network with the receiver devices.
Windows-based Network video walls are the most common in the market and will allow a much better functionality.
A network configuration allows video walls to be synchronized with individual digital signs. This means that video walls of different sizes and configurations, as well as individual digital displays can all show the same content at the same time, referred to as ‘mirroring’.
Transparent video walls
Transparent video walls combine transparent LCD screens with a video wall controller to display video and still images on a large transparent surface. Transparent displays are available from a variety of companies and are common in retail and other environments that want to add digital signage to their window displays or in store promotions. Bezel-less transparent displays can be combined using certain video wall controllers to turn the individual displays into a video wall to cover a significantly larger surface.
