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Barco Enters LCD Video Wall with Solution That Even Includes the Mount

Barco is building its new UniSee direct-view LCDs, aimed at the video wall market, in Taiwan. And because the new UniSee line is aimed at simplifying the installation of LCD video walls, Barco has also custom-designed a UniSee mount that, the company says, guarantees less than a 1.09-millimeter separation between pixels from one monitor to the next (the smallest LCD video wall on the market now is about 3 millimeters) as well as ensures that one person can install an entire wall by him or herself.

Barco UniSee is a bezel-less LCD video wall (as I mentioned earlier, 1.09-mm from pixel to pixel between tiles/LCDs, but there is no actual bezel) with bi-directional communications designed to allow for intra-tile uniformity, brightness and optimal colorimetry. Barco is branding its bezel-less design as NoGap.

In addition to guaranteeing the smallest possible gap without damaging the panels’ edges, Barco has created the UniSee Mount: a creative mounting structure that uses the power of gravity to automatically align panels. Because it’s a mount that’s specifically designed for the UniSee, that’s how they made it so they can be installed without a lot of effort and by one person — it’s purpose-built and Lego-like.

Barco also says that Sense X − its automatic and real-time color and brightness calibration system − is what allows the wall to produce a balanced image at all times, even if a panel needs to be replaced. Barco has also re-engineered the design of the panels to counter all possible variations in brightness from the center to the edges. The result is intra-tile and inter-tile uniformity.

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Because the LCD video wall is often part of a business-critical application, Barco has taken all possible measures to ensure optimal uptime. The platform is built in such a way that it can easily be diagnosed and serviced. The software platform (UniSee Connect) that manages the entire video wall automatically assigns and calibrates the panels and acts as the single point of connection for remote diagnostics and control. The panel, itself, is spec’d at 100,000 hours light source lifetime.

The panel is a 55” direct-view LCD, specified at 800 nits. I spoke to Barco’s Hans Dekeyser,VP sales enterprise this morning on rAVe RADIO and got the exclusive scoop behind the product the reason for the concept and how it’s different than any other video wall product on the market right now. You can listen to that here.

You can see the entire UniSee line here and it will be distributed by both Starin and Almo Pro A/V in North America but Barco has not released plans for distbution in the rest of the world yet.

One UniSee panel, including the mount, cabling and included five-year warranty, will list for $8,500. Barco says it will be available before the end of the year.

rAVe editor Sara Abrons is in New York City at the live launch. You can see an interview she did with UniSee designer Tom Dewaele here, and see some photos she took below:

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