New York’s Circle Line, the only cruise company dedicated to sightseeing in New York Harbor, offers a front-row view of the city’s most iconic landmarks. Established in 1945, Circle Line has hosted more than 80 million passengers. Its modern fleet features state-of-the-art vessels showcasing landmarks such as Hudson Yards, One World Trade Center, the Brooklyn Bridge, Yankee Stadium, the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island.

Circle Line aims to provide a comfortable and engaging experience for tourists. Passengers can enjoy panoramic views from the outdoor deck or relax in temperature-controlled indoor cabins. To enhance the experience, Circle Line has standardized audiovisual technology to complement its award-winning tour guides, who narrate details along the route.

Audio Video Solutions NJ LLC (AVS), a New Jersey-based provider of residential and commercial AV solutions, was selected to design and integrate the onboard audiovisual system. With two decades of experience, AVS has worked with brands such as La Prairie, McDonald’s, Phillips 66, SoulCycle, Steelcase, and Vince.

“The project with Circle Line began as a test case,” said David Slavitt, president of AVS. “Circle Line did not have a distributed audio or video system to enhance the passenger experience. They wanted to integrate digital signage to promote their brand and provide entertainment during the cruise.”

Slavitt explained that the initial installation was completed on a single ship, with a second now finished. “On the first deck, we installed four monitors on the walls, and on the second deck, we added an 86-inch monitor. Each display has multiple sources, including two PCs connected to Visionary’s PacketAV Matrix Series. One PC is dedicated to CCTV cameras, allowing passengers to view sightseeing destinations even when indoors during bad weather. We also integrated HDMI inputs for entertainment, advertising, and other information.”

AVS implemented Visionary’s PacketAV Matrix Series, including seven decoders, four encoders, and one wall plate encoder on each ship. The system controls various video sources, live camera views, and digital signage across multiple displays. The PacketAV Wall Plate Encoder also provides Bluetooth connectivity for seamless audio distribution. By leveraging network-based technology, AVS eliminated the need for additional cabling infrastructure while ensuring high-quality AV distribution across multiple decks.

“The goal was to enhance the passenger experience,” Slavitt said. “Circle Line wanted to engage with tourists beyond narration while also creating a simple, user-friendly AV system for the crew. Through the control system, we developed a solution that is easy to use yet impactful for passengers.”

He added, “Visionary’s PacketAV Matrix Series played a key role in simplifying the AV system. We’ve used it before because of its flexibility and reliability. Overall, the customer is thrilled and plans to standardize the system across the fleet over the next year or two.”

The PacketAV Matrix Series is an ultra-low-latency encoder and decoder solution designed to bypass traditional matrix distribution constraints. It supports USB 2.0 over IP and can be deployed on any standard IP network, providing a cost-effective way to distribute Dante/AES67 audio and video over IP using existing network resources.