View our Product Guide
Electronic House Newsletter   View sample
 
Popular Stories
View Home of the Year '09.
Recent Comments
Jerry (11/21, 06:18 PM)
Tony (11/21, 10:40 AM)
sunlcd (11/21, 10:21 AM)
sunlcd (11/21, 10:20 AM)
ugg cardy boots (11/21, 09:58 AM)
Recent Slideshow Galleries
9 Green (and Great!) TVs Paris Theme Illuminates Home Theater 20 Great Looking Racks DIYer Spends 3 Years Researching Theater 6 Products to Watch for in November The Holiday Gift Guide 2009 20 Leading Flat-Panel TVs 10 Manliest Man Caves The Best Blu-ray Releases of November 7 More Wiring Nightmares Inside Halloween Park’s Haunted House 16 Scary DVDs We’re Waiting for on Blu-ray 17 Scary Blu-rays for Halloween Careful Planning Keeps 12K-Square-Foot Home Running Smoothly N.Y. Yankees Pitchers Dig Home Theater Drastic Theater Reconfiguration Includes Hiding Bay Window
Info and Answers Feature
7 Ways to Slay Your Power Vampires
7 Ways to Slay Your Power Vampires
Standby power wastes energy and money, but there are easy ways to save.

Themed Home Theaters
View Designing a Death Star Theater
Designing a Death Star Home Theater
Three separate rooms, one starfield, and a life-sized Han Solo are just a few of the things that help two super "Star Wars" fans get their geek on in this theater.

Site Sections
Services
Cool Homes
Video Wall Is a Quadruple Sports Threat
Professional electronics installer Jay Cobb rigged a video wall composed of four Panasonic plasmas that can show four separate broadcasts or one unified image.
December 29, 2008 | by Rebecca Day

There’s no question where Jay Cobb’s friends go for Sunday afternoon football: to the game room of his Northern California home, where they can rack them up or down a few while taking in the week’s four top NFL games.

Cobb uses the four-part display—along with the home’s Control4 home automation system—as a living showroom for his Fresno-based Hi-Tech Home installation business.

The four-quadrant TV is fast becoming a trademark of the Hi-Tech portfolio, and it makes for any easy sell to prospective clients—especially sports fans, when they can see four sports events at once on dedicated 42-inch TVs.

Cobb used four 42-inch Panasonic pro-grade plasma TVs for the video wall, which can be converted into a single 84-inch display for movies or a major sporting event like the Super Bowl.

He taps one Control4 button on the wall, and each TV tunes to a different station from the DirecTV receivers. Audio corresponds to the TV in the upper left quadrant when there’s different programming on all four TVs.

A second button, labeled MERGE, reformats the TVs to show a unified image (Cobb went with pro-grade monitors because they make for a more seamless combined image), and the third button reverts the video back to independent images.

What do his friends think about their buddy’s showroom? “They cruise in and shoot pool, have a beer and watch four games of football,” Cobb says. “It’s their dream room.”



Article Topics
Popular Tags
Social Bookmark   less


Comments (8) Most recent displayed first.
Posted by Melvin Surdin  on  07/02/09  at  11:10 AM

Terrific idea ...

Posted by Rich  on  02/05/09  at  07:12 AM

I would like to know the make and model of the TV and what is controlling the quadrants.

Isn’t there another way to do this with multiplexing on 1 large screen? Are the framerates still the same.

Has anyone else done this….

Posted by John  on  01/02/09  at  08:21 PM

This is perfect for watching different games in a game room and having the capability to merge all screens into one for that big game once a year…like the superbowl.  Great idea!

Posted by Dave D  on  01/01/09  at  05:18 PM

I think personally id find software to do that with a pc and a projector so there isn’t the frame effect. still pretty cool tho

Posted by Dan  on  12/31/08  at  02:32 PM

I have a 100” projector and have always wanted something that could take 4 inputs and shoot them out as one stream.  4 games durring football season for an extra $20 a month is fine, but I’m not willing to throw down another $5000 in hardware and make watching a unified image painful.


+ View all comments on for this article



Post a Comment

Name:

Email:


View comment guidelines

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Please answer the question below:

Type the 3rd letter of the word "woofer":





Learn more about products and solutions from tech companies.
Electronic House magazine's 2009 Best Homes of the Year special.
Electronic House reviews the coolest products of the year.
Visit the Electronic House Ideas store & get more out of your home!

Stay up-to-date with home electronics. Get your print subscription today.
Weekly email offers tips, info and product news.
Subscribe today!
Get the content that's important to you.
More about RSS.
Electronic House is now available in a digital edition. Learn more.
About us Advertise Magazine Newsletters Digital issues EH Publishing Privacy policy Contact us
 Copyright © 2006 EH Publishing. All rights reserved.
EH Network: CE Pro TecHome Builder ChannelPro ProSoundWeb Church Production Electronic House Expo Worship Facilities Expo