CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Discovery, often known as the Discovery Channel, is a global media company and leader in real-life entertainment. Through its flagship channel and various internationally owned or licensed channels, Discovery is widely distributed in over 400 million households worldwide. The network delivers over 8,000 hours of original programming each year to 220 countries and territories.
Discovery recently relocated its global headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, to New York City. Located in one of Manhattan’s most vibrant and dynamic neighborhoods, the new headquarters is a creative, collaborative environment with an open floor plan and loft-like features. The facility features a ground-floor studio and production space, an outdoor rooftop terrace, a full-service wellness center and a dedicated lobby. AV Innovative Design, a New York-based technology integrator, was selected to support Discovery with technology integration at the new headquarters.
“We were introduced to this project with the goal of blending multiple projectors across the common areas in their new headquarters,” said Garett Widmaier, operations manager for AV Innovative Design. “We had limited space in the building, and we were working with short-throw projectors that were being projected on a glass wall. The projectors were mounted to an older brick ceiling, which created its own challenge. The surface was not even, and because of that, we had to create a level brick surface for both projectors to work cooperatively.”
Widmaier added, “Once we had created an even surface, we needed a solution for the edge-blending. We were working with two projectors on each of the nine floors in Discovery’s facility. Our goal was to blend the two projectors evenly and eliminate the line down the middle of the full-size image. It had to be recreated seamlessly across each floor. We integrated Scalable Display Technologies as a solution for edge-blending because we’ve had great success working with their cutting-edge, reliable technology.”
“I’ve worked with Scalable on many projects,” said Chen Vanunu, partner for AV Innovative Design. “When it comes to various design challenges and solutions, Scalable is always able to meet the challenge and provide us with a professional, reliable solution. Scalable’s technology is incredibly easy to use. Scalable enabled us to seamlessly blend the images between the projectors. It also allowed us to pinpoint the edges to accomplish the design our clients wanted.”
Vanunu continued, “Scalable has a great team of talented individuals. They understand the minute details of projection and image geometry, which is important when you’re working with this type of technology. They’re all incredibly smart engineers, but they help us, as their customers, to better understand the technology and the solution. Scalable’s in-house technicians supported us throughout the project. They logged into our computers and utilized the web cameras to view the image. They were able to pinpoint and blend everything, which was incredibly helpful to streamline the installation and recreate it across nine floors. To us, Scalable is part of our overall team.
Scalable’s software automatically warps and blends multiple projectors into one seamless display. It allowed AV Innovative Design to create a reliable, long-term solution for its client. “The client is thrilled with the overall result,” said Vanunu. “We started this project on the first floor, and they were happy that we were able to meet their expectations. They asked us to recreate the design across the remaining eight stories. In addition, we’ve started integrating new technology for control systems, audio and video. It’s resulted in additional business for us, as well, which we appreciate. This was an important project for Discovery, and it was imperative that we got it right. The result was overwhelming. We appreciate the technology and support that Scalable provided us with.”
