SDVoE Technology Simplifies Video Distribution at Shannon Brewing Company

Situated outside Fort Worth, Texas, Shannon Brewing Company is a young and growing craft brewery. Founded in 2014 by Shannon Carter, the small, independent brewery produces an award-winning portfolio of all-natural beer with an ode to history. Shannon Brewery crafts its beer utilizing fire, the same technique introduced centuries ago, and spring water, whole grain and whole flower hops. The brewery’s location atop Samantha Springs was chosen to provide a natural source of water. Today, Shannon Brewing Company welcomes beer connoisseurs at their taproom.

Recently, Shannon Brewing Company collaborated with SDVoE Alliance Steering Member Black Box to optimize its bar and taproom to simplify video distribution to any television without the hassle of different remotes for each television. Shannon Brewing Company selected Black Box, a member of the SDVoE Alliance, to provide an overall solution that addressed the entertainment for the taproom and monitoring operations for the brewery from a single source.

Challenge

Shannon Brewing Company’s existing video distribution system included media played behind each television that harnessed the existing Wi-Fi network. Unfortunately, the Wi-Fi could not download the content and each television required its own remote. It became challenging for Shannon Brewing Company to reliably provide video entertainment and details about the products, events and other real-time business information for the brewery patrons. As a result, the prior technology limited the ability to distribute video content to various displays and did not use a convenient user interface for dynamic control. Shannon Brewing Company required a solution with a simplified user experience while providing patrons with an engaging experience to extend the duration of their visit and maximize the potential revenue for the business.

Specifically, the solution needed to address the requirement for multiple 2×2 video walls, with several additional individual displays, and the ability to distribute and switch multiple sources to any display or video wall. Also, the employees wanted to be able to quickly control the video from a simple touchscreen interface.

Solution

Black Box provided a solution to replace the current video distribution system, which included media players over a Wi-Fi network. Black Box provided the foundation for a video matrix system to combine 11 televisions and eight media sources to distribute any source to any television, at any time. The 11 televisions consisted of two 2×2 video walls, two 62-inch televisions and one 55-inch television, each located throughout the brewery. The eight sources included four media players for sports and normal programming, two Mac Minis for PowerPoints and menus, one Apple TV for additional programming and one digital signage player for advertisements.

Black Box’s MCX-AVoIP, powered by SDVoE technology, proved to be the perfect solution for Shannon Brewing Company. The MCX supports 4K 60 Hz video and audio over IP with zero latency to create a reliable, feature-rich solution for the most demanding professional AV applications. Additionally, Black Box implemented ControlBridge, a modern touchscreen panel with SDVoE technology, to simplify video operations across multiple displays. To support simplified digital signage operation, Black Box integrated iCompel, an easy to use, flexible solution that enables attention-grabbing digital signage while eliminating any requirements for design or programming experience.

Debuting with the biggest football game of the year, Shannon Brewing Company rolled out the new, comprehensive AV IoT solution, powered by Black Box. Their patrons enjoyed the thrill of the big game on the clear, pixel-perfect video walls in the bar, taproom and outside patio. Carter commented, “The AV system in the bar and taproom is incredible. The amount of control we have over our content is amazing, our customers love it. We can show a lot of content split into many TVs or all on one.”

SDVoE technology, as implemented through Black Box’s products, allowed for full high-quality, simplified control across all displays throughout the facility — from impressive video walls to digital signage — to create an immersive entertainment experience.

Benefits of SDVoE Technology

SDVoE reaches beyond existing standards to provide benefits no other technology can claim:

  • A complete ecosystem – SDVoE Alliance members are manufacturers with expertise in signal distribution, display manufacture, IT infrastructure, chip design and AV software. The integrator has dozens of partners to align with and products to choose from.
  • A flexible yet simple software platform – the SDVoE API allows rapid development of highly specialized software, custom-tailored to the needs of a vast array of end users.
  • A full OSI stack solution – only SDVoE offers the simplicity of a complete top to bottom solution, fully encompassing infrastructure, transport, processing, and a simple control layer.

For more information on the SDVoE Alliance, please visit www.sdvoe.org. Keep up with the latest news from the SDVoE Alliance on LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

SDVoE Alliance® is a registered trademark and SDVoE™ and SDVoE API™ are trademarks of the SDVoE Alliance. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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