Best Buy Goes to the Wall

Best Buy Co. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) has announced plans to install 112-square-foot video walls in more than 160 stores across the country. The display centerpieces will use HDTV graphics and video technology to show movie trailers, music videos and store promotions on 30-minute video loops.

The loops are stored on an HD video server, networked to each video wall system and updated via remote satellite every month. All content is provided by in-store digital and NTSC channels and from digital off-air broadcasts. It is then displayed on video walls comprised of 12 53-inch projection cubes from Electrosonic Systems (Minneapolis), driven by engines from Pioneer New Media Technologies (Long Beach, Calif.).

With the system design, Best Buy can remotely update the video images in all 160 stores simultaneously. The HDTV signal running on the video walls can also be converted to an analog signal allowing smaller CRT monitors throughout the store, to show the same images as the video walls. Managers at individual stores can also choose to run video loops specific to certain holidays or local events.