At the new Dallas, Texas headquarters of SAVI Controls, a leading innovator of audio, video, and lighting control and automation systems, the company has created what may be the world’s most advanced commercial AV experience center for dealers and end customers.
The highlight of the center is a 24-foot-wide by 10-foot-high LG MAGNIT dvLED display that serves as an interactive virtual design interface, offering guests a convincing life-sized virtual space with live editing of on-screen rooms and accurate virtual comparisons of display sizes, with various other LG digital displays providing supplemental content. For SAVI co-founder and chief visionary officer Derek Wilson and his team, LG was the clear choice when it came to outfitting their headquarters with the latest in display technology.
“Our guests and potential customers are treated to a one-of-a-kind product showroom that demonstrates our mastery of digital AV technologies and shows how we can deliver extraordinary experiences and optimized integrations for their projects,” Wilson said. “From the fullscreen ‘X-ray view’ that displays what the dvLED rear-mounting hardware looks like, to the side-by-side virtual comparison of various display sizes, we are doing things here that simply can’t be done without a large, fine-pitch LG dvLED display.”
No Need to Imagine
The SAVI Experience Center is the first thing guests encounter when they enter the headquarters building, and it is used as the grand finale of official tours. The eye-catching 0.9mm LG webOS dvLED display covers an entire wall, while several vertically oriented LG LCD displays highlight the various virtual locations the dvLED demos can display, including stadiums, offices, hospitality businesses, and real SAVI projects from all over the world. Wilson said, “The SAVI Experience Room is unlike anything we’ve done before, and to our knowledge is the first life-size virtual design environment in North America, as well as the first truly commercial-focused experience center of this magnitude.”
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Wilson added, “We wanted to help our customers skip the imagining step and go straight to real life-size visualization, and the fine-pitch LG dvLED gave us that opportunity.” Wilson added. “We live with this technology every day, and the new immersive tour gives dealers and business owners hands-on experience with real-time control, and it all happens in a virtual environment so we can customize it or add more environments over time without having to physically construct new rooms. So far, we have multiple demos, including real-world photos from local sports bars and golf entertainment venues that we turned into controllable virtual spaces.”
For many guests, it is also their first time seeing the power and capabilities of LG’s CLOi GuideBot robotic assistant, which is used to reserve and activate meeting spaces, offer receptionist services, lead tours, and even provide automated demos of connected lights and AV equipment.
Tour guests also get to use the intuitive, web-based SAVI interface for themselves on a tablet or phone, so they can see how easy it is to navigate, adjust, and control any space, including specific applications like the powerful SAVI Canvas that enables instant content dissemination across entire display networks.
“SAVI has shown that you don’t have to build a physical space to demonstrate physical experiences,” Michael Kosla, senior vice president, LG Business Solutions USA said. “With this high-resolution wall-sized LG dvLED display, they can simulate any kind of virtual room or environment they want and make live changes on the screen, including swapping AV components and playing live content on various virtual screens. The 0.9mm pixel pitch looks so real that it feels like you can walk into the virtual room, and many tour guests end up touching the display out of curiosity and awe. And that’s not even mentioning the full-building control demo that shows SAVI’s mastery of implementation and system design.”
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Delivering “wow factor” played a role in the concept for this space, but its functional utility cemented it as a vital part of the new SAVI headquarters. In addition to the on-screen virtual environments with real-time interactions and editing, the huge display also makes an excellent canvas to show how SAVI’s solutions can control entire buildings. In one part of the demo, live views of other rooms in the facility are displayed on the screen, including office spaces where workers are sitting. With the touch of a button, the tour guide can show how easy it is to adjust lighting color or control the LG digital displays in any room remotely.
A Winning Partnership
As a video distribution solution largely built on webOS software to eliminate the box behind every display, SAVI Canvas is natively compatible with LG commercial displays and technologies, which is why the company often recommends customers use LG solutions. That’s part of the reason LG technologies are deployed everywhere from the Experience Center to desktop monitors to boardrooms, helping show SAVI’s commitment to optimized integrated AV solutions.
“Through our relationship with LG we are also making the space available for LG and dealers to give their customers demos, making it a win-win that helps expedite decision making and project approvals,” Wilson concluded. “With customizations like our CLOi GuideBot programming, we are showing and offering specialized features customers can utilize that wouldn’t be realistic if they simply purchased the individual hardware pieces without our solutions and software. In the end, lots of people leave here more excited than when they arrived, and that’s one of the best outcomes we could hope for.”
The software and hardware solution for the virtual dvLED wall in the SAVI Experience Center is a one-of-a-kind creation designed for this space, which SAVI and LG may replicate in additional locations to provide even greater access to SAVI and LG sales reps and custom integrators.
