Crestron Electronics, Inc.

Near-zero latency, speed of deployment, flexibility, and scalability — these benefits and more make our AV-over-IP solution special

April 3, 2024 - As Crestron approaches shipping its one millionth DM NVX® AV-over-IP device, we wanted to dig into precisely why the solution’s been so successful. We’re not the only company offering AV-over-IP solutions, but what sets ours apart? To learn more, we asked several dealers and specifiers a fairly simple question:

“How did you leverage DM NVX technology to meet a specific challenge?”

DM NVX Technology: Scalable, Flexible

Roughly five years ago, the University of South Florida’s School of Medicine constructed a new building in downtown Tampa: The Morsani College of Medicine. Recently, the school added the College of Pharmacy, and the building also houses portions of USF’s partner in medical education, Tampa General Hospital.

Richard Meana, director of audio-visual engineering and services at USF, recently told Crestron’s Neil Fluester on a CresTV podcast episode that the building already had DM NVX technology integrated into the structure — and adapting that technology as the needs of faculty and students change is a snap. “That building was custom designed to support a lot of the needs that the medical schools were going to have, so they use those spaces in a lot of different ways,” says Meana.

In addition to the building’s simulation spaces and labs, one prominent feature is a 400-seat auditorium. “It's a combined space, says Meana. “It can be split into two 200-person spaces, and they have guest lecturers coming in from outside the university for continuing education, so they needed to handle diverse use cases — and possibly large groups of people coming in to participate in these events. So, the idea of having that flexibility and scalability and being able to stream video out to things that you wouldn't even consider — from signage in the building to flexible spaces — was a big consideration for us.”

Of course, another big plus is that DM NVX technology integrates perfectly with Crestron control solutions — and that was a huge consideration for Meana and his team. “We needed a simple touch panel that really anybody could operate because one of the goals here was to make sure that this could be as hands-free and organic an operation as we could create,” says Meana. “Any instructor can just come in, hit a single button, and the system’s working.”

Near-Zero Latency

Another huge aspect of the technology — and something that many, many integrators have shared with us since the product was released — is its capability to achieve near-zero latency. Ted Green mentioned just what an achievement this was (and is) on his industry news website Strata-gee.com:

Speaking as a former manufacturer, I can tell you that to achieve a million units installed is a significant milestone in the lifespan of any product. I remember when the DM NVX was first introduced back in 2017, many integrators were skeptical of the ability to be able to reliably distribute 4K60 4:4:4 video over a network with low- to no-latency. Yet demo after demo of the DM NVX solution turned skeptics into believers.

That absence of latency has given many, many Crestron clients a leg up on their competitors. One such end user told us: “Video is one of the least tolerant technologies for delay and packet loss. With the current world climate, there are many times our teams cannot be physically together. Our DM NVX solution allows us to join spaces and teams together as well as share content. Showing slides is one thing, but moving a cursor or pointer around virtually shows delay instantly if not done right.”

That low latency is also a key part of the success of the installation at Peppermill Reno Race & Sportsbook, a massive sports betting lounge that sees 30,000 bettors a week. “The DM NVX system has zero latency in its video distribution, and that's critical when you're betting on sports,” says Peppermill’s Executive Director of Entertainment, Electronics, and Media, Joe Ness. Wagering at the end of a game, placing bets at halftime of a major event — all of these are situations where split seconds matter to both the bettor and the house. “If a game goes down for even a few seconds, that can have major, major money implications,” says Chris Scott, assistant director of technical operations for the facility. “Having something that's secure and that works is huge with us.”

Big Games, Big Ships, Big Solutions

The sportsbook features a 110-foot video wall with full 4K resolution — a fully customizable display with the ability to handle up to 30 different games and events at once — powered, of course, by DM NVX technology. “We needed a mission-critical solution that was secure, reliable, and powerful enough to support a video wall this large,” says Ness. DM NVX technology also powers 60 individual viewing booths and several additional 20-foot screens — all told, the system has the ability to feed 170 outputs and 40 inputs at once.

That sports betting facility is one part of the Peppermill Resort Spa Casino in Reno, Nevada, which features screens throughout the 82,000-square foot property, many of which display landmarks from around the world. “We have over 50,000 images, and there's so much content, so many different displays, so many different servers — and DM NVX technology allows us to distribute that content to any screen we want when we want it,” says Ness.

That power and flexibility are big reasons that DM NVX technology was installed aboard the ARTEXPLORER sailing catamaran, a vessel that’s more than a yacht — it’s a floating museum. The long, tunnel-like central cabin area in the yacht can literally “flip” from luxury catamaran to educational facility in mere hours, as we explained on the Crestron blog:

When the yacht is configured for museum duties, the primary presentation in the “tunnel” is an advanced digital show with multi-channel audio and a massive LED image. “The space can accommodate more than 30 people at once, surrounded by a full 1.5-millimeter pitch LED with excellent color saturation and contrast,” says Guy Butterati, VP and co-founder of Akumendo, the firm that integrated the ship. Designed to handle roughly 2,000 visitors per day, displays and audio sources (including presentations via headphones) on the rest of the boat and on shore deliver a variety of immersive content designed to be as educational as it is beautiful. The LED display — a series of curved panels ingeniously held in place by magnets — can be removed, and the space then becomes a living, lounging, and movie-viewing area for owner and guests when the catamaran sails for leisure.

Tight Spaces, Tight Timelines

When the yacht is doing its duty in a port of call as a “museum ship,” there’s a dockside village that’s set up to round out the visitor experience, complete with its own AV displays. The onboard system needs to tie into the onshore village, too. “We turned to Crestron to help with delivering content to the dockside displays,” explains Jean-Pierre Casanova, CEO and co-founder of Akumendo. “One of the biggest challenges was the distance between the LED panels and the main rack. Crestron had the answer using fiber optics and the Crestron DM NVX system.”

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