APG Rentals wowed attendees at the 2015 Toronto Pan Am & Parapan Am games with two 55” and 46” modular LCD NEC displays in Ontario’s high-traffic “celebration zone.”

The international Pan Am & Parapan Am games attract millions of attendees each year. That’s why, in 2015, one of Toronto’s largest event production company sought to go bigger than ever before by incorporating two show-stopping videowalls into Ontario’s Harbourfront “celebration zone” venue. To do so, they partnered with APG Rentals, North America’s leading distributor and sub-renter of videowalls, to design, develop and construct one 55” LCD modular NEC X554UN videowall and one 46” LCD modular NEC X462UN videowall for the world’s third largest international multi-sporting event.

“The Harbourfront ‘celebration zone’ is one of the event’s most frequently visited areas, serving as a cultural hub with music, food and more,” APG Rentals President David Weatherhead said today. “To capture attendees’ attention, we were tasked with the challenge of designing and constructing two temporary videowalls in an environment that varies in temperature, lighting and climate over a twenty-six day period. I can confidently say that we rose to the challenge, carefully selecting two large-format NEC LCD videowalls that performed brilliantly and consistently.”

To ensure that the displays’ content would be clear despite the tent’s outdoor-like conditions, APG Rentals recommended NEC for the job - one of the brightest and most reliable display manufacturers on the market. “The professional-grade backlit NEC LCD panels deliver superb color clarity and full HD resolution, qualities that are ideal for this particular application,” Dan Ayerst, APG Rentals General Manager, emphasized. “We designed a 54-paneled 55” NEC X554UN videowall and a 54-paneled 46” NEC X462UN videowall, both of which were scaled in size to suit a large viewing audience.”

What’s more, the NEC panel’s mechanical design and low power consumption capabilities proved to be an excellent fit for a public venue of this nature. The panels’ slim structure took up virtually no space at the event, which was much appreciated. “With live, high-profile events, less space taken is more,” Ayerst added. “With NEC, we were able to deliver big impact with slim structure.”

At high-profile events, Weatherhead explained, easy videowall accessibility is a must. That’s why APG Rentals made it a point to “daisy chain” the displays from a single software platform, ensuring that content control was a breeze. Additionally, in the event of any required maintenance, the videowalls’ panels were attached to APG Rentals’ custom bracket system. If a malfunction occurred, an APG Rentals engineer could quickly switch out the panel. “It’s absolutely essential to create a system that simplifies possible maintenance during a live event,” Weatherhead added. “Putting these cautionary steps in place truly makes a difference.”

Over the nearly month long period, both videowalls successfully achieved the brilliant and vivid quality that the event production company was looking for, delivering full HD resolution and smooth, crisp images and video. Overall, the event was a wild success. “We’re so proud to have been apart of an international sporting event of this magnitude,” Weatherhead concluded. “APG Rentals’ cutting-edge digital technology, expertise and experience truly proved to be a winning combination.”