Ford’s Garage, an American chain of casual dining restaurants founded in 2012, is renowned for its unique tribute to the Ford Motor Company. With over 20 locations across 8 states, the restaurant chain continues to expand, offering patrons a distinctive dining experience. Recently, a new Ford’s Garage restaurant opened in Viera, Florida, presenting an opportunity to enhance the audiovisual experience for its customers. This case study explores how AV Access 4KIP200 series HDMI over IP solution was implemented to achieve this goal.

The Challenge

The new Ford’s Garage in Viera required a sophisticated AV setup to stream sports games and TV programs across 12 TVs using 8 DIRECTV receiver boxes. The dining area was pre-equipped with Cat cables running to the equipment room, where all receiver boxes were to be centralized. The owner aimed to distribute HDMI signals to each TV, located about 20 meters (66 feet) away, and control all sources and displays simultaneously via a URC control system connected to a Gigabit Ethernet switch.

Technical Assessment

Amazing Electronic Solutions, a professional AV installer, was tasked with designing and implementing the AV solution. The requirements included AV signal extension, distribution, switching, and centralized control. An AV over IP solution was chosen for its flexibility, scalability, and compatibility with Ethernet switches. Additionally, the solution needed to be compatible with the URC control system and support 4K video resolution.

After careful evaluation, AV Access 4KIP200 series HDMI over IP solution was selected for its plug-and-play functionality, ease of use, and no configuration requirement on the Ethernet switch.

The Solution

To meet the requirements, Amazing Electronic Solutions installed 2 sets of 4KIP204E 4-in-1 HDMI encoders, 8 DIRECTV receiver boxes, a Gigabit PoE Ethernet switch, a wireless router, and a URC control system in the equipment room. The receiver boxes were connected to the encoders, which, along with the wireless router and control system, were connected to the switch. In the dining and counter areas, 12 sets of 4KIP200D HDMI decoders were installed behind the TVs.

All encoders and decoders were connected to the Gigabit switch using Cat cables for centralized management. The control software “VDirector”, was installed on a tablet for intuitive visual management and control, communicating with all codecs via the Wi-Fi signal from the wireless router.

The connection diagram is as follows:

Results

The implementation of AV Access 4KIP200 series 4K HDMI over IP solution successfully created a 4K HDMI video distribution system. It met the requirements for AV signal extension, distribution, switching, and centralized management and control.

By leveraging the IP network, the receiver boxes in the equipment room extended 4K ultra HD HDMI signals to the TVs in the dining area, reducing the need for multiple streaming devices and lowering equipment costs.

The user-friendly VDirector App on the tablet allowed waiters to preview all sources, distribute any source to any display, perform matrix switching, and control the power state of all connected displays via CEC. The owner could also control all sources and displays simultaneously through the URC control system.

Conclusion

AV Access 4KIP200 series 4K AV over IP solution successfully fulfills the requirements for AV signal extension, distribution, switching, centralized management, and visual control. It even supports video wall configurations up to 8×8.

The 4KIP200E HDMI encoders and 4KIP200D decoders work together to build a flexible and scalable IP matrix system. Additionally, the 4KIP204E 4-in-1 encoder can transmit 4x 4K HDMI signals to a 4KIP200D decoder, and the 4KIP204M quad view processor can display up to 4 different sources on a single screen.

Designed to be user-friendly, the 4KIP200 solution integrates seamlessly with any universal managed or unmanaged Ethernet switch. By installing the VDirector App on a smartphone, tablet, or computer and connecting it to a wireless router, users can effortlessly create an HDMI video distribution system with video wall configurations up to 8×8.

For more details, please visit the product page.