Peerless-AV offers custom support for Sony VP lab in LA

Peerless-AV has played a vital role at a new Virtual Production Lab at Sony’s Digital Media Production Center in Los Angeles, California.

The immersive training and education facility offers production managers and cinematographers the opportunity to test drive Sony’s line of professional cinema equipment, including the flagship VENICE 2 Cinema Camera, which was used for the Top Gun Maverick movie.

The demo room features a multi-faceted dvLED video wall – serving as a traditional green-screen replacement for virtual production (VP) testing and validation – supported by a custom mounting infrastructure designed, fabricated and installed by Peerless-AV.

Sony required a customised solution that would showcase its products for VP, which encompass high-end dvLED, cinema cameras, monitors and infrastructure solutions.

The main challenge was to make efficient use of the limited space, without compromising the product testing experience. Sony wanted the dvLED video wall to be seamless, to provide a captivating visual for those viewing and testing products at the facility.

After working through a range of potential solutions, Peerless-AV and Sony concluded that a multi-faceted video wall – featuring a flat side and a slightly curved one – would offer the most flexible working space for creative testing.

Peerless-AV designed and manufactured a SEAMLESS Bespoke dvLED Mounting System to accommodate the flat and curved sides of the displays and to join them flawlessly.

The flat segment of the SEAMLESS Bespoke Mounting System is 6m wide and 3m high, while the curved segment is 4.8m wide and 3m high, with only a 3° curve between each column. The dvLED video wall consists of 162 Crystal LED B-series cabinets with a 1.58mm pixel pitch.

The flat section is arranged in a 10 by nine configuration, with the curved section eight cabinets wide and nine cabinets high. The system’s video resolution is 6,912 by 1,944, yielding more than 13 million pixels. The focus on high pixel density is a critical factor in Sony’s vision for the next generation of on-set virtual production.

It took five days to install the mounting frame and another five to install the Sony Crystal LED cabinets.

Project manager Jason Metcalfe, Sony’s solutions sales engineer, says: “Our team members noted the granular control and alignment offered by Peerless-AV’s system was extremely helpful in completing the installation as quickly as we did. It was reassuring to know the level of accuracy was maintained throughout each step of the process.”

Jeff Blankensop, Peerless-AV’s senior director for the west/central region, says: “This multi-faceted video wall was just the type of project our precision engineered and highly adjustable dvLED mounting systems were created for.”

Kevin O’Connor, senior director for cinematic production solutions at Sony Electronics, says: “As a result of this installation, our demo facility achieved an advanced level of immersion sure to wow those testing Sony’s product line-up.”