On March 8, 2019, EVO Entertainment opened the doors to its newest multiplex, located in Schertz, Texas. The 73,000-square-foot entertainment destination offers guests a 10-screen, dine-in cinema — including two massive EVX screens — 16 bowling lanes, an arcade with more than 70 games, an outdoor patio, a full restaurant and bar, and three private event rooms that can be used independently or combined into one large space.

When envisioning his latest enterprise, EVO Entertainment Group founder and CEO Mitch Roberts — grandson of Cinemark founder Lee Roy Mitchell — wanted to create an experience similar to its predecessors, with one notable exception: a much greater emphasis on AV technology. He wanted guests to be immersed in a high-tech wonderland as soon as they walked in the door and dazzled throughout with an abundance of displays and video walls showcasing a range of content. To create the tech marvel, Roberts called on Mood Texas, a company dedicated to converting its clients’ visions into experiences through the design and delivery of sight, sound, and scent systems.

To fulfill Roberts’ vision, Mood Texas packed EVO Entertainment with nearly 100 displays, including 45 55-inch NEC video wall panels, 27 NEC LED displays of various sizes, three 88-inch LG ultra-stretch signage panels, and two Sunbright 75-inch outdoor displays, in addition to eight NEC 4K UHD laser projectors. Sources located in a rack on the second floor — an entire level dedicated to AV equipment — consist of 10 DirecTV receivers and two Spectrio 10 Foot Wave digital signage players, which broadcast internal promotional advertising.

For 48 of EVO Entertainment’s screens, a video distribution system was required to deliver content from rack sources. The system needed to be exceptionally easy for staff to use, as well as guests in the event rooms, making a powerful, intuitive control solution a critical aspect of the project.

“The massive scale of this project gave us a unique opportunity to really shine and deliver something special for the multiplex’s patrons,” said Andrew Adams, senior account executive at Mood Texas. “To do that, not only did we require a rock-solid video distribution system, but it had to be simple enough for staff and guests to operate with very little training. For this we turned to RTI. We’re fairly new to the company’s control platform, having only been installing it for about two years, but it has been phenomenally successful in every project we’ve thrown at it. We were extremely confident that it could handle this challenge.”

For video distribution, Mood Texas utilized Just Add Power’s (J+P) 3G Ultra HD Over IP system, supported by two Luxul XMS-7048P 52-port stackable Gigabit PoE+ L2/L3 managed switches. Each of the multiplex’s 12 rack sources is equipped with J+P’s VBS-HDIP-707 PoE transmitter. J+P’s VBS-HDIP-508 PoE receivers are attached to the 20 panels of the bar’s wraparound video wall — configured as 8x2 on the long side and 2x2 on the short side — eight projectors and displays in the bowling alley, six 43-inch portrait panels located outside the facility’s bathrooms, two Sunbright screens on the patio, and a 65-inch display in the billiard room. In addition, each private event room features a display with a J+P receiver, as well as a J+P 3G+WP2 wall plate transmitter to allow guests to play video from their laptops.

EVO Entertainment’s control system is powered by RTI’s XP-8V control processor. Staff interact with the system using two KX10 10-inch in-wall touchpanel keypads — located near the employee-only area and managers office — and a wireless iPad running RTI’s RTiPanel app. They can send any source to any display with a single button press, and easily change the layout for the video wall in the bar. Options include one large image across all 20 displays, 20 independent images, or separate images on five 2x2 video walls. In addition, Mood Texas wrote a script for RTI that turns the video wall into one large image welcoming patrons to the multiplex at scheduled times throughout the day. For control over displays in the event rooms, each is equipped with a KX3 3.5-inch in-wall touchpanel keypad. The touchpanels are also capable of controlling multiple rooms when combined.

“With Just Add Power and RTI, we were able to turn Mitch’s vision into reality and exceed his high expectations for performance,” said Adams. “The Just Add Power system has performed flawlessly, easily handling distribution to a wide variety of displays across a truly massive facility. And with RTI, employees were able to begin using the system almost immediately. They are amazed at how easy it is to send content to any display or control the video wall. We couldn’t be happier with how this project turned out and hope to put these solutions through the ringer at another EVO Evolution location soon.”