AV over IP is great for esports in education. Here’s why.

What’s in an esports facility?

A glorified computer lab is a simplified way to describe an education esports venue, with rows of gaming PCs, adorned with the décor of LED-illuminated elements, most notably the institution’s thematic colors, and the esports team logo signified by an emblem or mascot.

Grafisch Lyceum Rotterdam (GLR) – see case study for more information

However, an esports venue is much more than just a computer lab. It’s very busy and multifunctional during intense practice sessions and competitive events, with the need to have areas for coaching staff, supporting personnel, officiating staff, the spectators, and of course, the players.

A well-outfitted esports facility in a university (or high school) will include some or all of the following, each in their defined spaces.

• The player zone, with gaming PCs and associated furniture grouped together in rows or pods. This is the prime area of the esports venue.
• The coach’s station, a workstation, alcove, or office to monitor live event activity, practice with or train players, review recorded gameplays, and more. 
• The shoutcaster’s station, a designated space for one or two commentators to provide play-by-play narration and analysis during live matches.
• A room or section for spectators to gather and watch competitions on one or more screens.

In more elaborate venues, there may also be a production and broadcast zone, dedicated to managing video and audio presentations, lighting, livestreaming, recording, and other relevant functions.

How does AV play into esports?

Pro AV is a natural fit for esports operations because of the many practical benefits of having displays, a sound system, cameras, production equipment, and lighting throughout the venue to entertain spectators during competitions, facilitate shoutcaster commentary, present content for coaching and instruction, and many other activities.

AV over IP is particularly ideal for esports venues, because sources and displays are likely to be dispersed throughout the facility. There is also the need to accommodate many possible scenarios for how and where live gaming activity, recorded gameplays, digital signage, leaderboards, camera feeds, themed animations, and other content will be displayed.

Additionally, esports facilities may have an indeterminate number of sources and displays throughout their lifespans. The system may initially be a smaller design for budget considerations, but continually expanded as more use cases are identified.

In the end, these considerations call for the flexibility to distribute signals anywhere and everywhere as needed, something networked AV can best provide for an installation of considerable scope such as esports.

Why is OmniStream ideal for esports?

Atlona OmniStream™ is a flexible, scalable, and cost-effective AV over IP platform that delivers high-performance AV distribution and solid reliability for demanding esports applications. It runs over standard Gigabit Ethernet infrastructure. This makes it straightforward for pre-installation planning to provide sufficient Category network cabling. There may be pre-existing CAT 6A or CAT 5e cabling in the facility, that could be available for AV integration use.

But when it comes to OmniStream and esports, these advantages are just the beginning. Let’s take a closer look at specific OmniStream technologies and features that are particularly beneficial to esports applications.

Advanced codec
OmniStream features VCx™, an advanced codec designed to deliver pristine quality graphics and fast-motion video, along with essentially zero encode-to-decode latency (significantly less than one frame). These capabilities are tailor-made for the fast-paced dynamic nature of gaming imagery. For a gaming PC, OmniStream is ideal for capturing the secondary HDMI® output of the graphics card, leaving the primary DisplayPort™ output for the gaming monitor.

Ultra-fast switching
Another core feature of OmniStream AV over IP systems is integrated video signal processing that enables extremely fast switching between sources, with transition times well below 0.5 second. This ensures professional-quality image presentations, such as during live events when gaming and camera views need to be quickly switched between players.

Multiview processing
OmniStream systems also allow multiple image sources to be presented on one display. The AT-OMNI-121 decoder ingests streams from up to four AT-OMNI-111 encoders and can display them as a quad, side-by-side, or picture-in-picture (PIP) view. The encoders are capable of delivering a high-resolution stream for full-screen display, and a secondary stream at a resolution appropriate for windowing on a multiview display.