The company’s E-Vision Laser 8500 projectors have been installed at three Meshico Group restaurants to overlay its tables with fully customisable content.
Manchester
(UK), 16th March 2020 – Branded as ‘The Soul
of Mexico’ in Dubai, Meshico group consists of three restaurants across the
city: Puerto 99 Bluewaters, which overlooks Dubai Marina and the JBR skyline;
Meshico The Point, The Palm Jumeirah, overlooking Atlantis the Palm; and Tulum,
Dubai Mall, next to the Dubai Fountains.
Each of these characterful venues have their own bar area with live DJs, an
array of moving heads, and a top-of-the-range Martin Audio PA system powered by
Powersoft amplifiers.
While this is all to be expected for a high-end chain of restaurants in a city like Dubai, the Meshico group decided that an extra layer of visual splendour was needed; namely a mesmerising table-mapping show that expresses the ethos of the brand and the spirit of Mexico itself.
In order to make this ambitious vision a reality, the Meshico group’s first port of call was Pulse Middle East – one of the region’s most well-respected integrators.
“This was a new customer for Pulse Middle East,” said Greg Brown, the company’s operations director. “We were introduced thanks to our portfolio and a business relationship between Pulse and Meshico Group soon blossomed. Once we received their brief for the table mapping aspect of the install, we decided that the high build quality and attractive price point of Digital Projection’s products made them the ideal choice for the job.”
The brief from Meshico group was for versatile projectors that could be used in a variety of orientations and throw distances. Due to the challenging nature of the environment, they also required high levels of both brightness and colour accuracy to show off the advanced content being displayed.
General manager for Digital Projection in the Middle East, Matt Horwood, said: “Digital Projection worked with Pulse on the design and supply of this project to ensure we could deliver a technically complaint solution within the timescale required. Projection mapping provided the most versatile and accurate solution for the client, as it keeps the technology away from the customers but displays the content and wow factor right before their eyes.”
A total of five Digital Projection E-Vision Laser 8500 projectors were chosen to cover five tables; two individual tables and three that had been combined to make a 4.5m long surface able to seat 12.
The E-Vision Laser 8500 Laser delivers a stunning 8,500 lumens from a stable solid-state light source, capable of producing over 20,000 hours of illumination. This single chip projector was developed with ‘Fit and Forget’ directive, ensuring it needs only minimal maintenance throughout the lifetime of the display, which was music to the Meshico group’s ears.
Equally compelling for them was the lack of lamp replacements due to the solid state illumination system. By bypassing regular lamp replacement cycles, almost all costs related to the E-Vision Laser are incurred at time of purchase. This key characteristic allows the E-Vision Laser to have a much lower cost of ownership over the lifespan of the display.
With the projection hardware chosen, the first step for the team was to find a solution where a single mobile device could control the lighting, audio, and projection at the same time. This solution needed to be elegant, simple and be completely bespoke.
“Pixilab Blocks offered us the ultimate solution,” said Brown. “Admin tablets control the tables and the phases of the journey as well as writing live text upon the table at any time. User control of individual places using individual tablets locked to the position the guest is sitting to have guest interactivity with the menu.”
The Pixilab Blocks
were seamlessly integrated with Dataton’s Watchout to provide a multi display
output to the system, creating a beautiful image across the huge main
table. Interactivity comes with the help of a Blocks spot sending NDI
video into Watchout to add the additional elements.
When the button is pushed to start the show, the video loop synchronises with
house lighting and audio to create a truly unique ambiance.
“Meshico are ecstatic about creating this first-of-its-kind guest experience
for their customers,” said a spokesperson from Meshico group. “Upon
booking a table, content can be customised for a guest for special
occasions, including posting personalised photos upon the table. We are
excited to witness birthdays, anniversaries and marriage proposals that make
full use of this unique and beautiful dining experience.”
“We really enjoy working with Pulse for a number of reasons,” said Horwood. “They have the experience, the knowledge and the technical skills to design and install even the most complex audio-visual systems. This offers Digital Projection peace of mind when partnering on such technically demanding projects; safe in the knowledge that the complete system will always exceed the customers’ expectations.”