Located in the heart of Sydney’s second central business district, overlooking the World Heritage-listed Parramatta Park, Club Parramatta is a hospitality, leisure and entertainment venue and the flagship asset owned and operated by Castle Hill RSL Group (CHRG).
The Challenge
The modern, spacious and elegant Club is the result of a $25 million (AUD) refurbishment project which started in 2017. Live music is central to the guest experience, therefore installing cutting audio-visual technology was a key part of the renovation. As a result, the Club brought in Intellect Projects Group (IPG), a highly regarded local AV specialist, that had also worked with the Club for several years prior to the refurbishment.
“We had a clean slate to work with, so we evaluated a number of IPTV systems before choosing Exterity,” explains Justin Baker, Technical Director for IPG. “The other solutions had poor user interfaces or were just not as reliable – the last thing the club wanted was for guests to walk into the venue and see a display that’s not working properly, or a holding screen because there’s no content available. When we tested Exterity’s system it ticked all the right boxes.”
The Solution
With a complete refurbishment plan, Baker and his team deployed a new, site-wide network around a 10GB switching core, with structured CAT 6 cabling across the facility. The Exterity IPTV and ArtioSign digital signage solution is connected to over 70 screens across the facility, from 75-inch displays running 4K sports content, to indoor and outdoor LED screens for digital signage, and even projectors within the function rooms. The Exterity IP video system also interfaces seamlessly with a Dante audio platform used for the PA and live music distribution. The Exterity system acts as a central distribution hub for multiple content feeds around the club. These include live TV, premium sports, and interactive video content that is used in the club’s electronic gaming machines.
The Result
The staff use the Exterity ArtioSign software to manage digital signage and content feeds, and according to Baker, “ArtioSign is one of the best features of Exterity; it is incredibly easy to use and very reliable.”
There are over 100 Exterity appliances – including media players, encoders and gateways – deployed at the Club, and Baker reports zero failures. “We have had some requests for a few changes, but we can carry these out remotely, and in terms of reliability, the Exterity IPTV system has been fantastic,” he says.
Baker has also set up automation capabilities alongside the Exterity solution that enable staff to use software on an iPad from anywhere to change what’s on each screen. “Exterity has proven extremely easy to integrate with other systems and that is a big plus,” he says, “and the end result is a stunning venue that has one of the best audio visual and automation setups in Sydney.”
