HD Sells Beer (and more) at Twin Peaks
The ultimate “man-cave” restaurant shows off its best assets in HD!
In 2005, a pair of veteran restaurateurs opened the first Twin Peaks Restaurant location near Dallas, Texas. Flash forward eight years, and the ultimate “man-cave” restaurant chain has grown to 24 locations in 10 states. Recently Orlando, Florida, joined the Twin Peaks family with a new location on International Drive.
The Orlando location proudly operates a 9,000 square-foot restaurant space offering icy cold, 29-degree draft beer, house-made comfort food, and a whopping 48 HDTVs to watch all major televised sporting events! The sports-viewing experience at this location crushes the local competition with stunning crystal clear HD picture displayed on all 48 HDTVs.
And it’s all made possible through the use of 13 ZvBox180s, 10 DIRECTV receivers, a Blu-ray player, a backup cable box, and a Savant control system.
Sports Bar Mecca
Orlando is the fifth of six Twin Peaks locations that Mark Kiffin and his team from DIRECPATH have turned into sports bar meccas. As a DIRECTV Master System Operator (MSO), DIRECPATH dominates the Southeast US market by offering a suite of services for their customers from voice to internet to custom AV options. Twin Peaks is the first restaurant chain that DIRECPATH has partnered with. The goal for the Orlando installation project was to pair the trademark “man-cave” feel Twin Peaks is known for with the highest quality technology in a cost-effective, reliable, “wow” factor way to differentiate them from their competition.
Building the “WOW” Factor
There were multiple options for the brand new location, but for Mark and his team, the best option was clear. ZeeVee for HD over coax solved the two big- gest issues in any installation: cost-effectiveness and system reliability. By choosing RF distribution versus HDMI, Direcpath also avoided idiosyncrasies of HDMI: there were fewer points of failure, no additional costs incurred for hardware, maintenance, or power. Plus, there was built-in system reliability, because with RF distribution the control system operates independently. So the control system can go down, but the picture won’t be lost on the TVs – keeping the customers happy!
When asked about his decision to use ZeeVee over coax for the project, Mark said, “It seems like it’s a throwback to the past, but in reality, it’s a very forward-thinking way to do it. The picture quality – I would put up next to HDMI any day of the week. It was easily scalable and when all was said and done, this install exceeded any and all of our expectations.”
Perfect picture is great, but what about the sound? As with any in-house audio system, audio delay can be expected. To correct the issue, Mark and his team cascaded 2 outboard lip-sync correctors per video output plus the built-in audio processor of the Savant control system to virtually eliminate any lip-sync issue. (Lucky for Mark, the next time he needs to do a job like this, he can use the new Zv Pro series’ delay audio matched output feature that allows you to adjust the audio channel settings to help correct the delay up to 1.5 seconds!)
As if the perfect quality picture displayed on the TVs and clear, well-timed audio wasn’t enough, the Savant control system chosen for the project, is equally impressive. The Savant control system with the iPad interface is very user-friendly and allows the restaurant staff to easily control the AV assets in the store. The pre-set configurations were set so that store managers are able to open and close the store with the selection of one pre-set button.
The pre-set configuration determines which TVs turn on, default channels, and audio system volume levels without having to run all over the store. If a customer wants to change a channel, restaurant staff can easily do so by selecting the TV to be changed from the floor plan on the iPad interface and choosing the new source from a pre-populated list of options. No remotes necessary!
Using ZeeVee over coax isn’t just for existing projects. It can be a cost-effective, reliable option for new projects, too, just like Twin Peaks Orlando! Get the best quality video using ZeeVee’s highly configurable, incredibly scalable, simple to use, ultra-reliable and ridiculously affordable products!
Ready to Choose ZeeVee, Too?
As you can see, ZeeVee offers products that are versatile and perfectly suited to a wide range of applications for a bar or restaurant, from digital signage to broadcasting sports events to VJ style karaoke. HD video distribution over existing coax is enormously efficient in terms of time and money, and the systems are easy to expand whenever you’re ready — to add more HDTVs, all you have to do is connect them to the coax, and to add more sources, all you need to do is hook up another modulator to make another HD channel. With ZeeVee, you can create as simple or as complex a set-up as your establishment needs, and accessing those sources will be as easy as just changing the channel.
The rack is featured prominently behind the hostess station at the front door.
… when all was said and done, this install exceeded any and all of our expectations.”
Mark Kiffin, Direcpath
A view of the bar area at Twin Peaks – no shortage of HDTVs here!