On July 24, the ITS ResNET team went to work upgrading the Carolina Gaming Arena. In fact, it was the “first big upgrade to the gaming arena since it was opened,” said Savannah Dunn, ResNET’s Assistant Program Director of Residential Services.
The Carolina Gaming Arena opened in Fall 2021 and is located on the lower level of Craige Residence Hall.
The team upgraded the casting wall — one of the highlights of the arena — by moving the existing nine 55-inch TV display to make room for an ultra-short-throw projector.
The projector will “provide a higher image quality at a lower latency,” Dunn said. “With the original nine-panel TV setup, there was a noticeable input delay” for competitive games like Super Smash Bros. and gamers requested some improvements.
The team is reusing the nine-panel setup. The nine panels have been divided into three one-by-two widescreen TVs on the back wall of the arena. Additionally, an array of three TVs was moved into the podcast studio in the Craige Lab for an extra-large screen for casting.
Cutting-edge technology
For the ResNET team, the projector was the most straightforward choice for the upgrade. It also was the cost-saving option over buying one very large TV screen.
The ultra-short-throw projector keeps the arena on the cutting edge of technology and improves game latency. Dunn said the new Epson LS800 is a “leader in the new ultra-short-throw projection technology.”
If you’re not familiar with projector terminology, “throw” is the distance between the projector and the surface its projecting onto. When you picture a projector, you might think of one mounted to the ceiling, 10 feet back from the wall. This is a standard throw projector. Or maybe one set on a tabletop or rolling cart 3 or 4 feet away from the wall, which is a short-throw projector. Ultra-short-throw projectors can be as close as 3 inches from the wall — a plus for the gaming arena.
Dunn called the projector “ideal” for the space. “The short throw allows us to keep the arena floor accessible while also not having to deal with the screen being partially blocked out when people walk through the projector light since it is directly below the screen,” she said.
The team plans more upgrades to the gaming arena tech. “We’ve got some more exciting things coming down the line,” Dunn said.
