How To Choose A Video Display Board
8 CRITICAL QUESTIONS AND THE ANSWERS YOU NEED TO CHOOSE A DIGITAL VIDEO DISPLAY
A DIGITAL VIDEO BOARD will CREATE A TREMENDOUS HOMECOURT ADVANTAGE on game night, enhance practices, and help make every special event and assembly that is held in your gym that much more special!
You get all of this while generating revenue for your athletic department!
We have put together this guide with the EIGHT most important questions to consider as you look to upgrade your facilities.
How quickly will a digital video board pay for itself and then begin generating money for our athletic program?
Here are some VERY CONSERVATIVE estimates of the money you can raise through sponsorships based on data collected from our extensive experience working with schools of all sizes.
Large School (Over 2,000 students), Metro Area, or Fantastic Booster Program: $17,300 per year. Five-year total of $86,500.
Medium School (400 to 2,000 students), Average Economics: $13,900 per year. Five-year total $69,500.
Small School (Less than 400 students), rural or less developed area: $8,000 per year or $40,000 over 5 years.
And, Sideline Interactive offers NO INTEREST, NO FEE FINANCES over two school years! You can raise the money to pay for your video board before your final installment is due!
There is very little work on your part to generate recurring, almost turn-key revenue.
Many of the schools that we work with actually have businesses approach them once the see the fundraising technology in action at an event.
“Once we got 4 to 5 sponsors and turned them on at the first event, we got phone calls from other businesses wanting a spot. Raising money has been super easy!”
Jay Gifford, Athletic Director at Dodge City (KS) High School
How much will a video board improve the experience of our athletes?
With Sideline’s interactive game prompt and player prompt features, it allows you to pause the current slideshow, play a 3-point animation, and resume right where the advertising slideshow left off— all at the push of one button!
This creates an interactive, exciting environment for the fans and another way to increase the value of your sponsorships.
Your athletes (and fans) will enjoy a BIG-TIME game night experience like the ones they see on TV or, when they attend college or pro games.
Once the video board was installed at Mason (TX) High School, a student remarked, “Wow, the video board makes the whole place look high tech. We don’t need a new gym!”
Feature you athletes for milestones, awards, player of the game, and other accomplishments and recognition they have received.
Coaches love Sideline’s ability to play game film from Hudl, Synergy, and many other video sources such as camcorders, Netflix, YouTube, etc. during practice without leaving the floor.
How good is the software?
Does the software work the way the operator would want? Is it intuitive to use?
How’s the workflow as we move from pre-game to lineups to game action?
Can we customize how the software works?
How easy is it to use?
Does the software allow you to:
- Instantly trigger any player’s roster picture
- Instantly trigger any crowd graphic such as 3 pointers, time out, the American flag?
- Allow you to switch team settings quickly?
- Display instant messages on the board? Control music?
- Display a digital scoreboard?
“Sideline Interactive’s GamePresenter Software is so easy to use. We let our Audio Visual class handle all the presentations and run the software. They have a great time doing it!”
Kevin McCaffrey, Athletic Director of University High School (CA)
Sideline Interactive’s software is proprietary and written from the ground up for how an operator would use it.
OUR SOFTWARE is written specifically for a volunteer or 15 year-old teen to run with its intuitive interface. We continually innovate new features and functions into software upgrades.
Many other companies will bundle an off-the-shelf presentation software or 99 cent apps on an iPad with their scoring table. How can you request changes or get support from a company that doesn’t control its own software?
As an Athletic Director or coach, how do you prove the value of sponsorships to your current advertisers?
Sideline Interactive’s software has ad tracking features, and you can generate advertising reports that show how often an ad plays and how long it plays.
Prove a positive rate of return for your advertisers and hold yourself accountable.
How innovative is the technology?
We’ll let you judge that for yourself with a little information!
- Our video boards feature High-Definition Display with over1.2 million crisp vivid colors to be exact!
- Our boards cast a super wide 160 degree viewing area. The display can be seen from anywhere in the Gym.
- There is an instant music connect hardwire or Bluetooth to your gym’s sound system.
- You can customize music playlists for pre-game, half-time, timeouts, etc.
Can the video board be used as a scoreboard?
Sideline Interactive offers additional software that allows your video board to be used and replace your traditional scoreboard.
Schools who have purchased the scoreboard software are amazed at how much video scoreboards outperform traditional scoreboards with the ultimate flexibility and fan excitement!
OPTIONAL FEATURE
You can sync your video board display to most Major scoreboard brands including Daktronics, Spectrum, Electro-mesh, OES, and many other types of scoreboards!
How good is the support and how is it provided?
Since all Sideline Interactive Video Boards are internet enabled, remote support is provided instantly. When a coach calls in for assistance, our tech support group can login with the coach and work on the question together. When it’s 30 minutes before a game, you don’t have time to worry about your equipment.
What is the quality of the video board and its construction ?
How long will the Digital Video board last?
Will the digital screen be protected when a ball strikes it? Not only during basketball and volleyball practices and games, but also when it’s out in the gym during PE or baseball/softball practice?
You never have to worry about your technology “wearing out!”
Our LED panels are rated for 100,000 hours of use. That means If you run your digital video board for three hours per day and for 365 days per year (which is pretty unlikely!), the panels will last the equivalent of 33 years!
We use Super Bright 4mm (about 0.16 in) Pitch LED panels. Our video boards are over 20% brighter than our competitors’ standard boards. We only use 60% of the maximum brightness so the LEDs run cooler, endure less stress, and last longer!
If your video board is ever struck by a stray ball the LEDs are easily replaceable. We use small modular tiles so that if there is damage, you need only replace one tile, not the whole board. Sideline Interactive also offers an optional Polycarbonate shield to prevent ball strikes to the video board.
What has been the experience of other schools with the digital video board that I am considering?
Most schools utilize their indoor video board in multiple ways in addition to indoor athletic events. Here are a just a few of those ways:
- Indoor summer youth camps for showing videos, for instructions and directions, to keep score and time regardless of the activity.
- Overnight lock-ins for various school groups use the board for announcements, games, and movies.
- Faculty or large student meetings run PowerPoint presentations on the board.
- Graduations to display pictures of the grads.
- Private schools use their boards for church services that are held in the gym.
- Entertain fans during rainouts or weather delays from outdoor sports.
- School or class movie night.
- Auction board for fundraisers.
“We use our board for basketball and volleyball games, to watch film, and for auctions and dinners. It’s a very useful tool that enhances our gym and provides a better product for our students and our fans!”
Dale Milton, Athletic Director, Christian Brothers HS (CA)
“We purchased a Sideline Interactive board and it has been fantastic! It is very easy to use. The Sideline Interactive team keeps us updated. If there is ever an issue with the laptop, they are quick to respond.”
Jake von Scherrer Director of Athletics, Maclay School (FL)
If you have any questions about any of the information that is contained in this article, or would like to discuss any questions that you have about digital video boards, give us a call at (832) 786-0302 or email us at sales@sidelineinteractive.com.
We are happy to provide you with any and all information that would be helpful to you as you make your decision about a new digital video board (indoors or outdoors)
Sideline’s product line includes Digital TV Scoring Tables, PRO-LED Seamless Scorer’s Tables, Static Tables, LED Video Boards, Digital Scoreboards, (indoor and outdoor), Software, and integration with other scoreboards.
