The mezzanine Sport’s Bar at Penn National’s Hollywood Casino is showcasing its unique installation of 10 holographic video screens. Patrons on the second-level lounge look out over the casino below and watch sports and other video on ten HOPS ® video screens specified and installed by Specialized Productions in Kutztown, Pennsylvania and Earl Girls Inc. from Atlantic City, New Jersey. These unique 60-inch glass screens imported from Germany are transparent and display video projected on the screen from a certain angle.

The heart of the HOPS ® system is a high-resolution holographic film. The film is treated by extensive laser technology and alternatively laminated with glass and foil. The specially exposed film will beam the video to the viewer upon back projection to the screen at a special angle. Incoming stray light from other angles is not affected and merely passes through the glass. The result is a daylight resistant projection. Almost all of the video sources at the casino are high definition. States Mike Tully of Specialized Productions, “We are very happy with the results of this project.”

The Grantville, Pennsylvania Casino is open 24/7, so a projector that would hold up to that rigorous schedule was critical. The 10 F20 projectors are remotely managed by the audio/visual department at the Casino, managed by John Wise. The remote system, Projectiondesign’s ProNet Asset management software, is able to send alerts, schedule on/off times, signal lamp changes, and maintenance. The system was installed while the casino was open, and the already crowded ceiling presented many additional challenges to the Earl Girls Inc. installation crew, as did the hundreds of slot machines below. There was also a considerable amount of extraneous WiFi to be dealt with.

The original concept was visualized by Penn National senior VP of Project Development, James Baum. Tully supervised all of the video installations in the Casino. He turned to Earl Girls Inc. to turn the concept into a reality, noting their specific expertise in video display and entertainment rigging. “We knew we wanted to create a sense of sensory stimulation with the addition of the holographic screens,” says Baum. “The screens are just one part of the overall experience that differentiates our service from our competitors. Don Earl and his team understood the concept and executed a flawless installation.”