Inside Ross Video's Effort To Drive Mercedes-Benz Stadium's One-of-a-Kind Halo Display The four-year journey ended in control of 60,000 sq. ft. of LED real estate By Karen Hogan Ketchum, Senior Editor
Thursday, October 19, 2017 - 4:00 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
Before Mercedes-Benz Stadium even opened its doors - or its retractable roof - for fans of the Atlanta Falcons and United FC, the venue's 360-degree Halo video display was the talk of the town. With more than 60,000 sq. ft. of video real estate encircling the stadium's roof, it would be both the largest LED video display in North American sports and the first of its kind, requiring a first-of-its-kind workflow to deliver 360 degrees of video content.
Enter Ross Video.
The 360-degree Halo video display at Mercedes-Benz Stadium requires a first-of-its-kind workflow.
Ross Video's involvement in Mercedes-Benz Stadium began four years before it opened - in fact, before ground had even been broken on the state-of-the-art venue. WJHW, the consultant on the project, approached Ross Video to see what the Ottawa-based company could do to drive the 360-degree video display that had been designed for the stadium.
At that time, there was no display-control system on the market that could drive such a high-resolution [21,517 1154-pixel] display accurately as one canvas, says Kevin Cottam, director, Sports and Live Events, Ross Video. Ross, being a forward-thinking, innovated technology company, were extremely interested in the opportunity to work with WJHW and Daktronics on such a high-profile project. So we immediately began internal discussions on how to develop a control system with our real-time 3D XPression render engine at the core, that would have the feature set required to produce and control content for a high-end NFL game-day production, and submitted a control-system design for the display-control bid, knowing the project was several years away from being deployed.
Approximately two years later, at NAB 2015, Cottam, together with Bas Saleh, creator of Ross Video's XPression, worked out terminology, feature set, development timelines, and more - and came up with XPression Tessera. According to the company, Tessera enables users to link multiple Xpression engines to create a scalable matrix of channels/resolutions for a seamless output of video - ideal for the one-of-a-kind Halo.
Having decades of experience in the sports-venue space, we knew that displays would continue to increase in resolution, and we've seen the limitations of how sports venues drive their displays using multiple video/graphical inputs to a video processor and formatting the layouts through those processors, explains Cottam. The plan devised was to format the displays upstream of the video processors, utilizing the real-time render power of XPression, and remove any limitations with regards to resolution.
Ross Video's XPression Tessera system drives the Halo and also controls the Mega Column LED display.
The idea of Tessera has always been a feature set within XPression, he continues. There's a feature in all standard Xpression Studio engines called Tile Mapper, which is a basic form of Tessera on a single engine. This feature gives the user the ability to frame-accurately sync multiple channels together vertically or horizontally, which allows end users to design on canvas much larger than standard HD resolutions. So we basically took that idea and expanded it to multiple engines, using a master engine to control the slave engines frame-accurately.
After presenting the concept for Tessera at NAB 2015, Ross Video was invited to pitch its solution to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium brass within the year.
The following March, Ross Video was invited to Atlanta to participate in a proof-of-concept (POC) demo at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Cottam was joined in Atlanta by Ross Video Creative Services Lead Designer Greg Kuh, with Saleh and Senior Software Engineer Brian Ford assisting remotely. Both Cottam and Kuh were able to demonstrate synchronized playback of 3D content across six outputs (half the Halo) - all in real time.
I think, pretty quickly, everyone really understood the ease and use of it and what it could do for their production, says Kuh. One of the things demonstrated was how quickly content could be modified using a real-time render engine. I asked the room to give me a word, and someone shouted out, Touchdown.' Three seconds later, we had Touchdown' seamlessly animating across all six displays.
We were showing off some of the social-media [capabilities] as well and had someone send an Instagram photo to the Inception Social server, he continues. It appeared on the displays within seconds. We continued to demonstrate the power to render 3D animations and animated a football and soccer ball in real time across all displays. That really kicked off the project.
The Ross Video team also showed off its Dashboard control product, which would be used to control the XPression Tessera system, as well as many other devices within the stadium.
Having opened its doors on Aug. 26, Mercedes-Benz Stadium hosted its first regular-season Atlanta Falcons game on Sept. 17.
Within a week of the POC, Mercedes-Benz Stadium executives selected the Ross XPression Tessera system to drive the Halo, adding control of the Mega Column LED display as well. To build on an already powerful LED-control system, the decision was made to incorporate additional Ross products into the production-control room in order to fully integrate the two systems.
The power to control any of our products and third-party products using our proprietary Ross Talk protocol is an extremely powerful tool for any game-day production, Cottam explains. The LED-control system and production-control room are one ecosystem that c
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
Nadia Fall attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Brides at the Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Donyale West/...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders Marks a Grand...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
Inside Ross Video's Effort To Drive Mercedes-Benz Stadium's One-of-a-Kind Halo Display The four-year journey ended in control of 60,000 sq. ft. of LED real estate By Karen Hogan Ketchum, Senior Editor 
