Daktronics
I keep misreading "Daktronics" as "Dk'tronics", the company who used to make a whole host of peripherals for 8 bit computers in the 80''s. Thereby evoking the image of an Amstrad CPC hooked up to an 11 metre screen.
Punters who trot off to Sydney’s Rosehill Gardens will soon be able to watch horse racing on a 40 by 11 meter screen. Construction on the new screen started in January and is scheduled to conclude in time for a race meeting on March 31st. The screen rests on a four-tier steel frame and is so heavy that piles have been sunk …
And there I was thinking I was the badness having my Speccy (with its Dk'Tronics joystick interface) hooked up to a 24" RGB monitor which looked like it might have once lived in an airport terminal. Paid 30 quid for it and after the seller hauled it across town on a trailer had to figure out which bare wire hanging out the back was for what signal.
No, they provided a function to '"Send Corrections" to allow them to skimp on the moderation in the forums.
It would seem 'only polite' to acknowledge or act upon communications sent to el Reg in good nature. On the contrary in fact, all information received via said link is summarily ignored.
So each pixel is ~15mm square (or round as the case may be).
Apple's Retina Display claim for the iphone was based on the pixels being less than 57arcseconds in size at 12 inches away (in the case of the iPhone, the pixels are approximately 53as at 12 inches.)
If my math is correct, for the pixels of this display to be less than 57as in size, the viewer should be about 59 meters away or more. That's your sweet spot.
Which sounds about right really. It'll be all MODE 2 looking if you get close enough, but it's not designed for close-up viewing at all.
An iWotsit display will look grainy too if you examine it through a 10x magnifier instead of just using it at the normal viewing distance of a foot or two.
Not really. Displays of a similar nature have been used before, and I believe the displays don't display live footage during a home stretch so that spectators focus on the horses. I would think they'd switch to static displays as they come around the turn. In any event, given that the displays are sideways to the horses, flat, and inset some distance, I would think the horse may not pay attention to it in any event.
So it wouldn't be too hard of a stretch to say this new display has roughly the resolution of two 720p displays placed side-by-side (as measured 1280x720 each--the estimate is perfect vertically and a little over horizontally). I see it as realistically possible and easy enough to manage from a control center with the right monitor setups.
...jockeys beating horses until the horses bleed.
...horses being shot in the head after they have had a fall.
...organised criminals laundering money through the on-course bookies.
...massive queues of 'fillies' lining up to 'powder their noses' in the bathrooms.
...the perpetual expression of fear in the eyes of the horse.
...dead race horses being turned into pet food.
...crowds of over-moneyed over-entitled bogans delighting in cruelty to animals.
Wombles obviously don't get to encounter many racehorses up close - racehorses love to race - in fact, all horses do.
It is kind of shitty when a horse breaks a leg in a jump, I'll give you that, but horses love the jumps as much as the riders.
If you ever get the chance, check out a point to point race - amateur horses and riders - and you will quickly see that if the horse doesn't want to do something, the horse doesn't do it. The horses that do want to do it love it.
"racehorses love to race - in fact, all horses do"
Riiight. Yes, actually I have seen racehorses up close. I don't know what country you're from, but the ones I have seen in Australia epitomise the expression 'fear'.
"check out a point to point race - amateur horses and riders" - totally agree with you. But point to point racing isn't supported by a massive industry worth a lot of 'stupid tax' (tax on people-bad-at-maths) to the government, nor is point-to-point racing or gymkhana used as a massive money laundering scheme by organised crime, nor does amateur racing heavily promote a culture of extreme binge drinking, excess and consuming mountains of cocaine.
I'm also a supporter of animal rescue groups who look after old racehorses after the racing industry has discarded them - (and discard they do! Not the glue factory these days, more likely pet food) - and have seen racehorses with scars from being whipped and having caltrops put under the saddle.
If you are only involved in amateur racing then I suggest you get along to Flemington or Randwick during one of the 'carnivals' - it's carnage.