back to article 440m2 screen has fewer pixels than iPad

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 …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    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.

    1. Paul RND*1000
      Thumb Up

      Re: Daktronics

      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.

  2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Holmes

    So who pays for that there wonder?

    1. Wombling_Free
      Thumb Down

      Taxpayers

      I'm sure there would be some guvmunt scheme that sets aside money for important sporting facility improvements like this.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    It's/its

    'it is sound system' was all I heard. Call me anal.

    1. Jolyon Smith
      Facepalm

      Re: It's/its

      El Reg went to the trouble of providing an icon specifically for grammar Nazis. It seems only polite to use it when goose-stepping to the beat of the grammar-phone.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 'Icon'

        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.

  4. Alan Denman

    Ir is a Retina

    If you do the maths, the 100m or so viewing distance will mean its yet another Retina display.

  5. Steve Knox
    Boffin

    Retina Display?

    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.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Retina Display?

      "So each pixel is ~15mm square (or round as the case may be)."

      Can't be round, Apple might sue them. I heard they are also going after the bloke who created the planets as clearly they have rounded edges.

    2. Paul RND*1000

      Re: Retina Display?

      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.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    big screen and horses.

    So as they come around the final curve and into the finishing straight, the horses will catch a glimpse of truly MASSIVE racehorses thundering towards them out of the sky.

    Can anyone see the chance of a problem with this?

    1. Charles 9

      Re: big screen and horses.

      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.

    2. Graham Bartlett
      Happy

      Re: big screen and horses.

      Yippee-iy-ay

      Yippee-iy-oo-oo

      Ghost jockeys in the skyyyy

  7. Charles 9

    Hmm...720p

    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.

  8. Wombling_Free
    Thumb Down

    Hopefully now we can see some great closeups of....

    ...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.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hopefully now we can see some great closeups of....

      This is Australia - aren't they all working class?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hopefully now we can see some great closeups of....

      My first thought when I saw the headline was to hack into it and goatse the crowd.

    3. Tom 38

      Re: Hopefully now we can see some great closeups of....

      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.

      1. Wombling_Free

        Re: Hopefully now we can see some great closeups of....

        "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.

  9. SW
    Devil

    How hot...

    And just how hot is it going to get when running video ?

    Keep your 'nads' well away from this wee beastie

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just WTF...

    Does a jumbotron have to do with an iPad?

    Nothing.

    Absolutely nothing.

  11. samlebon23

    They should put an IPAD 3 instaead and give every spectator a binacular.

  12. Giles Jones Gold badge

    It's all about viewing distances and the like. Such a big screen isn't much good if you are a foot away from it.

  13. Chads
    Boffin

    ..subject of "Wind Engineering"

    Of course it has. Another quick bit of maths says it's going to get something like 90 tonnes of wind load on it in a design storm. That'll be one reason for piling then.

  14. M7S
    Coat

    So to get John McCririck in better resolution

    you actually need him up close and personal. Almost in your lap.

    Or did the iPad win by merely a whisker?

    Yes, the tweed one, with the cape.

  15. Fab De Marco

    I wonder if it takes any feed.

    I kind of want to plug in a windows 3.1 machine into it and play solitare. even if I run it in a VM. Would be awesome.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I wonder if it takes any feed.

      Well, when they went to the store they heard all of this about high resolution this and great quality that - but you know that when it's done they're just going to plug it into the 'video' RCA jack anyway.

  16. Jonegerton

    Yellow Submarine

    The first showing on it should be the HD remaster of Yellow Submarine - they're made for each other

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