Soccer fans get closer to the action

The Jalan Besar Stadium used to have only one LED screen, but it was mainly used as the scoreboard.

However, fans who watched football matches at the stadium recently found two additional large projection displays showing live match action.

Installed on the North Gate and South Gate at the Lions XII's home ground since mid-May, each Epson EB-Z10000 high-powered projector is able to project onto a 3.12m-tall and 4.8m-wide screen.

These projectors surprised football fan Tan Yu Jin, 26, who attended the Lions XII's final home match of the Malaysian Super League season last month.

"The bright display adds to the uplifting mood of the stadium and excitement of the game," Mr Tan said of the new projectors.

Captain of the Lions XII and the Singapore national football team Shahril Ishak gave the display projectors the thumbs up too.

"The brilliant display provided by these projectors enhances the match-day experience and adds to the welcoming atmosphere that the fans project, which is important in boosting the team's morale," said the 29-year-old midfielder.

The projectors are part of Epson's three-year sponsorship worth $1 million with the Football Association of Singapore (FAS).

Each projector is capable of 10,000 ANSI lumens - 5 times more powerful than your average office projector - of both colour and white brightness to overcome poor colour hue and picture saturation, commonly associated with outdoor projection displays.

However, the main challenge was to integrate the existing LED display system - which uses a low resolution 384 x 256 pixels display signal - with the Epson projectors without making major changes to the stadium's infrastructure.

"The Epson team worked closely with our appointed installers, as well as the stadium's vendor, to modify the necessary software and cabling," said Ms Tan May Lin, general manager of Epson Singapore.

Epson had to add a digital video processor to increase the display signal to 1,024 x 768 pixels, and a content management system suitable for the projectors.

In addition, the existing 76m-long VGA cable caused signal distortion resulting in noisy videos for the projectors. So, a VGA-to-Cat5 convertor, which reduces such signal losses, had to be installed.

The software integration took two weeks to complete while the entire project, from planning to installation, took two months and cost close to $100,000.

"The recent installation of the Epson large display projectors has been beneficial in adding value to the fans' match-day experience, as they allow fans to catch the football action from all angles," said Mr Zainudin Nordin, president of the FAS.

The sponsorship also includes supplying FAS with imaging and printing equipment, such as ultra-portable projectors for coaches to use and interactive projectors for meetings.

"The Epson-FAS sponsorship is a great opportunity to improve our brand awareness as well as to give back to the community in which we operate," said Mr Koichi Endo, managing director of Epson Singapore.

trevtan@sph.com.sg

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