Software-Enhanced Teaching and Visualization Capabilities of an Ultra-High-Resolution Video Wall

This paper presents a modular approach to enhance the capabilities and features of a visualization and teaching room using software. This approach was applied to a room with a large, high resolution (7680$\times$4320 pixels), tiled screen of 13 $\times$ 7.5 feet as its main display, and with a variety of audio and video inputs, connected over a network. Many of the techniques described are possible because of a software-enhanced setup, utilizing existing hardware and a collection of mostly open-source tools, allowing to perform collaborative, high-resolution visualizations as well as broadcasting and recording workshops and lectures. The software approach is flexible and allows one to add functionality without changing the hardware.