When a new convention centre is built from the ground up, technology decisions are a statement of intent. When an established venue invests in a significant tech upgrade, it signals a commitment to ensuring quality experience. Recently, two pre-eminent Australian venues made their respective statements.
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) completed a display technology refresh across its Plenary and Nyaal Banyul Geelong Convention and Event Centre, a brand-new venue, will open its doors with projection selected as the display of choice. Both venues, through independent evaluation processes, converged on Barco Visualization solutions for projection and screen management.
Nyaal Banyul: projection at the centre of customer outcomes
For Nyaal Banyul, the projection brief was exacting. Michael Walker, senior manager – audio visual, explains: “Projection was deliberately removed from the broader builder-led procurement process because of how central it is to customer outcomes.”
The venue issued an expression of interest calling for large-format laser projectors above 30,000 lumens alongside seven to 10 smaller units for breakout spaces. All shortlisted products were evaluated against a standardised slide pack and video toolset, testing colour reproduction, skin tone accuracy, scaling artefacts, and ghosting. The result was the selection of Barco UDM-4K30 projectors for Delama Event Space and Barco I600-4K15 projectors for the meeting rooms, with Barco Encore3 processors providing vision and signal switching.
MCEC: retrofitting excellence with QDX
At MCEC, David Strangio, head of audio visual, reflects: “We needed a solution that would fit within existing custom projector housing boxes, work with legacy fibre infrastructure, and perform consistently across rooms that turn over multiple times in a single week.” MCEC selected the Barco QDX-N4K45 projector for the Plenary.
Diversified handled the MCEC integration. Replacing existing projector units inside purpose-built housing boxes presented a genuine retrofit challenge. QDX units are lighter and lens shift handled geometry where previous projectors required significant physical tilt. The full upgrade across Plenary 1–3 was completed within a week, with a live event running mid-installation.
Everyone was just sitting there commenting, this is a game changer for us. The display was cinematic. The brightness, clarity, sharpness, detail, and depth were excellent and the blacks were stunning.
— David Strangio, Head of Audio Visual, MCEC
Why projection over LED
Both venues deliberately committed to projection rather than pivoting to LED wall technology. Flexibility to move screen positions, reduce or expand image surface with optics, and significant operational savings in constantly changing room configurations made projection the enduring choice.