Offt Keiokaku

February 2015
Tokyo, Japan

Installation Details

A large-screen display was installed to improve visitor services.

Offt Keiokaku, which renovated a portion of its racetrack facilities in March 2014, sells betting tickets to all four major Nankan Keiba racetracks, including the Ohi Racecourse and other regional racetracks at the Tokyo City Keiba off-site betting booths.
The concept is to allow visitors to "view races in a quiet and relaxing atmosphere," and this is one of Japan's few members-only services of its kind. As the first anniversary approached in February 2015, it was decided that a large-screen Panasonic 98-inch 4K LCD display would be installed to further improve member services.

High-definition images show even the race horses in excellent detail.

Until now, approximately forty 40- to 50-inch LCD TVs were set up at Offt Keiokaku, with ticket odds and actual races shown in real-time.
As the first anniversary approached, it was decided to install a large-screen display to enable "all members to enjoy races in a luxury setting." Initially, installing a multi-screen system was discussed, but it was realized that displaying textual information, such as the race odds, was absolutely necessary, so a device was selected that could provide a clear and beautiful display without splitting the screen.

The TH-98LQ70 was chosen for the off-site betting booth because it offered the following features.

Dynamic live races could be shown on a large, 98-inch screen.
High-definition 4K image quality could faithfully reproduce the horse's appearance and muscular condition at the paddock before the race.

The 4K LCD display installed in the center of the facility. The seats at the front are called "Theater Seats." They have become extremely popular, allowing visitors to watch dynamic images of the race horses.

The viewing seats of the racetrack have been renovated, so there is a large window that faces the bicycle racetrack bank, which can be seen in the back of the photo.
A partition has been installed at the back of the display to reduce backlight and further improve the viewing environment.

System Outline

Displays HD images on a large screen via networks.

Races, images from the paddock, race odds, and other types of content are concentrated at the "Image Delivery Center" of the Ohi Racecourse, and converted to HD-SDI signals and MPEG-2 TS signals before being transmitted over networks.
At Offt Keiokaku, the received HD-SDI signals and MPEG-2 TS signals are converted to RF signals with OFDM modulators and delivered to the facilities.
The 4K LCD display is connected to an external STB, and displays the received RF signals as HDMI images.
The 4K LCD display offers input images in high definition on a large screen. During live races, the speed of the races can be displayed to viewers in clear, dynamic images. Images of the paddock are displayed on the large screen with rich details that make it look like the viewer is right there in front of the actual horses.

TVs suspended on both sides of the "Theater Seats" located at the front of the 4K display (in the upper right and left section of the photo) display race odds, while visitors can view a wide range of race information from their seats. Also, to prevent display malfunctions, a plastic cover has been mounted on the main unit buttons.

Offt Keiokaku

Offt Keiokaku has renovated the special viewing seats of the Tokyo Oval Keiokaku (Keiokaku Velodrome) and created an off-site betting booth.
In order to allow visitors to enjoy watching races in a quiet and relaxing space, the members-only space features 400 seats, including bench seats and sofa seats, restaurants, and free beverage vending machines, all within the 1,600-m² building. Many visitors enjoy watching horseraces in a picnic-like atmosphere.

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