OTHER TECH

An AMX AutoPatch 8x24 A/V matrix switcher in the equipment rack enables the bartender or general manager on duty to choose among eight sources and throw the various feeds to any of the TVs, independent of what the other sets are displaying. So if eight games or matches in multiple sports are concurrently underway on a busy Saturday afternoon, all of them can be shown, and no fan will feel slighted.

Control comes via the AMX 10-inch touchpad in a wall behind the bar. Another AutoPatch switcher in the rack sends video to the touchpanel so that the bartender or GM can scroll through the channel guide on the panel itself rather than having to commandeer one of the screens to make selections.

The 7-foot-high equipment rack was originally slated for placement in the mechanical room, but circumstances dictated that it be moved into a closet behind the bar - and moved there a mere 20 hours before the club was slated to open, no less. "The rack had to go in before the bar taps went in," recalls Zachary. "Though the rack is on wheels, we couldn't just roll it around the bar because the countertop was already in place and immovable, and the clearance for anything to get behind the bar is only a few feet. It took 10 guys to move it." He pauses, then chuckles. "We should have videotaped that."

Around the horn: Behind the bar, Zachary shows David what's what on the all-powerful AMX touchpad.

PLAY HIGH-DEF BALL!

Naturally, the only way to properly evaluate the install at the Wrigley Rooftops Club was to do so when the Cubs were at home. I zeroed in on the first weekend in August, when the Pittsburgh Pirates came to town for a three-game stand. I then invited two locals with Iron City ties to join me: Kellyanne Thomas, a sports manual therapist I've known ever since we went to grade school together three decades ago in Pittsburgh, and my younger brother Mat, who was born there. Thomas, a passionate sports fan and A/V enthusiast, relished the invite and promised to don a Pirates jersey for the occasion; I, in turn, couldn't promise her safety, but she held her own amid the Cubs faithful. Mat, a DVD fanatic partial to the crosstown rival Chicago White Sox, wisely decided not to stir the pot and remained attire-neutral.

For the first few innings, we hunkered down in a booth in the main room. As our sightline was a small window of real estate running down the first-base line, we spent most of the time watching the Comcast SportsNet HD broadcast of the game on one of the 46-inch Sharp screens across the room. My compatriots and I saw plenty of clear high-def detail: the lush, green crosshatched outfield grass, the orderly rows of raked dirt in the infield before it all got trampled under cleats, the shadows on and folds of the ivy on the outfield wall, and the light yellow outline that encircled sleeves and the black team logo on the Pirates' jersey fronts.

For the second half of the game, we went up to the rooftop and planted ourselves at a table in line with opposing SunBrites that also gave us a small window of daylight on the field between second and third base. Reacting to the 5-second broadcast delay was interesting; first we'd hear the roar of the crowd, then we'd turn around to catch the action on a SunBrite. We saw two great Pirate double plays that way, plus watched the Bucs' Jason Michaels jack a solo homer in the 6th to seal a 3-0 victory.

As an overall high-def social experience, our Wrigley Rooftops Club afternoon was hard to beat. I'm already counting down until the next Opening Day. Oh, take me back to the ball game. . .