International. Carnival Cruise Line has adopted AV Stumpfl's Pixera media server platform to manage the visual content of its inflight entertainment spaces.
Four of Carnival's 29 cruise ships already use Pixera, with more expected to be added in the coming months as part of a broader strategy to modernize and future-proof the company's video and show control infrastructure.
"We found Pixera to be the ideal solution for our needs. It delivers high-performance video playback, ensuring a flawless, consistent show experience that can be reliably repeated for many years to come," said Grant Kruger, technical lighting supervisor for Carnival Cruise Line's entertainment fleet.
The four ships using Pixera include Carnival's newest ships, the Carnival Encounter and the Carnival Adventure, which made their maiden voyages from Brisbane and Sydney respectively in March 2025. On these modernized ships, passengers can enjoy Pixera technology, which powers LED content in various spaces on board, from main theaters and indoor lounges to smaller entertainment spaces such as comedy clubs.
Carnival, which had been using other media servers for some time, opted for Pixera in part because of its hardware-agnostic approach. "One of the main reasons why Pixera stands out from other media server brands is that it allows you to have your own hardware," says Kruger.
"Pixera gives us the flexibility to use our own custom servers, which is critical to our workflow. We currently manage all technical operations internally in 29 cruise ships: from the maintenance of the luminaires to the multimedia servers," he added.
The Pixera software, which runs on Carnival's own equipment, also meets the cruise line's requirements for advanced tracking and automation, continues Kruger, who highlights Pixera's seamless integration with major third-party protocols: "There aren't many media servers that support PSN [PosiStageNet] and Notch. We have automation systems that send PSN data to our media servers, so we need real-time tracking, which Pixera does effortlessly."
Kruger also highlights Pixera's ease of deployment as a key advantage of the platform, an especially important factor during the critical period when Carnival's ships are in dry dock for maintenance. "We had the system up and running, with show playback ready, in just three days on both ships [the Encounter and the Adventure]," he recalls.
He adds that the Carnival team was able to copy and adapt project folders from ship to ship with minimal rescheduling, thanks to Pixera's flexible show management and timeline tools. "We were able to build everything on one ship and just move it to the other and deploy it instantly. It was really fantastic."
A cruise ship environment presents its own challenges for deploying media servers, from power and network issues to tight integration timelines. However, Pixera's adaptability, along with AV Stumpfl's support, made the process easier, according to Kruger. "We had a couple of mishaps on one of our boats," he explains. "But just by submitting a support request and having the Pixera team send us the support package, we were able to get the solution very quickly." In general, he adds, "the stability has been exceptional; we have not had performance problems or failures" since the integration.
