1) What is the advantage of 48 small screens over a single, huge, bright downfiring 4K projector? Probably costs about the same...
2) How do I get into working on things like this? I would love to have a lab space where there was enough hardware and know-how around to just prototype and play with this sort of thing.
- PC Solution by Matrox http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/graphics_cards/m_...
- Hardware Solution by RGB Spectrum http://www.rgb.com/products/EdgeBlendUnit/
2) This 'sort of thing' is often under the category of high tech 'art'. Folks who have both an artistic and technical eye can, after doing a few pieces, get commissions to do this sort of thing. Of course some Googler probably just told their manager, "Hey how about we create an 8 x 6 display of displays!" The original 'Google Earth Vomit Booth" was in Building 43 which surrounded you with screens so you could zoom around in "3D". Very successful and entertaining to the tourists, and pretty cheap. 8 machines + displays is really only about $8K these days.
One of the things you can do to prototype things is find an inventory liquidation/auction center and check their auctions. Saw one with 150 19" LCD screens that went for $50. You could certainly demo something with that. (same place www.auctionbdi.com sells PC's by the pallet load) you probably need a few pallets to create enough working machines.