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>A question for exhibit designers.  I am in charge of creating an
>exhibit that will have a 6 minute video loop as part of the display.
>Can anyone reccomend what equipment will allow me to play the
>video/DVD and have it loop continuously?

I've used a bunch of stuff over the years -- starting with just DVD 
players then mpeg players (the adtec edje 
<http://www.adtecinc.com/products/edje1013/index.html> was a nice 
little piece of hardware) -- but we've been moving to using mac minis 
<http://www.apple.com/macmini/ >
as a platform for all of our video delivery.

The price point is a little higher, but it gives a lot of 
flexibility. We're able to deliver multiple resolution video from the 
same device, if we need interactivity, it's still the same device, if 
we want to change the content, we can do it remotely over the 
network, etc,

The software that we use was developed in-house (and we're releasing 
the code as open-source sometime in the next month or two) but it's 
essentially the quicktime player at heart, with a bunch of addons.

Here's what we're doing, all with the same device:
- run a single video, looping, in perpetuity (we've had one of the 
machines doing this for about 12000 hours at this point, never being 
turned off)

- run a single video, looping, with a pause at the end and displaying 
a couple of still graphics of information before starting the video 
again (yes, you could just make that part of the video, but when we 
want to change that content, we change one graphic as opposed to 
re-rendering the whole movie)

- run a set of 16 videos in random order, with never any back to back 
randomness

- run different audio tracks from the video, that aren't necessarily 
synchronized (a music track doesn't need to be timed or edited to 
match the video).

- run a single video after receiving a touchscreen input. While the 
video is playing, we're adjusting a lighting control to make an 
object visible in a case  and then fading down the light when the 
video is done

- playing one of 25 videos using input from a tangible object 
interface (you place something in different locations on a table and 
it plays a different video)

- have three videos on different screens, on three different minis be 
synched up in playback.

it's also pretty small and light. I can velcro it to the back of a 
large plasma display with no problem or tuck one up in a drop ceiling 
with no problem. And heck, if I did just want to use it as a dvd 
player, it has a dvd drive built in, so no worries.

you get the idea. While the mini can do very simple, straightforward 
playback, it also opens a lot of possibilities that wouldn't be 
available with just a traditional dvd player. Best of all, if I don't 
need to use one in an exhibit any more, I can give it to a staff 
member and it's immediately useful to them.

-bw.
-- 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Bruce Wyman, Director of New Technologies
Denver Art Museum  /  100 W 14th Ave. Pkwy, Denver, CO 80204
office: 720.913.0159  /  fax: 720.913.0002
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