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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.
--
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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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