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Medialon show control software is
center stage in the HBO Shop in the cablenet’s
headquarters lobby where it directs projection, LEDs,
plasma displays, audio and lighting to create show-themed
environments for shoppers. The retail space does not
showcase merchandise in its storefront windows; instead
it uses a series of dramatic video displays to entice
people off the street and, once inside, employs more
innovative content displays to immerse shoppers in the
world of HBO.
The HBO SHOP is a consumer retail space like no other.
Featuring a multimedia showcase of HBO’s award-winning
programming, the store offers visitors the opportunity
to purchase an array of quality branded merchandise,
including special product such as “ Sex and the City”
fragrance gift sets and handbags and “Entourage” limited-edition
watches. Started in December of 1981 HBO is one of the
original cable channels and the first to encrypt its
signal and one of the first to offer high definition
broadcast. HBO has since branched into multiple cable
channels and also produces original television
programming as well as feature films.
Dataton Watchout produces and delivers content across
multiple outputs in the HBO Shop. The content on the
various displays can be the same, it can be offset in
time or it can be different but related scenes. The
content is fed to Medialon which then communicates with
the source devices: one display computer per display
output running Dataton software. Medialon is also fed
with mood lighting and audio cues to support the content
displayed.
The main display consists of four parallel screens
layered behind the storefront window. A 5x9.5-foot
Daktronics ProStar LED display, bright enough to compete
with sunlight, is set three feet back from the window.
Behind it are three high-resolution, 65-inch Panasonic
plasma screens in portrait mode. All are encased in
back-painted opaque glass vitrines.
At the back of the shop two ceiling-mounted Christie
DS+65 DLP projectors throw 6x8-foot wide images onto
facing, acid-etched white glass walls. A Daktronics LED
ribbon, measuring 1.75x33 feet, begins to the left of
the shop’s entrance and makes a right turn at the rear
offering an additional backdrop for merchandise.
Lighting, designed by HDLC Lighting and design one,
bathes the 14-foot perimeter walls with changing colors
to match the mood of the content and time of day;
displays of “The Sopranos” are accompanied by blood red
washes, for example. Medialon controls Color Kinetics’
ColorBlaze fixtures in a continuous ceiling cove as well
as merchandise lighting supplied by RSA Lighting MR16
fixtures and Winona V-line LEDs inside the white glass
wall.
Medialon also controls the audio, which is selectively
derived from the video sources. Audio is processed by
BSS Soundweb DSP equipment and played through Tannoy
CM601 ceiling loudspeakers augmented by a VS10BP
subwoofer.
The project takes advantage of Medialon's ATA Converter
(Any to Any), which allows users to write programs that
convert information received from one device to commands
sent to other devices. For example, DMX commands coming
from a lighting desk to Serial commands that controls a
video processor. It also makes use of Medialon's
Variable as cue parameter; The ability to use variable
as a parameter in a command cue gives an incredible
power to show control programming. The cue remains the
same but the value sent depends on another process, ie :
Load clip [x] is the cue, [x] is the name of the clip,
and can be calculated by say, the day of the week, the
speed of the wind or any other variable.
Electrosonic Systems Inc. was contracted by project
manager JT Magen to design, engineer and install the
video displays system. Interior design was by Gensler –
Studio 585 with AV consultancy by Scharff Weisberg.
The project was programming the
kinetic wall’s interactive menu in WATCHOUT and
connecting with the scroll wheel through Medialon
Manager. Another challenge was that, besides the
already-existing LAN cabling, it was not possible to
bring in any additional cabling from the main
show-control computer to the various installations; this
required Medialon to strictly rely on network-based
hardware. |
