|
The Centre National d'Art et de Culture George Pompidou
in Paris, better known as the Pompidou Center, has just
opened after 1 year of major renovation. This cultural
center (including the famous modern art museum, a huge
library and several venues for concerts, cinema, dance
and live performing arts) has been completely
refurbished. The center has always been a great user of
video and AV. For the new millennium, the center wanted
to be at leading edge of technology. Based on a concept
established by Cabinet Labeyrie and Pompidou Center
technical staff, Medialon and the Roiret company,
designed a completely new system of broadcasting video
and signage together over the network.
The center is equipped with an ATM and Ethernet network.
A video server stores all video material in Mpeg 2
format, text and images. More than 40 thin clients PCs
running Medialon Software, can display on plasma or LCD
screens, video, text, images, or any combination of the
three, according to an accurate time schedule.
A central Medialon Manager software installation
permanently scans the Pompidou center database,
maintained by administration staff, to retrieve dates,
places and names of events and temporary exhibitions. It
then automatically sends this text information to the
thin client PCs. Some Medialon Manager applications
dedicated to the Pompidou Center Hostesses allow for the
viewing of any screen and its current content, as well
as allowing corrections and last minute changes to be
made.
Several Medialon applications, available for Pompidou
Center staff, allow composition of "pages". A page
includes video, text, images or any combinations. Using
the Medialon Scheduler plug-in, this application also
allows for the programming of when each page will be
sent and on which screen it will appear. Several
Medialon applications can program via the scheduler but
only one reads the scheduler file (stored on the
server). This permits several people to share the
scheduling work of the complete signage and video
display in this large Center.
The Center chose Medialon for its versatility and
flexibility. It's the only application available which
can do both media management and accurate
synchronization of media. The center staff is fully
trained on Medialon software and can use it to program
more complex control applications, adding control cards
in the thin client PCs for local control or creating
custom interactive interfaces.
This installation represents a real break through in
cultural and visitor center control and media
integration. "The central video server concept together
with the Medialon video over network control capability
helps to mix signage information and video for
exhibitions in a real multimedia network" says Mr. Roger
Labeyrie, from Cabinet Labeyrie. Development could
include a linkage of Medialon with the BAS (building
automation system) to produce a versatile tool giving to
artists the ability to use the Pompidou Center as a tool
for art performances. |
