Hi Dana et. al. I used the DV-66 in a small installation at the Monash University Computer History Museum. It continuously plays a short video "attract loop" with playback of the main programme triggered by a touch sensor I designed to sit in a graphic panel adhered to the inside of the display case. This saves drilling through the glass for a switch or using some sort of sensor to detect visitors.
The model I used only played MPEG-1 but I note that the DV-66B also plays MPEG-2 - is that the model you have Dana ? I would be interested in your experiences with the DV-66 as I had some issues with the system as a whole although I could not isolate them to the player. MPEG-1 compression at that time was more of black art than it is today with more mature software such as Final Cut Pro. I have also used the much more expensive but very robust players from Alcorn McBride. 7 players have been running for 7 years at the Royal Australian Air Force Museum at RAAF Base WIlliams in Victoria without incident. A DVD player is arguably the most cost effective option for many smaller installations without a high turnover of content, but like a number of people on this list I have steered clients towards hard drive or "solid state" playback devices on the grounds of reliability, ease of interfacing with external buttons and controllers and the ability to begin playback from a cold start (ie at power up). However with domestic DVD player reliability improving and costs falling to around $30 they are an increasingly compelling option. To solve the startup problem I recently designed an exhibition controller for the Nick Cave exhibition developed by the Victorian Arts Centre. This small module can learn the power on and play commands from the DVD player remote control and emit them when the gallery or temporary exhibition main power is turned on. The discussion of computer video playback in this thread has been very interesting - please keep sharing your approaches. I developed a workshop on Digital Video in Museums for MCN 2003 - if anyone on the list would like a PDF copy of the slides please email me off list. Michael Borthwick Director Michael Borthwick Consulting Pty. Ltd www.michaelborthwick.com.au On 09/11/2008, at 1:08 AM, Dana Hutchins wrote: > Have you looked into the MedeaWiz DV76 HD Player? Sounds like it > does what > you need and it's $385. > > http://www.medeawiz.com/products/Dv76.htm > > Sold through Team Kingsley in St. Louis. > > http://www.teamkingsley.com/MedeaWiz.htm > > Please let me know if this does what you're looking for or if anyone > else > has experience with this product. I'm about to use their DV68 for > the first > time for a project now. I'm curious about the HD player. > > Thanks > > > > Dana Hutchins > XhibitNet > 541 Congress St. > Portland, ME 04101 > 207.773.1101 ext.102 > dana at xhibit.net > www.xhibit.net > > > > On 11/7/08 5:51 PM, "Jason Bondy" <jbondy at okhistory.org> wrote: > >> Daniel, >> >> Thanks for your response. We have an 80GB hard drive in the >> computer. Many >> of the video clips are 5-10 minutes long, except one that is 32 >> minutes. We >> are planning more long documentary type films, so we need to be >> ready for >> the larger files. >> >> We currently own a few of the Firefly digital video players for >> standard-definition video, but their HD players are out of our >> budget at >> this time, as are the Adtec devices. Also, we already have the >> computers >> installed, so we were going to try to use those if we can. As far as >> Blu-ray, we are concerned about wear and tear on it if the film is >> repeating >> continuously for nine hours per day. A hard drive is much cheaper to >> replace when it wears out. >> >> We are still learning about various HD formats and playback >> options. We >> were using H.264 originally because we have a Flash program that >> plays the >> files using QuickTime. We need a playback format and application >> that goes >> straight to full screen as soon as the computer boots up. Do you >> know of any >> good reference material that explains some of the formats more in >> depth? >> >> Thank you. I really appreciate your time and assistance! >> >> Jason >> >> _______________________________________________________ >> Jason Bondy >> Exhibit AV/IT Systems >> Oklahoma History Center >> 2401 N. Laird Ave. >> Oklahoma City, OK 73105 >> 405-522-0783 - Office >> 405-522-5402 - Fax >> www.okhistory.org >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On >> Behalf Of >> Daniel M. Bartolini >> Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 4:02 PM >> To: Museum Computer Network Listserv >> Subject: Re: [MCN-L] HD video in the galleries? >> >> Hi Jason- >> >> How much hard drive space do you have available on these machines and >> how long are your videos? I ask because HD playback on computers is >> significantly improved when you use codecs that create discrete >> frames >> versus heavily compressed MPEG formats like H.264. For example >> running >> your video out to something like DVCPro HD or the Animation preset >> creates all independent frames of the movie. Your hard drive >> overhead is >> enormous (possibly 2 Gb for every 3 minutes, depending on bit rate) >> but >> the computer has to think far less about the process as there are no >> i-frames going on. >> >> Alternatively, if you need really small file sizes, mess with the H. >> 264 >> bit rate. Start high at 1500kb/s and move down to around 900 or less >> until you find something that allows you to maintain your full frame >> rate. The lower you go of course the more you will see those motion >> artifacts, but perhaps not jumpiness. >> >> The dirty sort-of-secret of that format is it's really processor >> intensive and upgrading video cards won't matter a lot unless you >> specifically buy something like the latest NVidia cards that have >> built >> in hardware rendering support of H.264 and other MPEG codecs, or if >> you're willing to use a program like Max/Jitter (or comparable VJ >> system), or environment like openFrameworks to display your video in >> OpenGL so all work is done on the video card. >> >> Finally, have you considered standalone HD players, like those from >> Adtec, or going to Blu-Ray (I know, more money, may not work)? >> >> Oi. That was long. Sorry. Hope that helps. >> >> Have a good weekend. >> >> Daniel >> >> >> >> >> Jason Bondy wrote: >>> Hello all, >>> >>> >>> >>> We have recently begun moving toward High-Definition video for all >>> of our >>> interviews, documentaries and other footage to be used in >>> exhibits. We >> are >>> using internally produced video as well as video shot by outside >> producers. >>> However, we are running into some obstacles determining the best >>> solution >>> for playback in the galleries. We will be playing the HD video >>> files from >>> Windows-based computers connected to plasma monitors. Currently >>> we are >>> trying it with H.264 encoded QuickTime files, but they are very >>> "jumpy" on >>> video clips with a lot of motion. We have upgraded the RAM and >>> video >> cards >>> in the computers, but with very little improvement. Also, we >>> using Cat5 >>> DVI/HDMI extenders as there is quite a bit of distance from the >>> computer >> to >>> the monitor. >>> >>> >>> >>> Who else out there is using HD video in your exhibits? How are >>> you doing >>> it? We would welcome any suggestions or input you may have. >>> >>> >>> >>> Thank you so much, >>> >>> >>> >>> Jason >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________________ >>> >>> Jason Bondy >>> >>> Exhibit AV/IT Systems >>> >>> Oklahoma History Center >>> >>> 2401 N. Laird Ave. >>> >>> Oklahoma City, OK 73105 >>> >>> 405-522-0783 - Office >>> >>> 405-522-5402 - Fax >>> >>> www.okhistory.org >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum >>> Computer >> Network (http://www.mcn.edu) >>> >>> To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu >>> >>> To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: >>> http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum >> Computer >> Network (http://www.mcn.edu) >> >> To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu >> >> To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: >> http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > > _______________________________________________ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum > Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l Michael Borthwick Consulting Pty. Ltd. Postal: GPO Box 1950, 380 Bourke Street, Melbourne 3001 Physical: Level 1, 384 Bridge Road, Richmond Mobile Ph: + 61 418 345 800 Mobile Fax + 61 418 344 875 http://www.michaelborthwick.com.au
