latest news headlines
Christie for Unesco HD Projection in Seville
When the Unesco World Heritage Committee met for its 33rd session at the Seville Conference and Exhibition Centre, it brought together representatives from 21 countries. This is the first time that the Committee has met in Spain. Attended by 1,500 people, the event was organised to study applications from possible new locations to be included in its World Heritage List.
During the event the Spanish company SAC Audiovisuales was responsible for the central HD projection covering an area of 20 x 6 metres, for which it used two Christie Roadster S+20K projectors. This ensured a stunning AV projection and made the meeting a truly spectacular event. In fact, the meeting was such a success that, in words of the Committee's president, María Jesús San Segundo, during the closing ceremony: "this event will be seen as a turning point in the organisation of future Unesco meetings.
The meeting was held in Hall 2 at the Seville Conference and Exhibition Centre, comprising an area of 7,200sq. m. SAC Audiovisuales was commissioned with producing and preparing the whole event, including projection, lighting, audio, translation, video, CCTV, IT equipment, AV design...
According to Gonzalo Palacio, Manager and Partner of SAC Audiovisuales, the end customers came with preconceived ideas based on previous meetings. "Very frequently, and due to the restricted budgets of some countries, the audiovisuals at previous sessions left a lot to be desired, which is why many people had a very simple idea about what an AV production could offer. Most of the previous sites for Unesco meetings did not have a venue with the features of the exhibition centre in Seville. In collaboration with the Seville Congress and Exhibition Centre, SAC Audiovisuales offered a new perspective in this regard, a different concept of audiovisual projection that had not been seen before in Unesco meetings. And I would venture to say that most of the people attending the event were extremely pleased and impressed with the result," claims Gonzalo Palacio.
Yolanda Gutiérrez Ríos, deputy manager of Servifibes, the department responsible for hiring the services for events taking place at the Conference and Exhibition Centre, explains that the key to a successful event is the proper preparation of halls and rooms and AV equipment. "We needed incredibly sharp projection so that people attending the event could watch the images at a minimum distance of five metres," says Gutiérrez.
The mission of the Christie Roadster S+20K projectors (SXGA+, of 20,000 lumens, with 3-chip DLP technology and xenon lamp) was to provide a High Definition central projection on a 20 x 6 metre screen, showing the decisions and discussions taking place in the plenary session. The two Christie projectors were mounted on a structure hanging from the hall's ceiling at 20 metres high, and were located at a distance of 25 metres from the projection screen and 10 metres apart.
The two projectors were prepared to output images with an aspect ratio of 16:9. Thanks to the edge blending functionality two screens of 12 x 6.75 metres were joined in a gigantic screen. A video processor was used to generate the multimedia content for the presentations by means of the edge blending feature, as the images projected on the screen came from six different sources and were projected alternatively at different times. SDI signals came from the CCTV whilst the DVI signals were output from several PCs containing the conclusions and presentations in the two official languages of the Unesco (English and French). Also as part of the production of this event an iMac was used to create HD backdrops covering the whole 20 x 6 metres projection area.
Palacio claims that the most stunning moment of the visual production was when the 7-minute keynote video, commissioned by the Spanish Ministry of Culture, was projected in HD full screen format. "It was a truly incredible experience and the audience was very impressed," he claims before adding "that's why we decided to place all our trust in the Roadster series for this special event. Their extraordinary HD quality and performance, combined with striking projection output were widely demonstrated."
During the preparation, the SAC Audiovisuales team was concerned with the extremely high temperatures of Seville in June. "The high temperatures caused us serious problems and posed a real challenge, because close to the ceiling we realised that the heat was excessive for the proper operation of the projectors", Palacio pointed out. "We came up with an ingenious solution: we used fans hanging from the truss structure to cool the projectors, but only during testing. We knew that as soon as the actual ceremony began, the problem would disappear with the air-conditioning system of the hall. However, in order to ensure that we did not exceed the maximum operation temperature of the projectors we monitored the temperature in the hall at all times."
According to Palacio, the audiovisuals were a resounding success. "The excellent response to the production of this event has meant a turning point for our company. I would say that the two Roadster S+20K systems are the crème de la crème in projectors, both for their excellent quality and brightness."
Their quality, output, performance and reliability were key factors in SAC Audiovisuales' decision to opt for the Roadster projectors. "Companies from the sector are always looking for the latest technology and cutting-edge systems which can offer the best features at reasonable prices", says Palacio. "I'd also underscore the fact that the distributor in Spain (Charmex) was a big influence in buying these projectors; Charmex and Christie always guarantee impeccable service", he adds.
Palacio also wanted to highlight the human factor. "Of course, relying on state-of-the-art audiovisual technology is important, but working with an extraordinary team such as ours is even more important. They deserve recognition for the success of this AV production," he concludes.
Finally, according to Yolanda Gutiérrez, the Congress and Exhibition Centre is very pleased with the AV solution. "The audiovisuals were excellent. The performance of the projectors and the on-screen image quality was faultless, and our previous expectations were more than satisfied," she claims.
7th January 2010
HEADLINES
news archive
search stories
FOOTNOTE: Select the news type you require in the red band above; this will enable you to see the current news stories from that section
© 1999 - 2012 Entertainment Technology Press Limited News Stories
