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Digital signage drives displays at renovated automotive museum

Digital signage displays and projectors played a pivotal role in the renovation of the Los Angeles-based Petersen Automotive Museum, which reopened in December. The 14-month-long project placed a significant focus on technology and making the exhibits relevant from an experiential point of view.

March 24, 2016

Panasonic announced it recently played a pivotal role in the renovation of the Los Angeles-based Petersen Automotive Museum, which reopened in December. The 14-month-long project placed a significant focus on technology and making the exhibits relevant from an experiential point of view.

"We instantly saw the need for video to become an integral part of the museum experience," museum CMO Adam Langsbard said in the announcement. "Rather than recreate dioramas that show a freeze-frame of history, we quickly decided we needed a video partner to deliver content in a dynamic, fresh way throughout each gallery."

The museum integrated video into every one of the 25 galleries across the museum's three floors, including a 180-degree gallery that required the projection images to be stitched together via edge-blending technology. With Panasonic's help, the museum was able to customize that content and have a flexible configuration for each room.

Overall, the installation leveraged 47 projectors and 15 professional displays, including the:

• PT-DZ780U 1-Chip DLP Projector;
• PT-RZ670U 1-Chip DLP Projector;
• PT-DZ870U 1-Chip DLP Laser Projector;
• TH-98LQ70 98-inch 4K Professional Display;
• TH-70LF50 70-inch Full HD Professional Display;
• TH-80LF50 High-Brightness Professional Display; and
• TH-55LF80 80-inch Full HD Professional Display.

Ease of use and installation was important for the renovation. With Panasonic's HDBaseT feature, Digital Link —which comes native for all the projectors selected and most of the displays used at the museum— there were fewer things to troubleshoot from an integration perspective, the company said. The feature enables transmission of uncompressed HD videos, audio and control commands over shielded CAT6 cable. This allowed for Scenic Route, a global production company tapped to oversee the deployment of the project, to keep native format from the output side to input side without needing additional adapters. As a result, the video distribution was streamlined, which saved the museum both time and money.