News

Oklahoma History Center brings history to life with digital signage

Firefly MC Multi-Channel Digital Media Player plays an integral role in bringing to life the voice and visions of Oklahoma—delivering dependability, ease of use, and compact size to the audiovisual displays at the Oklahoma History Center.

July 18, 2007

The Challenge

Visitors to the Oklahoma History Center can explore the state's adventurous past—complete with an 1830's Red River commercial riverboat, a Land Run covered wagon, and a full size replica of the Winnie Mae airplane, flown around the world in 80 days by Wiley Post. The center brings Oklahoma's history to life with interactive, multi-media exhibits. Its state-of-the-art galleries house more than 200 hands-on audio, video, and computer activities.

Oklahoma-based AVL Systems Design was chosen to handle the design and installation for a portion of the digital signage and audiovisual requirements. Embracing a collective approach, AVL worked hand-in-hand with museum staff; Haley Sharpe Design Limited, the designer of the five interactive exhibits; and DGW & Associates.

Jeff Johnson, Vice President of Operations at AVL, was part of the team tasked with listening to the center's staff and designing a solution tailored to their needs.

"The center expects half a million school children will visit the museum by the end of 2006," said Jeff. "Museum staff made it clear that exhibit equipment must be able to withstand a first-grader pounding on it day in and day out." Likewise, programming and broadcast equipment must be dependable. And ease of use is critical. "There's just one person dedicated to IT support at the center, so AV equipment needs to be simple enough that non-technical staff can get in and use it," he added.

The Solution

AVL selected Firefly MC from Focus Enhancements for the Center's programmed and interactive AV needs. Firefly MC lets them simultaneously schedule different digital media elements on four independent channels. The unit incorporates 4-channel MPEG-2 playback in a compact 1RU form factor.

Whether the content is file-based, graphics, or a combination of video and graphics, users can simply drag the source file to a playlist to create the exact presentation schedule they need. It enables the History Center to easily manage complex programming with different file sizes and lengths. And Firefly MC can be controlled directly with an IR remote or over the internet with WebView, a browser-based interface. "This unit offers a great deal of flexibility in an environment where flexibility is critical," stated Jeff.

The Results

Jeff and his team have installed 18 Firefly MC units throughout the center to handle approximately 60 percent of the audiovisual programming at the Center. With its small footprint, Firefly enables the Center to maximize space. "With four channels in a rack-mountable space, the physical nature of the box makes it an ideal fit," explained Jeff.

And Firefly MC allowed AVL to meet a chief design requirement: ease of use. Museum staff appreciated Firefly's built-in CD/DVD drive. "It allows the center's staff to upload programming right there," Jeff said. Even non-technical employees can easily change and update display content to support new exhibits and special events.