Posted in Digital AV

Vilasana is a small town of 700 inhabitants located in the region of Plana de Urgel (Lérida) and is known for hosting the largest pond in Catalonia (Estany d'Ivars i Vila-sana), which has an important biological diversity, place In which the Vilasana Audiovisual Immersion Center (CIM) has just been inaugurated.

This center is part of the Viure al Poble program which aims to boost the tourist and cultural offer of the region, and also includes an information point and a tourist route. The project has had a total investment of 200,000 euros financed equally by the Vilasana City Council and European funds ERDF.

The agency of communication, branding and corporate architecture Inside Consultores , located in Barcelona, ​​was in charge of designing the tourist route and the center of immersion. And for the latter was supported by Creative Rent , a specialist in audiovisual facilities based in Tarragona, which made the installation and start-up of all audiovisual equipment, as well as the training of people who would then be in charge of its operation. The audiovisual equipment was acquired through Charmex .

Inside Consultores has created in the CIM a room equipped with a screen of 10 meters long by two high and a radius of curvature of 90 degrees. This display has anthropometric measurements, ie its size relation with a person causes a spatial identification effect. Just in front a small round platform has been placed and then there are the stands with a radius of curvature inverse to the screen.

What Inside Consultores wanted to achieve with this form is, from an aerial perspective, to simulate the waves created by a drop when falling on the water. The stage would be the drop and the screen and the stands would be the waves.

In this environment is projected a film of 14 minutes made specifically for this project, La pel.licula de l'Estany, where you can see the pond from different points of view. The documentary was filmed in 4K in the super panoramic format of the room, and was filmed by night, by day, at dawn and dusk, with different climatic conditions, and using techniques such as time-lapse and aerial recordings with drones. Its aim is to offer the viewer an immersive audiovisual sensation of what Estany d'Ivars i Vila-sana is like.

For the projection, three DHD600-G are used with 1DLP technology, 6,200 lumens and an HD resolution of 1,920 × 1,080 pixels. These equipments are part of the Christie G Series which features a single mercury lamp design and offers optimum price / performance, high brightness and great flexibility and reliability for both fixed and event rental applications.

Javier Granero, director of Creative Rent, says that when designing the room they thought of projectors of great performance and luminosity, but not of great size, since the equipment is in a visible area. "The G-Series was ideal both at light level and native resolution, size and above all in the noise level of the fans. They are very bright and versatile, with very interesting features such as multiple connections, interchangeable lenses, motorized lens shift horizontal and vertical, and possibility of blending and warping with optional modules.

The projectors are installed next to each other hanging from the ceiling, offering a front projection in blending and performing warping to adapt to the curvature of the screen. The system is ready to accommodate other types of projections in standard format (4: 3, 16: 9) as the space is also available for those companies that want to rent it to carry out different events.

"The quality of the projectors is very high, and the image is very well defined. Projectors were needed at the height of a 4K projection, and we have succeeded. There is no other room in Catalonia that has this equipment, "says Juan S. Rodríguez Moranta, director of Inside Consultores.

The Magic of Pandora Box

The room has two computers: a Christie Pandoras Box Player, where all content is stored, and another desktop with Christie Pandoras Box software, which controls the projected videos, blending and warping, and Manage the different projection options in conference mode.

"The Pandoras Box software together with Widget Designer was an ideal solution because we had to perform the installation so that later it was made to run people without technical knowledge. Thanks to Widget Designer we created a graphic panel based on very intuitive virtual buttons through which a user without any technical knowledge can make the room work. The Pandoras Box solution is ideal for both fixed installation and event level. It is a very powerful software with multiple applications, and in this particular installation is the ideal solution to manage all audiovisual content, as well as the control and operating mode of the room thanks to its graphical interface through Widget Designer ", clarifies Javier Granero.

The CIM Pandoras Box server has a Dual DVI capture card that allows you to project any computer connected by an HDMI cable.

Also, the room is provided with two sockets, one in the control cabin and another on the stage of the front zone. A design has been created that allows to make a projection left, center, right or double projection left and right, both in the control and in the ground. A dual projection can also be performed from two different sources, for example control and grounding.

Sound and Surround Lighting

The center is equipped with 7.1 surround sound, which provides greater realism to the projection, and with DAS Audio Series Auto-amplified loudspeakers. The room can work in both 7.1 and multichannel conferences.

It has a maximum capacity for 90 people who can sit on the original curved bench stepped amphitheater designed by Inside Consultants. A sophisticated LED lighting system has also been installed in seats and stage.

"The curvature of the screen and the quality and resolution of the projection, coupled with the use of Pandoras Box to manage the room, produce a spectacular result that really impresses the viewers. It is really an audiovisual reference room in Catalonia, "says Jorge Vilaplana, head of Product Pro AV of Charmex.