PANORAMAdtv, the video products division of Wohler Technologies Inc., has announced that Wohler monitoring products are in use at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., to support state-of-the-art displays and hands-on exhibitions examining the history of newsmaking. With 47 video monitoring systems, 17 confidence monitors, and 18 audio monitoring systems from Wohler, Newseum is ensured delivery of high-quality audio and video to exhibits, theaters, and interactive displays throughout the facility.
"Audio and video clearly are vital elements of the visitor experience here at the Newseum, and our Wohler monitoring equipment has performed very well in helping us to maintain a high standard of quality across all our exhibits, presentations, and displays," said Bud O'Connor, engineering director for the Newseum. "Wohler equipment is a great fit within our technologically advanced master control room and has lived up to the company's reputation for providing convenient and complete monitoring solutions."
The 250,000-square-foot Newseum, located on historic Pennsylvania Avenue adjacent to the Smithsonian museums, is intended to serve as a forum by which the media and the public gain a better understanding of one another. The seven-story museum features a sophisticated master control room, separated from a large atrium by a glass wall, which serves as the main control center for the Newseum. It is there that the majority of the new Wohler systems have been installed.
The numerous MON2-3W/HR video monitors deployed within the master control room feature dual seven-inch high-resolution color monitors capable of monitoring both SD-SDI and HD-SDI signals in either a widescreen or a 4:3 format. The monitors provide a crisp, clear picture and wide viewing angle, and Wohler's proprietary Direct Digital Drive design offers completely accurate color reproduction from the all-digital signal path that drives the LCD panel. The Newseum also is using the MON1-T/7W-HR half-rack HD/SD-SDI video monitor within a Tektronix half-tub equipped with scopes and other monitoring equipment.
AMP1-S8DA units and an AMP2-S8DA installed at the Newseum serve as complete solutions for high-quality audio monitoring, offering premium-quality eight-channel analog and AES/EBU digital multichannel audio monitoring and conversion, as well as professional level metering in compact 1RU and 2RU cabinets, respectively. Also installed in the master control room, Wohler's 1RU VMQ-4 audio monitor permits simultaneous monitoring of up to four audio sources on four analog inputs with voice-quality fidelity.
The Wohler monitoring systems support a variety of dynamic exhibits that use video and audio to explore the history of news, the flow of news information, and coverage of specific events in history, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall and Sept. 11. Interactive exhibits also use video and audio feeds and a blue-screen to allow visitors to experience the pressure of putting together a story in a virtual newsroom. A 40-foot-wide LED screen in the Newseum's Great Hall of News, installed on a self-contained winch, displays video during museum hours and may be moved to floor-level or raised out of the way for special events.
"The Newseum leverages the latest technology to educate and engage the public in all aspects of the newsmaking process," said Carl J. Dempsey, Wohler president and CEO. "Our monitoring products have played a key role in news broadcasts for decades now, so it's very fitting that our current product line has been incorporated into the operations of this remarkable new institution."
Newington, Va.-based Communications Engineering, Inc. (CEI) provided the integration and installation of broadcasting and audio-visual equipment at the Newseum.
For more information on the Newseum, visit www.newseum.org.
For more information on Wohler products/services, visit www.wohler.com.
