Going to the museum is no longer learning about dinosaurs on a school excursion. It’s an opportunity to educate people of all ages and make them aware of their surroundings, past and present. Today’s visitors expect more than the traditional display behind a glass cabinet. Interaction and involvement are key factors in engaging visitors and enticing their return.

Western Australian Museum has a history of 115 years and over 750,000 visitors walk through the doors each year. With exhibitions to cater for every interest, guests of the museum can enjoy everything from cricket memorabilia to maritime history to modern art.

In the lead up to a new large scale exhibition estimated to attract tens of thousands, the museum wanted to incorporate various types of presentation formats for a truly unique visitor experience.

They found traditional DVD players did not have the longevity and contained too many moving parts that would wear and tear during the lengthy exhibition period. They required playback devices that would not overheat and would easily play in loopback.

AVisum, Sydney-based industrial and digital display specialists, developed and integrated eight digital media systems for the museum, featuring AV-1687A 10.4-inch LCD digital media units with video and audio loopback. Each unit has a Viewstream 100 digital media player and are capable of playing the video and audio 24 hours seven days a week.

“Everything from design to production is in-house which is really our forte,” explains Peter McBride, general manager of AVisum.

“It is through this expertise that we were able to meet the critical deadline provided by the Western Australian Museum and deliver the monitors within a month from the first consultation.”

Based on the customer’s requirement, AVisum also provided 2m long speaker cables with separate speakers and antiglare, non-reflective 10.4-inch diagonal acrylic filters protecting the LCD displays to enhance the experience.

All units are ready to be used straight out of the box with an easy plug and play function. Content is stored on a compact flash card, which can be changed to suit each exhibition.

The monitors are currently being used in the Perth branch of the Western Australian Museum.