Themed Entertainment: Medialon at the Upsala Nya Tidning newspaper’s visitor centre in Sweden Blooloop

The Upsala Nya Tidning (UNT), a famous daily Swedish newspaper, has recently opened a visitor center in Uppsala, Sweden.

PolyVision Teknik, the A/V system integrator, selected Medialon to be the main A/V controller of the UNT visitor center.

With a spectacular Media Center setup as well as a conference facility, the fourth biggest newspaper of Sweden is presenting both the future and the past to readers and students.

“The producer, Lars Josefsson at PolyVision Mediaslottet, is really the creator of the whole Media Center. My task was to make his vision come true”, says Per Sigemark, Project Manager from PolyVision Teknik AB.

The UNT combines a Media Center and conference facilities are both controlled by a Medialon Manager PRO Show and Media Control software.

The visit starts with a multitude of pictures regarding local, national and international events. From the 7×10 meters dome-shape ceiling, visitors are entirely immersed with moving pictures and sound. The ceiling changes color from deep blue to dark red thanks to LED lights installed behind the dome. A Bose sound system is also hidden in the ceiling. The moving pictures are projected via a moving mirror on the ceiling, then the pictures move down to the center of a curved screen where three projectors take over the picture and let it grow to a 7-meter wide seamless picture controlled by a Dataton WatchOut, all controlled and synchronized by Medialon Manager system.

As a part of the presentation, several cases are presented and discussed regarding. At this time, a live connection with UNT Newsdesk is available and allows reporters to communicate and answer the audience’s questions. Medialon controls the lighting special effects of the room that change and create specific atmospheres for each case.

The next part of the visit includes a 7-minute film following the work at the newspaper and explaining the entire journalistic process to the visitors. At the end of the film, the screen disappears up in the dome and the next part of the Media Center is revealed: the interactive room. There, visitors themselves are invited to work as journalists on five computer-stations.

In UNT visitor center, Medialon Manager controls lighting via DMX, 12 channels. Moving mirrors for moving picture in the dome-ceiling, a Yamaha audio mixer via midi, relays for six LCD screens and many lamps, four Mitsubishi projectors and one Kramer Scaler, both via RS 232, are also managed by Medialon. A lifted lectern via PLC, a film screen via relay, as well as many photocells and other switching devices are coming as inputs to Medialon.

Thanks to Medialon free Panel software, PolyVision has designed UNT several customized user interfaces to use on touch screens and over the building’s network. With a simple touch of a button, the UNT visitor center staff can easily launch all the A/V devices. They can also turn on lighting, audio and more, just by a simple touch on the screen. A “Panic button” allows immediately stopping the show and turning on all the lights. For the daily cleaning and maintenance there is an audio sensor that lights the rooms and pulls up the screen.

In addition, PolyVision required the Medialon system to automatically shut down and reset automatically the entire show system after one hour if someone forgot to turn off the conference room’s devices after a show. This functionality allows extending the projectors and other equipment’s life.

“The work was to make all this equipment play together in a perfect harmony. I think we made it, but it is up to the visitors to judge and so far the reactions have been fantastic”, concludes Per Sigemark from PolyVision.

The Medialon programming was done by Michael Ena from Kulturteknologerna.

About Medialon

Medialon designs user friendly yet powerful, IT based audiovisual control solutions, for simple to mission critical applications such as Museum Media Control, Theme Park Wide and Attraction Control, Live Entertainment Show Control and Corporate Showrooms to name just a few.

Our products range includes Show & Media Control Software, Embedded Controllers, Digital Audio Servers, Scheduling Software, and Redundant Control Servers.

With offices in the USA and Europe and international distributors, Medialon solutions are available worldwide.