Christie helps Vilasana become a pioneering audiovisual immersion center in Catalonia

The CIM of this town of Plana de Urgel incorporates a room equipped with a screen of anthropometric measurements where a film is projected in which you can see the largest pond in Catalonia from different points of view.. Three DHD600-G and Pandoras Box technology are used to create this immersive experience..

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

This center is part of the Viure al poble program that aims to enhance 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 in equal parts by the Vilasana Town Hall and European Feder funds.

The communication agency, branding and corporate architecture Inside Consultants, located in Barcelona, was in charge of designing the tourist route and the immersion center. And for the latter he had the support of Creative Rent, specialist in audiovisual installations based in Tarragona, who carried out the installation and commissioning of all the audiovisual equipment, as well as the training of the people who would later be in charge of its operation. The audiovisual equipment was acquired through Charmex.

Inside Consultores has created a room at the CIM equipped with a 10 meters long by two meters high and a radius of curvature of 90 degrees. This display has anthropometric measurements, That is to say, its size relationship with a person causes a spatial identification effect.. A small round platform has been placed just in front and below 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, simulate the waves created by a drop falling on water. The stage would be the drop and the screen and the stands would be the waves.

In this environment a film of 14 minutes made expressly for this project, The film of the Lake, where you can see the pond from different points of view. The documentary was filmed in 4K in the room's super widescreen format, and it was filmed at night, by day, at sunrise and sunset, with different weather conditions, and using techniques such as time-lapse and aerial recordings with drones. Its objective is to offer the viewer an immersive audiovisual sensation of what the Estany d'Ivars i Vila-sana is like..

Three pieces of equipment are used for the projection. Christie DHD600-G with 1DLP technology, 6.200 lumens and an HD resolution of 1,920×1.080 pixels. These devices are part of Christie's G Series, which features a single mercury lamp design and offers an optimal price/performance ratio., high brightness and great flexibility and reliability for both fixed and event rental applications.

Javier Granero, director de Creative Rent, He says that when designing the room they thought about projectors with great performance and luminosity, but not big size, since the equipment is in a visible area. “The G Series was ideal both in terms of lighting and native resolution, size and especially the noise level of the fans. These are highly luminous and versatile equipment., with very interesting features such as its multiple connections, interchangeable lenses, motorized horizontal and vertical lens shift, and possibility of blending and warping with optional modules”.

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

“The quality offered by the projectors is very high, and the image is defined very well. Projectors were needed at the level of 4K projection, and we have achieved it. There is no other room like it in Catalonia that has this equipment.”, comments Juan S.. Rodríguez Moranta, director of Inside Consultants.

The magic of Pandora Box

The room has two computers: un Christie Pandoras Box Player, where all content is stored, and another desktop equipped with Christie Pandoras Box software, which is responsible for controlling the videos that are projected, perform 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 carry out the installation so that people without technical knowledge could later operate it.”. Thanks to Widget Designer we created a graphic panel based on very intuitive virtual buttons through which a user without any technical knowledge can operate the room. The Pandoras Box solution is ideal both for fixed installation and for events.. It is a very powerful software with multiple applications, and in this specific installation it is the ideal solution to manage all the audiovisual content, as well as the control and operation mode of the room thanks to its graphical interface through Widget Designer”, Javier Granero clarifies.

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

In addition, the room is provided with two outlets, one in the control cabin and another on the platform in the front area. A design has been created that allows a projection to the left, center, right or double projection left and right, both in the takeover and in the takeover of the ground. You can also perform a dual projection of two different sources, for example control and ground seizure.

Immersive sound and lighting

The center is equipped with surround sound 7.1, which provides greater realism to the projection, and with speakers THE audio Self-powered Action Series. The room can work both in 7.1 as in multichannel for conferences.

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

“The curvature of the screen and the quality and resolution of the projection, added to the use of Pandoras Box to manage the room, produce a spectacular result that really impresses viewers. “It is truly a reference audiovisual hall in Catalonia”, says Jorge Vilaplana, Charmex Pro AV Product Manager.