Alcorn McBride Products Shine in Bogota's Gold Museum

An array of Alcorn McBride audio, video and show control equipment is turning in a glittering performance at Banco de la Republica's Museo del Oro (Gold Museum) in Bogota, Colombia. The unique museum displays the largest collection of pre-Hispanic gold work in the world dating from 2,500 years ago to the European conquest.

"We bought our first Alcorn McBride equipment in 2004 and use the products all day throughout the entire year," says Fernando Camelo V., computer support specialist in the bank's cultural department. "The most important thing to us is the products' proven reliability which allows us to provide good service to the museum's visitors."

Even before visitors enter the Gold Museum they experience Alcorn McBride equipment. A DVM2 digital video ,machine loops a promotional video on an LCD screen in a street-side window so pedestrians can see the museum's attractions. Inside, at the front desk, a DVMHD-Pro, an HD video player, stores an HD video promo that's displayed in the center of a three-screen configuration mounted on the wall

The second floor houses several galleries showcasing the stories behind the museum's collection. The Working of Metals Gallery details the mining, smelting, and working processes that went into every metal object on display. Contractor R.K. Roden built the AV history section where a V16+ frame-accurate show controller controls synchronized videos for two rear-projection screens. The V16+ also controls three looped videos on Goldworking Techniques displayed on one rear-projection screen.

Elsewhere on the second floor, the People & Gold Galleries highlight all the regions of Colombia where metals were worked. A DVM2 shows three versions (with audio in Spanish, English and French) of a video called The Water Tapestry on a plasma screen; the real-time scheduler feature starts the playlist every 30 minutes.

Upstairs, the Cosmology and Symbolism Gallery examines the key link between gold and shamanism. The section on The Shamanic Flight features six columnar showcases filled with gold artifacts; each showcase plays a different looping soundtrack using AM4 Digital Audio Machine professional audio players.

On the fourth floor, the Exploratorium is a space for interactivity and reflection on the diversity and meaning of the heritage preserved in the museum. The Archaeologist's View section, built by contractor R.K. Roden, uses a V16+ to control the sequence of an overhead projector, which project images of an archaeological dig onto a mock pit, two videos displayed on small screens in the room as well as some lighting.

In another portion of the Exploratorium, DVMHD-Pro machines play looping HD videos on three LCD screens embedded in the floor among graphic aerial photos of the Zenu Canals area. A small wall screen shows pre-recorded news on flooding in specific zones of the country. In a separate screening room, a DVM2 shows looped video about the Colombian people.

Additionally, a DVM2 in the basement auditorium displays different videos throughout the day via the scheduler feature. A customer service office in the basement houses a loudspeaker system for live and pre-recorded announcements; the latter are stored in an AM4 activated by operators using push buttons.

Alcorn McBride's sales manager, Tommy Bridges, recently toured the museum. "This is an impressive facility and it's obvious that they take great pride in their heritage," he says. "Every detail is exquisite and we are honored to play a role in their success."

The Gold Museum also presents temporary exhibitions. Recently, a pair of DVM-7400 digital video machines displayed looped photographic sequences and text recorded as MPEG videos on two screens for the Millenary Tolima exhibit about different life styles of human groups that lived in a Colombian region called Tolimaf.

Alcorn McBride products also play a key role in the Gold Museum's regional branches in Cartagena, Leticia, Santa Marta, and Pasto.

"Alcorn McBride equipment really works as promised and offers us many options to operate, change or monitor shows," says Fernando Camelo V. "The software and support on the Alcorn McBride website are also very useful."