Digital Signage Player Case Study – Mariners’ Museum

 

SureVues Digital Signage Players Step-up in a High-Profile Museum The Mariners’ Museum, an educational, non-profit institution located in Newport News, Virginia, USA, preserves and interprets maritime history through an international collection of ship models, figureheads, paintings and other maritime artifacts. The institution is recognized by Congress as America’s National Maritime Museum. Throughout the museums 60,000 square feet of gallery space visitors encounter over 100 audiovisual exhibits and four theatres. The Museum invests heavily in technology to provide exhibitions with immersive learning tools. These interactive exhibits rely heavily on PC equipment to operate. Mariners’ is replacing the various legacy PCs in the exhibit areas with sureVue3A digital signage PC players from MediaVue Systems.

The Challenge

Mariners’ was using about 50 name brand PCs that were running 8-10 hours every day under heavy continuous 720p video output. The PCs were suffering recurring failures from multiple components including motherboards, power supplies and video cards. Another problem involved PC placement. Originally the exhibit PCs were centralized and the video was distributed to the exhibit displays. This was done because there was generally not space near the exhibits to place a large PC. Small desktops were tested but they were still too large to be installed in kiosks. And the fan noise was a problem in the quiet exhibit galleries. Centralized placement meant that a failure in one PC could cause multiple exhibits to go down. The additional equipment needed for the remote video distribution resulted in more parts to be maintained and added to the cost of the overall system. If the PCs were located at the displays, then any problems would remain localized, simplifying troubleshooting and maintenance.

The Solution

sureVue3A digital signage PC player Mariners’ turned to MediaVue and the sureVue3A fanless digital signage player for a solution to these multiple problems. Centrally located legacy PCs are being replaced by SureVues that are installed right at the exhibit. According to Marc Marsocci, Mariner’s Audiovisual Manger, “We have now had SureVues running for more than a year and have never had a unit fail. Using SureVue PCs the museum has saved money on maintenance and labor costs. This allows us to focus more of our resources on designing new exhibits. The SureVue’s small form factor can fit into most any exhibit. Since the units don’t have a fan they are virtually silent allowing even greater flexibility in where the PCs can be mounted. We have been very happy with the performance of these machines.”

About The Mariners’ Museum

The Mariners’ Museum, an educational, non-profit institution accredited by the American Association of Museums, preserves and interprets maritime history through an international collection of ship models, figureheads, paintings and other maritime artifacts. The Mariners’ Museum and The South Street Seaport Museum of New York City are partners in America’s National Maritime Museum, an innovative alliance recognized by an act of Congress in June 1998 to share collections, exhibitions, educational programs, publications, and other endeavors.

About MediaVue Systems

MediaVue Systems provides the SureVue family of purpose built digital signage player PCs. Designed and built in the U.S.A., SureVues digital signage players are compact, extremely reliable and cost effective. There are SureVue models designed for a range of performance levels as well as models designed for installation in transportation equipment such as taxis, buses and rail cars. SureVues are in use worldwide running many of the best known digital signage software applications.