2012 Roundup & A Look into the future

Dec 21, 2012 | News

With an eventful 2012 drawing to an end we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to have a quick look back on the last year and reminisce about some of what we’ve done and try to figure out where we’re heading (apart from the Christmas party!). What might 2013 have in store for us? If the past 12 months is anything to judge by, we have a pretty good idea.

Dunster Castle

One of the first large installations of the year was at Dunster Castle, a project we really had fun with. Part of the install was creating a scary environment down in the Dunster Crypt, with the clever use of lighting and a button operated sound store that told spooky tales visitors were soon immersed in the supernatural side of Dunster. Our Audio Signs were utilised well in the Dunster install, with both the Touch and Turn models providing an extra dimension to standard signage. Important to note about this install is the fact Dunster didn’t opt for anything massively complicated, with the smart use of lighting, audio, signage and an area with video (using a bespoke Video Frame 12) an interesting environment was created where the story of Dunster can be told while keeping visitors interested.

Low power / self powered AV was important given the location, which is something that seems to be growing in popularity as each year goes by and has fuelled our continual development of the U-Turn and Solar Audio Post, as well as our other outdoor options.

view project

Outdoors

Outdoor (or sometimes indoor in an awkward location) interpretation is as popular as ever, there seems to be no let up in the need for innovative ways to include audio or video in locations lacking any easy source of power. One thing we seem to be experiencing more of as 2012 comes to a close is an interest in outdoor video options, we have a few projects in the pipeline so this is something you should certainly look out for in the coming year.

With this in mind, (as already mentioned) we have continued development of our flagship U-Turn Round, which is now similar to the version 1.0 in name alone. Without going into too much detail (we need to keep somesecrets!) we can safely say the U-Turn is more efficient, robust and long lasting than the previous versions. Although we do have a software update ready to roll out in the coming year that will make the U-Turn and Solar Audio Post even easier to program, it will also increase functionality to offer various new options such as a wider volume selection, message delay timer, automatic turn off at a certain time of the day (for the Audio Post) and a few other things.

Implementation of our U-Turn Round and Solar Audio Electronics in various ingenious ways by a number of clients led us to offer various options as standard, like the Solar Electronics as a stand alone product (not installed in a post) such as used on the Ebbw Fach Trail or the U-Turn oversized through panel allowing the U-Turn to be installed through a panel, such as in this Outdoor Culture project.

Video (Update 20/11/2014 – Replaced with our range of HD Video Players)

A big step for blackbox-av this year is the development of our own solid state Video Players, with use of video in museums a staple for interpretation, video players are always a popular item. However until now a certain brand has led the market with prices that aren’t the most small museum friendly, they are also not the easiest to program. With this in mind we decided to develop our own option that is more user friendly and also cheaper, the result is the Exhibit Video Player Looping and Exhibit Video Player Buttons. We went public with these options not long ago and have received great feedback so far, we’re looking forward to seeing how they develop in the new year.

Interpretation Made Easy

Possibly the most experimental move for blackbox-av this year was the launch of The InterpretationShop, our new online store. Pricing when it comes to the type of products sold in our particular market is kind of a big mystery, insofar as due to the bespoke nature of most of what we (and others) do, prices are often given on a ‘by quotation’ basis. This in our minds can make the buying experience difficult, especially where our range of previously developed ‘standard’ products is concerned. We are so confident in the competitiveness of our pricing and wanted to make the buying process easier for our clients that we decided to create an online store. The store only went live in October but has already been used by people throughout the world (and of course the UK) to order from our range of AV interpretation products. One of the most popular products being our single cup and double cup armoured cable headphones.

At the same time we launched the Interpretation Shop (the only heritage shop of its kind as far as we know) we also gave our portfolio site a complete makeover once again with the end user experience in mind, we wanted to have a website that was easy to use, attractive and up to date with our more recent projects. Judging from feedback it looks like we achieved exactly what we set out to do.

Panacea + Multimedia Kiosks with Museum Software

The Panacea society came to us when opening their new museum in Bedford to provide and install all of their AV. Amongst the standard products such as video players, lcd screens and audio players there were a few bespoke projects, such as button activated maps displayed on large screens, a period PIR activated radio and free standing multi-touch kiosks. An important element to the Panacea install was the fact they had a wealth of archived digital media they wanted to share with visitors, which was perfect because we have museum software that does exactly that!

Lightbox 2 was developed by us as an answer to a void in the heritage market, that of standard software which is easily customised and specially designed for use in museums. Most similar platforms are developed on a bespoke basis for individual museums which pushes costs up, however with our software the same platform is available at a standard price, and can be customised visually by each client to represent their specific organisation.

Panacea used Lightbox 2 in two bespoke free standing kiosks designed to fit aesthetically with existing furniture, they proved such a hit that we added them to our standard range, along with a similar wall mounted kiosk created for the Clydebank Museum in Scotland.

view project 1

view project 2

Apps

(Update 20/11/2014 – We no longer supply TAM instead offer a Bespoke App Service)

Undeniably smart phone and tablet Apps have been gaining in popularity this year, whether or not this is a good thing is a discussion for another post although lets just say that not everybody who wants an App necessarily needs an App.

The fact remains that App use for heritage sites and museums is on the increase so we would have been remiss not to offer the service to our clients! Therefore 2012 saw blackbox-av and Tour App Maker unite to offer Apps with diverse functionality in a simple to use package, allowing clients to update and edit the apps themselves. Tour App Maker is the same platform that brought you the very popular ForestXplorer app from the Forestry Commission Wales and we already have a few more in the pipeline that should be rolling out in 2013. We can only assume that the popularity of Apps will continue into the new year so are excited about working with this new platform a lot more in 2013.

See you next year!

There’s much much more we have accomplished and been a part of this year, we’ve made headway with the National Parks Service in the US with our Solar Audio Post for example, there’s also the new promising relationship with a couple of international distributors such as BDU in Spain. However this post has gone on for some time now and I think it’s fair to assume not many people have read this far! So lets just say blackbox-av have had a pretty good 2012 and are looking forward to an even better 2013, as always we hope to continue innovating and keep developing the best products we can to help you get your message out.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for the new year to whoever reads this far, we’ll see you in 2013….. now off to the Christmas party!

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