H+H Panel Installation

H+H Panel Installation, originally uploaded by nfotxn.

I was hired to design and install a series of 6 HDTV's to run presentations and artwork at a gallery opening on 165 James Street North called HIStory + HERitage. It’s the best gig I’ve ever had and the gallery owner is a swell gentleman in all meanings of the word.

Mac Mini behind the panel

The gallery features local history and books with a prerogative of gender neutrality. Some might think that’s a frill, but really given the Victorian nature of the town it’s useful to note how often women were written out of history.

As for the technical bit I did, well, I’m rather pleased with myself. Each 32” 720P panel runs connected to a Mac Mini via DVI->HDMI and is remote administrable by Apple Remote Desktop (ARD). The only technical flaw in the whole system is that you can’t wake a Mac on WiFi however if I opted for wired Ethernet that option would have been there. It’s no issue really. All it takes is a quick flick of the Mac Mini’s remote and the systems wake up.

The ability to see all six displays at once with the ARD administrator software is rather amazing. Sure, if it were my gallery, I could have just used VNC and SSH but ARD allows the owner to visually and easily move all his presentations, movies, videos and photos around with minimal training. Very cool.