Argonne National Laboratory, near Chicago, Illinois, is a national research laboratory run by the US Department of Energy. Argonne conducts a variety of research within basic sciences including, nuclear engineering, chemistry, physics, biology, and energy research.

Challenge #1

In 1995 the video group created a kiosk in the lobby of the Advanced Photon Source, a world-class accelerator research facility that hosts scientists from all over the world.

The kiosk had six monitors that played videos from two laser disc players, triggered by user-controlled start buttons. The audio played through handsets that the user held up to his/her ears. Because of heavy use, the laser disc players needed either regular maintenance or replacement, approximately every six months.

In 1999, Argonne decided to seek a way to play the video directly from a computer and to loop it. Jim Corsolini, a video/multimedia producer for Argonne, was asked to lead the effort.

Mr. Corsolini had this to say about the project and Visible Light:

Since I've done extensive programming in Macromedia Director and was aware of the Onstage product from Visible Light for incorporating MPEG 2 into Director movies. I purchased the Onstage plug-in and created a Director movie that played the MPEG 2 file, full screen, on boot up. (I didn't let on to my client how easy it was to incorporate the Onstage plug-in to Director). That was four years ago and the kiosk has not required my intervention once in all that time!

Challenge #2

Argonne decided to create another kiosk based on video from the Illinois State Fair for purposes of public relations. Once shot, the video was to be encoded into mpeg 2 and loop within a kiosk presentation. Once again, Jim Corsolini was put in charge of the project.

It came down to the wire and I was making the Director program for the kiosk and realized that I needed the Onstage Media upgrade so I could run it under Windows XP. It was after 6:00 pm and I had to deliver this by end of the next day. I called Visible Light and explained my situation. They were extremely nice and gave me permission to register the download right then, (before we had cut the purchase order). Wow, no company has ever responded with that kind of customer service before! I was floored! Because Visible Light went beyond the call of duty, I was able to deliver my project to a satisfied client, on time!

Solution

For both projects, Argonne selected OnStage Media for Director which supports MPEG 2 video playback, looping of files, full-screen presentation, and has the reliability and durability required by a kiosk application.

Results

By working with Visible Light and using OnStage Media for Director, Argonne:

• Saved time and effort integrating the video into the kiosk application.
• Received customer support that was above and beyond the call of duty, allowing them to meet a tight deadline.
• Eliminated costly videodisc maintenance by switching to MPEG 2 video running on a computer with OnStage Media for Director.
• Achieved reliability and durability in kiosk operation

Additional Information

For more information about how you can realize the benefits from Visible Light's OnStage line of products, please contact a Visible Light sales representative directly at 888-216-1883 (US toll free) or 407-327-5700.

You can learn more about the Argonne National Laboratory at http://www.anl.gov and the Advanced Photon Source at http://www.aps.anl.gov