Rebooting Adi Dassler

A couple of years on from the initial installation, advances in show control software have allowed adidas to give their Adi Dassler centre a technological face lift. Programming for a new show control solution was carried out by Horncolor.

During a successful installation back in 2006 the adidas “Adi Dassler” brand centre (ADBC) in Herzognaurach, Germany was equipped with a 370m2 soft-edge projection screen powered by 25 Panasonic PT-D7700 projectors. This gigantic screen was installed in a 700 seat arena by German integrators ICT. In order to successfully tie together such an enormous edge blended display, ict used AV Stumpfl’s Wings Platinum 2 show control software. This synchronised all the media and projectors.

In the first instance ict supplied adidas with a bespoke operating system which enabled a self running show on the big screen. This was programmed by Horncolor Multimedia, who was sub-contracted by ict due to its specialist knowledge in programming AV Stumpfl’s powerful software.

However this system had a couple of significant limitations. Chiefly, the content had to be completely tailored and scripted. Whilst staff at the centre had control over the starting and stopping of the presentation, there was no way to change-up the order of content or to easily introduce new material.

Therefore as part of a refresh of the project, adidas asked Horncolor for a more flexible upgrade to the system. Working with AV Stumpfl, Horncolor developed a “Jukebox” feature. This is a plug-in for Stumpfl’s new Touch Control software. Following discussions with the client, the specifications for the new operating system were agreed and within eight weeks, Horncolor and Stumpfl had a working media player interface. This was customised to adidas’s requirements – giving them easy access to any of their movie content. Staff can also generate their own event-specific play lists with just a few mouse clicks. The lists can be played back manually or using an “MS Outlook” style scheduling system.

Christian Horn, owner of Horncolor explained some of the more complex challenges in the project. “In the initial installation it was relatively simple to synchronise with the 25 playback computers, one for each projector. Now the Wings Platinum and Touch Control Software both have to communicate with the brand centre’s new Crestron Control system. This is done via TCP / IP and Horncolor wrote specific drivers to make this process simpler.

“One of the major challenges in this ongoing project is the continuously changing content – every 3 or 4 months, most of the library of approximately 50 movies is exchanged. With the new Jukebox feature the time to change things around is much reduced.

“Live events can now be carried out using VGA capture cards to display power point presentations within the 106m wide projection – this gives more impact to the message. For special events, animations and backgrounds are now created to fill the “wall” behind the projection and to link the power point presentations. There is also now the possibility to add live text ticker information, welcome messages for special guests or company logos very rapidly.”

“Over all the customer is very happy with the improvements we’ve made to the system. Its operation has got much simpler with the new interface. Finally, feedback from the new system is much better – it’s easier for the client to keep an eye on what is happening behind the scenes.”

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