InAVation Award finalists Avitech were responsible for the installation of a new video system in the Chamber of Deputies in Romania’s parliament. This month we take a closer look at the project.
text]Since the return of democracy in December 1989 and the adoption of a new constitution, the country has returned to its parliamentary traditions. The chamber of deputies and the senate are elected in constituencies to pass the laws of the land.
October 2005, the Romanian Parliament requested that Avitech investigate the options for recording session of the Parliament and also making the business of government more visible to the public by the use of AV technologies.
The parliament identified audio systems, a large format display and interactive voting system as the key elements of the project, it was also important that the solution was in keeping with the grandeur of the building. It was also vital that the system was completely secure in view of the need for secret ballots.
Avitech were selected on the basis of their proven track record in the public sector and reliability in delivering large-scale projects. It had originally been envisaged to install either plasma or LCD monitors in a 2x2 configuration, however Avitech advised the parliament’s technical staff that Mitsubishi’s DDP60’s would be a more appropriate solution for reasons of brightness, but also having a seamless display in 4:3 format. The LCD or panel solution would have resulted in an unsightly bezel between each screen, and an inconvenient format of 16:9.
The solution provided consists of four Mitsubishi DDP60 rear projection cubes in a 2x2 configuration. These cubes are only 26cm deep. The screen’s diagonal size is 120 inches and it’s mounted on the wall behind the President’s seat, the presidium. In addition to the main wall, two single cubes are positioned either side of the room.
With 341 delegates in the chamber, the video wall is used to bring those speaking closer to the rest of the audience. Additionally the wall is used for displaying the results of the voting. The secure electronic voting system from Bosch is linked from each seat in the parliament to the central control unit. The output from this is then fed into a Kramer matrix before being displayed on the video wall. Other feeds for the matrix include the cameras positioned strategically around the chamber, and occasional TV feeds for when press conferences and other events are being shown to the parliament.
A spokesman for the parliament commented: “Since we took final delivery of the system we can say we are happy with the solution. The cubes were certainly the right choice, giving excellent brightness and clarity. They’ve coped well with almost continuous operation.â€