Oregon Museum of Science and Industry

Planar UltraRes Series 4K Displays Recognize Donors, Engage Museum Store Shoppers

The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is dedicated to improving the public's understanding of science and technology. OMSI is committed to working closely with local organizations and companies. Notable among these is Planar, which for many years has provided the museum with the latest in digital display technology. In various exhibit areas of OMSI, one will encounter Planar's touchbased monitors, a Clarity™ Matrix LCD Video Wall and Planar® EP-Series™ touch displays.

Recently, OMSI added Planar's display technology to its retail store and to an area that recognizes the support of its many benefactors and donors. The recent addition includes two 84-inch Planar® UltraRes™ Series displays, a new family of ultra HD large format LCD displays, that set the industry standard for resolution, picture quality and dependability. The addition of the Planar UltraRes Series 84-inch displays provides OMSI with assets that directly and indirectly impact the organization's goals to drive revenue and community support.

"These cutting edge displays allow us to share beautiful life-like images that stir emotion. Whether these images tell the story of our mission to potential donors or are in the form of high-energy promotional video in our retail store, these displays help us motivate people to take action in ways that support the mission of the museum," says Mark Patel, OMSI's Vice President of Marketing and Retail.

Image quality is a key differentiator

A single 84-inch Planar UltraRes Series display is installed in each of the two areas. The chosen model – UR8450-3D – was selected, Patel says, primarily for its image quality. Currently, photography and video are displayed in 2D (3D is planned) at up to 3840 x 2160 or native 4k resolution. This is four times the resolution and pixel density of comparably-sized full HD displays. "The picture quality is stunning," Patel says.

He continues that with Planar UltraRes Series displays, up to eight directly attached sources can be viewed, four at a time, in four full HD quadrants of the screen. "In this way, a wide variety of content can be shown at once, which creates a memorable viewer experience. That experience is further enhanced when a single piece of content is scaled up to fill the entire 84-inch viewing area."

Whether content is displayed in single or multiple quadrants or is scaled up to fill the screen, image quality is top notch. The UR8450-3D offers dynamic contrast with local dimming capability and a full-field contrast ratio of 1600:1. Brightness is 450 nits and the displays can handle up to one billion colors at up to 10-bit color depth.

When OMSI is ready to enable touch capability on the donor wall, the display will deliver 32 touch points with pin-point touch accuracy and support for a variety of familiar gesture features, which have become popularized by today's many different smart phones, tablets and other devices. And to maximize the user experience, touch response time is between seven and 16ms.

Other features specifically address demands of museum environment

The ultra slim profile of Planar UltraRes Series displays was important to OMSI as well. In both the donor wall and retail store settings, each display was built into an architectural encasement. Each display is 75.8 inches wide and 43.9 inches high. But even at this large size, the total display depth is 3.6 inches, making the displays fully compliant with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Further, Planar UltraRes Series offers industry-leading operational features. These include a fan-less design that keeps acoustic noise to an almost imperceptible level. Also, each display is equipped with a kick-stand that tilts it away from the wall for frontservice access, a locking feature for added security and standard power supply fail-over for guaranteed maximum uptime.

"In Planar UltraRes Series, Planar has again provided the right display solution for the particular application," Patel says. "Like our other Planar products, Planar UltraRes Series displays are designed to withstand 24x7 use; they are very well suited for the museum's high-traffic environment; and if we ever have a problem or need assistance, an experienced Planar technician is always just a phone call away."