York Castle Museum

When the York Castle Museum required a new AV solution for their interactive exhibit, the Vivitek Qumi Q5 proved to be the perfect solution.

The prison cells at the York Castle. Museum all have interesting tales to tell as many were home to a number of well-known inmates during the 18th century. Undoubtedly the most notorious of these was Richard ‘Dick’ Turpin the highwayman who was held captive in York Prison prior to his execution on York’s Knavesmire in 1739.

In order to bring these fascinating tales to life for visitors, the museum used AV equipment to project a life-sized video of the prisoners talking about their life in the cells. However after extensive use, the existing projectors were suffering from a degraded picture quality and intermittent failures and so York based electronic maintenance and manufacture business, RadTronix were approached to source a suitable replacement solution for the museum. 

“The projectors the museum was using were 150 ANSI lumen LED units and after researching the LED projector market I contacted Vivitek UK to arrange a trial of their Qumi Q2 projector, we were delighted though when the new Qumi Q5 was suggested for the installation” explains John Nowell from RadTronix. Vivitek’s Qumi HD pocket projector helps bring the past to life The projectors are mounted in a bespoke casing and are fed by a multimedia player which in most cases is triggered by an infra-red sensor. The AV source is locked onto the composite video input and is set to auto-power therefore minimizing the intervention required by museum staff.

“Following a successful trial, the museum agreed to purchase 10 Qumi’s. The Q5 was a great solution for the York Castle Museum as it fitted their requirements perfectly. The mounting holes which are normally used to mount the portable battery pack were perfect to mount the projector in the protective case in the cells. The projector also comes with a great warranty on the LED light source as well as being small and versatile.” continues John Nowell. “Brian Grogan from Vivitek UK was fantastic in assessing the required needs of the installation and advising us on the best projector that would fit these requirements. Overall I am delighted by the performance of the Qumi Q5.”

“The projectors the museum was using were 150 ANSI lumen LED units and after researching the LED projector market I contacted Vivitek UK to arrange a trial of their Qumi Q2 projector, we were delighted though when the new Qumi Q5 was suggested for the installation” explains John Nowell from RadTronix. Vivitek’s Qumi HD pocket projector helps bring the past to life The projectors are mounted in a bespoke casing and are fed by a multimedia player which in most cases is triggered by an infra-red sensor. The AV source is locked onto the composite video input and is set to auto-power therefore minimizing the intervention required by museum staff.

“Following a successful trial, the museum agreed to purchase 10 Qumi’s. The Q5 was a great solution for the York Castle Museum as it fitted their requirements perfectly. The mounting holes which are normally used to mount the portable battery pack were perfect to mount the projector in the protective case in the cells. The projector also comes with a great warranty on the LED light source as well as being small and versatile.” continues John Nowell. “Brian Grogan from Vivitek UK was fantastic in assessing the required needs of the installation and advising us on the best projector that would fit these requirements. Overall I am delighted by the performance of the Qumi Q5.”

With an LED light source guaranteeing 30,000 hours of operation and just three seconds to power on (or off), the Qumi Q5 is projection-ready whenever needed – making it a truly mobile projector, which easily fits into a bag or backpack. Weighing just 490 grams, it is 3D-ready and uses DLP chip technology by Texas Instruments. It packs a punch with a brightness of 500 lumens, WXGA resolution, and a contrast of 3500:1, delivering crisp pictures and rich colours.

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