HIVE’s BeeBlade and BeeBox media servers are being deployed at an immersive experience in Melbourne about the natural world.
Following the popularity of the inaugural BBC Earth Experience in London, which is narrated by David Attenborough, the attraction has recently opened a second site at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Mark Calvert, HIVE’s co-founder, says: “We are introducing a new technological era into the industry with the BeeBlade series, and when TDC in Australia contacted HIVE for the BBC Earth Experience in Melbourne, we could not have been any more excited.
“The natural world, preserving it and the beautiful documentaries of David Attenborough have inspired the entire HIVE team for many years.”
Produced in collaboration with Moon Eye Productions, Live Nation and BBC Studios, the BBC Earth Experience comprises a multi-room digital art experience that guides visitors through Earth’s diverse ecosystems. The experience is played out across dynamic multi-angle screens, showcasing footage from the Seven Worlds, One Planet TV series.
Video technology and production supplier TDC harnessed an innovative and cost-effective HIVE media server solution to power the project.
Launched earlier this year, BeeBlade is a compact media engine that seamlessly integrates with video projectors and display technology through Intel’s Smart Display Module (SDM) slot, thus eliminating the need for extensive cabling and high power consumption.
The Melbourne exhibit is equipped with 70 Panasonic projectors, with 55 creating the main immersive space. Forty-nine are powered by BeeBlade, while the rest utilise HIVE’s BeeBox chassis, to power the projectors that lack SDM compatibility.
The content is delivered using HIVE’s proprietary BeeSync software, ensuring perfect synchronisation of all imagery.
TDC’s managing sirector, Michael Hassett, says: “The BeeBlade and BeeBox don’t just represent technological advancements – they are harbingers of a new, greener and more efficient era in digital art installations. This transformative approach is not just a disruption in the media server space; it’s an evolutionary leap, saving time, money and the planet.”
Tony Molloy, European sales manager at Panasonic Business Europe, says: “In applications such as this, having a system where you can combine the projectors and media servers together in the same location saves enormous costs from an installation and commissioning perspective.”
“The BBC Earth Experience is the perfect environment for our range of BeeBlade products,” says Calvert. “They align perfectly with the environmental narrative and, most importantly, provide rock-solid reliable, easy-to-support playback to the production team, day in, day out.