Panasonic and HIVE have helped deliver an upgrade to one of the world’s most technologically ambitious immersive museum experiences at the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ), where more than 170 HIVE media engines now drive 128 Panasonic 20,000 lm 4K projectors across a series of large-scale projection environments. The deployment processes more than 21bn pixels of visual content every second.
Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, the museum combines cinematic projection, artefacts and exhibition design to guide visitors through Qatar’s history, from prehistoric landscapes and early settlements to the nation’s modern development.
Delivered in partnership with Secuoya QFC & BGL audiovisual, the installation is one of the largest HIVE deployments to date, with 172 Beeblade media engines supporting projection mapping and synchronised playback across 10 galleries. All 128 of the museum’s Panasonic projectors are being upgraded to the latest PT-RQ25K 4K DLP laser technology, each fitted with HIVE’s embedded media processing via the SDM slot, removing the need for external media servers and extensive cabling.
At the centre of the system is a distributed playback architecture comprising 150 Beeblade Pluto media engines, 30 Beeblade Minima media engines and 14 Beehive enclosures, delivering 8K 10-bit HEVC playback, projection mapping and site-wide scheduling. Projection alignment and blending are handled by VIOSO software, while HIVE’s platform provides centralised monitoring, reporting and control.
The 128 Panasonic PT-RQ25K 3-chip 4K projectors installed throughout the museum’s galleries offer 20,000 lumens of output, roughly double that of the PT-RQ13K projectors they are replacing, giving the museum additional headroom to run the projectors at lower output levels while maintaining image quality.
Visitors are able to approach the projected surfaces directly, placing high demands on image quality and system performance. The content was filmed largely in 8K resolution using multi-rig camera systems and is projected across dynamically curved gallery walls and architectural surfaces.
Pedro Jiménez Train, operations manager at Secuoya QFC & BGL audiovisual, said: “HIVE’s media servers proved to be an outstanding solution for a project of this scale and complexity. The platform is intuitive to operate, integrates seamlessly with the wider AV architecture and delivered significant rack space and installation efficiencies.”
Anthony Molloy, division head MEA at Panasonic Projector & Display, said: “When the museum opened in 2019, immersive cultural attractions were still relatively rare. Today, immersive experiences are commonplace, but the National Museum of Qatar remains one of the pioneering examples of how technology and storytelling can be combined at scale.”
Mark Calvert, CEO of HIVE, added: “One of the biggest achievements of the project was simplifying what had previously been an extremely complex projection environment. From the visitor’s perspective the experience is visually richer than ever, but behind the scenes the system is now far easier to operate, maintain and scale long term.”
You can subscribe to Installation magazine for free here and the daily newsletter here.
