In the public’s view, few pursuits are more associated with an Ivy League university than the study of history – particularly ancient civilizations. In our mind’s eye, we can easily see academics in deep discussion about the glory that was Rome, the Egyptian pharaohs, and, most of all, the Greeks; those founders of our civilization. We can imagine a group of learned scholars and professors intently peering back into time as they attempt to recreate what it must have been like to live in those times, each one contributing his or her interpretation of a particular time or a specific event.

But while we’re imagining, let’s put these people in a special multimedia room; a room that’s capable of assisting the deliberations of these special people. Now, make the room especially unique in that it’s not a cold and utilitarian room but a room designed to enhance discussion and even evoke the memory of Athens at the height of its power, provide a timeless view of the Parthenon and display images of the artifacts from the period.

At the Harvard University Center for Hellenic Studies on Whitehaven Avenue in Washington, DC, Univision’s Crimson Group of Wilmington, MA has created such a room. And it is not only unique, it is positively inspired.

Called the “Digital Agora Room”, it’s more commonly known as a “Creative Space” and is designed to not only provide a way to display information but do it in a way that is so understated it never intrudes on the thought processes of those that use it.

Within the structure of the building, there is a room within a room. A special fabric is hung within the actual room’s walls to create a soft surface to both hide the hardware and to provide a projection surface. Three projectors, operating in the Rear Projection mode, display images on the fabric and a 5.1 surround audio system – hidden behind the fabric -- provides sound that appears to float in the air, tracking the displays and yet not overpowering the audience with its presence.

There are Personal Computers, DVD players, VCR devices and a document camera. All are present but none are obtrusive. A videoconference system is also available (again, unobtrusive) and the output is streamed to remote locations so that colleagues and scholars all over the world can contribute to and benefit from the experience.

TV One’s SC-1250R scalers are integral to the success of this room in that all the signals being fed to the projectors are first passed through the TV One product to convert the diverse video signals to a common output type – in this case VGA signals.

According to Tom Bishop, Marketing and Communications Specialist with Univision’s Crimson Group, “TV One’s scalers are used to get everything up to VGA signal quality and this allows us to make the routing easier while also allowing us to keep all video at a high resolution and quality.”

Univision’s Crimson Group’s Doug Montcrieff, Kirk Smith, Michael Goldman and Judd Cain worked with creative consultant Convergeo of Concord, MA to achieve an outcome that is many times removed from a typical multimedia room. It’s understated and yet extremely empowering – a seemingly impossible combination. But Univision’s Crimson Group pulled it off and TV One is proud to have been part of the process.