Rich Media Art Display
I enjoy rich media art and I’ve always wanted to figure out how to display it in an easy way.
We have some rich media art displays in the USV office. We have an Electric Objects and a Meural. They are nice, but they are proprietary systems and at least one of these companies has folded already.
What I’ve always wanted is the ability to showcase rich media art with standard off the shelf hardware.
So when we recently replaced an old TV with a new one, I took the old one and put it on the wall in my home office.
And when the Gotham Gal got a new Mac Mini, I took the old one and mounted it to the back of that display.
Then I cleaned up the old Mac Mini (basically a factory reset) and then launched a browser and went and found some art.
There is a lot of rich media art on Vimeo and you can put a playlist together and run it in full screen mode in the browser.
Here is my display doing that:
I also have been playing around with Sedition Art’s Art Stream service. It’s a subscription service that lets you stream twelve curated works of art that are updated weekly on your display at any time.
Here’s my display doing that:
There are some services out there that are based on Chromebit that I am interested in trying. I got a Chromebit and am working on setting that up. I will report back on that once I get it working.
My conclusion is this. If you have old displays and computers that you don’t need anymore, they are easy to turn into rich media displays. You should try it. It’s great.
Comments (Archived):
I think the key is to get a beautiful display that disappears and lets the media shine through. I would totally want to get the LG OLED Wall Paper! The other big thing the takes away from the experience is cabling, it can be really distracting. Another TV that does this well and makes it part of the experience is the BILD X OLED: https://www.instagram.com/p…
“sedition” – i’ve always liked the ‘tone’ of that word. we all need to indulge in a bit more of it. it’s healthy renewal.p.s. is that a self portrait?
Fred — can you add some of your thoughts about the EO vs. the Meural. I’ve owned an EO for a few years (originally heard about it on your blog), and now that they’ve folded, I’m considering a Meural as well. I agree that reusing old screens is a great solution, but I do think the dedicated solutions/companies add value if they’re able to maintain their businesses. Of course, I see solutions such as new Echo/Alexa versions potentially swamping this space — which I personally think of as a good thing, but Meural may not 🙂 I’m sure they’re onto something big, because everyone who comes into our home ends up loving the EO.
Hey Dave – we’re here to stay and we do believe we’re onto something big :)We’re here in NYC, so if you every want to stop by and see a Meural Canvas in person, let us know and we’ll set it up.A lot more coming from us in a few weeks.
Very cool; really impressed with the $10/month subscription fee. I’m having a hard time still grasping how cheap the unit cost is under Sedition’s distribution model.
I believe blockchains that enable transfer-not-copy of digital artifacts may create a new market for provably unique rich media digital art – imagine digital artists now able to sell exclusive artworks, whose exclusivity is verified in a blockchain.
With the only problem being. Almost no one prefers digital over tangible art.
This is exactly what my current side project is! On Fred’s suggestion I played around with Rare Pepe’s a few months back. If found the concept to be highly engaging but the aesthetics were….. lacking. I realized that I want to buy unique digital art on the blockchain, signed by the artist, in an entirely decentralized method that I can then Chromecast to my TV.So I’m building it now using Ethereum smart contracts and IPFS.Based on the other comment in this thread I wonder if I’ve been lucky enough to find something I know to be true that others do not believe :)If anyone wants to chat further about this, find me at twitter.com/sprice.
Nice. Would love to hear more, Christopher.
An interesting one is SVRF (https://www.svrf.com/). They provide 360 degree images and videos to shuffle through as well as search for specific content. The images also auto rotate so that you can see the whole image. I know of a decent amount of people that open up one of their images via their Chrome plugin and essentially use it as a monitor background.
I continue to swear by the Chromecast. Just ~$30 each, so always have at least one in my backpack while traveling, most AirBNB’s and many hotels have an HDMI port (although the local network has to cooperate, to work).And we love this cheap HD projector for the baby’s room cartoons on the wall:https://hazelharper.com/pro… also control this via Chromecast.Chromebit is more of a stand-alone PC, so has its merits for the usage you describe.https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Fred – getting warmed up to the exposed metal conduit look in your apartment 🙂
Ugh.
Yes – my initial thought as well – perhaps part of the vibe the Wilson’s are trying to create.
.Watch out, @girishmehta:disqus will ding you for being unkind. JKBesides exposed conduit is in the Constitution. It is a right, not a privilege.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
nice floors / high ceilings!
Tangentially related, there’s Sony’s Xperia Touch projector which:”lets you turn pretty much any flat surface into an Android touchscreen.Coming with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth baked in, you’ll be able to do things like watch films and play games without the need for a dedicated TV/console setup, making it a space saver as well as an enabler of forced family fun.”http://www.trustedreviews.c…
I do something similar as a screensaver on my computer. Fun to come back to my desk from a meeting or lunch to interesting art.
So excited you are mentioning this! We are soon going to be able to sell the digital art created by artists on our collaborative platform so that people can eventually stream our visual conversations on their TVs or computer monitors. In the meantime, here’s something our founder wrote about art and the blockchain: https://bitcoinmagazine.com…
Fred and other readers,Blackdove is a digital art platform that works with any connected device including Apple TV, Chromecast, smart TVs, etc…I a dedicated screen in portrait mode in my house and always have fresh, rotating art. Nothing worse than dropping $10k on a piece and regretting it. Blackdove is democratizing digital art and connecting artists with consumers.https://itunes.apple.com/us…https://www.blackdove.com/
Thank you Jose, creating an offer for the USV followers below..
I’ve been looking to upgrade my “screen saver” on my newly mounted 50″ TV – would love a seamless way to display art and/or family photos. Most of the built in solutions over-use the “Ken Berns” effect, or rotate too fast.I use Roku primarily, Apple TV or Chrome cast in a pinch.Any ideas?
If you would like to spend a little money for a very nice version of this check out https://depict.com/Disclaimer: I’m an investor
I think Bill Gates did that in his house 10-15 years ago 🙂
Though suffering from lack of wall space, this is intriguing.Huge art appreciator and minor collector so new forms fascinate me.Thanks
Interesting pix of Patrick Ewing on the other wall. Signed? Love that he’ll be butting heads w/ Chris Mullin again. Big East resurrection.
Good eyes. My all time favorite baller. He played with so much heart.
This is a great idea!! And a great way to recycle a perfectly good machine.You may consider piping in unsplash.com images. The photos are royalty free and many are simply remarkable.http://irvue.tumblr.com/ has hacked up a Mac OS plugin to rotate the images.https://unsplash.com/develo… makes crafting your own version pretty dang easy. Free with no limits on calls.I just love the story of unsplash as well. From a side project to a very important resource relied upon the world over – https://unsplash.com/history
Of course, unsplash released a native Mac app today – https://unsplash.com/wallpa…
old displays and computers that you don’t need anymore, they are easy to turn into rich media displaysThis is a great idea. But I have to tell you that it really bothers me [1] that they used conduit and didn’t bury it in a wall that is obviously sheetrock. Honestly the labor involved in putting those lines under wallboard isn’t a big deal. (And no the answer isn’t to bury the conduit under a channel and paint over that either.)After all this is visual we aren’t even talking about a ceiling fan (which would also bother me but that is actually a bit more understandable.)[1] As someone who spent time helping electricians when I was in high school and college and has hired many of them for business.
.I am almost done renovating a kitchen which required relocating every electrical whatever in the entire joint plus running bigger wires for all the new appliances.The electricians, of course, had to run new wires and put in new boxes for everything. They just smacked holes in the walls and stuck their stuff in. When they finished, you alternated between wanting to shoot them and crying.My man, Josua (pronounced Ho Sway), made all the electricians work disappear. He is a magician and is funny as Hell. He even matches the texture. When we needed to find something behind a wall, we couldn’t find it because Josua made it impossible to find. Invisible.If Josua saw those conduits, he would say, “Oh, no, Mr. Jeff, that is not good.”He could teach a course on negotiations. Some of the best fun I have ever had is settling his bill. He will say, “That will be $200, Mr. Jeff.”I say, “Josua, will you take $500?”He will say, “If I must.”A magician.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Great story. And even better I can now call you ‘Mr. Jeff’. And when I disagree I can say ‘thes is no good’ (No way he didn’t say it like that either..)
.Sometimes, he calls me “jefe.”JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
el jefe or jefe? We both know what the big boss means.
V Texas.
LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. This story.
My walls & ceilings are jealous, does Josua travel?
Hahahhaa. I thought that too. My brother is an electrician so I have easy access to getting things done the way I want.
Hey Fred,This is Vlad, over at Meural (you know, the company that hasn’t folded :). We are fans of your site and stumbled upon this article—and, of course, can’t help but chime in.We applaud your innovations; we’re always interested in the ways people are mixing technology and art. There’s no better way to re-purpose unused materials like these than to bring more art into your home.That being said, we believe in our product, and believe it offers value outside of the TV-as-art solutions. We’ve always been (and will continue to be) dedicated to art—democratizing it, disseminating it, and displaying it as true to its original form as possible. That means creating a product that’s intuitive to use for the majority of people. It means going through many screen technologies, hundreds of prototypes, and building our software/algorithm from scratch to bring every brushstroke to life. It means curating the entire history of art and presenting it in a way that maximizes discovery. It means working with artists and art organizations to ensure fair compensation for their art.We consider our digital canvas a success when someone walking by doesn’t know it’s digital (unless they have moving art displayed). We create products that people are proud to hang in their home or office.We see the Meural Canvas as existing parallel to homemade rich media displays. If you want to stream Vimeo, a discarded TV works well. But our community wants to feel like they have a new painting on their wall every day.I’d like to invite you to stop by the office for a coffee next time you’re in Soho. I’d love to hear more about what you’re up to and what we can improve on.Cheers,Vladimir VukicevicCEO, MeuralP.S. Attached is a real picture—unfiltered and unchanged—of a Meural Canvas. https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
I like this. Cords and “looking like a TV” are the reasons I don’t have something like this on my walls yet.
What’s the resolution? How is it powered? Do museums have the rights to digitally market works via Meural? See benefit to musems via OOH marketing. Could help drive interest, exposure and potentially attendance, in an era when many public institutions are hurting financially. Win-win.
The base resolution in 1920 x 1080, i.e. full HD resolution. We’ve fully adapted the display for artistic content – with our firmware and software intelligently powering output of the art. This allows us to dynamically adjust the display based on the local environment and also based on the characteristics of the art that is being displayed. It is powered by a standard power adapter/cord.Yes – we work with museums, galleries, etc. to procure, curate, and display their artwork directly onto people’s walls. They receive compensation and a bigger reach for working with us.
We were doing that at deviantART.com back in 2008 when I was there – our tech team developed what we called sit-back and you could make your own online personal art gallery and stream it through your TV – -all the TVs in the dA offices ran these streams:) Ahead of our time dA was. This was one of my fav from my online gallery – all relating to MUSIC:https://heatherwetzler.devi…
So great to see a conversation on digital art. We’ve actually built a cloud platform for the management, distribution and display of moving image art (video / code-based / VR / AR etc), a proprietary 4K Art Player App which when downloaded immediately turns any screen into a pixel perfect, looping 4K art player and a remote control App which enables you to then control a single screen or hundreds of screens at once. We are members of NEW INC, the New Museums cultural Art (X) Tech incubator with a dev and product team in Tel Aviv. Should you like to learn more https://www.niio.art.
Here is what you do with old computers. Here is mine notice 152 games. https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
When I worked in a startup circa early 2000’s (before we folded), the programmers went into the stock room of broken parts (sort of like the Island of Misfit Toys) and built a Faux Gaming Station. It was raw, all the innards exposed and hanging off the side of the wall of a cubicle, but you couold walk up and power up all the classics — Space Invaders, Pac Man, Gallaga, Centipede, Dig Dug. It was pretty awesome.
Wish I had a pic of it.
Yes, wish you did. Those are some of the favorites along with Tetris, Donkey Kong, and Mortal Combat.We very strictly throw away anything that is broken, I have found that figuring out it is broken twice is not a good business
Here is our misfit toys that work but are retired https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Fred and USV followers,Blackdove has recently released our streaming video art platform and would love to gain feedback from the community. Our app is available for both iOS ( http://apple.co/1fs1QVS) and Android (http://bit.ly/1DI51Ud) and offers a free 30 days free subscription.For USV followers we have a special offer that has not hit product hunt quite yet as we could use some beta feedback. So anyone downloading the app today can receive a 1 year free subscription by emailing your username to [email protected]. In return we ask for some feedback on our Facebook page #blackdoveart.A quick background on the platform, we are driven by artists who have struggled to monetize their video art works. Our current release is a subscription and our marketplace will open very shortly, each paying approximately 60% to artists.For those interested in a dedicated video art installation, we are integrated with both the Samsung commercial displays and the LG Wallpaper display.Thank you all so much in advance.Marc BillingsCEOFred – let’s get you a nice frame and rotating mount for the display to get the full experience…
.What software do I use for the commercial displays?The other day I’m looking for a heavy duty articulating arm mount for a huge monitor (85″) and a guy shows me one. Then he does a pullup on the monitor which was attached to a wall. Guy must weigh 300 lbs. Pretty damn impressive.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Back in the day of Tube TV’s my sister/brother in law had a tv in their bathroom, professional installed, that came crashing down because it wasn’t anchored correctly. Nobody was in the bathroom at the time. Took years but finally ripped out of the wall.
JLM,Thanks for the question;Samsung Commercial displays have a great feature which includes an embedded media player. On setup you would post a URL that we will provide and the display will boot directly into the Blackdove experience.You can also test this software on any browser by visiting https://r.blackdove.com/ . From within the Blackdove App/ You/ My Devices you can pair your web browser just as you would an AppleTV or AndroidTV and view Blackdove art on the browser.Sounds like a pretty good mount to handle that weight load; the two mounts manufacturers that we recommend for professional jobs are https://peerless-av.com and http://www.chiefmfg.com/.Marc
.Fred, tell me about those surface mounted silver conduits. WTF?Did somebody break in and install them? Do I need to come up there and fix those for you?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
“Did somebody break in and install them ?” Ouch, thats harsh. Funny. But Harsh. Telling myself to not laugh at that sentence.You were saying something yesterday about being kind….?
.Fred needs somebody like me to work with. He has too many sycophants. If he ever stopped suddenly, there would be a couple hundred broken noses to fix.Just trying to help him achieve his full potential.It was a little harsh, but I am a real estate guy at heart and exposed conduit is so gauche. Wait, was that unkind?Plus that kind business is a mood thing. I am not really all that kind. On fleeting occasions, I am quiet which masquerades as kind to the uniformed.Be well and prosper.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
It was a funny sentence. Truth is, I laughed.I also realized just now as I re-read my earlier comment that one should never tell themselves to not laugh. The world can always do with more laughter about exposed conduit.Momentary insanity on my part. Please ignore.
My wife and I were watching a reality TV show the other day (Real Housewives of Orange County) and one of the wives went to see a plastic surgeon for some boob work. The minute they were in the office I spotted the plastic baseboard molding which had been painted over. How cheap. Most plastic surgeons would never do that they would do wood and the only question would be ‘how high’ it should be. I did that in a unit even before renting and as it happened it was rented by a Plastic Surgeon. First thing I do is put in wood because it has immediate appeal. (Don’t want to make like I own a great deal I don’t but like the Dos Equis guy what I do own I put the money into to create an emotional attraction to a potential tenant ‘wow I want to work here!’..)Fred’s baseboards appear to be wood however they are not painted in a contrast color. And they appear to be base grade to boot. I would have done them in white and change the actual baseboard. But they are probably landlord installed no doubt. But you can still paint them white. That’s my taste.I am sure it probably amazes some people that the two of us even notice things like this. Or that it bothers us without even thinking. Mr. Jeff.
.We all see life through our unique lens. I am in love with wainscoting and crown molding. Just me.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
i’m the landlord. i own this building. i did the work
Exposed conduit is chic wheee I hang out. Different strokes for different folks. You like The Dotard, for example
.Haha, good one, Fred. The Dotard? That’s funny.No, Fred, I actually like Pres Trump’s POLICIES. You don’t seem to be able to grasp that idea. Policies.To be truthful, some of his polciies, I love. Adore, actually.Under the commentariat policy are we supposed to be chatting about politics? I know it’s OK if you initiate it, right?I do have to admit I like having a North Korean expand the vocabulary of the American left. That’s sort of cosmo, no?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
More like expanded the vocabulary of half the English-speaking world.Apparently the word appears in Chaucer’s Canterbury tales 600 years ago.Of course it would have been better if we had all learned the word some other way…
.Hey, look I freely admit to not being up to speed on all of Chaucer’s vocabulary words. I read the old boy, but I never stumbled across The Dotard.It is the only good thing I have ever gleaned from a North Korean dictator.I wish Kim was more of a wordsmith. Spent more time writing and less time developing nuclear weapons and ICBMs. But, hey, that’s just me.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
I have not read the Canterbury Tales…I learned this fact about Chaucer’s use of the word just recently, concurrently with learning the word for the first time.It may be that he has not read Chaucer either. Just may be.
.Pretty sure the guy is an English scholar. Going out on a limb here.Plus, what is the Korean character for “dotard.”JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
I was an expert in Canterbury Tales. But that does not mean the word is right.We can look up many words. We can wikipedia slurs. It shocks me people have stooped to that level, especially when we are talking about an absolute mad man using it. Trump might be crazy. I dare anybody on this board to immigrate to North Korea, I bet they will take you.Just because there are some absolute filthy words the British used about people from India, and the Dutch about people from South Africa, and Americans used about African Americans does not mean I will ever repeat them.
I am surprised you would use a word coined by a very Aniti Semitic person.
Exposed conduit does have a purpose though.At the office complex I wanted to install close circuit tv’s but the other board members didn’t want to spend the money (I later installed them in my unit though). Anyway I suggested then that we install fake cameras near the dumpsters. Cost next to nothing on Amazon (just buy the real housings) like $10 or whatever. Handyman installs and it looks great. But then I say ‘hmm we need to put some conduit on the pole so it looks more convincing’.
JLM – How are your mudding skills? Fancy a trip to Minneapolis? https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
.Sending Josua. Be there in the morning.JLM http://www.themusingsofthebigredca...
I’ll have you know the TV was a father’s day present from #1 son… who’s birthday is today. Good to have gainfully employed children!
.Nice feeling isn’t it?My #1 son is an investment banker doing incredibly complicated public sector financings which require almost every SEC license you can get.I can follow them when he talks slow and I have an MBA in finance.The high finance I like the most is when he picks up the tab. He has outgrown his alligator arms and is quite generous.If only they knew how little it takes to please us, eh?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Mudding is fascinating to me. (I suck) We doubled our office and there was this one guy they called “patches” thats primary job was to mud. He was an artist. (Actually he is, he is the bass player in this great band: http://francisband.com/ he is the very large man on the back left)He would use five different types of mud. Two from buckets, two from powders, and one from a tube. He had several paddles, and types of tape.Another guy in the office my business partner and BIL is competent at mudding. We would just stand and stare at his work. We would apologize for watching him work, but it was fascinating.And actually that has what has gotten me so upset at the Media. Everybody wants to divide.That guy put the capital I in Inappropriate jokes, but we all had such fun. He said he had the most fun at our job site. We had a Latino Painter, a city electrician, a rural foreman, computer programmers, ops, testing, support, and management (me) as a diverse group as you get. We all had fun.
.Learning to tape and float is easy. It does take some technique, tools, and instruction. The most important thing is to ensure the sheet rock is properly installed.I had the best drywall guy I ever met teach me. In less than an hour, I had it down. I was not fast, but I was pretty damn good.All prep, tools, materials, technique, and persistence.Pro tip: Do not clean drywall tools in a sink in the house unless you want to replace a lot of plumbing.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
I agree with your pro tip.I will say this. Can I tape and float? Yes. Is that like saying I can throw a fastball like Nolan Ryan? No.
That’s the look of the entire space. Exposed concrete (building was made out of poured concrete) on the ceilings and there is conduit everywhere. I could have easily buried the wires. I chose not to.
.Sleek, loft-ish look. Very chic.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Plus if you get a hurricane it’s easy to find the electric
Yes, I can see the switch. I think we might have the same floors if those are Armstrong laminate for concrete.
.Ouch.Pro tip re developer dialect: One “pours” whiskey, but one “places” concrete.When describing a building such as yours, one describes it as “an exposed reinforced concrete frame.”People then nod their heads and look knowing.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Is that a self-portrait sketch on the table? Looks like complementary colors, which is cool. I did these for my team. https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
That is EXACTLY what I was thinking.
yeah, my daughter sketched that one day when she was bored. i love it.
Make sure you keep your software on the old machines updated. That’s where the hackers attack
There is no such thing as a niche market anymore, is there? :)When I read Fred’s post – my first thought was “oh yeah I remember wanting to do this on kickstarter a few years back”By the time, I made it to the end of the comment thread it was “There are 5 different startups pitching their product for this problem ??”Ah the internet – you can’t live with her, you can’t live without her.
CONTRIBUTORS:No mention of or fund raising for American citizens living in Puerto Rico. SOHI guess another time.
Hi Fred, I love that you’re tinkering with some digital frame products, it’s a great developing industry. I’d love to meet you and explain more about Daylighted: we have an easy-to-install solution to showcase unlimited art collections on any screens, with more than 20,000 images on our portfolio today. It’s like Meural or EO, but with no hardware – just plug it in and enjoy custom art collections! ;-)I’d love to have a coffee with you to discuss this. I am based in San Francisco.Let me know if you’re interested.Elisabeth MouchyCofounder – Daylightedwww.daylighted.com
This is a pretty sweet setup (hacker Fred), and I dig that you grabbed a Meural at home (Vladimir Vukicevic’s startup, an old commenter here)