By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net
WANT to keep those memories alive even when you’re dead? Use the high-tech coffin that has an LCD display panel.
The multimedia coffin was created by Filipino inventor Antonio Andes Sr. who thought of coming up with a more innovative method of paying respects to the recently deceased — by playing videos, music and images on an LCD monitor attached to the open side of a casket.
In an interview with INQUIRER.net, Andes said the LCD monitor is actually attached to a PC discreetly hidden near the casket. The videos, audio and photos can be provided by the family or friends of the deceased and can be rotated as a PowerPoint presentation.
“We can do the editing for the family as per request, or they can give their own presentation and then we can play it on the PC,” Andes said.
In fact, even far-off relatives of the deceased can post their eulogies or messages via e-mail as the PC can be attached to the Internet, turning it into a virtual logbook of condolences. All it needs now is a web camera.
The 42-year-old Andes is no first-timer when it comes to inventions. In the mid-1990s he outfitted a refrigerator with a cloth dryer. He observed the Filipino approach to fast-drying clothes, which is attaching these to the back of a refrigerator, which is constantly hot.
Just last year, his first attempt to reinvent the casket was when he developed the reusable coffin. It is composed of two coffins, an inner wooden casket and an outer metal casket.
Basically, the reusable casket is targeted at the poorer sector of the economy that would not normally be able to pay for a coffin costing P100, 000 to P500, 000.
“The reusable casket is rented and we charge P8, 500 for a five-day wake. Then we can bury the dead in the inner casket while retaining the outer casket,” Andes said.
Not surprisingly, the multimedia casket is actually the reusable casket, only outfitted with an LCD monitor. Andes said it would cost an additional P5, 000 to use the reusable casket with the monitor — photo and video editing included.
“It may seem funny at first but this is one way for people to remember their dearly departed. Before, flowers and ribbons were sent to the wake but now, families and friends can send their condolences online instead,” Andes aid.
“Besides, it’s for people who couldn’t afford a coffin. Not only did they save, but they’ve also paid their last respects to their dead in a good way,” he added.
November 1st, 2007 at 3:57 am
this is insane… and you call this an “invention” ? wow
November 1st, 2007 at 1:46 pm
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November 1st, 2007 at 1:49 pm
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December 17th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Sir, with all due respect, you’d have made a bigger impression with a projector attached to a pc(like what they do in weddings, etc.). Attaching it to a coffin makes no sense whatsoever. In fact you could say it’s desecrating the dead by making them a spectacle. You draw attention away from the deceased by putting a tv nearby. That in itself says that - well I’ll have to say it’s a novel idea - you’re a long, long way from a Nobel prize, my friend.