Is the Media Player Quickly Becoming A Commodity?
By Gary Kayye, CTS I have to admit, the first time I ever saw a digital signage media player I thought, hey, that's just a small, repackaged PC. And, I was right. The manufacturer will remain nameless (as there are so many of them) but it was, in fact, just a repackaged Windows-based PC with less connectors and color-coded ports.
Worse yet, it was actually using the same version of Windows we all have experienced – blue screen of death and all…
But, much to my chagrin, I saw hundreds of them installed at a MAJOR airport we've ALL connected through – some actually displaying Microsoft errors. True story.
A couple of years later, I saw the first purpose-built digital signage media player using a custom version of Windows for digital signage apps. It was impressive – and only crashed about 10 percent as often — seriously, this was what the guy standing in the booth told me when I questioned him about the fact that it still used Windows. You all probably know who that manufacturer is by now as others have told this story, too.
Four years ago, I saw, for the first time, a non-Windows-based media player and was wowed by it — and also surprised by its limitations. It was networkable and even wireless, but could only play limited content in a very exclusive, closed network environment.
Sound familiar?
Now, I count more than 45 media player manufacturers on the market — some don't even make any displays or software interfaces for them; they just make media players. Geez, can that be profitable?
This all reminds me of the cell phone industry a few years ago (B.A. – Before Apple). There was the Blackberry, the Treo, the flip phones and there were a few dozen companies who just made phones that cell phone companies gave away with a two-year service contract.
Sure, there was value in the Blackberry as it was WAY MORE than a phone (in fact, the first versions didn't even have a phone – they just did email), and there was value in the Treo as it recognized handwriting (sort of) and had a calendar and synced with your PC. And, they sold for a premium over the flip phones and the dozens of cheap mobile phone handsets on the market at the time.
Doesn't this sound familiar, yet?
I think there are a few standouts out there now – media players, that is. I think the Hyper Media Player by SpinetiX is cool as it's non-Windows, tiny and uses SSD technology. There are others I could brag about. But, truth is, I'm not sure any of it will matter in a year or so as that segment of the market's quickly becoming commoditized.
Well, not totally. Is there a game changer on the horizon? An iPhone of the digital signage market, to use an intentional analogy?
I'd better not say any more as I'm getting close to disclosing something that's not supposed to be disclosed due to a non-disclosure thingie…
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rAVe Announced Best of InfoComm Awards Earlier this week, rAVe Publications announced our Best of InfoComm Award Winners in rAVe ProAV Edition. The awards represent the best of the best at InfoComm and include best displays, video and audio products, control products, mounts and even a best digital signage award.
You can read all the awards here: http://www.ravepro.com/issues/2010/07/rpvol8iss14/index.html#t1760
Back to Top Peerless Aims at DS Market with New Line With security, durability and strength as their mantra in aiming for the digital signage market, Peerless has launched a series of mounts that specifically address DS applications including media player brackets, mounts and slim fit mounting options for displays.
Starting with a monitor wall mount, the DS-VW760, a modular mount system that allows unlimited display configurations and features a pull-out/prop-open hinge mechanism that provides easy rear-of-screen access. It accommodates displays from 40”-65” and you can read all the specs here: http://www.peerlessmounts.com/dyn/Products/BrowseProduct.aspx/tn/621
Peerless also launched a custom, slim-tilt mount that actually mounts the DS media player inside the mount itself – sandwiched between the wall and the display itself. It tilts at five and ten degrees and you can even remove the media player without detaching the display as you tilt the monitor all the way up and it can slide out from the back. You can see all the specs on the DS509 here: http://www.peerlessmounts.com/dyn/Products/BrowseProductPrint.aspx/tn/503
Finally, Peerless also launched a universal media player mount, the DSX750, that allows you to retrofit any Peerless mounted display with a media player that’s securely attached to prevent theft as well as an optional media player shelf bracket – dubbed the DSX200.
Back to Top Prysm Makes InfoComm Debut: First System to Challenge Christie's MicroTiles At InfoComm last month, Prysm, Inc. launched the industry’s first real challenge to Christie’s MicroTiles technology, powered by its proprietary technology, Laser Phosphor Display (LPD). Although larger than the MicroTiles, the Prysm solution is similar in that they are also “building block” style displays that can be stacked in a wide variety of sizes and shapes to form a display image. Using a 25” diagonal (4:3) tile as the foundation, designers, integrators and architects can build displays into a variety of sizes to meet the individual needs of each application. According to Prysm, they LPD blocks feature a viewing angle of nearly 180 degrees in both the horizontal and vertical planes. Each block has a brightness spec of 800nits, an optical seam of .25mm and a refresh rate of 240Hz. Powered by LPD’s solid-state components, the display solution offers what Prysm calls “an internal health monitor and auto-calibration system” for 24/7 continuous operation and stable performance over the life of the application. For more information, go to: http://www.prysm.com
Back to Top Sharp Shows New Thin Bezel LCD for Video Wall Applications At InfoComm, Sharp showed what they say is the world’s thinnest bezel LCD display – with a bezel that is only 2.4mm thick. The new display, the PN-V601, is a 60” professional LCD monitor with LED backlighting. The PN-V601 will be introduced to the Japanese market in August 2010. There’s not a ton of information available now, but go here to see what is: http://sharp-world.com/corporate/news/100607.html
Back to Top Extron Ships Two and Four Input HDMI Switchers Extron is now shipping the SW HDMI LC two and four input switchers. These switchers support HDMI 1.3 specification features, including data rates up to 6.75 Gbps, Deep Color, Lip Sync, and HD lossless audio formats. HDCP compliance ensures interoperability with other HDCP-compliant devices. The switchers support all HDTV rates including 1080p/60 with 12-bit Deep Color, and PC resolutions up to 1920×1200. Front panel LED indicators provide visual confirmation of signal presence. Input cable equalization for each input compensates for cables up to 50 feet in length. The SW HDMI LC switchers are ideal for sending HDMI video and embedded multi-channel digital audio to a single display. The switchers also supply +5 VDC, 250mA on the HDMI output, providing power for peripheral devices. Control options allow for easy integration into a variety of environments. These include front panel control, auto-input switching, IR, and RS-232 control. The SW HDMI LC switchers are housed in rack-mountable 1U, half rack width metal enclosures. For more information, go to http://www.extron.com/product/product.aspx?id=swhdmilc&s=0
Back to Top Could Texas Instruments Integrating SpinetiX's DS Player into the DLP Engine? According to SpinetiX, Texas Instruments chip division intends to integrate their Hyper Media player technology into future microprocessors aimed for 3rd-party flat panel and projector systems deemed worthy of digital signage applications. The recent joint announcement doesn’t specifically address the DLP division and what they intend to do with the microprocessors, but sources tell rAVe that adding the SpinetiX-loaded microprocessors to the DLP engine would be simple and inexpensive.
TI says that they were attracted to the SpinetiX player because of its low power consumption, open design and tiny bandwidth demands on their chips — the Hyper Media player draws less than 2 watts, compared to a PC which draws more than 20 watts of power.
This would present an interesting issue for the DLP market. Many DLP projector manufacturers have their own line of DS media players and would see this integration as competitive to their initiatives. However, a couple of display manufacturers told rAVe at InfoComm that they would welcome this integration as they only offered a media player as a way to sell more displays and launch into the DS market with a complete solution.
This will be interesting to follow. Back to Top Digital Signage Federation (DSF) Forms Standards Committee Chaired by Real Digital Media CEO Ken Goldberg, the DSF Standards Committee is charged with setting measurement, messaging and reporting standards for the DS market as well as dealing with privacy concerns from the public and mainstream press.
For more information about the DSF Committees, how you can become involved, or to join the Digital Signage Federation and sign up for open committee positions, visit http://www.digitalsignagefederation.org. The DSF’s Executive Director, John Johnson can also be reached at 571-215-3028.
Back to Top The Julliard School's Using DS, too! Business schools aren’t the only educational institutions that are turning to digital signage to help get their messages out. For example, New York City’s famous Juilliard School, the country’s pre-eminent performing arts academy, recently updated their campus communication strategy by installing large LCD screens in the central lobby of their main campus at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
A private performing liberal arts college, The Juilliard School has roughly 1,900 students in its college, pre-college, music advancement and evening divisions.
The Goal
According to Tunde Giwa, the school’s chief technology officer, the decision to add digital signage to Juilliard’s main lobby came about as part of their Juilliard/Lincoln Center Redevelopment Project, an ambitious undertaking begun in 2007 that involves major renovations to more than 50,000 square feet of existing campus space, and adds an additional 39,200 square feet of new theatres, studios, classrooms, practice rooms and specialty spaces to the arts school’s expanding downtown premises.
“We wanted to add digital signage to our lobby as part of our redevelopment project,” Mr. Giwa explained. “We needed this to communicate to our internal and on-campus audiences about events, along with news and weather.”
How'd They Do It?
Simplicity then became one of the main requirements in their search for a better digital signage control system: “It had to be easy to use, and attractive.” Rise Display's combination of high-end display hardware and web-based sign content management software — called Display Wire — fit the bill. In contrast to their confusion with the first consultant’s system, Mr. Giwa said, their experience with the Rise solution was much more rewarding. “Rise’s software was much easier to implement, and much easier to use. It’s a quality product.”
Back to Top So, that's rAVe DS [Digital Signage] for this month! Remember, we are here to HELP the AV market penetrate the DS market. Only 12 percent of the DS market is integrated by AV companies. The other 88 percent is IT-based. Now, there are AV publications and even an association that would like to draw those IT people in to AV (it would increase readers, right? – and more readers means they can charge more for ads). That is NOT what we are doing. rAVe DS is specifically designed to pull AV into the DS market and teach AV companies how to take business away from the currently dominated by IT market.
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