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Volume 3, Issue 6 — June 29, 2011
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Tickers and Zoned Screens Need to Be the Exception, Not the Rule
By Dave Haynes
Editor, Sixteen:Nine I was struck at InfoComm by the way technology, good creative and actual thinking were resulting in some really strong content on big fella video walls and totems around the trade show.
It’s nice to see how far the industry has moved in really thinking through an idea and execution.
On the other hand, I was struck by how little has been accomplished in working with smaller, single screens. In conference presentations, and in way too many booths, there were screens showing text going this way and that, rain dribbling out of cloud icons and more text than anybody would ever stop and read.
I get, completely, that the purpose of a trade show is to demo the software pots and pans – and that means showing, among other things, that your software is slick enough to do all kinds of things at once on a screen.
But just about anyone worth getting into a conversation with at a booth already knows that sort of thing is a standard capability for just about any vendor out there. Anyone with software that can’t support multiple content elements on a screen, in 2011, might as well fold up the tents right now.
The problem is that showing all these carved up screens and news tickers and weather icons is instructing the AV and systems integrator crowd – which will tend to think what gear to use long before programming strategy gets raised – that all these examples are spot-on. They’ll reasonably conclude, “Well, that’s how it is done.”
That’s how it’s done — when it’s done badly.
The problem is compounded by the many, many companies that load up pre-baked template libraries with multi-zone layouts. This is again telling end users THAT’s the thing to do.
These layouts can be beautifully designed and look very pretty when all slapped together. But they force a set of eyes to look in three or four directions at once.
There’s a relevant correlation between digital signage layouts and PowerPoint/Keynote slides. We’ve all rolled our eyes and mentally tuned out when someone fires up a presentation jammed with words and images. And we’ve all been pointed to presentations that work – which are invariably minimalist pieces with one big image and very few words.
They work because the message is clear and not fighting with other things for attention.
There are, definitely, cases when a screen with multiple content zones makes some sense. But the digital signage industry exists and markets itself on the ability to communicate quickly and effectively with people.
If a flat panel display was put up on a wall to do that, the message being communicated will be hugely more effective if it commands the full screen – contains powerful imagery and very few words – and is competing with nothing else for those precious pixels.
We’re seeing national and regional Digital OOH networks struggling to sell ad time and stay in business, and one (certainly not the only) reason is these networks are hurting their own cause by loading up screens with junk content that serves no other purpose than to diminish advertising recall rates.
A few of us in the industry were nattering away a year ago about, basically, death to tickers. I’m not sure much progress has been made.
Another really well-worn phrase applies here: Keep it simple, stupid.
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Getting Started In DS: Part 4
By Lee Distad
rAVe Columnist This is the fourth part in a series about getting started in digital signage for ProAV dealers. Read the first part on our website here, the second part here and the third part here.
Jay Martin, Director of US Sales for X20 Media points out that poised between the technical and the business side there is a paradigm that is often overlooked — the customer’s content plan. According to Martin, “the integrator has the be the consulting entity that helps them decide that.” He further asserts that before choosing the technology, integrators need to help the client figure who what information they want to put in front of their viewers. “What form is it going to take?” asks Martin. “Will it be PowerPoint? Video? Text? Stills? Is it a retail menu? Is it all of the above, intermixed? Until they determine what this content plan is, you’re taking a stab in the dark!”
For that reason, Martin puts that first and foremost when meeting with integrators and their clients. He explains that once you determine your content and your target audience, that’s how you’ll determine which advertising model will work. Says Martin, “Advertising is a key component and if you’re an ad network, you don’t really want a huge capital expenditure at day one.” He suggests that if you do go down the advertising route, consider leasing to reduce the client’s cost to a monthly revenue model, and if you’re not advertising, talk about setting up and installing as fixed costs. In all cases he advises integrators to talk about technological scalability. “Does the client want ten displays or ten thousand? That will determine the platform you select.”
On the technical side, Martin advises integrators to consider the content. Does the client need an HD image? Since some streaming technology is compressed, resolution is lost, admins can’t work in real time, and workflow is compressed. “With real-time platforms like X20 Media, you have the ability to work with the content as it goes out,” he says. Another big difference is the amount of bandwidth that’s necessary. “For HD you need to have sustained data throughout,” he explains. “So that makes it difficult to use 3G air cards because HD streams don’t render through hiccups very well.”
The other consideration Martin counsels is that the user interface is of the utmost importance. Just because content is coming from a central location doesn’t mean that management has been centralized. “There are corporate, regional, and local messages,” says Martin, who notes that the interface has to be adaptable via roles-based user permissions to allow for some local adjustment without interfering with the overall corporate branding. Lee Distad is a rAVe columnist and freelance writer covering topics from CE to global business and finance in both print and online. Reach him at lee@ravepubs.com Leave a Comment
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Ready for ComQi? EnQii Holdings and Minicom Digital Signage (MDS), who last month announced the merger of their companies, creating a global leader in multichannel message management, announced last week that the new merged company’s name will be ComQi.
Learn more here: http://comqi.com/
Or, you can see our interview with the executives of each company here: https://www.ravepubs.com/rave2011/index.php?option=com_ravevideo&ravevideo_id=4520&view=ravevideo Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top ClearOne Enters DS Market Using a media player dubbed IMPRESS, ClearOne's first digital signage solution includes capability for Adobe Flash and H.264 video content. Designed for use with ClearOne's IP-based VIEW AV distribution and control system, IMPRESS will broadcast messaging with HD content to what they say is a “virtually a limitless number of displays.” IMPRESS allows remote access and control from PCs, plus popular tablets and mobile platforms such as Android, Apple and BlackBerry devices.
IMPRESS IM100, the rack-mountable hardware engine of the new system, includes inputs for analog audio and video sources, and also provides an Ethernet port, an RS-232 port and USB ports. IMPRESS Composer, the system's Windows-based software, is a software solution for creating, managing and publishing content over Ethernet networks. The product’s signage features include four regions for crawling text and static contents, display support for HD 1080p video, 16:9 and 4:3 formats, 1GB internal RAM and a 160GB hard drive.
IMPRESS is scheduled for shipment in late July 2011 priced at $5,999 MSRP. Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top NEC Upgrades DS Product Line NEC Display added three new models to its commercial-grade V Series large-screen display product line: the 46-inch V462 will replace the V461, and the 46-inch V462-AVT and 65-inch V651-AVT with integrated tuners are new to the product line. All three are squarely aimed at the digital signage market.
Designed for commercial applications, the V Series includes full 1080p high-definition resolution, built-in low-profile 10-watt speakers, brightness of 450 cd/m², a contrast ratio of 3000:1, DisplayPort, HDMI and DVI inputs and a built-in expansion slot that allows for seamless integration of NEC accessories, third-party components and Open Pluggable Specification (OPS) products. In addition, the company’s added a DVI loop-through option that allows customers to pass a digital signal from one device to the next, thereby eliminating the need for additional hardware, such as a DVI daisy chain module.
The V462, V462-AVT and V651-AVT also include NEC’s TileMatrixT technology for building video walls up to 100 displays, a real-time scheduler to power on/off the display at a specific time, and remote diagnostics to monitor and control the display from an off-site location.
The V462, V462-AVT and V651-AVT will be available in July 2011 at a minimum advertised price of $1,149, $1,249 and $5,399, respectively and details can be found here: http://www.necdisplay.com/category/large-screen-displays Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Sony Finally Gets Serious About DS Market Sony has had its Ziris digital signage software for a few years, but the company hasn’t been a market leader in the channel yet. Now it looks like Sony thinks its new strategy of having everything from a simple single application DS player to offering complete DS systems design will turn the tide.
Focusing on the user-interface and graphical “simplicity” of its Ziris DS software and adding modified PlayStation 3s as media players, Sony is offering a turnkey service that includes content creation, management, display and media players. You can see the entire strategy outlined here: http://info.sonyleadmgmt.com/rd/9z1zbhmh5vocd71un8dqfiseiur308v7lg2vf6hh7cg
And, you can see a video we shot of their entire DS line here: https://www.ravepubs.com/rave2011/index.php?option=com_ravevideo&ravevideo_id=5091&view=ravevideo Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Black Box Debuts DS Module for NEC Displays Black Box’s Modular HD View NEC Integrated Receivers allow you to use ordinary CATx wiring to distribute HD multimedia signals to remote digital signage — without installing any external AV hardware at the screens.
The receivers get their signal over non-networked CAT5 cabling from any Black Box HD View VGA Transmitter linked to a digital signage player. Two versions are available: standard range, for extensions up to 360 feet (109.7 m) and long range, for transmitting signals as far as 1000 feet (304.8 m). Because the receivers slide into the screen, no external AV cabling is required.
Get more details here: http://www.blackbox.com/Store/Detail.aspx/HD-View-NEC-Integrated-Receiver-Standard/AC3003A%C4%82NEC Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top VISIX Debuts Wayfinding Solution for Campuses VISIX has introduced a new product called WayPoint — an interactive wayfinding and communications solution for corporate and college campuses, healthcare facilities, government buildings and other institutions.
WayPoint is a bundled solution, combining selected content modules in layouts designed with the client’s logo, colors and branding. Content modules can include digital signage message playlists, auto-updating news, weather and RSS feeds, and Google maps showing places of interest like admissions, dining halls and bookstores with customized icons.
Custom wayfinding can be substituted for Google Maps, and WayPoint also allows alert notices to be triggered by CAP messages. Matching message templates, data subscriptions, licenses and training are all included in the bundle price.
You can read all about it and see specs here: http://www.visix.com/waypoint.html
Or, you can see the video we shot of the product at InfoComm here: https://www.ravepubs.com/rave2011/index.php?option=com_ravevideo&ravevideo_id=4290&view=ravevideo Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Digital Screenmedia Association (DSA) Announces New Board The Digital Screenmedia Association (DSA) Advisory Board elected new officers for the 2011-2012 term during its biannual meeting today. Brian Ardinger, SVP & Chief Marketing Officer for Nanonation was named DSA president.
Other officers elected include: - Executive Vice President – Digital Signage: Lou Giacalone, Founder CoolSign, Haivision
- Executive Vice President – Mobile: Jared Miller, Managing Director, Self-Service & Emerging Technology, United Airlines
- Executive Vice President – Self-Service Kiosk: Ron Bowers, Senior Vice President, Business Development, Frank Mayer & Associates
- Treasurer: Cortlandt Johnson, Kiosk Services Sales Leader, IBM
- Secretary: Charles Ansley, President & CEO, Symon Communications, Inc.
"I'm excited about the upcoming year," said Mr. Ardinger. "I have seen the association grow to become more inclusive, more engaged, and more forward thinking as the markets and technologies have grown and changed. Whether digital signage, kiosks or mobile, we now have a platform for the industry to build on and an opportunity to engage and educate the market about the benefits of digital screenmedia."
For more information on DSA or to join, go here: http://www.digitalscreenmedia.org/ Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top NEC Launches 55" LED Display With Narrow Bezel NEC Display has just added an ultra-narrow bezel model to its X Series, the 55-inch X551UN. Designed as a commercial-grade, 24/7 operation LED-lit LCD, the X551UN has a reduced-power consumption (over CFL models) at only 190 watts all-on and is made with 100 percent mercury-free components. And, with only a 5.5-mm separation between active screen areas of two neighboring displays, it’s meant for video wall monitor applications. The $7,799, 1080p native LCD is specified at 500 cd/m2, 4000:1 contrast ratio and includes a plethora of analog and digital inputs, as well as IP and RS232 control. Details can be found here: http://www.necdisplay.com/p/x551un Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top MountMe Debuts iPad2 Sucker Mount MountMe, a little-known company dedicated to making iPad mounts, has debuted the Freedom II for the iPad 2. This is basically a suction-cup mount that includes a protective carrying case that features a mounting and standing accessory. It provides a unique all-in-one solution for Apple fanatics who want to use their iPad2 as an entertainment center. With this universally adaptable mounting solution (called a suction cup by people who sell bathroom accessories), Freedom II allows the iPad2 to be mounted and viewed virtually anywhere. Check it out here: http://www.mount-me.com/ Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Panasonic Debuts New Low-Cost Plasma Panasonic just announced the PH30 Series, the newest addition to its family of HD Professional Plasma Displays. The displays are available in two models, the 42-inch TH-42PH30 and the 50-inch TH-50PH30.
The PH30 Series is aimed at bars and restaurants looking for wide-angle viewing and high contrast ratio (the company claims it to be at 2,000,000:1). Built in the company’s Amagasaki Plant in Japan, which Panasonic says was designed to be environmentally responsible, the PH30 Series’ energy efficiency has increased by approximately 35 percent compared to its predecessor, the PH20 Series. This reduction in power consumption places the PH30 Series in line with comparable LCD professional displays without sacrificing picture quality. Like all Panasonic professional plasma displays, the PH30 Series is both lead and mercury-free.
Additionally, the PH30 Series plasmas offer a 100,000-hour service life compared to the 60,000-hour average of competitive LCD professional displays. The new display also features a front glass panel that they claim is approximately 10 times as strong as that of an LCD.
The TH-42PH30 and TH-50PH30 are available now at $880 and $1200, respectively and can be found here: http://www.panasonic.com/business/plasma/plasmas.asp
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Share Article Back to Top Seura's Premier Series Gets Thinner Mirror Matting Séura's latest improvement to its Premier Series of television mirrors features a thinner mirror bezel (1”). Basically, reducing the matting (frame around the mirror and TV) 25 percent gives the perception of a larger TV screen and, obviously, means it takes up less space. The Premier Series LCD displays are available in 32”, 40”, 46”, 55” and 65” sizes and in both in-wall and on-wall configurations. They are all 1080p and have four HDMI inputs. For more information, go here: http://www.seura.com/commercial-products/commercial-premier-series/ Leave a Comment
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Sighting: Oregon College "Cascades" Its Interactive Digital Signage
By Dave Haynes
Editor, Sixteen:Nine I really like a combined interactive installation put together for the University of Oregon’s Ford Alumni Center in Eugene – as it makes a nice use of shapes and offers a simple but hard-to-ignore user experience.
The install, developed by the interactive design firm Second Story, involves a set of multi-touch LCD screens running the Finnish firm MultiTouch‘s software and a series of digital columns, called Cascades.
When users touch icon prompts on the interactive table, they can search search the entire university alumni database by name, year, or special events. The screen design includes a flow of Os (for Oregon) that are animated in the background on the table. When users interact with that background, more Os are spawned from their fingers. Messages can be sent to any of the 240,000 alumni through the alumni center’s web site, and they appear on the table.
The 2,000-square-foot atrium of the center also has six interactive media “Cascades” and three artifact-filled “Cascades” –- all designed to celebrate alumni and help recruit new students.
Says the design firm:
The media Cascades are touch-sensitive, floor-to-ceiling displays that present movies, images, slide shows, text, infographics and maps reflecting the university as a whole. Like the sections of a bookstore, each Cascade is devoted to a different subject matter: LEARN (Academics), COMPETE (Athletics), LIVE (Student Life), EXPLORE (Campus and Community), and HONOR (Notable Ducks). The media was designed to flow through the Cascades like a waterfall of content, introducing the diversity of opportunities—academic, athletic, social, recreational—that define the University of Oregon experience. Visitors can simply stand and watch to see all the university has to offer, while more active visitors could swipe across the Cascade to navigate through stories, touch to dig deeper into specific areas, or access menus to go directly to the information they seek.
Through a powerful, custom content management system, stakeholders across the university can log onto an intranet and modify their respective content areas. They can select between dozens of templates, upload and crop images, add videos, create slide shows and add whole sections to their themes.
In addition to the storytelling features, media Cascades have a dynamic 3D campus mapping feature that pulls from the university’s information services database. New buildings can be added dynamically, and each story component in the program can link directly to a feature on the map. Dozens of dynamic infographics sprinkled through the content also pull on university databases to serve the most current data about the student body, alumni, or programs.
The three artifact Cascades are filled with an eclectic assortment of objects that testify to the enduring values of the University and offer a visual alternative to the surrounding media cascades. Inventions, designs, and achievements of alumni are celebrated. Defining events in the history of the university are featured. Original and facsimile documents, photographs, manuscripts, ephemera, and other objects are displayed like “wonder cabinets” juxtaposing diverse themes, values, and defining moments in UO’s history.
Evoking Eugene’s nickname “Track Town, USA,” the Cascade panels slide on a track system built into the floors and ceilings running throughout the Interpretive Center. The Interpretive Center staff can slide the panels anywhere on the tracks, making the space adaptable for different events and re-configurable for learned usage patterns.
There are more of Second Story’s images on the project here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/second_story/ Leave a Comment
Share Article 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.
For those of you NEW to rAVe, you just read a 100% opinionated ePublication that's designed to help AV integrators. We not only report the news and new product stories of the digital signage industry, but we stuff the articles full of our opinions. That may include (but is not limited to) whether or not the product is even worth looking at, challenging the manufacturers on their specifications, calling a marketing-spec bluff and suggesting ways integrators market their products better. But, one thing is for sure, we are NOT a trade publication that gets paid for running editorial or product stories. Traditional trade publications get paid to run product stories — that's why you see what you see in most of the pubs out there. We are different: we run what we want to run and NO ONE is going to pay us to write anything good (or bad).
Don't like us, then go away — unsubscribe! Just use the link below.
To send me feedback, don't reply to this newsletter — instead, write directly to me at gary@ravepubs.com or for editorial ideas: Editor-in-Chief Sara Abrons at sara@ravepubs.com
rAVe [Publications] has been around since 2003, when we launched our original newsletter rAVe ProAV Edition. rAVe HomeAV Edition, co-published with CEDIA, launched in February, 2004. rAVe Rental [and Staging] launched in November 2007. rAVe ED [Education] launched in May 2008. rAVe DS [Digital Signage] was launched in January 2009.
To read more about my background, our team, and what we do, go to https://www.ravepubs.com
Back to Top Copyright 2011 – rAVe [Publications] – All rights reserved – All rights reserved. For reprint policies, contact rAVe [Publications], 210 Old Barn Ln. – Chapel Hill, NC 27517 – (919) 969-7501. Email: sara@ravepubs.com
rAVe DS [Digital Signage] contains the opinions of the author only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of other persons or companies or its sponsors. |
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