Volume 7, Issue 8 — August 18, 2015

The screens are rather large; I would estimate 28” inches tall by 18” inches wide. This provides a lot of screen real estate, so it is very easy to read and interact. The screen faces the customer directly and based on its close location to the customer side of the counter, it feels very natural to interact with.

Many stores now have displays that face the customer and indicate what is being scanned and added to their bill. It is a great resource for the customer to make sure they are getting charged only for what they purchased and that they are not getting over-charged. The display at Big Apple also shows this information and does it in a way that is very easy to read — so far, a big win for customer service.

After the transaction was completed, I was faced with a screen that asked me to rate my experience. I had a scale from 1-5, Bad to Excellent. I chose excellent and the screen flipped to an ad to wait for the next customer. I wanted to play with it some more, and see what would happen if I selected Bad.

Would it ask me why?

Would it ask for details so they could contact me?

Most importantly, would the cashier immediately know what I had pressed?

This is one of the aspects I love most about technology and digital signage. The ability for thoughtful, creative people to innovate and come up with new ways of putting the technology to use. Additionally, I think this is only the beginning of how this technology could be used. I could see this easily expanding to clothing stores, where they show you ads based on what you bought. New pants? How about this belt? Ten percent off if you press the button now!

So, that is what I love about technology. What I don’t love about technology is when it gets pushed out before it is ready. (If you want another example, read my column about the digital menus in Newark airport.) This is one of those situations. For starters, even though while I was waiting to pay I stalled by asking the cashier several questions about the technology and taking stealthy pictures, I was never prompted by the big red button. I saw an ad for coffee, but it was 95 degrees out and 3 in the afternoon. I had bought a bottle of water, so coffee seemed like a weird targeted ad. In any case, the ad did not have the big red button. Therefore, in my case it turned out be to nothing more than a very expensive digital register of the single item I bought.

Finally, the question about customer service brought me back to last month’s column. Why were they taking the time to collect this data, and what would they do with it? Let’s face it: Convenience stores are in existence for just that, convenience. Customer service is really a limited factor. There are a couple of people behind the register and they just ring you out. It’s not as though they are out in the store to help you. So, why ask about customer service? What good does that question do if it is not being used for some further purpose? Additionally, is that really the most important question to ask? Aren’t there more important questions that could be asked of a customer at that last moment? How about cleanliness of store? Did you find what you wanted? Did you get served in a fast manner?

Despite some of these smaller flaws, it is very clear to me that these types of digital signs are going to continue expand into stores, of all types. I am looking forward to seeing the exciting and innovative uses of them.

Before legions of display manufacturers and early adopters start Googling for my address, I’d like to explain that — as many already know — 4K displays offer great opportunities in visual clarity, but place equal challenges on the ecosystem surrounding them — from content production, through playback/rendering, to actually getting the 4K signal to displays.

History

4K, the “little brother” of NHK’s (Japan National Television Network) “Super Hi-Vision” or “8K UHD,” was presented to the public in 2004. In its TV form it offers four times the pixels of 1080p, higher frame rates (up to 120p), and the possibility of improved color spectrum (as suggested by ITU).

At that time, the only way to display the content captured by those cameras was by seaming (welding) together LCD panels, giving birth to the 4K display… Super Hi Vision is still promoted as the future of TV broadcast, with 4K considered an intermediate step.

In addition to the higher resolution, the ITU (International Communication Union) recommended using higher frame rates (up to 120p) and an improved 10-bit color spectrum (billions of colors).

In recent years, display manufacturers have been promoting and selling 4K capable displays to consumers. These technologies are now beginning to propagate into other platforms including commercial/digital signage displays. As a result, 4K-capable players and 4K capabilities are being requested from customers, digital signage providers and owners.

Current Situation

Today, retailers, corporations, educational/health institutions, and transportation hub operators looking to deploy a signage network are all interested in the 4K opportunity but as many know (or find out), there is more to “4K” than pixel counts on a display. One needs to generate and distribute 4K content — preferably at 60 frames/second and high color depth, through compatible signal distribution & cabling to (of course) a display that is optimized for or at least supports the format. Getting THAT to happen can sometimes be more complicated than it appears…

Connectivity

Display manufacturers already offer 4K displays but most still rely on HDMI 1.4 to receive 4K at 30 frames per second (“2160p/30” or “4K/30”). This taxes motion, especially in larger displays and videowalls showing fast moving content.

Commercially viable signal distribution is finally catching up and is in many ways still limited to 30Hz and 4:2:0 color encoding, further challenging early adopters. For example: to display 4K/60p on a video wall located away from the players, you either need DisplayPort, HDMI 2.0, four HDMI 1.4 (each transmitting a quarter of the image), or an expensive routing and distribution system. Recent and upcoming IP and point-to-point offerings are finally catching up but rely on modern network and cabling infrastructure.

Content

• Perhaps the greatest challenge which causes many 4K installations to never see 4K content, is worth elaborating on:
• HD broadcasting systems are limited to 1080i (half the row count of 1080p). As a result, even though 4K, 6K (and soon 8K) cameras become available the production tools, editing software, and hardware don’t support 4K or at best support 4K/30. Additionally, most set top boxes in viewers’ homes can only support 1080i or 1080p and replacing those can be a costly endeavor.
• Uncompressed 4K occupies roughly four times the storage. A suitable end-to-end 4K production pipeline requires greater resources and might produce content more slowly, thus increasing costs.
• New codecs optimized for 4K are CPU intensive and thus may not be compatible with older playback hardware.

At this point some readers might be thinking, “If this is so difficult, why bother? Are there any benefits to using 4K in digital signage?” Yes, if one looks at the enhancements 4K technology offers, there are benefits to taking the 4K path:

• Enhanced resolution — with displays reaching 110, 1080p can no longer be relied upon for up close viewing but 4K makes it easy to display and examine fine content on these large displays, making reviewing documents, drawings and other “fine print” in collaborative or teaching environments a reality.
• Smaller A/V “footprint” — as signal distribution and extension options become available, a single cable can replace what previously required four cables. This can significantly reduce cabling and signal distribution costs for large video walls, “clean up” equipment racks and speed up installation. Couple that with reduction in the number of “appliance” type players needed to drive videowalls (one player can drive a 2x2x1080p display array), the resulting smaller racks and lower power consumption and voila! — Things start looking up for those deploying high-resolution videowalls. (Caveat emptor: As of today getting more than three or four 4K outputs from a single player still challenges most players’ processing power.)
• Lower bandwidth requirement – codecs optimized for 4K can reduce file sizes by 60 percent (compared with 4x1080p encoded in H.264), which in turn reduces the bandwidth needed to distribute those files — a major benefit for digital signage networks with multiple high-resolution videowalls.

For the past 15 years, Eran Sharon, Vice President, Product Management, YCD Multimedia has worked in technical and executive capacities both in the US and Israel bringing extensive and diverse experience designing, implementing and supervising the execution of audiovisual and media technology systems for various markets including experiential/luxury retail, luxury hospitality, museum, and broadcast. Eran comes to YCD after six years at Audio Video & Controls (AV&C), a New York City based boutique AV design firm where Eran’s work was characterized by successful application of emerging technologies in conjunction with AV best practices to deliver complex projects in these markets.

They’ve not been profitable in the TV market in years and after a $2 Billion refinance, they promised to eliminate 5,000 jobs — this was the best and easiest way to do that. Cut the department hemorrhaging money.

But, just as they announced that, it was announced that China’s Hisense Group says they have purchased the rights to the Sharp brand in North and South America. Hisense Group bought all equity and assets of Sharp’s TV factory in Mexico for $23.7 million with rights to use the “Sharp” brand name and all its channel resources in both both regions. This acquisition will have Hisense completely taking over Sharp’s TV business in these regions.

So, what about commercial monitors?

We just had a conversation with Sharp Senior Vice President of Marketing and Operations Mike Marusic and he was kind enough to share all the commercial AV details with our us. So, this deal has nothing to do with the professional or prosumer line of Sharp displays. In fact, every new product launched at InfoComm is still on schedule as announced at the show — including the new 4K line, the 90” and all the AQUOS Board products. Marusic explained that the consumer TVs are manufactured at separate factories and separate production lines.

We have obtained a copy of an internal memo to Sharp employees that was just released — it’s from Toshihiko Fujimoto, Regional Chief Officer for North & South America, Sharp Corporation Chairman & CEO, Sharp Electronics Corporation. If you want to read it, click here [PDF].

So, the summary: Our industry is not affected by this change within Sharp and, in fact, it is likely that Sharp will become a better commercial monitor provider as more resources that may have been spent on the consumer line could now be shifted to support the B2B world.

Sharp’s professional line is here and its AQUOS Board line is here.

The new Q-line models will be available with and without Amiblight in four sizes: 55’’, 48’’, 43’’ and 32’’. In addition, each model includes an HTML5 SmartBrowser and expanded internal memory, which serves as a memory cache when streaming online content. If the network ever fails, the internal memory keeps content streaming by playing a cached version of the content, ensuring that content is always displayed on a digital signage network even when there is no network connection.

Each Q-Series uses an LED backlit LCD and is native 1080p resolution. It’s integrated with SmartControl software, which Philips says allows remote control and management of a network of displays via RJ45 and RS232C.

Here are all the specs.

Almo Professional A/V announced it is taking its “Fully Charged” E4 AV Tour to Houston for the first time on September 11 and to the New York Metro area on October 8. In addition to the same refreshing training, electrifying new products and powerful networking opportunities that bring local resellers, integrators and consultants to the E4 events, the fall tour is launching two new hands-on “E4 Experience” workshops focusing on Digital Signage Content & Distribution and BYOD & Collaboration. Almo’s high-demand HDBaseT Installer Expert Certification training is also making a return this fall.

The E4 Experience is being held in two workshop-style rooms that each hold a maximum of 10 people per session. The sessions will focus on the following:

• Experience #1: Digital Signage Content & Distribution. During this workshop, attendees will learn how to create their own custom piece of digital signage content using Brightsign’s BrightAuthor software and then publish it via a network-connected BrightSign player.
• Experience #2: BYOD & Collaboration. Bring your own device to this workshop and take the BYOD trend to a whole new level. Attendees will learn how to easily share content in a huddle room and a host of other ways to extend AV to smart devices. They will download apps on personal devices to interact with Barco Clickshare, Kramer Via Collage, Samsung displays and other BYOD solutions.

To learn more about the E4 Experience, click here.

The fall E4 events kick-off with a critically important keynote address by Gary Kayye of rAVe [Publications] called “Being Smart About Smart Buildings.” He discusses the essential practice of pre-engineering AV into every room in new construction and how to become a preferred provider to the architect and facility manager community.

Another highlight is the return of the 90-minute technical HDBaseT Installer Expert Program, which is designed for those who would like to learn more about HDBaseT technology, regardless of whether they are beginner or expert installers.

The complete line-up of E4 fall sessions include:

Business Track

• Keynote: Being Smart About Smart Buildings. Gary Kayye, rAVe Publications (1.5 CTS RUs)
• NEW! Working with Third Party Services to Increase Your Sales. Tom Stimson (TBA CTS RU)
• Successful Project Management for AV Design & Installation. InfoComm (1 CTS RU)
• NEW! Encouraging Interaction in the World of “Me”: Using Interactive LCDs for Productivity. Gary Kayye (1 CTS RU)

Technical Track

• NEW! The E4 Experience: Digital Signage Workshop (TBA CTS RU)
• NEW! The E4 Experience BYOD & Collaboration Workshop (TBA CTS RU)
• HDBaseT Installer Expert Program. HDBaseT Alliance (1.5 CTS RUs and Expert Installer Certificate)
• Videowalls: A Start to Finish Guide for Success. NEC (.5 CTS RU)
• Emerging Technologies that Will Change the Future of AV. C2G (1 CTS RU)
• What’s That Noise? InfoComm (1 CTS RU)
• IP Signal Distribution – An Introduction and Comparison of Dante, AVB and Cobranet Protocols. Rob Ziv,
• Business Development Manager, Almo Pro A/V (1 CTS RU)

To get all the details or to register, go here.

If you want to see videos rAVe NOW shot at past E4 events, go here.

WAVE interactive digital signage solution allows content to be triggered with a hand wave motion or by waving an object across an designated area, counter or display. WAVE may be installed underneath any material counter top with the exception of metal and up to 3 inches thick. The WAVE solution includes Videotel’s VP71 industrial digital media player, USB, SD card, HDMI cable, power supply and the Wave2Play proximity sensor.

• Elevate — With lift-off platforms and scale content, customers can elevate content and access information in ways that were never thought possible.
• Push — Push is a new way to access content via LED buttons. A business can program the text to their choosing, coming in illuminated plastic or stainless steel, providing a new way to engage customers with your product or service.
• Move — Move allows a client to trigger a motion sensor to activate your looping content. As this can be activated from one to twenty-one feet away, your looping media will start from the beginning and on your customer’s terms, as opposed to looping endlessly without direction.

Here are the details.

Included on all LynTec’s motorized RPC circuit breaker panels and RPCR relay panels, the company’s new timed event scheduling capabilities include an astronomical clock to keep track of local sunrise and sunset times in order to synchronize systems automatically. As a result, customers obtain an enhanced solution that simplifies the programming of sunrise and sunset events without the need to purchase any additional software, hardware, or costly third-party scheduling systems.

Programmable via internal webpages, the new module can be configured to time-of-day or day-of-week events while working seamlessly with other control inputs to increase the flexibility of setups. In setting deactivation times for circuits, users make their installations more efficient by ensuring that systems and components are not accidentally left on, without the need for any input from the end user — resulting in reduced energy consumption and longer life cycles for electronics.

LynTec’s RPC combines motorized breaker technology with a controller that features large memory capacities, fast processing for real-time monitoring down to the circuit level, and the capability to use multiple control protocols. The company’s RPCR brings branch circuit control and monitoring to any existing breaker panel, regardless of brand, make, or model. Combining relay functionality with a built-in Web server, the unit provides remote electrical control to applications such as LED lighting, powered amplifiers, energy management programs, and more.

All the details are here.

Planar announced that we have entered into a definitive merger agreement with Leyard Optoelectronic Co. Ltd., pursuant to which a U.S. affiliate of Leyard will acquire all of the common stock of Planar. You can read more about the transaction and its potential implications here.

As a valued customer and partner of Planar, I wanted to provide you more information as we work through shareholder approvals and other specified closing conditions, anticipating completion of the transaction in the coming months:

• In our discussions with Leyard management, they were attracted to Planar’s strong selling and marketing organizations, customer relationships, history of innovation and overall organizational strength. The Planar executive team that has been guiding the company will remain in place, as Planar will continue to operate as a full service entity under the Leyard umbrella once the transaction closes. The Planar employees you rely on in service, marketing, sales operations, credit, and throughout the company are still here to support you.
• Until the time of the close, Planar and Leyard are two separate companies, with distinct product portfolios and strategies for sales and promotion. Planar does not have access to the Leyard product portfolio or vice versa at this time. Once the transaction is closed we will make decisions on the optimal way to bring the best value to you in terms of products, technology, service and support. As we make those decisions, we will announce them to you via our sales team, Channel Newsletter distributions, in industry publications, and at trade shows and events, as we always have.
• Together, we have delivered outstanding video solutions to thousands of customers. This transaction can add to our abilities to offer you ever-improving technology, products and service. As we contemplate the opportunities for the combined organization, one thing is clear: exciting times are ahead!

Planar can be found here. Leyard Optoelectronic Co. can be found here.

The Ocean Matrix HDMI COAX Extender already shipping and you can get details here.

AAP power modules are available to provide USB and/or AC power for mobile devices and laptops. The optional CableCover is available to minimize cable tangles and accidental disconnects, and the Extron ZipClip Series is available to mount products, such as the PS Series Desktop Power Supply, directly to the enclosure. The AVEdge 100 is available in a black powder coat finish.

All the specs on the AVEdge 100 are here.

Connectivity includes HDMI, VGA, USB, LAN and RS232 as well as an optional slot-in PC and it’s integrated ViewBoard software.

The CDE7060T lists for $7,299 and here are the specs.

The program starts with football legend Joe Theismann, followed by quick blitz talks from Leo Hopf, author of REthink, REinvent, Reposition: Strategies to Renew Your Business and Boost Your Bottom Line, and The Experience Economy from author B. Joseph Pine II. Attendees will then break into small working groups to collaborate with peers on business renewal and the “experience economy” scenarios for an even deeper dive into the morning’s topics.

This is their third year of AVEC. This year’s program combines keynotes, breakout sessions, small working groups, team-building exercises, and peer-to-peer networking to create a highly interactive and educational experience.

InfoComm says it’s rethought how AVEC can best help integrators meet the demands of a constantly changing AV landscape and have put together a program that attendees will remember for years to come.

Here are the complete details.

The 300-series wireless access points feature dual-band steering and run both 2.4 and 5 GHz concurrently, auto-selecting between them for seamless performance. Routers use a 4-gigabit LAN and dual gigabit WAN , feature extensive VPN support, and also have an embedded firewall for wide-ranging network security, while our 300-series switches support full PoE and PoE+, and offer 1 Gbps on all ports simultaneously. 

Each device is also cloud-managed through our OvrC platform for easy remote maintenance or troubleshooting. “This is only step one of what we’d like to accomplish,” added Ereksousi. “What we want is to change the future of networking.”  

You can learn more about Araknis Networks and the Araknis product lines at SnapAV. 

BenQ’s XR3501 monitor has over 20 options for color vibrance, the VA panel, according to BenQ, provides higher color reproduction with better viewing angles. Users can also adjust color levels directly via OSD or DisplayPilot for complete color control. Using Black eQualizer, the panel brightens darker scenes within games without over-exposing white levels.

With a focus on “Eye-Care” and visual comfort, the XR3501 is equipped with BenQ’s RevolutionEyes technology. Featuring their ZeroFlicker guarantee, the monitor eliminates flickering at all brightness levels, reducing visual strain to provide a more comfortable viewing experience. When combined with built-in Low Blue Light modes, the monitor also filters the exposure of emitted blue spectrum light.

BenQ’s curved XR3501 monitor is already shipping and lists for $999 and all the specs are here.

“It wasn’t an easy journey for us,” DeCarlo says. “We went through several companies before we found what we were looking for.” What the other content management software companies lacked that Scala brought to the table was “getting the right content to the right display at the right store at the right time. That’s all that matters. If you can’t do that, that software doesn’t mean anything to us.”

Process and Results

The third largest QSR chain in the world, Wendy’s restaurants have different menus and pricing mechanisms to be displayed on digital menu boards. This required them to find an application program interface (API) that could “scale with us,” DeCarlo says. Scala’s platform is flexible and easy to customize, either by individual store managers right onsite or by calling Scala support. “Putting control of dynamic content in the restaurant managers’ hands is huge,” DeCarlo says, because there are no set dates for knowing when content will need to change. “Sometimes it’s when they run out of product.”

Other key benefits to working with Scala has been Scala Designer, which enables Wendy’s information technology team to easily upload custom designed and optimized content to individual restaurants — all with a small footprint. “Our slogan is ‘quality is our recipe’ and we want that to apply to everything we do,” DeCarlo says, and that means offering the highest-quality solution they could to show their food in the best possible light.

Future Work

Now that the hard work of finding hardware and software that meets their needs is behind them, “it’s time for the fun stuff,” DeCarlo says. This means experimenting with digital menu boards at drive-through windows, which comprises 65 percent of Wendy’s business and has been test marketed in Boston, Columbus and Phoenix. In some instances, like Phoenix, weather proved to be a challenge technically and financially. “It just required too much air conditioning and electricity to keep the units cool to be cost beneficial,” DeCarlo says.

More successful test programs have been queuing menu boards via Twitter, which was especially popular with teenagers. “We’re curious to see how that affects retention… how we can use it for loyalty programs,” DeCarlo says. Wendy’s is also looking into using Scala software for mobile app integration as well as limited time offers and feature items.

“These are big areas of opportunity in the digital signage field we are waiting to make a breakthrough on,” DeCarlo concludes.

To download the case study click here.