Digital Signage Articles

As you know ,Digital signage time has come .Bigger and bigger LCD or Plasma screens can catch every persons ‘ eyes with spectacular displays .Also people like interactive way to express and show themselves .That means bigger and bigger touch screens can be used in many spheres ,like shopping mall ,hos[ital area ,airport hall and more …Only infrared touch screen can solve this problem and bring more enjoyment to everyone .
We are the top IR touch screens manufacturer of the world ,expecially in China. Our brand is MTC. My company’s name is motouch.I am the sales manager ,Henson Wu. Our matured IR touch screens’ sizes range from 12 -80 .And we also can customise smaller size IR touch screens and bigger ones than 80 up to 150 .We mainly provide some touch screen solutions for digita…

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As you know ,Digital signage time has come .Bigger and bigger LCD or Plasma screens can catch every persons ‘ eyes with spectacular displays .Also people like interactive way to express and show themselves .That means bigger and bigger touch screens can be used in many spheres ,like shopping mall ,hos[ital area ,airport hall and more …Only infrared touch screen can solve this problem and bring more enjoyment to everyone .
We are the top IR touch screens manufacturer of the world ,expecially in China. Our brand is MTC. My company’s name is motouch.I am the sales manager ,Henson Wu. Our matured IR touch screens’ sizes range from 12 -80 .And we also can customise smaller size IR touch screens and bigger ones than 80 up to 150 .We mainly provide some touch screen solutions for digita…

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I was walking around JB HIFI on the weekend and noticed a very large screen 60 (I cannot recall what brand it was). The colour and sharpness of the screen was amazing. When I looked at the price tag around the ,000 mark I noticed that it had LED TV screen. Now, I’ve never came across an LED TV screen before but I was very surprised. Basically, the first thing that comes to mind when the term LED is used, a large billboard pops in my head.

Does anyone know much about LED screens. What the advantages are over LCD screens. I’ve been told one of them is power….

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I was walking past a sushi takeaway restaurant yesterday and noticed that they were using digital signage for their menu board so I stopped and had a look at how it was implemented. They had three 32″ LCD screens with rotating menu items and the design of the menu was quite impressive but not the solution. Let me explain.

At the front of the restaurant there are 3 32″ LCD screens. Each one of them displayed menu items except for the first one. This one actually had the message “No Video Input” and for most of us we know what this means. My guess is that the device connecting to the screen was either damaged or wasn’t turned on. Now most likely if the other two were on the the first unit would most likely be damaged.

So what happens here, two of the three screens were only displaying the menu so what happens to the menu items listed in the first screen. I quickly looked around to see whether there were any other signs of a menu list… and I couldn’t find any.

So now the restaurant only has two thirds of a menu and in my point of view the business may potentially lose customers if this continued.

In this particular case, what would you have done differently if you were the consultant or installer of this particular restaurant? We definitely know that if the menu system is a critical part of the overall running of the businesses we would had a backup plan or strategy to overcome this issue. For example, we would have installed a system that would allow the restaurant owner to quickly switch the templates (via a USB numpad keyboard) so that all the menu items would be rotated on the 1 screen – basically in this case it would be shown to 2 of the three screens. Otherwise, if the LCD screens had a SD card reader, using static images to display the menu items. This  would have been better than displaying the “No Video input”.

In this particular case, what would you have done differently if you were the consultant or installer of this particular restaurant?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Post tags: backup, digital menu, restaurant, strategy, video input

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As you can see from our Twitter feed, this week we have been heavily involved with forum discussion on the digital signage portal forum. We believe in generating “good” karma through helping others in the digital signage community.

The current hot topics are:

• Player & Screen resolution compatib…
  I’ve got a player that outputs (via dsub) resolution at most widescreen ratios ie. 1280×720, 1360×768, etc.

  My issue is with most, if not all, LCD TVs nowadays their tech sheets don’t support most widescreen ratios, with a lot of them displaying only 1360×768.

  What will happen if the designers create their templates for 1280×720?
  Will the TV crop it, show scroll bars, flicker?…

• Has anyone used Digital Signage SaaS?
  I was wondering whether anyone has used or is currently using Digital Signage SaaS? Could you please let share your experiences of what you’ve encountered when using this type of a solution…
  
  
• Directional Speakers
  Has anyone integrated directional speakers with their digital signage technology. We are interested to know how these systems work and whether they are worthwhile and cost effective equipment to include in a digital signage solution.

  What are the most common industries using directional speakers?

• Using Blue Ray technology
  Has anyone come across digital signage players with Blue Ray technology?

  Are storage size and HD quality the only advantages of using Blue Ray technology?
  
  

• Wayfinding KIOSKs
  Wayfinding KIOSKs are becoming more popular in shopping centers. Today, I was walking around a major shopping centre and noticed how wayfinding was integrated with digital signage… or is it the other way around?

If you have the time, or is able to help some of the other members with their questions then head over to the digital signage portal forum and start posting (registration is required)!! We hope more members of the digital signage community is able to participate in various discussions and contribute towards helping others.

Have you registered on the digital signage portal? It’s FREE. Click here to register.

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Post tags: blue ray, forum, kiosks, player, portal, resolution, SaaS, screen, speakers, wayfinding

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Using Saas means that there is a dependency in using an Internet connection to connect to the centrally hosted server. One of the downsides I see with this is that SaaS systems needs to be distributed (i.e. have a server geographically located in each country). This is to avoid congestion and bandwidth limitations to the SaaS server. Looking at the network infrastructure point of view, having too many clients or players connecting all to the same server will saturate the link.

Claudio75, you mentioned that you’ve tested CAT5/6 video solution… what do you think about the video degradation if any when using this type of solution. Especially when using CAT5/6 extenders.

I like your business approach and we also follow the same methodologies. Maybe we can share some of these so that …

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I’ve heard of this service but I haven’t used it or seen it in action.

I’m currently using the conventional way of plugging in a player to the back of a screen.
Disadvantages of this method is the high investment for the player to start off with, then I have my ongoing support fees on top of that. And of course there are many advantages too.

I’d like to know more about SaaS, what’s the costing model like, and whether or not there are any limitations to what you can do in regards to templates, and how is the quality output like on a large screen?…

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I’ve used Firecast by WireSpring. Its a good solution w/ solid Linux-based players. The web interface used to be a little hard to get around for beginners but they’ve much improved since then. I haven’t used it in a while so I’ve never used it w/ HD video.

In terms of using SaaS in general, since upgrades and maintenance, etc…,are out of your hands, recurring fees are unavoidable. Also, bandwidth and storage are obviously going to be much more expensive then if you’re doing it from your own servers. Really, there’s a two-part question to answer to know whether SaaS is for you: Are you a solutions provider or buyer and what is your business’ core competencies (do you have the staff/knowledge to run a network)…

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In reply to jared, from my experience with all the LCD TVs that I have come across, 1360×768 seems to be the common resolution across all screen manufacturers, and then you get the other widescreen ratios at a higher resolution from 1600 and up.
So as a safe bet, I would say design for 1360×768 – assuming that your digital signage player is able to output that ratio (being pc based i’m sure all should), otherwise you may find your image distorting.

Others, feel free to provide your experiences….

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Thanks for your feedback Jared.
We are currently in the process of undergoing a site revamp, and will take your note into our design. If there are any other comments or feedback, please feel free to let us know….

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I haven’t seen any systems in australia with 3D layout plans.

I agree with you that the speed of the system is VERY important. If people wait for too long for something to load or appear, they will feel like their time has been wasted and definately won’t use the system again.

We would love to see solutions you’ve seen or encountered claudio75.

This portal allows you to upload images on your profile. If you need help with uploading images have a read of this F.A.Q: http://www.digitalsignageportal.com/Digital-Signage-Forum/F.A.Q/38-How-do-I-add-images-to-the-random-image-section.html

Also, you may find these videos quite interesting… they basically relate to what you mentioned about bad solutions.

http://www.digitalsignageportal.com/Videos/digital-signage-demos.html…

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Excellent discussion guys. Maybe more registered members are able to share their thoughts on this topic….

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I would have thought that if the LCD screen did not support 1280×720 it would either display a black screen or a flickering screen….

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I agree with you.
Also, do not use standard templates system. 3D is better than 2D layout plans when you need to work on many floors.
Also, speed of the system is important as the user will be bored if he has to wait too long after pressing on a choice.
I have recently seen the wayfinding system implemented at Dubai Mall (1200 retqil shops). It it a very bad solution: quality of the touchscreen (no accuracy), each floor manages its own floor, you can’t find something on another floor, system is extremly slow (sometimes you think the system is frozen)
Good things also is to complement the wayfinding with mobile services (sending the way by BT or SMS/MMS), printers, ……

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we are using BroadSign Suite since 6 years now and it saves us a lot of CAPEX and OPEX by the fact we do not have to have any IT to maintain servers and manage issues.

Also, we have all the upgrades FOC with automatic implementation.

People with large networks, a lot of locations have to use Saas if they want to insure their investments right…

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If your ratio between the content and the screen is the same (16:9) then it will fit the screen (depending on the CMS solution you use).

It is better to have higher res in content than screen in your case as reverse will stretch the content and get quality loss.

1366×768 is the number of pixels on your display. Using TV instead of real monitor creates sometimes issues within compatibility between the PC graphic driver and the screen resolution selection. In that case, you have to select and lock manually the input selection and then play with available resolution of the graphic card (ex. put the screen on 1366×768 in DVI but the PC will be set as 1280×720)…

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We like this article from kennisdelen.com, title “Big Businesses Go Environmentally Savvy With digital signage“. The article looks at the environmental reasons why businesses should move towards digital signage.

Digital signage has proven that it increases sales by:

- Using compelling marketing to attract new customers and persuading repeat customers to spend more
- Encouraging customers to consider items that are not selling as well, thus influencing their purchasing decisions
- Presenting new products easily and professionally
- Enticing customers with appealing branding

Source: http://www.kennisdelen.com/

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Do you really think digital signage can help the environment?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Post tags: businesses, environment

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During this global financial crisis any money that goes into your pocket will help your business with paying off the bills and for the everyday living expenses. If you’re a business owner how can the stimulus package really help your business?
Let’s think about this, the government is helping the economy by giving money away to people who need it. These people will then use this money to pay for a product or a service – thus helping the economy. Therefore, this may mean there is an opportunity to engage customers to spend the money in your business or store and this is where digital signage comes into play.
By using digital signage, you can quickly and easily send message to consumers walking past. In this case, you can broadcast a quick Stimulus Sale message to get more customers to walk into your store and increase your sales.
The truth of the matter is that businesses are competing against each other to win customers and those using the latest technologies such as digital signage have the upper hand.

NOTE: We have received more digital signage enquiries this year compared to the previous years, which gives us a good indication businesses are still looking at ways to market their business during the financial crisis.

How can the stimulus package help your businesses?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Post tags: global financial crisis, government, market, money, shopping, stimulus package

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only the screen itself can stretch the 4:3 content to 16:9.
Generally, CMS take the maximum in H or L so a 4:3 will stay 4:3 but taking a maximum space in H.

Stretching a content is not good in DS as you will stretch the logo of advertiser too and they will not pay you if you do that….

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The digital signage experts is another great website developed by Advertise Me. The website is specifically designed for the digital signage industry and if you want to be associated with the digital signage experts directory then add your business now. It’s free and all you have to do is link back to the directory.

Visit the digitalsignagee.com

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The digital signage portal is a forum for promoting and growing YOUR business, with the aim to lift the level of awareness of your business and digital signage.

Registration to the Digital Signage Portal is free.

By becoming a member, you will be able to:

* view and submit events
* view product prices
* purchase products
* receive e-newsletters
* participate in forum discussions
* submit articles
* and much much more.

Register NOW! Visit the digitalsignageportal.com

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Advertise Me is a privately owned Australian company specialising in all aspects of digital signage solutions.

Our team of highly skilled professionals is able to introduce innovative ways for businesses to communicate with their intended audiences for a variety of purposes including informing, educating, entertaining and selling.

You can expect us to:

• offer the most affordable and cost effective solutions tailored to your specific business needs.
• provide you with concise and accurate information and will ensure that you understand and are comfortable with our proposals.
• strive to make our clients happy and successful.

Visit us advertiseme.com.au

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We are a group of technology enthusiasts who are passionate with the uses of gadgets and nifty pieces of equipment.
When digital signage came into our picture, we got excited and decided to take it for a ride. In fact, with the tremendous popular rise of digital signage and its applications everyday, it has now become part of our profession.

Our first success was Advertise Me, an established digital signage company in Australia.
Through establishing many clients and partners, we created the Digital Signage Portal.

Visit the digitalsignageblog.com

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For those of you that were not aware, the digital signage portal distributes newsletters to it’s digital signage members on a monthly basis. We are constantly on the lookout to feature businesses around the world in the newsletter. So, if you want your business to be featured in one of the sections in the newsletter, all you have to do is register and introduce your business on the digital signage portal forum section titled Introducing your business: http://www.digitalsignageportal.com/Digital-Signage-Forum/Introducing-your-Business/

The next newsletter distribution will take place on the 25th March 2009 so don’t miss out on this opportunity.

Want to automatically receive the newsletters? Join the digital signage portal.

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Post tags: businesses, newsletter, portal

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If you have a twitter account, you can easily add this to your digital signage portal profile.

To do so simply follow these instructions:

1. Login to your digital signage portal account
2. In the User Menu click My Details
3. Move your mouse over the EDIT button just above your profile page
4. Click Update your profile
5. Click the myTwitter tab
6. Enter your twitter account name and twitter account number. The account number is the same number as your RSS feed on your twitter page

or watch this short video.

Have you registered on the digital signage portal? It’s FREE. Click here to register.

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Post tags: details, portal, profile, twitter

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I wonder how many businesses will be showcasing digital signage products.

Meet more than 6,400 Technology Experts and Network with over 28,700 Business Visitors all under one roof: at CeBIT Australia 2009

* See the tools & technologies to help you SURVIVE in tough times and THRIVE in the good!
* Meet the technology experts FACE-TO-FACE.
* Learn how to CUT COSTS and boost EFFICIENCY!
* FUTURE PROOF your business while making commercial gains today!

See you at CeBIT Australia 2009
Sydney, Darling Habour

To register click here: https://www.mycebit.com.au/rego09/index.php

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Post tags: 2009, australia, business, cebit, commercial, technology

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We couldn’t resist and just yesterday we joined the Twitter network – yes, we thought we might as well follow the footsteps of other businesses and join the web 2.0 social networking phenomenon.

Whilst using this twitter application, I was brainstorming on how this application can be integrated with digital signage. Here are my thoughts; use Twitter as a quick communication tool to all your employees and clients. Basically use it as an RSS feed and display the company’s main activities through the digital signage network.

You can follow us on twitter here: http://www.twitter.com/advertisemeAU

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

How else can twitter be integrated with digital signage?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Post tags: network, social networking, twitter

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If you were fortunate enough to attend the digital signage Expo 2009 what are your thoughts on the event and did anyone capture any videos during the event? If so, please share this with the rest of the digital signage community by adding or uploading the video on the digital signage portal.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

What are your thoughts on the digital signage expo 2009?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Post tags: community, digital signage expo, portal

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Since quite a number of companies are focusing on being “green” and environmentally friendly, I was wondering whether there was a way to reduce the amount of power an LCD screen uses based on the colour of the content being displayed.

So here’s an interesting question for those techies out there who may be able to shed some light into this question. Moving forward, if black does use less power, the content providers should focus on using this black rather than the others bright colours and screen manufacturers should develop a technology to disable pixels use based on colour.

Does black pixels on an LCD screen use less power than white?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Post tags: black, colour, content, envrionment, green, pixels, power, question, reduce, techie, white

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