Market Survey: Digital Signage makes its mark

Interactivity, displays, content management systems and network control technologies were all high on the digital signage agenda at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE). There were launches right across the spectrum, with products ranging from OLED-powered giant screens to singlechannel, entry-level versions of the kind of software that has normally been used to power large networks.

Displays

Indoor and outdoor LED ‘billboards’ and LCD flat screens were prominent throughout the show, but pride of place went to two large-screen display launches – the introduction of Christie’s LED-lamped MicroTiles display system and the first European screening of Mitsubishi’s large format OLED (Organic LED) screen – and they couldn’t be more different. The individual Christie display wall components have a 16in x 12in screen, while the Mitsubishi screen on display was 1.9m wide and covered an area of 6.2m2.

Christie’s system is designed to be stacked and uses an LED light system combined with a DLP projection engine. Each 10in-deep tile is self-contained and Christie has focused on making it easy for even inexperienced users to build any shape or size of screen simply by stacking the boxes on top of each other and then tightening the projection screws. There is only a one-millimetre gap between the tile screens, avoiding the videowall mullion effect, and the tiles are self-sensing, automatically adjusting their brightness and colorimetry to match that of the surrounding screens.

By using LED pico projectors as the light engines in the tile cubes, Christie has come up with a product that is rated at 65,000 hours to half brightness, and keeping the screen areas of each individual tile small has compensated for the low light output of the projection engines. Best of all is the fact that the tiles can be arranged in any configuration. So exhibition visitors were treated to rectangular borders of tiles framing a lit physical product, ‘skyscraper’ stacks and widescreen walls. The products will be going into production by next month.

‘Users can express their creativity and assemble the tiles in any way they like, take them apart and re-assemble them in a new configuration,’ says Christie chief technology officer Bob Rushby. ‘They “recognise” each other and adjust the image automatically.’

Mitsubishi’s OLED prototype, meanwhile, was a very different animal, using 96mm square panels that mount together to create a large lightweight screen that is so thin it can be applied to a surface, and can even be ‘bent’ around a curve.

OLED screens are already widely used for small screens – such as the ones in colour mobile phones – and they create light by a process of electro-luminescence (EL). Each pixel consists of an anode and cathode separated by a thin organic membrane.

The screen surface can be made extremely light and thin, and Mitsubishi has got around the problems encountered when people try to make large OLED panels by using driver electronics to create an edgeless OLED display module that can be joined with others to create seamless screens of virtually any size and shape.

OLED offers weight, bulk, contrast and flexibility advantages over both LCD and LED in indoor applications, and the Mitsubishi modules have a light output of 1500cd/m2, so the production model will be several times brighter than an average LCD display, making it suitable for indoor applications in relatively brightly lit areas.

Multi-touch control and interactivity

Apple’s iPad launch came just before ISE, priming the exhibition audience to expect great things from touch panels. It’s early days yet, but even without Steve Jobs’ tour de force, touch-panel integration was poised to become a lot easier than in the past, with much talk of HID standard drivers to make programming easier.

However, it was another Apple innovation that made the bigger impact at ISE – multi-touch control. Using a gesture-based two-finger (or two-hand) interface to move virtual media objects around has control implications as well as signage possibilities.

Mitsubishi was again at the forefront, showing a multi-touch display wall based on its Seventy Series DALP videowall cubes. The technology, jointly developed in Sweden by Mitsubishi Electric and i3sense, uses laser sensors instead of the more common infra-red (IR) detectors or capacitive touch overlays. As well as offering greater accuracy and responsiveness, the new system is less susceptible to interference from sources of IR radiation such as sunlight.

Multiple users can interact with the display at the same time, with the software seamlessly tracking the hand movements of each user from one cube to the next. Users can change size, orientation and position of any window by simply ‘grabbing’ it or ‘dragging’ the corners to the desired position.

‘Users are becoming more familiar with touch interfaces through products such as the iPhone,’ says Daniel Quitzau, a developer at Mitsubishi Electric Sweden. ‘Windows 7 ships with native support for multi-touch applications and so it’s likely that we will see rapid growth in the use of multi-touch applications over the next few years.’

At the other end of the scale, new exhibitor Displax launched a multi-touch ‘skin’, a 100 micron-thick polymer film that works with a controller to detect up to 16 ‘fingers’ on a 50in screen area. Displax will launch the commercial version of the product – which can be applied to any projection screen or flat-panel surface, including curved ones – in July.

As well as responding to gestures, the ‘skin’ can be ‘powered’ by breathing on it. The system works by processing multiple input signals it receives from a grid of nanowires embedded in the film attached to the enabled surface. Each time a finger is placed on the screen or a user blows on the surface, a small electrical disturbance is caused. The micro-processor controller analyses this data and decodes the location of each input on that grid to track the finger and air-flow movements. The controller can be combined with nanowired capacitive film ranging from 18cm to 3m in diagonal.

Displax plans to bundle embedded business applications with the product, providing an ‘Apps Pack’ that will allow customers to display photo and video streams, provide users access to Google Maps and social networks, integrate news streams via RSS feeds and play multi-touch games.

Network control and signage software

Although large advertising-funded networks have hardly flourished during the recession, software vendors are sure that their time will come again. ISE saw the likes of Harris adding functionality to its InfoCaster content management and Punctuate business management software. Punctuate now allows a network to promote sellable items by creating an inventory on InfoCaster as well as letting operators view, track, sell and bill advertising while providing campaign performance and confirmation reports. Harris also launched InfoCaster players, which ranged from a single HDMI output model (DS500) to a quad-channel device, DS4100.

The idea, says Brian Cabecceiras, vice-president of strategic development and marketing at Harris Broadcast, is to ‘expand monetisation of networks by supporting IPTV, mobile delivery and content targeting’.

In the meantime, Scala was heading in the other direction, introducing a single-channel version of its software to attract entry-level users. Scala’s QuickStart, which launches in April, uses its APIs and integrates with the big network Content Manager software, but is designed to attract end users into the Scala family.

The hope is that users will trade up from a basic system – which Scala proposes to sell through trade distributors – to the main software as their network grows. ‘We want to take users from baby steps to being experienced drivers,’ says business development manager Damon Crowhurst. He added that SaaS (software as a service) take-up was proving very strong, even for in-house and small networks.

Scala isn’t alone. C-nario’s major announcements were its link with Christie and enabling its Messenger software to work with Intel’s new processor-embedded AMT (active management technology) system to maintain PCs over a network. Its main display was a complex wall using Christie MicroTiles, but it also came up with an entry-level system, C-Sign, an E900 single channel player and controller which it is aiming at the SMB market.

The big signage software players are now well aware that entry-level signage installations are going to depend on screen manufacturers’ own content management and distribution packages and the inherent abilities of Windows 7 – which means they are targeting new users while they can.

SIGNAGE SHORTS

Optoma showcases media player

Optoma used ISE to display its Sign Show D5000 1080p digital media player, which is designed to work with Optoma’s InfoSAP software. The package can be used to create windowed screens containing up to eight elements – including tickers – and software options allow FTP content management at remote sites.

Optoma has also developed a prototype player built into a flat screen, as well as interactive touch-panel systems due to come to the market in the near future. According to Optoma EMEA product manager Bob Johnson, the system is aimed at the education and corporate foyer markets. www.optomaeurope.com

Cayin Technology unveils fanless signage players

Cayin Technology launched fanless signage players at ISE, including a web-based player, SMP-Web4, designed to present content created using HTML, JavaScript and Flash. The players can also be integrated with databases, web servers and HID-compliant touch panels. Cayin’s new zone-type player, SMP-Pro4, can handle up to six zones. The company also introduced the SMP-WebDuo – a dual-display, web-based player. www.cayintech.com

BrightSign updates software

Roku division BrightSign brought out a new release of its BrightAuthor software, making it easier to create full-screen and multi-zone playlists for looping displays. The free PC application now includes pre-set multizone templates.

On the SaaS front, BrightSign has lowered the prices for its hosted networking service, BrightSign Network, cutting the annual cost per sign from $530 (£340) to $99. www.brightsign.boz