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Digital Signage Expo Featured Exhibitors: The hardware providers

DSE '09 in Vegas showed the industry some of the latest in hardware developments including 3D screens, video vending machines and huge displays.

March 4, 2009

Particularly at digital signage tradeshows, the hardware becomes the belle of the ball. And as much as industry members preach that it's what is behind that screen that really matters, attendees can't help but be taken in by 108-inch LCDs and 3D screens.

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Whether it's LCD, plasma or the hardware that powers those screens, the featured exhibitors in the hardware category brought their latest and most innovative to Digital Signage Expo.

AVOCENT
Avocent featured a new product at DSE, the MPX-1550, which allows HD video to be wirelessly transmitted with a data rate up to 110 mbps.

Tatung's 3D screen running Magnetic 3D content.

"If its any comparison, Blu-ray has a playback rate of 45 mbps, so you can see how fast the MPX-1550 is," said Chuck Pheterson, vice president of product marketing for Avocent.

Pheterson said the transmitter is ideal for courtrooms, boardrooms and hospitals where screens are placed far enough apart that cables can't maintain video quality. --BY

AXIOM DISPLAY SYSTEMS
It's nothing new to gauge digital signage effectiveness by monitoring whether the screen received power at the appropriate times. But what if the screen was dark regardless of how much juice went to it? Axiom Display Systems offers optical proof of performance on its new LCD. The feature places a small camera on the outside of the screen, at the bottom corner. The camera watches for a special color change that occurs only in that spot once every two seconds. The screen—the DSO1—also is designed to reduce total cost of ownership. It's slot-in PC has a custom player built in and houses 98 percent of digital signage pieces especially vulnerable to trouble. Remove the board to easily replace the parts. --JG

DELPHI DISPLAY SYSTEMS INC.
If you really want to have fun with a digital sign, take an outdoor panel from Delphi, find a fire hose, and let the waterworks begin. The company starts with open-chassis LCD panels and applies it proprietary technology to seal them up so watertight you can spray them like they're hot. The original high-brightness screens are protected by a replaceable scratch-resistant, antireflective sheet of 6mm safety glass. Touchscreen functionality is an option, too. Primary applications include digital cinema posters, drive-thru fast food menus, theme parks and wayfinding. --JG

LG again showed its full line-up of unique screens.

LG ELECTRONICS
LG usually brings an arsenal of unique digital signage screens to shows, and Digital Signage Expo was no different. Many booths on the floor, including LG's, featured the Stretch Screen, which is a 32-inch screen cut in half lengthwise. Powering six different channels of content from one PC was the LG Smart Vine, a thin-client player designed for call centers and education settings. LG also showed unique models of its Shine Out display (for high-brightness applications), Triple View (which features three different pieces of content depending on viewing angle) and the 3D Screen. --BY

SOUTHERN VISION SYSTEMS
The Huntsville, Ala.-based SVSi, a connectivity provider, showed its signature digital signage product, the VoLANte system, which stands for Video over Local Area Network technology. Bob Sharp, director of sales, was busy fielding questions from booth visitors.

"We aren't a media player," he said. "We allow multiple HD streams over Ethernet cable. Those live feeds can come from anywhere - a camera, media player or TV feed."

Sharp said the VoLANte comes in handy when a digital signage media player can't be placed near a screen and the signal must be transferred a long distance. --BY

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Spinetix's highlight was the HMP100 media player.

SPINETIX
Weighing under seven ounces and smaller than a couple of iPhones, the SpinetiX (pronounced spin-a-ticks) HMP100 is a hypermedia player designed to replace PCs in the digital signage biosphere. Connecting directly to digital signs via HDMI or VGA, the backend hooks up with networks, live video cameras, databases and more. With the appropriate hardware, the device works as well with touchscreen content. --JG