Digital Signage is everywhere.  We see it in Theaters, Stores,

Offices, Churches, Transportation centers and most anywhere else where constant communication and marketing is needed or desired. Most business owners realize that implementing a signage solution could help increase the bottom line (retail and advertising), or provide a valuable service to their clients (doctors, dentists, and other professionals), but they are unsure of the cost associated with the application and are not clear as to what elements actually make up a signage system.

Did Dad leave the stove on?  Did Mom get out of bed?  Are they taking their medication?  Some simple sensors can help a caregiver monitor a loved one's in-home activities.  This is just one example of technology's role in altering the term "Aging in Place" to "Aging in the Place of your Choice". 

What comes to mind when considering age-proofing a home?  Wider doorways and wheelchair ramps?  A full bath on the main floor?  Well, how about door levers, lighting and shade control, sensors on appliances and furnishings with displays reminding Grandma to take her medication?  Some of these conveniences that were once considered luxuries are now providing a means for people to stay in their own homes longer, giving them greater independence and freedom while saving them the exorbitant costs of a nursing facility.

If you've considered making any upgrades around your home, or are planning a move or building a home, consider this; by 2025 people 65 years and older will outnumber teens 2:1.  Making a few design considerations may make your golden years a little easier and Granddad's visit more comfortable while adding to the value of your home.  Let's start at the front door.  How much easier is it for anyone to push down on a door lever rather than a cumbersome knob, especially with your hands full of groceries?  And a few simple touches of a keyless entry system keep arthritic hands from fumbling with a key.  If that door lock was integrated into a basic home automation system, a text alert or email would allow a caregiver to know that the door has been opened. 

Lighting also plays a key role in comfort and safety.  Outdoor lighting can be controlled via a small remote that can be clipped to a car visor, allowing pathway and front entry lights to be turned on when you pull into the driveway.  Lighting control can also be integrated into the home's system, enabling the homeowner to have control of all of the lights at one keypad or touchscreen. It can also be tied intoa security system;  in the event of an alarm, a pathway can be lit to the front door.  Another safety consideration includes compact fluorescent bulbs which last longer (fewer changes) and are cool to the touch.  Motorized shades can not only prevent the need for climbing over furniture, but can be programmed to open and close as desired, allowing in natural light and preventing falls.

Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) provide great peace-of-mind, but technology now allows for real-time monitoring which can provide insights into their daily routine and send alerts via text or email notification.  Wireless motion sensors can assure you that your loved one is up and moving around.  Chair and bed occupancy sensors clue you in to their resting habits while contact sensors let you know they've opened the refrigerator or medicine cabinet. 

A few simple measures can help us stay in our own homes longer, to Age in the Place of Our Choice.  Call today to learn more about these innovative products and how to plan for your home's future needs.

Lisa Matthews, CTS

The intention is to show that there are key components that need to be designed into a successful signage deployment to ensure it will work reliably and effectively. A simple signage solution may only employ a couple of these elements, where a larger system may require more.  In the next installment, further discussion respective to cost, including expected deployment and ongoing maintenance costs will be clarified. Further discussion will also introduce the concept of a business owner "selling space" on his network that can be used to offset the cost of the system (in some cases actually make money). If a business owner has a very visible or high traffic location, the sale of signage space is a very real revenue generating opportunity!

Listed below are the basic components of a simple signage system. Each section represents an element of a system; Managing and Playing Content, Displays, Connectivity, Audio, and Mounting solutions. These are brief descriptions, intended to inform the end user and enabling them to have "educated" discussions with their system's designer/integrator. Like with any sophisticated system that has an important part to play in any organization, resources should be allocated to have a professional Systems Designer engineer a solid solution. This is not something that a "Do-it-Yourselfer" should try, since it is very likely the overall success of the system will not be realized.

Lastly, Digital Signage Solutions do not include a PC, a Display, and a Power Point Presentation as a system. This type of set up is best used for presentations in a meeting and not for a dynamic signage solution that catches your Customer's attention. Signage systems are designed from the ground up to maximize the use of digital content. A PC, Display, and Power Point may be elements or components of a signage system, but they do not make the total solution and should not be considered a complete solution.

Managing and Playing Content

· Media players function essentially as storage devices to play back digital media content, such as recorded video (MPEG video or Windows® AVI media, for example), Flash® animations, text tickers, PowerPoint® files, and audio. They can operate on their own, or they can be networked so you can update your digital signage more easily.

· Digital signage players (also called digital signage appliances) have all the above functions but can also deliver live broadcasts, RSS feeds, and other Web-based content in real time to your displays. They're usually Windows OS-based PCs by design with spacious drives and high-performance processors. You can even order them bundled with sophisticated design tools that enable you to set up multiple zones within a single screen to show recorded and live video alongside static images.

 Displays

· Flat Panel Displays

Today there are two main technologies for flat panel displays, Plasma and LCD. The recommendation from systems integrators for signage solutions has been to use LCD's. In the past, Plasma displays had a much better picture quality and significantly better "off access" viewing, but with recent improvements in LCD technology, they now equal Plasma in overall performance respective to picture quality for commercial applications. In addition, LCD's have a significantly longer life span, are much more energy efficient, are not subject to burn-in and they weigh less than, plasmas. A Commercial grade LCD can have a life span from 50,000 to 80,000 hours before there is any noticeable degradation in image quality, whereas Plasmas will start to have a noticeable degradation in image quality around 25,000 hours.

Since the Flat Panel Display is viewed as one of the more costly items in a digital signage application, there is a tendency for the owner to "price shop" and in some cases, purchase and install consumer grade displays. Consumer displays are designed to operate for a few hours each evening in a home; they are not engineered to operate around the clock or even most of a day, every day. Professional monitors are engineered to withstand much more intense usage and environmental conditions, while consumer displays are usually rated for at least ½ the life span of a commercial display. Purchasing a commercial display may cost you 20% more, but the savings in replacement costs, down time and lost opportunity, far outweigh the additional money invested. In addition, most manufacturers considerably degrade, or even void, the warranty on a display that is rated for consumer use. Considering that the Consumer display will be playing a lot more than it was designed, it can be concluded that it will fail early, and possibly with no warranty.

Another important point is that any flat panel display should have anti-glare film on the screen. It is likely that a signage screen will be in areas with bright lighting, sunlight, or even other displays, which will cause reflective glare and reduce the overall visibility of the display. Most commercial grade LCD's come with anti-glare film/surface on their displays for this very reason. Many consumer models do not.  In fact, they often include polished bezels that further cause unwanted glare and distraction.

· Touch screens
The same technology as seen at ATMs and information kiosks can supplement a digital signage setup when you want to give the viewer the ability to get information on demand. You can use standalone screens or touch bezel overlays that affix to existing LCD screens and make them interactive. Usually specialized software is required, but can be found in Digital Signage Players such as those offered by iCompel (BlackBox).

Watch iCompel the demo video:

 http://www.audiovideointeriors.net/site.cfm/Commercial/Digital-Signage.cfm

· Projectors
Projectors are primarily used for temporary applications or for specialty purposes, where a flat panel display does not provide the overall visual preference within the environment. In the past, the other main usage was to create large displays, but, as LCD bezel design quickly becomes so narrow that it almost disappears, tiled LCD matrixes will replace the projection system.

Another cost consideration with Projection systems is lamp life. Because lamp modules are expensive to replace, projectors aren't ideal for use in always-on digital signage applications. When applicable, an LCD or LCD matrix design is preferred.

One unique application that is common for projection systems is with retailers. Commonly, they use thin, holographic glass screens that adhere to the inside of a storefront window to display a projected image to attract the attention of passersby. Acrylic polymer screens are also used. They're available in different shades to suit lighting conditions and can also be suspended from a ceiling or placed on a wire stand to capture the image projected from behind.

· LED

Not to be confused with LED LCD screens that have recently hit the consumer market, these screens are made up of tiles that have a network of groups of red, green, blue and white LED's that are illuminated by a processor that controls the brightness as well as which LED lights are turned on. In short, these work like pixels on a TV that combine to create an image. These types of signs have a much lower resolution than flat panel displays (or projectors), thus close up viewing is nearly impossible.  They work best in large venues where the viewer will be far enough away from the screen that the image looks clear. The plus of this type of signage is size; it can be a very large screen. And because of super bright LED technology, the images can be seen clearly, something a projection system of similar size could not accomplish. These types of screens are commonly found in large sports arenas, outdoor venues, and digital billboards.

Connectivity

· The Network

For maximum reach and image control in your digital signage application, you'll likely need multimedia and presentation products that enable you to extend, split or switch between video signals, or manipulate images to fit your screen setup.

 Here's a summary of the various components:

· Splitters
Splitters are used for displaying digital images on multiple screens. They divide a single video output, or other type of video signal, without sacrificing quality. In some cases, splitters buffer output and drive signals extra distances without any loss. They essentially function as extenders, too.

· Switches
Commonly referred to as matrix switchers, they allow for multiple video sources to be distributed to multiple display devices in any configuration.

· Scalers/image rotation units
Scalers are used to "right size" the image to fit a given display resolution. They also enable the manipulation and rotation of images on multi-screen video walls. They can be used to display multiple images horizontally and vertically on a single screen, rotate an image for a display that's turned on its side or link multiple screens together to create a video wall displaying a single image.

· Converters
These convert signals from one video interface for another type of video interface. Some also work as video scalers.

 · Cables and cabling distribution technologies

This is a very broad category and will not be discussed in detail in this article. It is safe to assume that how components of a given signage network needs to be connected with the appropriate cabling infrastructure. In a small signage application, a simple VGA to VGA connector may be the only cable required to make the system work, but in larger scenarios more robust infrastructures are required and this should be left to the trained professionals to determine. Your professional systems designer can help you determine what those needs are.

Audio

Digital signage is not limited to video only. It should be a truly multimedia experience with clear audio that complements the video. Audio can help create the image and the emotion of the message while attracting notice to the screen in cluttered environments. The trouble is that speakers built into flat panel displays may be insufficient for environments where there is a lot of ambient noise and competing media; an additional speaker system may be required for quality delivery of the content.

In ceiling, surface mount, steerable arrays, and other types of speaker systems have been used in signage solutions. Proper audio coverage is not done by accident and should be something that is asked of your systems designer to determine. What is important is the impact and how the target audience will respond. A patient in a doctor's office requires significantly different audio than teenagers in a food court at the mall. Additionally, consideration for sound control and how the audio interacts with other ambient noise is also important.

Mounting

There are various types of mounting hardware for different types of displays. For flat panel displays there are wall mounts, pole mounts, ceiling mounts, portrait or landscape orientation and more.  There are specialized mounts for video walls where multiple screens are installed on the mounts and then the mounts can be adjusted so that all the displays can be brought as close as possible to each other while keeping the lines straight to minimize distraction.

Keep in mind, industry testing confirms that consumers are more apt to notice screens positioned at eye level, so when selecting a spot for mounting, keeping the display in the field of view of the target audience is a very important consideration-especially in retail store aisle applications (where this prime vertical real estate commands higher rates).

The use of floor stands, aisle end caps, or kiosks to hold display panels is also common and an effective way to bring attention to the display. Kiosks with many screens attract attention and conceal wiring and other video and audio equipment at the remote end of your digital signage link.

Projection systems have less mounting options since they are usually mounted in the same way. Most mounting systems allow for mounting to flat surfaces, truss systems, poles and other structural elements.

It is evident that the options for creating signage solutions are endless.  Call us to discuss your ideas and we'll put together the right solution for your project.