Super Stretch Your Digital Signage with LG

It’s no secret we’ve been moving away from the classic form of advertisement for quite some time. Static advertisement strategies to merely attract customers are a thing of the past. With the onslaught of information, creating an engaging experience around the customer is today’s minimum requirement.

Digital signage is an exploding market with ever expanding applications and innovative products that help draw attention to the message. But have you ever wanted to exhibit your latest signage project on a display that truly stands apart from the rest? Well, LG has introduced an amazing new 86” Ultra Stretch monitor for these types of cutting edge digital signage applications – the 86BH5C-B. It’s the world’s first 58:9 format featuring 4K Ultra HD resolution.

UltraHDResolution(3840x600)This distinctive display size is ideal for some very unique visual applications. The 3840 x 600 resolution provides a one-of-a-kind canvas to display lots of content with amazing color and imagery. Having an extended wide format display can provide a lot of information on a broad canvas without sacrificing image quality. For example, mounting it sideways in landscape format is a fantastic way for retail stores to display them on top of shelves and demonstrate the latest products.

lg_stretch1The portrait format mount is equally valuable and really shows the versatility of this type of monitor where it can be utilized in spaces previously unused for signage. You can mount them vertically on building columns to show the latest information and schedules at transportation hubs (i.e. airports, train stations, bus depots, etc.) and businesses (hotels, banks, art galleries, etc.). Plus, the Picture-by-Picture (PBP) feature allows you to divide the screen into four parts in landscape or portrait installations. You can use one portion of the monitor to show video (live TV) and the remaining 3 portions of still images (date/time, weather, flight schedules, etc.).

Debuted as a new digital signage format, the 86-inch LG Ultra Stretch Signage display can even double as “digital décor” (art galleries and museums come to mind). Its stunning image quality and capability of being used in diverse scenarios make this a revolutionary breakthrough in signage.

The only challenge may be in getting the exact content you desire to be custom created for this unique format. However, with the LG SuperSign media editor, you can easily edit images or video clips of original content without any additional editing programs. If you ever need help obtaining the content needed to ride on that display, Almo Content Creation services is also a fantastic option!

For more information on LG’s Ultra stretch display or any of their products please reach out to me at [email protected] / 888-420-2566 X4082

Techorating Awesomeness: My Visit to Comcast

First, if you haven’t heard of the term “techorating”, it’s not something I made up. I thought I had but after I asked my dear friends Alan and Jonathan Brawn to write a course for our E4 AV Tour on this trend I was calling techorating, they discovered it was not an original. Techorating was a catchy term coined back in 2008 by interior designer, Doug Wilson from the TLC TV show Trading Spaces, as a concept for the emergence of integrating home technology and home decor in balance with one another. Since the Brawn’s taught this course for us a few years ago, the term caught on it the AV industry and has been written about in nearly every major AV publication, including a recent article in Digital Signage Today.com. I’ve seen a lot of great examples of techorating, especially in Las Vegas where designers and architects continue to push the limits to wow audiences, attract visitors and keep us coming back for more shows, casinos, long cab lines and the ever-present linger of 2nd hand smoke. Which is why my visit to Comcast last week was filled with techorating awesomeness! It was an experience like no other, elegantly done with a playful yet bold approach – and 100% smoke free. IMG_2835 You enter the lobby on JFK Boulevard in downtown Philadelphia, which is the tallest building in the city, and at first it looks like any other normal lobby: IMG_2822 Nice ashy oak walls, silver accents, very clean and polished look. But wait, something starts to happen and… IMG_2841 It’s not just a wall! It’s an intergalactic force to be reckoned with. No wait, it’s a water wall! IMG_2816 Cool stuff, right? It’s the attention to detail as well that struck me. Much of the content intertwines with the wall architecture, creating virtual joints in the places where the LED panels “join” – you can see from this shot that part of the image is a real joint and the other is silver colored pixels. IMG_2824 You may be wondering what I was doing lingering in the Comcast lobby. I was there on official business but I can tell you that this is one of the most visited tourist destinations in Philadelphia, so it’s not uncommon to see all sorts of people in their lobby. We launched our new Almo Connect service for our resellers to offer bandwidth, cable TV and voice services to their customers and Comcast is one of our partners (along with many other top cable providers). Why would our partners offer bandwidth services? Think about if you’re doing a digital signage deployment and you plan on refreshing high resolution content on a daily or weekly basis. You need LOTS of bandwidth! And for future proofing, think about 4K – now you’re talking BIG data coming across a network. And of course the IT people are like, “no way, not on my network!” And you’re like, “no big deal, we offer high speed internet and we can take care of everything.” Voila – the reseller makes monthly reoccurring revenue on that sale – that’s right – every single month. But back to the techorating – here’s a very cool video so you can see how they use different parts of the wall for entertainment, like this “cubical” video:

 

 

Kudos to the designers and especially to the content creators. The convergence of architecture, decorating, digital display, graphic arts done spectacularly well and I didn’t even have to walk through a casino to see it.

Projection: Alive and Well

It seems flat panel displays are virtually everywhere these days and have gotten larger, thinner, lighter, and less expensive than ever.   Not that long ago in applications requiring a large image a projector was the natural choice, however as flat panels have evolved you are now seeing them installed where historically it would have been a projector. I am not denying the benefits of using a flat panel display, but there are many reasons why projection would be the way to go.

For starters, let’s look at image size.   Generally speaking 98” is about the largest flat panel that is readily available at this time.   So in instances where an image of larger than 98” diagonal is required, projection becomes the only option to use for a single display device without the complexity of multi-screen video walls.   This is pretty clear cut, but size is not the only consideration.

BuildingOften audio visual components are integrated into high end architectural spaces including corporate board rooms, lecture centers, training facilities, and more where the display device may not always be in use and for aesthetic reasons the client may not want to “see” the technology in the room.   Most projectors are ceiling mounted and generally out of view or can be installed in a lift that can disappear into the ceiling.   Projection screens also can disappear when not in use by recessing flush into the ceiling.

Another key consideration is cost.   While flat panels have certainly become affordable, however once you get up into the larger sizes above 80”- 90” the costs can still be prohibitive in many cases where projection will often be much more affordable.   For illustration purposes consider a 98” professional grade monitor at a cost of $32,679.00 compared to an installation class projector like the Epson PowerLite Pro G 6770WU which is 1920×1200 resolution at 6000 lumens available at a retail price of $5,699.00.

When it comes to unique display applications there are times when a flat panel display is simply not an option.   Think about events where you have projection on floor surfaces or on buildings.   With projection mapping some really unique projects can be pulled off.   A really cool example of this was recently featured in a case study on the basketball arena at Pensacola Christian College using Epson Pro G projectors:

Floor

Both flat panel displays and projectors have their pros and cons, however projection is still and will continue to be a great choice for many display applications.  For assistance in selecting the right Epson projector or to learn more, contact Brian Rhatigan at [email protected] or 888.420.2566 x6546.

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