Windows 7
Content across multiple screens
ISE 2010 – Creative's Post Show Opinions

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We are continuing to test the range of DigiSHOW solutions on the new platform, and whilst we have been delayed slightly by some of our component manufacturers delaying in releasing the drivers, overall things are looking very good and our technical team are confident that we will be able to make official announcements in the not too distant future.

The capabilities of DigiSHOW seem to be highly regarded in the marketplace. I am constantly impressed by the reaction that we get when we demonstrate our product, even when we are in front of people who have been in and around ‘the industry’ for a while.

I hear that ‘so and so manufacturer can do this’ ‘so and so manufacturer can play that’ and ‘oh of course they can play this type of file’. But when it comes down to it and we actually show what we can do, then people say...’oh that was easy’ ‘is that really the native file, don’t you need to convert that format’ etc. It brings me to the conclusion that the 12 years of constant development to DigiSHOW has really paid off, the backend build gives it so much more capacity and flexibility.

In a recent demonstration, the audience was really impressed that we could show them, four different screens with four different outputs all synchronised, to look like they were playing as one. We have a standard demonstration of an aeroplane ‘flying’ across the four screens and back again. This is four different video files that have been synchronised within DigiSHOW, to play on each screen, and it even takes into account the width of the screen bezels, so the aeroplane flows rather than jumps from screen to screen! To further impress, in this case we took a single HD source video and stretched it across the four screens in real-time, again not an easy thing to do, but with the combination of hardware, software and years of clever programming we can do this.

Digital signage is a visual communications tool - so make sure that you see what you want actually happening on screen, live in front of you before you commit to letting them in to hang those impressive display devices! The only time we use PowerPoint is to show it playing, natively, without conversion and with all its transitions, within a DigiSHOW playlist!

Well, ISE (Integrated Systems Europe 2010) was definitely an eye opener! Doing the rounds in my official capacity as Designer, I was there to see what the rest of the market is doing in terms of content. It was something of a revelation to me! There’s always going to be a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly and this year was no exception. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say on the whole, while the technology had some very impressive moments, a lot of lovely odd shaped screens from Hyundai, Samsung and Mitsubishi, nice letterbox formats allowing for interesting design possibilities, a LOT, and I mean a LOT of the content on show was less impressive. There were some quite interesting uses of layouts involving multiple screens of different shapes, sizes and orientations and a lot of interesting applications of Digital Whiteboards but the actual content was in many cases, uninspired and somewhat “same-y”.

We were impressed by the new Mitsubishi giant OLED screen, massive high-def outdoor LED screens, screens with bezels so thin you could shave with them, flexible LED curtains and ropes... the design possibilities were endless, so I was surprised to see the same kind of content on stand after stand after stand. A lot of people seem to keep on falling into the same pitfalls- they get carried away with the "techie" bells and whistles and forget about the actual design side of things. Just because you CAN have a chrome effect, drop shadow, bevelled edges and sparkles on your text, doesn't mean you HAVE to, or indeed that you SHOULD. Design for digital signage seems all too often to be driven by the capabilities of the technology and a desire to showcase them and while yes, the technology is important, let me put it into these terms. You spend years developing a car, it's a beautiful, purring, snarling beast of a sports car, enough to make Enzo Ferrari wake up in the night sweating, would you then go and paint it with two-tone hot pink and purple flames, and stick neon lights under it?

We're strong believers that design for digital signage should be approached in the same way as design for anything else. The phrase 'content is king' is used a lot in this industry and, for better or worse, we believe in that. After all, if you are using rock solid programming and hardware as we are then most of the room for adding the 'wow' factor is in what you show. The technology is there to make sure that the content looks good and doesn't fall over. From that point on, the design needs to be handed to the designers, just like if we want support from a hardware feature, or some new settings, we pass it to the right people, the technical guys.

All in all, notwithstanding the early flights, torrential rain/sleet, and the frankly bizarre choice of flavours available in the free pick'n'mix (menthol flavoured jelly sweets and things that LOOK like Smarties but taste like the evil offspring of Molasses and Fisherman's Friends deserve a special mention) it was an interesting exhibition and a good opportunity to see what the competition are doing!

It’s a busy time for us here, we'll be unveiling a few new bits on the website soon and so far 2010 is shaping up to be an exciting year.