CONTINUE TO SITE »
or wait 15 seconds

Article

Inside look: Samsung's future digital signage applications

One of the top LCD manufacturers takes us through its top trends this year in digital signage, and what is showing promise for 2009.

December 1, 2008

2008 has been a big year for Samsung, with its LCD panel business showing a 41 percent year-on-year revenue growth  the highest of any Samsung division. While TV sales are playing a role in that growth, the expansion of Samsung's digital information displays (DID) also plays a significant part.

Those who have visited digital signage tradeshows such as InfoComm, Digital Signage Expo and The Digital Signage Show this year have no doubt noticed Samsung's presence, and many of the applications shown there are beginning to see deployments nationwide.

We spoke with Scott Birnbaum, VP of Samsung Semiconductor's LCD business, about Samsung's future applications, and how new LCD technology will allow for improvements of some of the best digital signage rollouts of 2008.

story continues below...advertisement
 

 
Digital Signage Software Comparison Guide 

Digital Signage Software Comparison GuideMore than 30 pages worth of detailed information about dozens of digital signage software products

To make it easier for digital signage deployers to find the perfect software solution, the editors of Digital Signage Today have identified more than 65 attributes and created a comprehensive grid that spells out the exact capabilities of more than 120 digital signage software products.

 

Gesture-based digital signage

 

There's no doubt that gesture-based technology is on the "bleeding edge" of digital signage. Digital Signage Expo is even hosting an entire day of gesture-based digital signage seminars before itsLas Vegasshow in Feb. 2009.

Samsung developed a 57-inch LCD monitor that can recognize a user's motions from 15 feet away using 3D motion sensing, and demonstrated the technology at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Jan. 2008. The application is currently being placed in Hilton hotels as "virtual concierges."

"It's a touchless touchscreen," Birnbaum said. "We've set it up so users see movies in a carousel that you can wave to move, drag and drop into Blu-ray player and play 1080p content on the screen."

 

Read also Digital signage marketing in motion 

The screen also supports video games allows Wii-like controls, but with hand movements instrad of a controller.

"People are craving an easy to use interface," Birnbaum said. "Think of some of the new hit products out there – interface is one of the reasons they have been successful. A bit out in the future but shows you how powerful some of these emerging technologies are."

Social networking

The rise of online networks like Facebook and Twitter have left digital signage players looking for ways to allow users to better interact with signs. One such example is Ecast's latest release, the Ecast ID. The application builds on Ecast's existing video jukebox systems, but the new ID also allows bar patrons text messages to the screen, which are then shown throughout the digital signage network in the bar.
 
The screen itself is a Samsung 40-inch DID panel with multitouch capabilities, which is made to look like a giant .mp3 player.

"Using a digital signage panel proved to be more effective for this application," Birnbaum said. "The real differentiator isn't just the panel technology, but what you can do with it. It's like Facebook on the fly. So imagine you're in a club, and this screen is hanging on the wall. You can use the touchscreen to choose songs, but you can also SMS or MMS messages and pictures to the screen, making it a social networking tool."

High-brightness screens

In one of the most talked-about digital signage installations of the year, Samsung is working with Outdoor Promotions to outfit 18 bus shelters along the Las Vegas Strip with digital signage. Since the displays will be operating 24/7 outdoors (and in the desert), Samsung designed a 70-inch high-brightness screen to be placed in each shelter. The screens are more than twice as bright (2,000 nits) as normal digital screens, which keeps them from looking washed out in the daytime and draw attention at night.

 

Read alsoHigh-brightness screens: What it takes to take the screen outside 

The press release for the project said that the screens would reach 1.5 million pedestrians and 1.8 million cars per month.

"They tried to do this in a really unique way," Birnbaum said. "It's going to give adversities a way to reach people in a way they weren't able to in the past with satellite messaging. It's going to usher in a new age of outdoor digital signage – outdoor out-of-home."

Telepresence 

Telepresence, made famous by networking companies like Cisco, is being redefined using life-size, 3D video conferencing. TelePresenceTech has been working on a fully-immersive video conferencing experience where the transmitted people appear to be physically present on the other side of a table. The application garnered a lot of attention at this year's InfoComm show.

Similar to a hologram effect, Samsung screens ranging from 32- to 82-inches in size are aligned with mirrors to project images of others onto glass, making it feel like the people are actually in the room.

"This has the ability to do many things. You could have a virtual security guard or virtual receptionist, who can be in many places at one time," Birnbaum said. "We've also considered using this for advertising, where you could have a product ‘floating' in front of a consumer on an end cap in a grocery store."

Large-screen advertising campaigns

Those passing through JFK's American Airlines terminal in the past year couldn't miss Microsoft's huge digital signage advertising campaign using 40 side-by-side 70-inch Samsung LCD panels.
 
Improvements for narrow bezel displays

  

 - Reducing inactive area (space not showing content that is allowed so bezel can be sealed)

- Minimizing bezel edge

- Eliminating the need for thick enclosures for each screen)

"The vision for this early on was trying to make the millions of passengers feel like they are part of a commercial," Birnbaum said. "When you see a digital sign playing an ad, you may not take full advantage of looking at that ad. But in this case you're surrounded by 40 70-inch DID displays that command your attention. You're literally walking through a Microsoft commercial."

The screens have been up since January 2007, featuring ad campaigns for Microsoft'sVista, Xbox and Office 2007. Birnbaum says there will be more variations of this kind of large-screen digital advertising in the future.

"We're allowing messages to be done on a large scale," he said. "There's two ways of doing that. One is having a large display, like Samsung's new 82-inch LCD. When you get larger than that, it becomes difficult to move and hang the screens. So we looked at a way to use smaller displays to tile them together to make them looks seamless."

 

Read alsoVideo walls: The changing face of oversized displays

Related Media




©2025 Networld Media Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
b'S2-NEW'