Digital Signage is a technology that replaces traditional printing signs by dynamic signs with large screen liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and plasma display panels (PDPs) as well as embedded computer systems.
- Introduction
The Digital Signage System can deliver vivid motion pictures and crystal clean pictures to capature consumers' attention instantly. In addition, advertising can be upgraded, distributed, and expressed effectively through Digital Signage Network.
Adputer Solution for Digital Signage.
Digital Signage is suitable for any companies with a physical office that can advertise their services and products on site. They can be
- retail stores, grocery stores, shopping malls, and supermarkets
- banks
- restauants and bars
- hotels, travel agences
- tradeshows, museums, theaters, casinos, airports
Cases of Digital Signage Applications:
- McDonald's operator makes a splash with digital signage
Operations manager Wayne Adamczyk who has managed McDonald’s stores for more than 30 years, said he wanted to give the signs a Las Vegas feel, with lots of color and motion.
- Sign of the times: digital signage industry by Laura Bogomolny
Retailers should use Digital Signage as a strategic tool "to drive consumers into purchasing categories they weren't going to consider, like higher-margin private-label products." For example, Tim Hortons' use of 42-inch plasma screens to promote coffee-and-doughnut combos in the morning and lunch specials at noon.
- Digital Signage Design
Unlike TV or web ads, Digital Signage Ads can bring rich visual effects to viewers. For example, Digital Signage focuses more on visual effects instead of sound. A Digital Signage System may have one or multiple large screens, animation text called ticker, and multiple seamless zones. Furthermore, it may have remote wireless or internet access and control.
Four HD Videos on 4 Zones
The famous AIDA Formula in the advertising represents Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. Attention is the process of turning one's mind to a particular activity. Media illustration is to obtain interest of viewers. Desire fills a particular need. Action causes the viewer of ads to go ahead. Advertising elements in the Digital Signage are designed around the AIDA formula as well.
Headline is to gain attention of viewers. It may include product or company name, command, question, superlative, and product advantages. Usually headline uses big font and animation texts.
Illustration is to obtain interest of viewers. There are video, photograph, drawing, and sketch.
Copy tries to change wants into needs. It creates desire to buy, look into, or pursue. It is the written part of the ads, explicit and implicit meanings of words.
Signature leaves the information of who and where as well as product name, trademark, or company logo.
 Killer for Vista
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- Adputer Digital Signage Solution
Adputer Digital Signage Solution consists of Digital Signage Display, Player, Center, and Network.
Adputer Digital Signage Player
A Digital Signage Player is the core of a Digital Signage System. Unlike normal media player Digital Signage Player requires powerful hardware and software functions. The hardware must be able to play high-quality videos in real-time. The software should be able to play multiple videos and display them in multiple windwos. Furthermore it should support network connection both wireless and internet. Finally a Digital Signage Player should make content management much easily.
Ladybug Mixer demonstrated the capability of Adputer Digital Signage Player. While most media players can only display single video stream, Ladybug Mixer can show multiple cinematic video streams with smooth mixing and seamless zoning. Ads creation is simplified and more attractive with special visual effects.
Picture-in-Picture: 3 in 1
Adputer Digital Signage Station
Digital Signage Station is the server for Digital Signage Management and Services. They are Content Management, Device Management, Schedule Management, and Control Management.
Adputer Digital Signage Network
Digital Signage Network connects DS Display, Players and Center altogether through LAN or Internet. The Local Area Network (LAN) can be connected via wireless or Ethernet. Internet can be connected through Cable, DSL, or WiMax.
Adputer Digital Signage Display
To achieve the best ads effects a large screen is required for Digital Signage Display. Usually the screen size is over 30 inches that the price is affordable at current market. As the technology in advanced, larger size of LCD screens are become less expensive.
- Dynamic Advertising
By using new technologies such as GPU and multiple channel video engine, Neatware Digital
Signage Player can demonstrate new stunning advertising effects. For example, Chroma Key Ads, Curtain Ads, Frame Ads, and Zoning Ads can be easily generated with real-time multiple channel video mixing and programmable FX shaders.
Chroma Key Ads and Green Screen
Chroma Key is a technology that compsites a foreground video along with a background video. The foreground video can be an actor in a room surround by a green wall while a background video can be a beach. The value of chroma key is the value of green color. Both foreground and background videos can be composited so that the green scene of the foreground can be replaced by the corresponding scene of the background video. Chroma Key technology can be represented as an C expression
result = (color0 == key) ? color1 : color0
You can apply Ladybug Mixer to generate Chroma Key effects by selecting Chroma Key Green or Chroma Key Blue effect along with foreground video in channel one and background video in channel two.
1) Chroma green picture. 2) Video snapshot. 3) Chroma key remix.
You can also replace the foreground video as a jpeg picture in above example. Note: it is better to save a jpeg picture in 100 percent quality and disable sub-sample image. That will remove many jaggies in the remixed video.
Curtain Ads
Curtain Ads is the mixing of a picture and a video or another picture while the first picture moves like a curtain to cover the second media gradually. Curtain ads makes a sense of mysterious to audiences who may be attracted by the disclosure of content gradually. And audiences may pay longer time to watch the ads. The procedure to generate a curtain ads is simple in Ladybug Mixer:
- Geneate curtain media
Curtain media can be a picture or a video. Usually a picture is used to show a logo or a promotion text. While a video is a decoration to ads. In the example snapshots a video is used as a curtain media.
- Generate performance media
Execute Ladybug Mixer 2
- Select curtain and performance media
The curtain video is disclosed from left to right. In the end the curtain video disclosed from right to left.
- Watch the display!
Frame Ads
A headline video is mixed with an illustration video by wipe effect in special position. The headline video can be in the center of the display while the illustration video can be displayed around the headline video like a frame. A signature can be overlay on the bottom of the headline video as a watermark. The videos can be replaced as pictures.
In the following example, the headline picture is the large font text of Neatware Digital Signage Solution. The illustration is a high resolution video. The FX effect is circle wipe transform.
One Main HD Video Plus One Frame HD Video
Zoning Ads
We are going to explain how to make a Digital Signage with Trio Channels by Ladybug Mixer. The snapshot has been displayed on this page.
- Make a video
(i) shoot a video (ii) cut video with an creator such as Movie Maker 2 (iii) add audio (iv) save video
- Make a sign
(i) photo a group of pictures (ii) make a photo slideshow with these pictures (iii) save as a video
- Make a ticker
(i) input and edit text in the ticker dialog box at the bottom (ii) when you hide the control ticker will scroll across the screen
- Select a shader
(i) select a shader in the shader list (ii) you can switch shader on the fly
- Watch Digital Signage
(i) open main video in channel 1 (ii) open slidshow video in channel 2 (iii) open a jpeg picture in channel 3
- Save configuration
(i) repeat to achieve best result (ii) save result into a .nwm file
This snapshot is for portrait display. The top zone is an advertising photo; the bottom zone is the entertainment video.
- Interactive Digital Signage
Large Flat LCD TouchScreen has made Interactive Digital Signage possible.
The Flat and Instant GUI of Ladybug Mixer 2 allows a user to control the playback of video and the selecting of shader.
To know more information of Interactive Digital Signage and Large TouchScreen please contact Neatware.
- References
- How To Build a Whitebox Digital Sign System By Andy McDonough, TechBuilder
How to use Ladybug Player XP as a Digital Signage Player in this article. The advantages of Ladybug Player XP is that it can play on any Windows PC in super fast.
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