To get to Chicago from Cincinnati, you take the I-74 (Indianapolis) exit off I-75 as it passes through Cincinnati's West Side. Once clear of the city, I-74 proceeds northwest and passes through a scenic collection of Midwestern farms and towns. The land and the view flatten in Indianapolis and from there, to reach Chicago, you circle north on I-465 and merge onto I-64. At this point (and, at almost any hour), you join an endless line of 18-wheelers hauling freight to Chicago or Detroit. The sheer number of these trucks rings in even the craftiest driver, so it's best to slow down, get in line and dial up an AM talk show. If, that is, you don't enjoy Kenny Rogers or LeAnn Rimes.
There's an abundance of Hardees, Arby's and McDonalds along the way, as well as a Cracker Barrel or two, although most of these close early. Your most interesting late-night break is at the Flying J Travel Plazas. You'll find them along I-64, at Lebanon, Lowell and Gary.
I wanted to be in Chicago early, for a meeting, so I left home at 3 a.m. I stopped at a Flying J several hours later, to buy gasoline. I also bought a cup of coffee and a Snickers bar. Back on the road, I tuned a distant radio station that was playing Janis Joplin's "Me and Bobby McGee."
"Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waiting for a train...and I's feeling nearly as faded as my jeans..."
I couldn't listen to it without thinking of the changes that have taken place since she first sang it in 1971. Many of these changes -- AIDS, terrorism, Microsoft, rap music, cell phones, leather-seated Toyota Camrys and, of course, digital technology -- have rewritten our lives.
I was on my way to Chicago to meet ST's technology contributor, Louis Brill, at the GlobalShop show; plus I planned to attend CAP Ventures 2nd Annual Narrowcasting Forum the next day. In both places, I wanted to talk -- and listen -- to people who are affecting major changes in the sign and display-graphics industry, namely, those working with electronic digital signage (EDS). This may be an important technology in the not-too-distant future.
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ST flew Louis in from his office in San Francisco, to interview GlobalShop EDS materials and software exhibitors.
"Narrowcasting" is CAP's name for networked (electronic) signage and displays. Traditionally, the name comes from the television industry in which a "narrowcast" radio or television signal is coded for specific receivers. An example is a university's on-campus television system.
I believe CAP expands the traditional narrowcast definition when it refers to EDS systems, because its "narrowcasting" term applies to entire systems, including display screens, computer systems and various software. Interestingly, display screens, meaning LCD, plasma, LED and other panels, are sometimes seen as the least of this technology because, in the smaller-scale systems, you buy them pre-made, as you would a home television.
In all EDS systems, however, key components include content-creating software, as well as software that drives the system. Choosing screen types is also important (and controversial). Ultimately, you must carefully consider the critical placement of the screens within their working environment. Content motivates customers to act, which provides profits for the system's buyer.
I'll have more on this in a minute, but momentarily file this thought: With EDS, content is the resellable product, meaning it's the consumable.
This doesn't mean the screen type isn't important. It is, and, before bidding a system, you'll want to research a panel's cost and predicted lifespan.
LCD seems to be leading plasma in the small-panel race, but high-definition LED still wins -- hands-down -- for the larger systems. Whatever you choose, you'll want tight information on the percentage of "acceptable" color loss anticipated over a defined time period, because this informs you and your customer of the panel's anticipated replacement date. It also establishes the tax write-off period.
You'll find the best example of screen criticality on page 70, where you'll read of the superlarge-format Mitusbishi Diamond Vision LED screen at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace (Las Vegas), where Celine Dion performs her "A New Day..." concert five nights a week. This convex-shaped screen is 33 ft. 7 in. high * 109 ft. 2 in. wide and has 5,324,800 individual, dot-addressable RGB diodes (lamps), each slightly smaller than a kitchen-matchhead. "Dot addressable" means that every diode receives an individual electronic signal.
Think of the algorithms.
I was privileged to tour this installation, backstage, on April 3, and, better, to view Celine Dion's concert that same evening. Not only is the screen colossal, but the installation is as high-tech as any you'll ever see. The power supply occupies its own room, and the screen itself is set in a latticework of 10-in. -wide, steel I-beams. Interesting, too, is that, close up, the screen comprises a series of tightly spaced, sandwich-sized, flat panels containing multiple, 160° viewing-angle diodes.
In this system, four, surface-mounted diodes -- two red, one green and one blue (RRGB) are one pixel (as compared to the usual three RGB). Because each diode is dot addressable, this array of four can take any shape as determined (for maximum image resolution) by the software. The pixels share (actually, they overlap) patterns to obtain what Diamond Vision calls a quad-pixel pattern. Its marketers describe it as a "dynamic pixel."
Bill DuLaney, Mitsubishi Electric's Diamond Vision System's Div. (Lawrenceville, GA) national sales manager, says this dot-addressable pixel, coupled with the system's high-dot density, equates to excellent vertical and horizontal resolution, a necessary requirement for Celine Dion's picayunish visual-affects producers. On her screen, four dots (a pixel) measure 16mm, but the actual dot-to-dot resolution is 8mm. You don't see the diodes from the theatre seats. In fact, one show reviewer perceived it as a movie screen.
Former ST Technical Editor Tim Brosnahan arranged our backstage tour. He also invited Bill and CDA Production (Las Vegas) Technical Director Rick Mooney. CDA is Celine Dion's husband's company, so, as you might imagine, it was an up-close tour. Tim was project manager for the system's installer, Salt Lake City-based Wasatch Electric.
By the way, if you're in Vegas, see the Celine Dion show. It's a beautiful production, and the lady sings nicely, but -- and I say this to those of us who treasure modern physics -- the screen technology, coupled with her creative staff visuals, is spectacular. The Dynamic Pixel system produces excellent resolution and color.
If you're a digital-print person fluent in the RGB and CMYK color language, this "three- or four diodes make one pixel" description may make you feel uncomfortable. Unfortunately, it only gets worse when you see an RGB diode array create white light. At the ISA Sign Expo 2003 (Las Vegas), Osram Sylvania (Warren, PA) displayed a tunable LED chain in which one could turn three, old-fashioned, Halicrafter-radio-type knobs (labeled R, G and B) to create various colors, or, disconcertingly, white, which, as you know, is a non-color.
Hmmm.
Let's get back to Chicago. At the Narrowcast Forum, Nike Inc. Production Director (Brand Design) Tim Canfield discussed retail installations and his company's "Project X," a trial system of in-store, satellite-fed EDS displays. At this time, Nike has six EDS sites in retail stores and plans to install another 94. Canfield emphasized, in addition to content, the importance of systems' screen locations within a retail environment and, equally, the importance of the presented content.
He stressed his company's happiness over the system's ability to quickly change messages. What formerly took three weeks to change, he said, now takes hours or minutes. However, he reminded us that there's no waiting, because Nike has its own production department. Nike changes the content daily.
One interesting narrowcasting variance is that the last-step transmitter may actually be an on-site, (coffee cup-sized) receiver/transmitter "repeater" that receives a signal generated elsewhere and distributes it -- simultaneously and either wirelessly or not -- to an assortment of screens placed around a store or business. The original signal could arrive via Web/Internet systems, satellite downloads or simple telephone-type wires. Nike has such a site.
Canfield also says EDS content shouldn't be television-type advertising, but more of an inspirational or educational presentation. See sunrise scenes of Arizona's Monument Valley, for example, with a lone Nike-wearer jogging down a peaceful road. Marketers say such scenes inspire runners to buy new shoes. Nike's programs include such coverage as, say, the Boston Marathon or interviews with sports personalities. They also include coverage of local events that are intimate to customers and, of course, product features.
A change in the display panel's aspect ratio (the width-to-height ratio) creates interest while eliminating the TV-type image. Another attention-getting trick is to turn (and program) the display to a portrait format instead of the more familiar landscape format.
Jeff Porter, president of Scala Inc. (Philadelphia), a company that develops multimedia content and technology software for EDS, TV and Web applications, also spoke at the Forum. Scala's software allows you to create, schedule, manage, distribute and replay content.
Jeff says content must have a "hook," as well as be relative, timely and cost effective. He says you should equip your systems with industry-standard hardware, which is to say that an off-the-shelf PC is easier to buy and service than singular or specialized systems. He also said you should design and implement a flexible system, because your customer will change things. Finally, he says your systems and content should "turn on the fun in the store."
All speakers advised to change content often. They recommended that you study the frequency of customer visits and how long they're exposed to the EDS visual. No one should see a message more than twice.
Amen to that.
