Thursday, January 19, 2012

The one media player video wall


A video wall makes an impressive addition to your store or reception area. Video walls are something always noticed and you will catch the attention of your customers. However, creating content for video walls is by many considered to be rather tricky. But with the MultiQ split video concept, making video wall content becomes a piece of cake.

Full HD makes the way for video walls
The MultiQ digital signage widescreen monitors can be set to display a desired portion of a video signal. The most common way is to split a video signal to four monitors as is shown in the figure (upper part). The monitors are easily programmed for this task using the remote control that comes with each monitor. The setting is preserved if the monitor looses power or if it is switched off. 

Today, most digital signage is in standard resolution. However, the MultiQ media players support high definition up to 1080p (1920x 1080 pixels). If the signal is split to four monitors you will get a video wall consisting of four monitors each having a resolution comparable to standard resolution using just one single media player.

Using non-expensive and easily accessible HD video editing software (such As Serif Movie Plus X5) you can create a common video signal from four original video signals. This makes it possible to have separate messages on each monitor and to make an immediate switch to a common message that extends across all four screens by adding a transition to just one full screen video signal.

If you need larger video walls or other configurations, the video signal may be stretched across several monitors to your preference. Any matrix less than 4x4 monitors can be generated. Spectacular alternatives, such as 4x1 monitors in landscape or portrait orientation can also be achieved. By using animation software, such as Web Draw Plus X5, you can adapt your dynamic signs to any aspect ratio and video wall matrix configuration.

You can get more information on how to build video wall content in the MultiQContent Creation Quick Guide Part 1.

Release your creativity with MultiQ video wall technology.

Several MultiQ media players can share a common Full HD video signal.
 
Lars-Ingemar Lundström
Documentation and Training Manager, MultiQ

Display your website in your store with the MultiQ web kiosk

Your business already has a website intended for your customers. The customers can get all information about your products and offers at home or in the office. However the website is not easily accessible for the customers while in the store. Some customers are not even aware of your website. The MultiQ web kiosk displays your website in your store or in any other public environment and brings all the website features that you have invested in right to the point of purchase. And it is a wonderful way to promote your website too. Web kiosks are also practical for corporate- or governmental use in factories, offices and at other locations where the staff or visitors do not have access to a personal computer to get hold of corporate- or governmental information. The web kiosks will also fit very well into any public location as in hospitals, train stations, airports or hotels.

The MultiQ web kiosk
The MultiQ web kiosk is an “off-the-shelf” product, based on the MultiQ media monitors, that brings your website right into the retail or corporate environment. Using a keyboard and a traditional pointing device makes the web kiosk easy to understand and makes your website to work as a kiosk with only minor (if any) modifications to your website.

By reusing your website, the customer can reach everything that is already there such as the availability of products in a particular store or in your e-commerce system. No special adaptation needs to be done to connect to your existing databases. The customer will quickly learn how to take advantage of the information available in your website. This will make the customers to use your website even at home and increase your hits. Your store is probable one of the best places to promote your website. 

The website can be displayed in landscape or in portrait orientation. When oriented as portrait (see figure) most websites (being 100 pixels or less) will be displayed beautifully on the SXGA (1024 x 1280 pixels) media monitor. Using this orientation will fill out the width of the screen and will reduce scrolling to a minimum. An internal “zoom” feature allows the size of your website to be adjusted for optimum performance.

It is extremely simple to set up a MultiQ media monitor as a web kiosk. The only thing needed to be added to the web kiosk is the address of your website. As you update your website the web kiosk will be updated too. 

The MultiQ media monitors consume less than 40 watts of power in full operation. Also, you can set the web kiosk to switch to standby operation outside business hours to preserve energy and prolong the lifetime of the appliance.

The MultiQ high reliability technology with no fans or hard drives and Linux based software with a built-in watch dog system to prevent the units from hanging will give you years of worry-free operation without maintenance. 

To make the web kiosk respond even quicker and to minimize need of bandwidth it is possible to store parts of your website locally in the media monitor. This will result in superior performance when it comes to quick response, compared to conventional websites.

A web kiosk can be set up as a standalone unit with no central server required. Each unit can be accessed and controlled using the Internet from the location of your choice.

If you have a number of media monitors out there, you may benefit from using a central server making it possible to manage many units simultaneously without addressing them on a one-by-one basis. You also get the possibility to monitor all units simultaneously and to generate alarms if the server looses contact with any of the web kiosks. The server can support systems ranging from a few units to thousands of units at hundreds or thousands of locations. The largest MultiQ system has more than ten thousand units connected.

The MultiQ media monitors are future proof investments since they can be used together with the MultiQ media players for digital signage. All units can be handled using the common MultiQ digital signage management system, DSMS3. This makes it possible for you to expand the system in any way you like. The server can be hosted either by MultiQ or by yourself (preferably using your normal web server hosting provider).

Finally you can add printers, scanners and card readers to the media monitors.


The off the shelf web kiosk comes with the stand of your choice. The floor stand (as well as the monitor itself) can be delivered in customized colours. There is space to add a printer or a scanner to the stand. Table stands and wall mounts are available as alternatives to the floor stand. Most websites will fit beautifully into the 1024x1280 pixels SXGA screen.

Lars-Ingemar Lundström
Documentation and Training Manager, MultiQ