The Real Do's and Don'ts of Digital Signage

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A word from our Technical Department

I was in the middle of writing part two to “breaking the interface barrier”  when I stumbled across an interesting article on a business website. This particular business is not a digital signage company, they are a large printing signage franchise and they may “do” digital signage but it’s not “what they do”.  Their article brings up a few interesting points... lets have a look at this.

The article suggested under no circumstances should a computer be used for digital signage. They backed it up with the following reasons

a. Computers can overheat: whilst true, is certainly no reason not to use a computer for digital signage. Simple measures like ensuring there is adequate ventilation and the the computer is of an industrial grade designed for use in demanding conditions will ensure the longevity of your digital signage system.

b. Computers have moving parts that may fail: Computers for digital signage are available fan-less and with solid state hard drives (no moving parts at all). 

c. Computers use lots of energy: with expert advice from our sales team they’ll help pick a computer adequately powerful enough for your needs, but not over-spec'd to avoid excessive power use.  Modern processors like the Intel Atom & VIA processors are very power efficient, typically the major concern with power is not the  computer but the screen choice. 

d. Computers are expensive to setup on a network: A good digital signage system will not require complex networking, in fact some of our systems are plug and play, such as signagelive. The benefit of a computer based system with remote access for support will far our-weigh the initial outlay for the system.

e. Computers have poor resolution: (without expensive upgrades) clearly the author at this point is clutching at straws. This is simply not true, even the most modest of pc’s these days are capable of full 1920x1080 high definition resolution. 

f. Computers are large and hard to hide: This also is simply not true, computers are available with a very small form factor like our DS303 for example, measuring approx 18cm x 11cm x 4cm.

g. Using a computer is a bad idea because IT costs are expensive: this sound a bit like a scare tactic to me. Setting up a computer does not have to be costly at all. Companies like ourselves have developed efficient methods to setup and deploy PC based digital signage systems. Software is so simple to setup now this isn’t even a consideration when picking a system usually.  

The company that wrote this article are certainly not IT professionals and are probably not aware of how a computer based system actually works in the real world. The reality is that computer based system are the most popular, and most of the successful deployments today are done with computers. They offer unsurpassed reliability, features and ease of updating when setup and deployed by a knowledgeable company... (and that’s exactly what we do !).This article is a very dramatic showcase of how digital signage can be misrepresented to the community. It concerns me that customers might be mislead by articles like this, even investing in technology based on this advice. 

Aeris Solutions is a dedicated digital signage company, thats all we do. We offer expert digital signage advise and solutions. Contact our sales team on 03 9544 6902 for further information or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  
Take care
Alex

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