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| While screen placement mainly affects message delivery, player placement is a total cost of ownership consideration. Photos courtesy Minicom. |
Maximizing return on investment (ROI) from digital signage networks necessitates optimizing screen placement to ensure that the largest number of people are exposed to the greatest amount of content. Less understood is the importance of media player positioning.
By Kenneth Dukofsky
A major factor in the design of any digital signage network is display device placement. “All the well-intentioned design work, beautiful display devices and high-powered content that money can buy are rendered ineffective if placed in a poor location,” says Dale Smith, director, business development, Digital Signage & Corporate, of Melrose Park, ILL.-based Peerless Industries.
A screen that cannot be accurately viewed by the public renders the entire investment useless. To properly place screens in a digital signage network, a long list of requirements must first be met.
Likewise, media players have their own set of placement requirements that are at least as rigorous as those governing screens. While screen placement mainly affects the effectiveness of message delivery, player placement, in contrast, is mainly a total cost of ownership (TCO) consideration.
Modern digital signage networks primarily follow two types of installations regarding the placement of the media player: at the screen or in a back room used for storing the company’s IT-related devices.
Player-at-Screen Technology
In “Player-at-Screen” systems, the media player is mounted directly onto the screen. The media players receive content from a central content server via a standard IP-based network. They then transmit the content directly to the display device. This method places IT equipment in the unprotected public areas, exposing them to heat, cold, people and dust. All these hazards have repercussions on the TCO of media players and digital signage networks.
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| Player at-Screen |
At-Screen Maintenance |
Players-at-Screen Benefits
Player-at-screen topology is suitable for applications in which screens are easily accessible, with or without an existing network infrastructure. This infrastructure can be used to transmit content from the central player to the players at screen. Player-at-screen applications also use less hardware than the other options. Both these benefits help reduce hardware and installation costs and simplify setup. The initial outlay in a player-at-screen application is therefore lower than the competing options. However, as will be seen, as time progresses, the TCO of a player-at-screen application becomes more costly than player-in-back-room applications.
Players-at-Screen Service
Screen maintenance, servicing and/or upgrading players can be a challenge, for several reasons:
- Since the players are attached to screens, they are usually quite elevated or sandwiched between the screen and a wall. Substantial ladders are typically needed to reach a ceiling-mounted player.
- Mounts and brackets must be removed before the players can be serviced. The players must then be taken to a level surface and attached to a keyboard, mouse and another screen.
- After the players are reprogrammed, they must be reattached to their screens. Replacement of players may require new mounts and brackets, as well.
- Because of its intrusive nature, at-screen player servicing can be problematic during store hours. This may have to be done outside of store hours, when service costs are more expensive, approaching double or triple the regular rates.
Player-in-Back-Room Technology
Multimedia hardware extension systems use broadcaster/transmitter and receiver units to transmit video, audio and control (serial) signals from a remote media player to single or multiple screens over dedicated CAT5 cable. Using this technology, media players can be removed from the screens, up to 600 meters (2,000 feet) if necessary, and placed in a protected back-room environment.
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| Player in Back Room |
Back-Room Player Maintenance |
Benefits of Back-Room Placement
Media players using content extension technology can be separated from the screens and placed in a secure and environmentally-controlled back room with 24-hour accessibility. These elements help maintain the players and keep them from breaking down. Player racks are specially designed for easy access, making maintenance, service and upgrading simple. If upgrades or servicing of multiple players is needed, the task takes minutes instead of hours, because all the players are situated in the same location. A single 1-by-1 meter server rack can hold ten media players.
As we have shown, media players are susceptible to hazards that affect their total cost of ownership. Situating media players near the screen, in public, makes them difficult to service and exposes them to multiple environmental hazards, thus lowering their “mean time between failures” (MTBF).
Media players, therefore, should be safely stored and protected by way of extension technology in an environmentally-controlled back room. The extension technology also makes the players easily serviced and maintained, thereby increasing their MTBF.
Kenneth Dukofsky is the former marketing manager of Minicom Advanced Systems Ltd. , with international headquarters in Jerusalem and North American headquarters in Linden, N.J. Minicom manufactures KVM server and computer management solutions that facilitate the control of corporate IT environments. For further information, contact Gil Raz: gil.raz@minicom.com.
This article originally appeared in the fourth-quarter 2008 edition of Platt Retail Institute’s Quarterly Retail Analytics and is reprinted with permission from Platt Retail Institute LLC. |
