digital signage // feature
Perfect Panasonic for signage Octo media server later this year after its fi rst showing in March
Panasonic’s DLP chip is liquid-cooled for a high level of at the Frankfurt trade fair, Prolight + Sound.
reliability in continuous duty. It also enables operation in ambient Octo is ideal for large video installations with a powerful
temperatures up to 45°C (113°F). video engine with playback performance with up to eight layers
of Full HD video. It runs on a Linux operating system and has
eight DVI outputs with independent positioning, edge blending,
keystone and curved surface correction.
Panasonic
Octo has a custom codec and built-in encoder for very high
PT-D4000
resolutions up to 6144 x 2568. There are 32 media layers with projector
position, scaling, rotation, colour correction, effects and alpha
channel.
The media server is controllable via DMX, Artnet, serial,
Ethernet and Java-based software.
The Panasonic offers 4,000 lumens Picturall Octo
of brightness in dual lamp, high power mode which makes
media servers
the most of its clever ‘daylight view’ function using image
operating at the
processing to compensate for the loss of colour saturation.
Prolight + Sound
Frankfurt trade
Its status can be monitored over a LAN network, and using
fair. This was
this connection it can send an email to indicate if an error has
connected to six
occurred or a lamp replacement is required.
video projectors
The D4000 has a resolution of 1,024 x
taking care of
768 pixels and a sophisticated picture noise 15m x 2.5m
reduction working on all sources including screen with
MPEG.
6144 x 1024
Panasonic’s projector marketing manager,
resolution media
Hartmut Kulessa, is confi dent that this is
The other
just a start of the push towards greener
server at the
use of technology. He said, “We take our
show was
conservation responsibilities seriously Hartmut
working with
and are confi dent that we will continue to
Kulessa,
two projectors
produce more environmentally-conscious
Panasonic’s
and a curved
products for digital signage use.”
projector
screen plus
marketing
two full HD
3M Vikuiti screen
manager
LCD panels
The Vikuiti Rear Projection Screen combines
the focusing power of an optical lens with a black light-
absorbing layer to produce high contrast images even in
brightly-lit environments.
installer comment
One-way light
traffi c – this is
Jim Ofi eld works for TouchVision, the installation subsidiary of MediaZest.
how the Vikuiti
He has been with the company in its various incarnations for 30 years and
system works
has been involved with point of sale installations for longer than he cares to
remember.
Talking about the Panasonic package, Jim said, “Normally there are
no accessible electronics that staff or customers can touch. Buttons on
equipment can either be isolated or covered with a panel – everything is
remotely loaded, controlled and monitored. We can even inform a shop and
tell them if something has gone wrong with their air-conditioning.
“Sometimes we get to install in shops where none of it can be seen, such
as when we can mount a projector above a false ceiling and only have a
small hole in a bulkhead where it shines onto the window.
“So far we have installed at least 50 projector systems and we are
Millions of microscopic glass spheres focus the projected
averaging two a week. It’s a very reliable system – the Panasonic has an
light so it exits at just one small point. The black layer then
almost continuous duty with only a two-hour shutdown required per day. If
absorbs the ambient light, producing a high contrast image,
the customer wants maximum activity, we normally programme it to stop
between three and fi ve in the morning.
ideal for window display.
“Long shop hours where no disruption to business would be acceptable
means that we are often installing on a Sunday evening and night. Our
Eight HD outputs with Picturall Octo
engineers are used to the routine, and where they can go in during the day,
Finnish company Picturall will be offi cially launching the Picturall they will often arrive very early to avoid peak hour travel.
“The most interesting window installations are the active ones. The
display on one of the windows of the Footlocker in Oxford Street, London for
example, has an image of a trainer which is covered in coloured triangles.
When movement is detected past the window, the
triangles begin to swirl away to expose the image of
the trainer – it gets people’s attention and they wave
their hands about, it creates a lot of interest.
“We have also produced displays that have a touch-
recognition membrane which goes between the glass
and the Vikuiti screen. One we did for the Carphone
Warehouse had pull-down menus which added extra
interest.”
Jim Ofi eld, TouchVision’s engineering director
Picturall Octo media server with up to eight layers of
Full HD video
www.custominstaller.co.uk May 2009 23
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