Digital Signage Central

written by Kenneth Dukofsky MA Communication Arts, Marcom Manager of Minicom

Maximizing Return On Investment (ROI) from digital signage networks necessitates optimizing screen placement to ensure the largest number of people are exposed to the greatest amount of content. Less understood is the importance of media player positioning. Media players are susceptible to hazards which affect their Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Situating your 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). Using extension technology to safely store your media players in an environmentally controlled back room protects as well as makes them easily serviced and maintained thereby increasing their MTBF.

Display device Placement

A major factor in the design of any digital signage network is display device placement. According to Dale Smith of Peerless Industries, “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.” A screen which can not be properly seen 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.

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 your 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 their content from a central content server via a standard IP based network and then transmit the content directly to the display device. This method places your IT equipment in the unprotected public areas exposing them to heat, cold, people and dust. All these have repercussions on the TCO of your media players and digital signage network.

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 600m/2000ft if necessary, and placed in a protected back room environment.

Benefits of Player at Screen

Player at screen topology is suitable for applications where 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 uses less hardware than the other options. Both these benefits help reduce hardware and installation costs and simplify set up. 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.

Maintaining, Servicing and Upgrading

When you need to maintain, service or upgrade your media players, be prepared for an ordeal. Since the players are attached to the screens they are usually located either high up in the air or sandwiched between the screen and a wall. To reach a ceiling mounted player you will typically need a ladder. To work on the player you will first have to remove the mounts and brackets and then the players themselves. Then you will have to take the players to a table and attach them to a screen, mouse and keyboard. After you have reprogrammed the player you will need to reattach the players to the screens with their brackets and mounts. If you replace the players with newer ones, you may very well have to change the mounts and brackets as well.

High Service Costs

Publicly servicing players at screen is problematic during store hours, you can not simply close nor is it recommended to publicly have a repairman climb a ladder for an hour or two to fix it. The only option is to have a repairman fix it after store hours when service costs are more expensive and can reach double or triple regular rates.

Benefits of Back Room

Placement Media players using content extension technology can be extended from the screens and placed in a secure and environmentally controlled back room with 24 hour accessibility. These factors help maintain the player and keep it from breaking down.
The racks are specially designed for easy access – making maintenance, service and upgrading simple. If you need to upgrade or service multiple players at once, the task takes minutes instead of hours, because all the players are situated in the same location. A single 1x1m server rack can hold 10 media players.

Low Service Costs

Service costs with extension technology are kept low as the players can be easily accessed during regular working hours. If a problem crops up you can fix it immediately. You do not need to wait until after store hours when service costs are double or triple to service your players as you would with player at screen.

You can read more about this when you download Minicom’s free White Paper “Cost Ramifications of Player Placement in Digital Signage Networks”