All About DVLED Mounts with Peerless-AV’s Megan Zeller

Exertis Almo’s Pro AV Podcast with Peerless-AV

In this episode of Exertis Almo’s Pro AV Podcast, we sat down with Megan Zeller, Sr Director Business Development at Peerless-AV, to discuss the company’s history, bespoke mount production, and what you need to know about installing mounts for digital signage…including Direct View LED,  like this stunning dvLED video wall in Las Vegas.

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A Free-Standing Interactive Kiosk Installed with Content in 30 Minutes? Yep!

Would you be interested in installing a free-standing, 55” portrait kiosk with touch and Wi-Fi connectivity?  This kiosk would support a simple interactive directory board, which an end-user can easily update and manage using a cloud-based CMS.  All this for around $5,500 retail with an estimated $120/yr. cloud-based CMS fee?  And better yet, install it in 30 minutes?

I think I just heard a collective YES!!!!!!!!!!

The opportunity has arrived and is available to dealers regardless of digital signage content experience or having an extensive company.

Introducing the Peerless-AV KIPICT555 “All-in-One” portrait, free-standing kiosk.  This kiosk solution is literally ready  to go out of the box with a low suggested retail list price of $3,375.  It ships complete and assembled with a 55”, 24/7 display that has six simultaneous points of interactive touch, a BrightSign media player and Wi-Fi/RJ45 connectivity.  An integrator just unpacks the kiosk, moves it into position and plugs it in.  Once powered, simply follow a few on-screen menu instructions and the kiosk is ready for a digital signage application.

Here’s a video of Earl Naegele, Managing Director at Peerless-AV explaining this Kiosk at a 2018 E4 AV Tour Stop.

And, Almo’s content creation services stands ready to provide dealers with content solutions for their customers.  Almo provides dealers with standardized and custom solutions utilizing HTML5 cloud-based content and an easy-to-use CMS for end-users.  This includes end-user training to fully complete the project.

BTW, did you know that Almo recently acquired Insteo, a specialized digital signage content and creative company?  Check it out!

Dealers now have the abililty to offer the ENTIRE digital signage solution and control the entire transaction.  In turn, Almo has the Peerless-AV KIPICT555 in stock and our content creation team ready to provide solutions to meet your customers’ visions.

Almo’s E4 AV Tour will be making stops this fall in Boston, MA on September 21 and Nashville, TN on October 26.  Don’t miss your chance to see the Kiosk and other exciting technology from your favorite manufacturer partners and register to attend now!

5 Part Series: 5 Ways the Hospitality Market is Evolving

SIZE MATTERS.
The United States hotel market is made up of 4 million hotel rooms and the typical life span of guest room televisions ranges between 5-7 years according to recent studies.

Going back just a few years, the most popular size for guest room televisions in economy scale properties like Choice brands for example, typically required a 28 or 32-inch TV although some properties are moving towards a 40-inch in efforts to future-proof investments with trends leaning towards bigger panels.

Midscale brands such as Hilton for example, typically consider a 40-inch guest room TV acceptable however will often make a bigger investment for the next size up (43-inch) as larger screen sizes bare higher rack rates (room rates) and can boost incremental revenues; suites with living rooms or separate seating areas from sleeping rooms frequently specify larger sizes such as 48-inch or 50-inch to provide a more impactful experience for in-room entertainment and we even see trends to 55-inch becoming the most popular future-proof size in this segment.

When it comes to some upscale or luxury chain scales, including some Hyatt brands for example, there are requirements that stretch to a 60-inch and even a 65-inch set- some with mandates for smart features such as those offered by Samsung.  Who knew those big and bulky armoires would eventually be sawed in half and re-purposed as dressers to make (visual) room for a slim and sleek flat panel television with built-in swivel capabilities- that we now consider essential for that modern, high-tech, designer look?

Similar implementation can be seen in other luxury brands like JW Marriott, Westin, Ritz Carlton and others, with the combination of larger screen sizes and high-designer appeal of a wall-mounted installation like with the HPF-650 specifically made for hospitality by Peerless-AV, the most widely deployed mount hands-down in the industry.

We will keep tabs on the trends and keep you posted of any new ones we see. We’re in a prime time in the industry with so many of the first generation flat panels now due for replacement.  Be sure to check property websites as you’re working with them on any other opportunities so you can easily spot feature listings that may show guest room pictures with outdated models prime for upgrades!

Seeing NEC Solutions within a Forest of Products

At Almo Pro AV we just wrapped up our 2016 E-4 AV Tour with stops in Boston and then Dallas.  Like our previous E-4s, these events offered our customers, large end-users and consultants multiple CTS-certified lectures (with RU Credits!), hands-on experience rooms and an impressive exhibit floor populated with over 50 manufacturer partners displaying the latest in technology.

Due to space constraints and other outside factors, exhibit halls in general often restrict what manufacturers showcase to individual components and not an entire working solution.  Attendees then must visualize the solution, usually by associating it with a recent or current application need.  But what if they could see an entire solution, made up of components from multiple manufacturers in a single exhibit?  This is a concept I’ve been at work on for the past few E-4 events, and the reception and feedback I’ve received is motivating.

Video Wall BackRepresentatives from well-regarded display and projector manufacturer NEC have worked with me on this concept from the beginning. Our goal is to display NEC’s superior commercial panel designs and demonstrate their functionality in a working model, such as a video wall or unique projector application.  To accomplish this we started with a video wall configuration and called on another partner, Peerless-AV to supply their specialized video wall cart.  The cart is an actual Peerless-AV sku providing video wall mounting with mobility.  Perfect for our exhibit hall floor.  Now we can easily demonstrate the features of this video wall solution and mount combination to show attendees.

TV One & NEC

 

In Dallas we took the partial solution even further.  TVOne joined our configuration to display their low-cost and feature-rich 4k video processing unit that utilizes NEC’s Tile Matrix feature.  We then insured electrical noise-free power by employing a Tripp-Lite double-conversion UPS.  The end result was a working, fully mobile 4k video wall solution.

 

Peerless & TrippLite

Peerless Kiosk (left) and Peerless-AV Video Cart (right)

Next, we wanted to demonstrate a single-panel application with a 65″ UHD Panel, mounted in portrait orientation.  Once again we called on Peerless-AV to provide a video cart capable of portrait orientation, enabling us to demonstrate the panel’s ability to change screen orientation.  One dealer group actually came by the booth that day ans offered to purchase the solution right then and there and take it back to their office!

Also popular these days are indoor kiosks, and Almo and NEC were able to bring such a solution to our E4 attendees as well.  This time we created a kiosk solution featuring a 46″ NEC panel displaying content from a BrightSign media player, all secured and ventilated within the Peerless-AV kiosk and once again powered by Tripp-Lite.

Almo is already hard at work with our partners for our March E-4 AV Tour stop in the Windy City, Chicago, IL.  Our solutions exhibits will no doubt continue to evolve and grow.  Perhaps we’ll employ a unique NEC SSL laser projector based digital signage application with portrait orientation using content provided by Almo’s Content Creation Services.  Rest assured, we’ll come up with something – and our attendees will be able to see a true solution through the forest of products on the exhibit floor.

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Working together and great partnerships make events like the E4s come to life. Thanks, NEC!

 

An Emerging World of Outdoor Displays in Commercial Applications

I’ve noticed over the last year the increasing use of outdoor displays in commercial applications.  Once regulated to residential porches and light commercial use (such as a sports bar’s outdoor covered patio), manufacturers are now producing displays that eliminate the need for environmental enclosures and kiosks.

Today, properly specified displays provide many benefits compared to the traditional panel within an enclosure or kiosk.  Some of those benefits include but are not limited to:

  • Weatherproof operation at a considerable lower cost without expensive environmental enclosures & kiosks
  • Better picture due to no gap between the screen and an outer enclosure glass that may hinder picture quality
  • Overall reduction in physical size and weight for the application
  • Simpler mounting and installation
  • Ease of on-going maintenance

But how does a design engineer specify the right outdoor panel for a particular environmental application?  It’s relatively simple – match the properly-rated display to the outdoor demands of the application.  First, assess the application environmental demands:

  • Environmental temperature extremes.
  • Dust & water extremes (both type of dust and at what angles they can attack a panel).
  • Under cover or in direct sunlight.
  • Maintenance access (e.g., mounted high, extremely restricted location, etc.).
  • Exposure to glass-breaking projectiles like rocks and such.

Now, match the display to the environmental demands of the application.

  • Temperature Extremes: Coldest and warmest extremes a display can safely operate.
  • Dust and Moisture: Determine a display’s rating using either a NEMA Enclosure Rating (relative dust & particle resistance measurement) or the more popular “IP’ Rating (Ingress Protection as defined by DIN EN 60529).  An IP rating indicates the external conditions enclosures can withstand.  It describes a display’s scope of protection during use when exposed to temperatures, fuel and oil and their fumes, chemical clouds, acid based moisture and dust entering the display. For example, the “I” in IP has a scale of 1 to 6 that defines the protection against contact and ingress of dust.  The “P” has a scale of 0 to 9k that defines ingress of moisture from water droplets to high pressure steam cleaning.
  • Indirect or Direct Sunlight: If direct sunlight is a factor, consider a panel with UV optical bonding that can eliminate reflection & refraction glare so it can be easily seen in direct sunlight.  Note that simply being a high brightness panel (1500+ nits) doesn’t necessarily translate to good picture in direct sunlight.  It’s hard to out bright the sun!
  • Impact Resistant: Determine if the display needs to be protected from impacts.  And should the screen be broken, make sure it is shatter proof to protect nearby viewers and property.
  • Maintenance: Some displays will be mounted high or in difficult to reach places.  The less maintenance of filters and the ability to be hosed-off or pressure washed can be key.

Almo ProAV partners with Peerless-AV to offer a family of outdoor displays starting with the IP55-rated UltraView Series up to the IP68-rated Xtreme series.  We can match the right display for the environmental demands of temperatures, dust & moisture, direct sunlight, impact resistance, and ease of maintenance.  Also, we will assist in pairing the proper outdoor, wind-rated mount.  Feel free to contact me or your Almo ProAV Account Rep.  We’ll be happy to assist you in specifying the right display for your outdoor application.

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