This weekend I thought I’d play around with the Nikon D60 Digital SLR camera and test my skills in trying to take those “awesome” shots. Now, since we’re in the digital signage industry I thought I’d take photos of something relating to this industry (basically anything I had lying around) and here’s what I could find:

	High Definition Set Top Box and DVD player. Both were connected to a rear projector screen.
	S-video cable – this is becoming almost obsolete but you’ll be surprised on how many digital signage players are actually using this type of connectors
	Short VGA cable – at Advertise Me, we like to make sure all cables are to the correct lengths

I also took several photos of a vegetarian place I went to called Zen Oasis in Berrima Australia. We have a strong belief in our company that “a healthy body and mind allows one to achieve higher levels of growth”. The food was awesome and the environment was tranquil and peaceful. If you’re around that area, I highly recommend that you visit this place (make sure you book in advance as it’s always busy). Here’s a few photos that I took:  (by the way, I’ve had no lessons on photography so apologies if they look amateur).

	As soon as you walk into the restaurant you are greeted by this statue. For this particular photo I thought it would look good if the focus was on the flowers and this was the result.
	This is an all you can eat (just make sure you don’t waste the food) and there was so much variety. Yum… can’t wait to go there again.
	I think this is an “Awesome” shot. There is a stage with a piano surrounded by an aura of stillness.
	This picture was outside the Zen oasis restaurant that showcases a big tree with a wishing well.

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Category: Digital Signage Weekend Fun

It’s been a while since we last distributed our digital signage newsletter but our excuse is… we’ve been busy. I know it’s a lame excuse but we’ve been seriously inundated with businesses contacting us for quotes, responding to emails and we’ve also been involved in digital signage installations.

We recently posted in our forum what people wanted to see in our newsletter and one of our digital signage portal members suggested we should discuss about issues installers face during digital signage rollouts. So thanks to Jon for your feedback, we always value everyones feedback but more importantly we take action!

Lets quickly summarise some of these issues and recommendations:

Physical Security – we have talked about this in the past in one of our blog entries titled Does your digital signage solution pass our security checklist? point number 7 – If you can’t recall what was discussed you can read the article and refresh your memory. Just make sure you physically lock your monitors to prevent thieves from stealing the units.

Use smaller pipes/brackets for monitors -Jon advises the following: “when hanging monitors from ceiling joints, that some companies are using very heavy pipes to hold the monitors. The monitors are getting lighter and lighter and a pipe that is heavier than the monitor is not necessary. Cutting back the size/weight of the pipes can still hold the monitors, reduce costs for shipping and cutting them to length is much easier as well”.

Use pre made Cat5E cables – it makes it easier for installers. “That way you can just connect to the box in the ceiling and to the back of the monitor instead of having one long cable that runs from the PC or rack straight to the monitor. This also helps with replacement of cables, so you don’t have to run an entirely new cable, just replace the bad one and drop it thru the pipe.”

Be green – try to help the environment and try to use equipment that does not need power. For example, there are several Video extenders in the market that do not require power. Some are hard to find but let us know if you run into trouble.

Backup plans – always have a backup plan and NEVER rely on just 1 single supplier. Make sure you have a backup plan for everything, otherwise if you hit a wall during your installation you will still be able to get the job done.

Costings – From jon’s professional experience: “One of the cost saving measures I use for my clients is flat rate billing. It includes travel, time on the job and materials used. There is a little more cost if there is a concrete ceiling as opposed to a tiled or drop ceiling. This way everyone involved knows the costs up front and there are no suprises on the back end for the client” Once again Jon, thanks for your tips. We have created a forum thread on the digital signage portal forum, so that you can all discuss this further. Click here to continue the discussion.

To read past newsletters click here.

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Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Category: Digital Signage Blog Info, Digital Signage Blog News, Digital Signage Newsletter

This week, our team thought of doing something different from our usual postings – we decided to open up the NDSP-500 digital signage player and give you a brief look at what’s inside one of these players. The video is not of the greatest quality but it does give you an idea of the components inside a typical digital signage player and what connections are available. So here’s the video:

As you can clearly see, the unit is small… it’s smaller than half of an A4 paper. With this particular unit, there are several connectors at the front:

1. RS232 – this is usually to provide serial communications with another device. It can be used to control and manage an display screen – that’s if the screen supports RS232.
2. Secure compartment to store the SD card – it’s also a quick way to easily swap out the SD card without having to open up the box

At the back of the unit you will notice the following connectors:

1.Video output:  the unit has these typical connections – S-Video Output/Composite Video and Audio, DVI, and VGA.

2. Video Input: Composite Video and Audio. With this particular unit you will be able to connect a video input source such as a DVD player, Foxtel, CCTV camera etc.

3. S/PDIF – for great audio quality

4. LAN port which support 10/100 Mbps

5. Two USB ports for connecting USB Storage

6. Power plug to connect the power supply. This power plug was different from other digital signage players we’ve seen in the past. It basically has a connector which allows you to twist and screw the power cable to the power plug.

Inside the player, all you will find is a circuit board, a frame for a small hard disk and several cables. As you can see from the video, you will not find a fan inside the player – this makes the unit very quiet when it’s turned on.

Would you like to see more videos? Let us know what you’ll like to see and we’ll try to get it done.

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Category: Digital Signage Blog News, Digital Signage Blog Products, Digital Signage Blog Video