DigitalSignage Issue 18 by Alchemedia Publishing

Digital Place Solutions assists clients to unlock digital visualisation opportunities

“ These displays serve both to enhance the esthetic aspect of the shopping experience at Pacific Fair while serving as a powerful consumer engagement solution” — Stephen Rubie, Co-Founder Digital Place Solutions

Digital Place Solutions provides Consulting, Sourcing and Supply services with a commercial imperative in mind; • Digital Strategy & Tactics – Develop/Evaluate/Execute • Digital Display Concept Development including Hardware, Content and Software • Technology Sourcing and Project Management Digital Place Solutions also represents interior LED specialist NanoLumens Inc. NanoLumens creates innovative new generation LED displays in any desired size, shape, or curvature, backed by the industry’s only Six-Year, Zero Failure Parts Warranty.

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Editorial:

Technicolor Dreams

Story: Christopher Holder

I The headline story is: gee-whiz look at all those goshdarn amazing screens … [but] the impressive tech is only half the story

’ve been having vivid Technicolor dreams.

Small wonder, really. Ever since my technical tour of Telstra’s Customer Inspiration Centre (CIC) in Sydney, I’ve thought about little else — the lavish cornucopia of screens is not something you forget in a hurry. One of the Telstra media creation guys said it best when he called it Willy Wonka’s Factory and “I am a digital Oompa Loompa”. Brilliant. In the subsequent two weeks since my visit I’ve written about 7000 words on the CIC and listened through and transcribed at least a couple of hours of interviews.

So what would possess me to punch out a couple of hundred more? Good question. Call it therapy. My brain needs to process what I’ve experienced and hopefully it’s of some value to you. To quickly summarise what you’ll no doubt read in full further into this issue: the CIC is a huge space (~4800sqm) that demonstrates what’s possible when you engage Telstra as your technology partner. Some of the spaces are there to provide a blue-sky catalyst for Telstra

to have ‘what if ?’ conversations with its business clients, some are slightly more prosaic examples of how you might fit out an office or retail store. Everything you see is something Telstra has the in-house smarts and connections to achieve.

The digital signage story is multi-layered and nuanced. The headline story is: gee-whiz look at all those gosh-darn amazing screens. And if that was the entire story, it’d still make our cover because the technology Telstra is leveraging to tell its story is quite incredible. For example, there’s one ‘screen’ that didn’t get a guernsey in the story that was exceptionally cool. It’s called Philips Luminous Textile. It’s not so different to a stretched canvas over a 60mm LED pitch screen. It’s not for watching the footy, rather the effect is soft, diffuse and architectural. It’s a professional product, networked, and there’s a content management service that sits next to it that streams meda to the screen. (Go to www.largeluminoussurfaces. com if you want to know more.)

That’s one technology out of many. There’s plenty of touch. There are some astonishing NanoLumens LED, including the unforgettable Insight Ring and the 4K on-stage screen in the theatre. But as intimated, the impressive tech is only half the story. The pointy end of the tale is in the content.

This isn’t Telstra’s first rodeo, it’s launched Experience and Inspiration centres before. Like many others, its first efforts put the screens first and the message/content second. Telstra learnt from its mistakes – a display without a purpose is a waste of space. I like CIC Manager, David Woodbridge’s quote “It’s critical as you walk by a screen for it to show something relevant. If it doesn’t, then we’ve missed an amazing opportunity and that display becomes nothing more than an expensive wall hanging.” It’s quite a challenging statement. And worth asking: ‘How many expensive wall hangings do you have in your organisation?’

I hope you enjoy our walk through the CIC and I hope you have a great Summer break. Personally, I figure a week at the beach might help me clear my kaleidoscope mind. Christopher Holder, Editorial Director chris@dsmag.com.au

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Advertising Office: (02) 9986 1188 PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086

CONTENTS ISSUE 18 2016

Editorial Office: (03) 5331 4949 PO Box 295, Ballarat, VIC 3353

Editorial Director: Christopher Holder (chris@dsmag.com.au) Publisher: Philip Spencer (philip@dsmag.com.au) Art Director: Dominic Carey (dominic@alchemedia.com.au)

Graphic Design: Daniel Howard (daniel@alchemedia.com.au) Contributing Editor: Graeme Hague (news@dsmag.com.au) Accounts: Jaedd Asthana (jaedd@alchemedia.com.au) Circulation Manager: Mim Mulcahy (subscriptions@dsmag.com.au)

alchemedia publishing pty ltd (ABN: 34 074 431 628) PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 info@alchemedia.com.au All material in this magazine is copyright © 2015 Alchemedia Publishing Pty Ltd. The title AV is a registered Trademark. Apart from any fair dealing permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. The publishers believe all information supplied in this magazine to be correct at the time of publication. They are not in a position to make a guarantee to this effect and accept no liability in the event of any information proving inaccurate. After investigation and to the best of our knowledge and belief, prices, addresses and phone numbers were up to date at the time of publication. It is not possible for the publishers to ensure that advertisements appearing in this publication comply with the Trade Practices Act, 1974. The responsibility is on the person, company or advertising agency submitting or directing the advertisement for publication. The publishers cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions, although every endeavour has been made to ensure complete accuracy. 24/12/15

FEATURE STORY 8 Calling Card: Telstra’s Customer Insight Centre, Sydney TECHNOLOGY 22 Audi Motor Show, Frankfurt

IN ACTION 14 Highpoint Shopping Centre 16 Microsoft Beach Club, Cannes 18 Belmont 16s, Lake Macquarie 20 ACMA Foyer, Sydney 24 oOh!media Shortpress 26 UBET

COMMENT 34 Mug Punter REFERENCE 30 Who’s Who Company Profiles

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CALLING CARD ‘New Telstra’ is more than a telco, it’s a technology company, and its Customer Insight Centre might just be the world’s best technology calling card. Story: Christopher Holder

elstra is transforming itself. The pronouncements of CEO Andrew Penn make the position clear: Telstra doesn’t see itself as a telco any more; it’s a technology company.

But thanks to its telco roots, Telstra has strong existing relationships with tens of thousands of Australian businesses — big and small. It’s a potent ‘foot in the door’, but Telstra has a perception problem. It’s hard to shake the ‘just a telco’ tag.

Telstra is a big company with deep pockets, so it’s been building ‘experience’ and ‘inspiration’ centres. These centres are designed to change people’s minds and give consultants the right environment to talk to clients about the new Telstra.

The Customer Insight Centre (CIC), in downtown Sydney, is an astonishing showpiece of Telstra ‘the technology company’. But more than that, it has weaved within it all that Telstra has learnt in the past years regarding how best to influence its clients and alter perceptions. And here’s where DigitalSignage pricks up its ears: using technology — digital signage in particular — to change the conversation; to set the agenda with customers. BETTER THAN GOOGLE

In a world where toddlers are iPad-proficient before they can talk, it’s a tall order to use technol-

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ogy to win undivided attention. Clients were telling Telstra — “don’t waste my time”. In other words, if I’m going to spend an hour, a morning or three days with you at the CIC, please make it worth my while. It’s this sentiment that drives CIC Manager, David Woodbridge: “You can log onto Google and find a wealth of information about Telstra products for yourself. The CIC needs to offer something more; something personalised and relevant to the client — their business, industry and their customer base. “Every single element in this centre, including the AV installations, are used to deliver that information to the customer, providing value for time.

“It’s critical as you walk by a screen for it to show something relevant. If it doesn’t, then we’ve missed an amazing opportunity and that display becomes nothing more than an expensive wall hanging.” FILLING SPACE OR A NEED?

Too often a screen fills a space rather than a need. We see a blank wall and think “that’s a good place for a display” rather than determining what needs to be said and then specifying the best technology and location to fulfil the role. The Telstra CIC provides a masterclass in how

technology needs to be subservient to a philosophy rather than the signage ‘tail’ wagging the enterprise ‘dog’.

The CIC philosophy is customer-centric — knowing who the visiting client is and developing content pertinent to them and their industry. Within the centre the Telstra solutions consultant can take the client on a journey with key stops on the way, each with displays that best suit the purpose of the zone — Welcome screens, the Insight Ring, Vision Gallery screens, Expo Zone screens, the Theatre, the Partnership Hub, and meeting rooms. The consultant will guide the client through Telstra’s technology ecosphere, with content being triggered from the CIC’s bespoke CMS, pulling relevant assets from the client’s playbook. As discussions are underway the consultant can seamlessly trigger relevant and supporting content on any of the displays via a tablet — at every step it’s the screens that are supporting the narrative rather than inflexibly and artificially setting the agenda.

by a simple theme that clients can observe and understand quickly.”

We all know that ‘content is king’ but the CIC provides an object lesson in just how crucial it is to have the right content in the right format at the right time. KINGS OF CONTENT

Telstra CIC has a content creation department. At times they will work with other creative agencies to develop material but they will always have the last word regarding what plays. spoke to Telstra’s Rob Gerber and Ricky Chivers to learn more about what works and what doesn’t. DigitalSignage

“The biggest thing is understanding who’s coming through the door,” noted Rob Gerber. “We do the homework to understand who our customers are, what interests them and what types of content they’ll engage with.

“To generalise, we’ve discovered that simplicity is the key. Sure, what we produce should be engaging and attractive but it needs to be anchored

It turns out that infographics (or ‘dashboards’) remain extremely popular. This is, after all, an ‘insight’ centre, and David Woodbridge rather neatly describes an ‘insight’ as “something the client didn’t know before”.

“If we display a client’s share price that’s pretty irrelevant,” observed David Woodbridge. “But show them, say, the trends in digital media distribution that are shaping the way they could be planning product design and reaching customers? Well, they’re the eye-opening moments; that’s what is really resonating with customers.” TECH TALKS

Technology doesn’t speak for itself. Digital signage champions knows this better than just about anyone. Buying a gee-whiz screen, installing a network… it’s simply empty real estate; a blank canvas. Conversely, if you have your overarching philosophy and message down, and you have producers developing stunning content, then this is when the technology can really shine; where people are blown away. And so it is at the Telstra CIC. The ‘best of breed’

Quite the Reception: The reception screens play an important welcoming role. Upon arrival, guests have a photo taken of them which appear on their personalised tablet along with the fully-interactive Planar display wall. The screens can also display live (curated) Yammer and Facebook feeds pertinent to the group. Midwich (Planar): 1300 666 099 or www.midwich.com.au

technology looks outstanding. The NanoLumens screens of the Insight Ring and within the Theatre are awe inspiring. The Sony 84-inch TV in the green room; the Planar LED Welcome displays… and on and on it goes. CHANGING THE CONVERSATION

How do you pivot the emphasis of sales meetings from ‘convincing clients of the merits’ to ‘collaboratively exploring the possibilities’? What would you give to be able to flick that switch? Telstra asked this question of itself and the answer was ‘many millions of dollars’. It’s been worth every cent.

The ‘wow’ factor provided by the targeted and sophisticated content, presented on state-of-theart display technology, and leveraged by knowledgeable consultants, all conspire to shift the conversation. Even hard-nosed CFOs of blue-chip companies are letting their guards down, allowing their imaginations to roam, and discussions to be collaborative. Priceless. 

Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

RING TONE The Insight Ring is a remarkable piece of display technology and design. It dominates the foyer. Impossible to ignore, it immediately puts customers on high alert — this session is going to be much more than ‘death by Powerpoint’ and ‘these guys clearly know technology’. The ring beckons, you just want to get inside it. It’s like some sort of ‘stargate’ — an alien space/time portal — promising a glimpse into another dimension, which isn’t so far from the truth. In it Telstra can accommodate a single delegate or 20, with the media team providing industry insights pertinent to the client’s industry. The experience is truly immersive, with the NanoLumens 4mm pixel pitch LED working with a multichannel audio system. The Telstra team approached NanoLumens the original concept — a circle tilted at 17° — designed to appear as if it was hanging in free space. The drawings were sent to NanoLumens HQ in Atlanta for a detailed engineering solution. Doug Price, Director of Systems Engineering: “The tilt places a lot more stress on the structure than a regular ‘flat’ ring — with the 17° tilt it can distort under its own weight. Any distortion would cause a misalignment in the pixels. And at a 4.5mm pixel pitch it only takes half a millimetre before you see a distortion.” Part of the answer was to keep weight to an absolute minimum and be utterly precise with the rigging — Doug and his team managed to pare down the number of rigging points from eight to two while maintaining the structural integrity. In fact, a last-minute curve ball — the outer shroud ended up being supplied quite a bit heavier than anticipated — was absorbed by the engineering. One of NanoLumens’ hallmarks, as a specialist indoor LED provider, is how cool its panels run, which was a crucial consideration in this case — a dozen suits will warm up quickly but noisy fans would detract from the experience. Without a lot of ambient light the screens’ output need only tick over at around 25% of their possible output. Combine that with NanoLumens’ 82% efficiency and you have a display that’s cool to the touch. Another key aspect of Nanolumens winning the job was in its colour rendering. As you can imagine, colour is everything in corporate branding so not only must the panels represent the specific Pantone with accuracy, that accuracy must be maintained from panel-to-panel and at virtually any viewing angle. Remarkably, as you stand inside the 4m-across ring with LED in all directions, there’s no discernible colour shift. Such is the Insight Ring’s notoriety, it’s also been used by the Australian Ballet for a launch, and hip hop outfit, Bliss N’ Eso, for who knows what! Digital Place Solutions (NanoLumens): 0412 339 489 or gerry@digitalplacesolutions.com

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4K SCREEN Ricky Chivers: “We have 4K screens and screens with unusual dimensions. If we’re using any stock footage we’ll access the the highest resolution because it may end up on the 4K theatre screen, for example. We have to think in the highest resolution at all times and then scale down for smaller screens.

SCREEN NETWORK David Woodbridge: “We’re not isolating any screen or technology within the centre — each is part of a larger network and can largely play the same role as any other. We’ve learnt from experience that it’s not enough to just put up a random screen, then try to create content for it — it becomes a struggle after a while, and inevitably the screen becomes tired and irrelevant. What we’ve done here is create a customer journey that utilises every component in the centre.”

RACK STATS • 3 communication rooms with 35 racks to house network, collaboration and content gear • 55 virtual machines, 27TB of conventional storage and 8TB of high performance flash storage installed • A core network that provides 11.5 Tbps switching capacity • Lightware 160x160 4K video/audio matrix was the first ordered in the world • 86km of underfloor cable including 20km of fibreoptic Lightware: www.lightware.com.au

PARTNERSHIP HUB

THEATRE OF DREAMS The hugely impressive 8.5m x 6.2m NanoLumens NanoSlim Engage 2.5mm native 4K on-stage display (NanoLumens’ new hi-res, large-scale visualisation solution) is the room’s visual focus. For events such as the 2015 ARIA nominations announcement the display comes into its own — it’s impossible to pull your eyes away from the stage. An Analog Way Ascender 32 vision processor makes it easier for the theatre staff to drag ’n’ drop as many as eight PIPs on screen. There are some 30 inputs including SDI, the rarely used VGA, DVI, DisplayPort, and the six in-house Sony BRC-H900 PTZ cameras, with up to 12 inputs selectable at any one time. Any of those sources can then be moved around the screen with a mouse. A Lightware 4K matrix switcher does more of the heavy lifting in the machine room. The simplicity of the Ascender 32 interface belies the grunt required to ensure glitch-free operation. From an audio perspective, the Meyer Sound Constellation variable acoustics surround sound system is a showstopper. A matrix of reference microphones ‘sniff’ or ‘sample’ the room in real time, feeding into a powerful Meyer D-Mitri DSP mainframe (the brain of Constellation). A newly-generated soundfield, created in a natural manner by adding many finely-tuned delays to the input, is output through a multitude of critically-placed Meyer Sound loudspeakers. In short, Constellation can put the performers and audience into any space with the click of a mouse — from a bathroom to a medieval concert hall. It’s truly astonishing. Telstra: insight.telstra.com.au Digital Place Solutions (NanoLumens): 0412 339 489 or gerry@ digitalplacesolutions.com Arup: (03) 9668 5500 or www.arup.com Sony Professional: (02) 9887 0586 or amanda.aldridge@ap.sony.com Axis Audio (Analog Way): www.axisav.com.au Meyer Sound: (07) 3267 7800 or www.meyersound.com.au

Welcome to the Partnership Hub. It’s a zone for delegates to be wow’ed by the breadth of strategic partnerships and subsidiaries Telstra has in its worldwide corporate orbit. “It goes back to shifting expectations,” noted David Woodbridge. “We want to have a conversation with clients, we don’t want to stand in front of a presentation and the Partnership Hub provides the inspirational environment to have that conversation. Even the most hard-headed CFO will get a little bit excited and a little more engaged. Much more than if you clicked through a PowerPoint.” The Stonehenge-like assembly of three 3m-high 4.5mm pixel-pitch NanoCurve displays from NanoLumens go from the floor to a reflective ceiling and create an immersive space where product and services solutions take on both intimacy and immediacy. It’s also a great area to play PlayStation (apparently!). The subwoofer concealed in the centre seating works a treat.

USING VIDEO Some of the signage templates are enormous (up to 13,000 by 1080 pixels) so rendering time is considerable, especially for video and motion graphics. Rob Gerber: “Video is great so long as it’s done in small doses. Anything over 90 seconds will bore people to tears.” Ricky Chivers: “The motion of it needs to be tempered. You don’t want too much motion as it can give people vertigo.” Rob Gerber: “We trialled moving cityscapes in the Insight Ring. It didn’t work at all, it made people feel quite unwell.” Ricky Chivers: “Animating background motion graphics is fine — overlay that with infographics and you’ve got something visually arresting. But don’t use anything that jumps around too suddenly.

simplicity is the key. Sure, what we produce should be engaging and attractive but it needs to be anchored by a simple theme Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

EXHIBITION SPACE This flexible exhibition space can be easily reset to demonstrate how a business might ‘go digital’. The team can highlight a certain solution — from signage, to interactive touch, to payment gateways — and allow delegates to literally ‘walk through’ a concept. David Woodbridge describes the thinking behind the ‘blank canvas’ nature of the space: “We’ve learnt from previous centres not to build anything permanent — they quickly get dusty and uninspired. We had a Big Four bank through here, we’ve had a surf shop, we had a school, and in each case we put the sets in then overlaid them with technology. It tells the customer engagement story. So rather than the space being a permanent hospital or school, it’s a supremely flexible environment.”

GETTING THE BEST FROM TOUCH David Woodbridge: “Multitouch is the way forward. In the Expo Zone, for example, we have full access to our media library. We can grab assets, stretch them, move them to the side and then overlay more content to tell a story. That’s the power of touch: pulling up multiple pieces of content, layering it to create a narrative. Much better than it being a means to access a pdf or a video, where you have to exit a page to bring something else up — that’s clunky. We’ve also found that being able to replicate the touchscreen functionality form a tablet is very powerful.”

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It’s critical as you walk by a screen for it to show something relevant. If it doesn’t, then we’ve missed an amazing opportunity and that display becomes nothing more than an expensive wall hanging.

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Peak Performance Highpoint Shopping Centre makes NanoLumens move

In Action

When the GPT Group installed its first NanoLumens visualisation solution at Melbourne Central Shopping Centre earlier this year, it discovered a more effective way to engage and influence shoppers’ retail behaviour. So when the time came to enhance the engagement solutions at its Highpoint Shopping Centre in the Melbourne’s west, it turned to the same team at NanoLumens and Digital Place Solutions to design a solution that would need to perform just as brilliantly in an environment that is basked in sunlight for up to four to six hours a day.

ENGAGEMENT Digital Place Solutions: 0412 339 489 or www.digitalplacesolutions.com NanoLumens: www.nanolumens.com GPT Group: www.gpt.com.au

“Highpoint Shopping Centre is a world class shopping destination that features more than 500 stores including Australian and international designer fashion, housewares and lifestyle brands, plus more than 7000 parking spaces with Smart Park technology offering convenient access to the Centre,” explained Jef Khor, National Manager — New Revenue & Operations at the GPT Group. “With a proud history of bringing many retailers and brands to Melbourne’s West, we are constantly looking for new ways to enhance the consumer engagement experience for both our retailers and their customers.” Khor continued, “Designing and installing a state-of-theart, 21st century engagement solution that could deliver an HD viewing experience in direct sunlight was a top priority for our Highpoint team. The solution they created with NanoLumens and Digital Place Solutions more than met the

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challenge. This is our second NanoLumens installation and it’s an even more brilliant solution than the first one installed at Melbourne Central.” In fact, the NanoLumens solution has become a star attraction in its own right. “Highpoint is a destination for quality entertainment, where shoppers can catch a movie at Hoyts, one of only two cinemas in Melbourne showcasing IMAX; enjoy the fun of Playtime; or grab a bite to eat at any of the delicious Highpoint restaurants,” Khor explained. “And now, many of our shoppers stop and stare at the NanoLumens LED display — much to the delight of our retailers who are advertising their in-store promotions on the display.”

PERFECT MATCH Digital Place Solutions co-founder and Director Gerry Thorley noted that, “The environment of Highpoint is very different than Melbourne Central. The Highpoint Shopping Centre installation area is smaller (5.8m high x 3.2m wide) and, as such, the pitch is 5.6mm. The atrium is also very bright on sunny days, so the double-sided NanoSlim LED solution had to be specified for 3000 Nits, not the standard 1500 Nits of most indoor LED solutions.” In each case, light-weight, ease of installation and maintenance, extremely low power consumption, and an unconditional six-year, zero failure warranty were key ingredients in the purchase decision. “The beautiful thing

about NanoLumens is that their solutions take all of the traditional obstacles off the table,” Thorley emphasised. “They don’t require extensive physical renovations to be made. They can be suspended virtually anywhere. They deliver the brightest and sharpest edge-to-edge performance of any solution out there — and the whole sale comes backed by a parts warranty that no other company can match.” “Australia continues to grow as a major centre of business for NanoLumens,” NanoLumens Vice President of Strategic Accounts Almir DeCarvalho said today. “Our partnership with Digital Place Solutions, and customers as forward looking as the GPT Group, points the way to the future for every type of business looking for innovative new ways to engage their audiences.” 

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Living Billboards Microsoft & Christie Kinect with Consumers

In Action

Christie: www.christiedigital.com

Christie and Microsoft brought mixed-reality technologies to the beachfront in Cannes, France for the Microsoft Beach Club during the 2015 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Visitors to the Microsoft Beach Club experienced the latest in projection mapping collaborations via two customised projects using Microsoft Kinect technology and Christie projectors and software.

touched, the interactive mural sensed depth changes and came to life with pop-up images.

Housed in a white-tented pavilion on the beach, Christie and Microsoft displayed two projects designed to show how Kinect and Christie projectors can be combined to inspire a creative space. Using Microsoft Kinect and a Christie Mirage HD14K-M projector, the first project, dubbed ‘Light Marketing’, warped images onto visitors in real time as they entered and moved around the pavilion.

Christie engineers spent three months working with Microsoft on the ‘Light Marketing’ and ‘Light Mural’ projects and overcame numerous environmental challenges including hot weather, high ambient light, salty air, no roof and a wooden floor that vibrated when walked on.

“Kinect is pretty much a room scale technology,” explained Rick Barraza, design strategy and creative engineering, Partner Catalyst Group, Microsoft. “It tracks up to six people at 30 frames a second and with 25 points of articulation on a person’s joints. It is about movements in space. We’re able to turn people into living billboards.” “‘Light Marketing’ can be used to show real-time content on people for shopping, concerts or installations and the point was to make it seem like a magical experience,” added Chad Faragher, senior product developer, Software, Christie. The second project ‘Light Mural’ was a 10-foot by 4-foot animated scene of beach life featuring Kinect, one Christie DWU951-Q projector with an ultra-short throw lens. When

Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

“We were interested in mixing Kinect with projection to create a perception-based experience,” commented Barraza. “When you mix projectors with a camera that can see and understand reality, dumb light becomes smart light, which is why I love this partnership with Christie.”

“Christie needed to provide high brightness projectors that could compete against the high ambient light here. We also had a lot of heat to deal with, and these projectors were asked to be enclosed away in boxes so we needed to provide projectors that could compete in this environment and still continue to operate,” said Faragher. Overall, the projects were a success for both Microsoft and Christie. “It was great working with Christie because they try to explore what projection can do. They’re very creative people and there is a big tradition in cinema of how technology is used to tell stories better. The project was a fascinating marriage between technology and creativity; engineers worked to overcome all these challenges and the artists providing content were able to use technology in a way that could inspire storytellers in museums, theme parks and retail spaces,” Barraza concluded. 

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Pushing the Boat Out Belmont 16s Club’s IPTV Upgrade

In Action

Story: Christopher Holder

Tripleplay: www.tripleplay-services.com Umow Lai: (02) 9431 9431 or umowlai.com.au Streamvision: 1300 300 407 or streamvision.com.au

The Boatshed Bar & Galley at Belmont 16s near Newcastle is a new venue within a licensed club. Literally built into an old boatshed, the venue has an edgy contemporary design masterminded by Bergstrom Architects in consultation with the club helmed by CEO Scott Williams. Belmont 16s invested heavily in the AV aspects of the fitout. First step was to engage an AV consultant, Umow Lai, to guide the club through the latest tech developments it could be leveraging to do better business. The big ticket items are the video wall (for superior gameday viewing), an IPTV system individually addresses every screen in the club to display free-to-air, pay TV, music video or digital signage, and a superior audio install for clear/crisp sound in the somewhat cavernous space. The Tripleplay IPTV system, integrated by Streamvision, has provided enormous flexibility to the club’s programming and marketing, as Streamvision’s Greg Bassine explains: “The system takes human intervention out of the equation. The club is now automating the whole solution — scheduling what each screen is displaying — as well as being able to speak to guests with the right messaging. In my experience, clubs suffer from having screens showing bland and generic messaging, because they need to be shared across multiple screens. That’s not the case at Belmont 16s, for example, the two screen in the men’s bathroom display different messaging to the screens in the ladies’.

MORE ABOUT TRIPLEPLAY Streamvision works almost exclusively on the Tripleplay IPTV platform as it’s one of the few on the market that manage the 18

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distribution of music, TV and digital signage all on the one computer network to an unlimited number of screens. The signage component is very capable, allowing the club to integrate live TV, RSS feeds (like weather and shipping/sailing info) and all the usual scheduling features you’d expect of a mature digital signage platform. For Belmont16s it means the club can schedule lunch specials info in the morning, concert and dinner info in the evenings; it can push male-oriented info to the two screens in the men’s loos and vice versa in the ladies’. It leverages the power of digital and a big improvement on some of the generic messaging you often see in clubs and other venues that aren’t or can’t make that kind of screen-by-screen flexibility work. From an IPTV perspective, the club can schedule channel changes. The screens can be switched at 7.30 when the footy starts, switch out at its conclusion to some digital signage and then move onto music video after that.

TOP DOWN Scott Williams is equally excited about the marketing and cross promotion possibilities: “We have a large 600-seat auditorium so we can promote Thirsty Merc or Pete Helliar in the Boatshed but not the Elvis Tribute Show. “It certainly beats the days of running around with memory sticks and relying on someone to take an advertisement down when it was out of date. We can schedule our programming and messaging now.” 

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Media Screening ACMA Video Wall

In Action

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is Australia’s regulator for broadcasting, the internet, radio communications, and telecommunications. If you have a complaint about Sam Newman’s latest antics or a dodgy nasal-delivery advertisement during Kids’ Kartoon Korner then ACMA is on the front line. ACMA’s Pyrmont office in Sydney now has a resplendent centrepiece video wall in the foyer. The video wall communicates important ACMA messages to visitors via presentations that display via a networked PC.

The P.A. People: (02) 8755 8700 or installedsystems@papeople.com.au ACMA: www.acma.gov.au

The video wall comprises nine Samsung UD46D, 46-inch displays. The brackets and wiring are concealed behind the displays with enough room for ventilation. Working in conjunction with the builder, the video wall has been designed to pop out from its surroundings with a black bevelled edge. The video wall utilises a power saving mode that automatically switches the system on and off at the beginning and end of each day. “It’s always a challenge to align a video wall precisely. Even more so to make it flush with a built surround. A measure of finesse was required in the design and coordination of the installation to build it to within the millimetre.

Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

Working with the builder in this regard was a simple and straightforward affair. The result is tremendous,” said Josh Jones, Project Manager for The P.A. People. The P.A. People has had extensive experience with video wall installation projects, some other notable installations include the RAAF Richmond Air Base and Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix control room. The RAAF Richmond Air Base required a video wall due to the introduction of new aircraft. With the completion of the project, RAAF had access to 13 displays from nine computers, three freeto-air television services, satellite TV, DVD, and two multi-function terminals on a 36-screen and a four-screen video wall. The Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix control room installation provided a 12-screen video wall for race control that was mounted on a specially engineered permanent bracket designed and built by The P.A. People engineering team. Located in the main pit building, the wall received feeds from a number of sources including CCTV cameras that were mounted around the track (provided by others), allowing race officials a real time view of the entire track and any critical incidents that might occur during the race. 

LG brings control to your fingertips with the Commercial Display Customer App LG Commercial Display information can now be easily accessed via mobile devices using the new LG C-Display Customer App which is available for Androidâ&#x201E;˘ and iOS operating systems. It is the home to heaps of information including the full range of LG Commercial TV and Signage display products, product information and manuals, video wall configuration software and LG customer service contact information. The information can be viewed on compatible devices, downloaded or shared via email with customers and colleges. Available for download on Google Playâ&#x201E;˘ or the Apple Store.

www.LG.com.au/commerical Android, Google, Google Play, Nexus and other marks are trademarks of Google Inc.

LG Commercial Display Customer App

A4 Reams It Audi’s Huge 12K LED Launch

Technology

AV Stumpfl: avstumpflaustralia.com

Held in September 2015, the IAA International Motor Show in Frankfurt is one of the biggest auto shows in the world, and is known for revealing new and concept cars first. Audi engaged German company, MatrixManagement, to pull together a stunning, media presentation.

at 12,240 x 1907 pixels and the smallest screen produced an unprecedented 7,208 x 2312 pixels. As each screen was unique in shape and size, special customised mechanical substructures were developed, manufactured and integrated by MatrixManagement.

“The stakes were high,” explained Georg Rössler, founder and CEO of MatrixManagement. “Our client wanted us to create a dynamic presentation that would work with floor space, lighting, mirrors, elaborate set design and over 33 automobiles. Digital technologies needed to link virtual and physical exhibits and importantly to impress industry peers, visitors, and the Media.

The starting point of Audi’s architectural and multimedia masterpiece was the 100m ‘experience walk’, an entrance corridor encircling the buildings interior. AV Stumpfl Wings Engine Raw was used as playout system including a presentation window using augmented reality to connect digital information about Audi technologies with the physical automobiles on display.

“Replacing a conventional booth, a stand-alone brand space and multimedia experience invited visitors to discover Audi’s four major themes – Sport, Quattro, Ultra and Technologies — and to reveal the future of the A4 model line and Audi Q7 e tron hybrid.”

UNCOMPRESSED 4K NATIVE TIFF

36K HORIZONTAL Seventeen AV Stumpfl Wings Engine Raw and three Wings Engine Stage media servers were integrated by MatrixManagement to power approximately 700sqm of high-resolution 3.5mm pitch LED displays. Four screens were positioned in the main presentation area of Audi’s threestorey, 70m by 55m temporary building at IAA International Motor Show, Frankfurt. The LED screens produced a total of 36,000 horizontal pixels in uncompressed format, something that couldn’t be achieved using conventional compressed video formats. The largest screen used a single-stream of uncompressed video 22

Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

A focal point was the new Audi A4 – Audi’s best selling model – which was centrally positioned on a rotating platform and surrounded by the main LED video screens. Above the main centre stage, a giant virtual compass was installed. MatrixManagement programmed and controlled all movements on stage including the compass and screen content. Additionally, frame accurate control of the system was used on real automobiles that were mounted onto the surface of the LED screens. As soon as the compass turned into one of the four cardinal directions, the entire media display of the exhibit switched between the four thematic worlds. All uncompressed animated and computer graphic visualisations and scenic content was created in native 4K TIFF format by long-term partners of Audi. Rössler explains: “We used uncompressed media because

it gives the best possible definition and quality – an essential requirement for this project. Wings Engine Raw provided multiple playback of .tiff picture sequences in addition with the playback of .png sequences from one single Server. “Wings Engine Raw is the most powerful server for uncompressed playback in the world and we are delighted to have used it the first-time on such an important and challenging project like IAA Frankfurt.” The project was six months in the planning, eight weeks in construction, programming and testing, 13 show days and took 72 hours to remove after the event concluded.

NEXT STOP DETROIT Horst Damoser, business development manager at AV Stumpfl adds: “Our research and development teams have worked to create a single, robust system that can handle an unprecedented quantity of uncompressed 4K50/60 media streams. We’re delighted that MatrixManagement has put it to the test in such an integral way.” Further validation came after the show as Audi won ‘Best Booth’ at The IAA International Motor Show. Now that the project is over, MatrixManagement has invested in more Wings Engine Raw systems for use on future projects. Next show on stage will be in the US at the Detroit Motorshow in January 2016 which will see MatrixManagement again deploy Wings Engine Raw for Audi. 

Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

OOH!S CAFE NETWORK • 1,000,000 visitations each week across Australia, visit 375 cafes in five CBDs • 59% own, manage or work in a small business • Over half earn more than $100K pa • The majority are male – 68% • The majority are aged between 30-50

Worth a Shot oOh!media’s ShortPress for Café Network

In Action

The “world’s first” integrated online and digital out of home content platform dedicated to supporting Australia’s two million small businesses has been launched by oOh!media as part of its online and offline product strategy. Shortpress, the fourth content platform launched by oOh! in the past 18 months (joining ‘Hijacked’, ‘In2Indoor’ an ‘QView’), publishes small business information and insights to a mobile-first website in addition to the oOh!’s Café network of digital screens in 375 high-traffic cafés in major capital cities.

oOh!media: www.oohmedia.com.au

Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

“To ensure the content reflects small business’ needs, we’re establishing the ShortPress Insights Community, in conjunction with Vision Critical’s cloud-based, customer intelligence platform to drive the editorial direction and content.”

Group Director of oOh! Place, Adam Cadwallader, said the idea for ShortPress was born from research of the audience within the oOh! Café environment, which provides digital screen content and free Wi-Fi to an audience of almost a million customers each week.

Shortpress will publish editorial, interviews, opinion and expert advice on key issues facing small business including advice about innovation, leadership, marketing, technology and finance, plus free downloadable tools and templates.

The research showed around 59% percent of the café audience own, manage or work in a small business, 90 percent find the café screen content a welcome distraction, most patrons were time poor and drowning in information, and for many the café had become a key part of their working life.

Mr Cadwallader said ShortPress has already gained tremendous support and expects continued interest from other corporates targeting small business, as it offers a more personal way to engage with the elusive sector.

“There’s an international phenomenon being coined ‘the coffice’, a cross between a café and an office, which provides workers with a place for meetings, a break from the isolation of working from home and time-out,” Mr Cadwallader said. 24

“While we originally set about looking at what content would be most useful for our café screens, the insights resulted in oOh! launching ShortPress.com. au, which aims to deliver content that inspires small business, and then amplifying the content via our digital café screens.

“The content that advertisers will be associated with is useful and engaging and will inspire owners, leaving them a little bit ahead of where they were yesterday. All fired-up by insights and a shot of caffeine,” Mr Cadwallader said. 

E G A N G I S L A T I G MORE DI

better! e h t r o f , s s e in or your bus f , u o y r o f , s y ur da ISE 2016 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Fo At ISE 2016 visitors will experience the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest gathering of leading digital signage manufacturers and service companies presenting cutting-edge products, technologies and solutions. Plus, you have the chance to meet and engage with leading DS industry experts in a comprehensive conference programme.

Find out more and register: www.iseurope.org ISE is a joint venture partnership of

Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

You Bet UBET’s punting transformation

In Action

A state-of-the-art sports entertainment experience now awaits you, as UBET unveils the new world of betting. With giant commercial grade screens, stadium style seating, digital betting devices plus zoned audio, it’s no surprise that punters are impressed. In fact, betting and foot-traffic have increased, with excellent feedback received about their newly transformed locations; Moonah (Tasmania), New Farm (Queensland) and the bustling Brisbane hotel, The Norman Hotel (Queensland). These locations are just the start of a nationwide overhaul across another 200 stand-alone UBET outlets and a similar overhaul of 1200 pubs which house UBET agencies.

Entwined: www.entwinedsolutions.com.au Prendi: www.prendi.com.au

UBET’s aim for the transformation was to integrate enough digital technology to appeal to younger, digital-savvy consumers, yet ensuring the system was seamless and easyto-use as to keep the traditional punters onside. With this vision, UBET brought it together with their digital solutions partner Entwined. “Working with the Tatts Group on the UBET transformation has been a great example of partnership for us here at Entwined.” Says Director of Entwined, Cameron Hanns. “From the beginning of the project we worked closely with the UBET team, initially given the architects impression drawings to then go and design a robust, digital content delivery solution to meet the UBET vision for their modernday venues. I think the end result speaks for itself. We are very proud of our investment in this partnership and the delivery of the new UBET sites.”

Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

Along with a complete stadium-style environment, the transformation includes a combination of 42-inch commercial signage panels, across giant video walls, information touchscreens and self service terminals. Additional 85inch commercial signage panels have brought their Sports and Racing Walls to life. These giant 85-inch displays feature quad-split technologies, seamlessly allowing up to four different shots to be displayed on each screen. With technology continually advancing, quad-splitting on commercial displays provides easier, more seamless deployment and ongoing usage, perhaps eventually superseding matrix switching. Zoned audio and headphone outlets allow for a more personalised betting experience than ever before. Plus, benches lined with digital tablets give punters the opportunity to place their bets and browse sporting information through the simple point of touch. Of course, for those punters who prefer the ‘traditional’ paper betting methods they can still do so, while enjoying the stadiumstyle makeover. UBET’s busiest location, Surfers Paradise (Queensland), is undergoing the transformation and is the next to open. The transformation has kept the consumer at the heart of the concept, providing them with a fully-immersive sports entertainment experience which is second only to being at the game or at the track. An incredible transformation, state-of-the-art digital solution, punters on-side, plus a promising future ahead? You bet. 

Tablet â&#x20AC;˘ Desktop â&#x20AC;˘ Mobile

videoandfilmmaker.com 185,000 + Likes & Rising! Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

OLED LANDS IN KOREA

OPTOMA KILLS IT

LG has demonstrated its OLED credentials with a couple of huge structures in South Korea’s Incheon airport. Each comprises 140 x 55-inch curved OLED displays laced together in an awe-inspiring bow. Standing 13m high and 8m across, the displays were created by LG in partnership with the French design firm Wilmotte & Associates, famous for designing such avant garde structures as the Project Signal Tower Defense.

Optoma projectors have played a key role in the success of the Miss Fisher Exhibition at Rippon Lea mansion, Melbourne. The sensitivities of the National Trust-listed building made standard exhibition lighting and design techniques were off limits. But portable Optoma projectors provided a solution in place of installed devices. The low-profile Optoma projectors, run quiet and cool, and can be easily secreted while maintaining the brightness and contrast to wow crowds.

“While the world’s largest OLED sign is certainly something to be proud of, we are more excited about the opportunity to introduce travellers from across the world to the magic of OLED,” said Ro Se-yong, senior vice president and head of business-to-business solutions at LG Electronics. “The benefits of OLED technology can only be viewed, they cannot be described with mere words.”

LG Electronics: (02) 8805 4000 or www.lg.com.au

One of the displays, dubbed the ‘Jack Robinson Murder Mystery Machine’, had a compact projector displaying the moving face of character Detective Inspector Jack Robinson onto a mannequin. Coupled with an audio track, visitors were met with quasi-live and speaking Inspector Robinson, and encouraged to participate in an interactive game at the exhibition. Larger projectors were used to build ambience from the television show. Large throw projectors would beam imagery of the program’s background sets, furnishings, and designs onto the walls and lightweight, moveable screens. This meant that the NTA was able to transform Rippon Lea’s interiors without disturbing the building’s existing fixtures.

Amber Technology: 1800 251 367 or www.ambertech.com.au

Digital interactions influenced 40% of in-store retail visits in Australia in 2014

HDBASET-LITE HDMI MATRIX SWITCHES: ATEN International has released its first HDMI HDBaseTLite Matrix Switches. The new VM3404H and VM3909H extend uncompressed video, audio, power and control via HDBaseT through a single LAN cable up to 70m. The versatile switches support video wall, Seamless Switch and Power over HDBaseT (PoH) functions when used in combination with a selected ATEN receiver. The units feature four to nine HDMI inputs and four to nine mirrored HDMI/HDBaseT outputs, respectively. When a mirrored HDMI output is connected to a

NEWS:

Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

display, it can be used to verify the corresponding HDBaseT output or as an additional video display. The new switches support a variety of applications including luxury residential applications, digital signage and control room use. ATEN: au.aten.com NEW FEATURES IN GRAND VJ 2.1: ArKaos has released the latest version of its famous video-jockey software, GrandVJ. Version 2.1 gives users access to a range of new features to make parties and events easier to run, with more creative potential than before. GrandVJ

2.1 is the result of intensive development from the masters of video manipulation, and has been comprehensively tested and approved by ArKaos afficionados. “We are always keen to hear the feedback from our loyal following to ensure that ArKaos software provides the best experience and capabilities for all our GrandVJ users,” says ArKaos’ Managing Director, Agnes Wojewoda. The software, free to existing GrandVJ users, is available for download from the ArKaos website. ULA Group: 1300 852 476 or info@ulagroup.com

TOP END WAVE

INKMAPPING?!

We know that airports around the country are tooling up to display dynamic advertising content. But who knew that Darwin International Airport would be at the vanguard!

Is this digital signage? Well, on the signage bell curve it’s an outlier, but it’s signage nonetheless. Go to Vimeo and look up ‘oskargaspar’ and see something rather amazing. Oskar&Gaspar call it FaceMapping (videomapping on the human body), and proclaim themselves to be the first to successfully do it. More recently they’ve worked with the Desperados on a video that includes a soundtrack by world scratch champion DJ Ride, Suicide Girl ‘Discordia’ and tattoos by the renowned Eduardo Cavellucci and Igor Gama. No post production was used. This time they’ve called it Inkmapping, where the technique of projection mapping is used for the first time on tattoos. It’s mesmerising.

Darwin Airport has recently refreshed its look, ramping up its welcoming role to the region by renovating all of its signage. The centrepiece of that effort is ‘The Wave’, a gorgeous, sinuous waveshaped digital canvas created by NanoLumens. It is immediately eye-catching, with a 6.6mm-pixel pitch running high-definition full-motion video of the region’s attractions across a 4.3m x 1.4m wave-shaped solution that evokes the feel of the region’s famous natural features. “We are delighted with the impact that ‘The Wave’ has created,” Head of Communications and Media for Northern Territory Airports, Ginny Sanders stated. “The Wave is an important pillar of Darwin Airport’s role as the primary gateway to the Northern Territory and its role in defining the expectations of visitors from the moment they arrive at the airport. From a commercial perspective, it has also allowed us to deliver advertising solutions that are not available elsewhere in Darwin, creating an advertising site that is truly unique.”

Oskar&Gaspar: vimeo.com/oskargaspar

Digital Place Solutions: www.digitalplacesolutions.com NanoLumens: www.nanolumens.com.

— Navigating The New Digital Divide, Digital Influence In Australian Retail, Deloitte

CORNERED AUDIO NOW IN AUSTRALIA: Cornered Audio is a specialised loudspeaker manufacturer from Denmark, now with Australian distribution through Production Audio Video Technology. As the name suggests, its speakers have unique 90° triangular designs that fit snugly into a room corner for on-wall applications. The design opens up a number of possibilities for discrete speaker placement, both vertically and horizontally, without the need for stands or brackets. With mounting points hidden behind the front cover, Cornered Audio loudspeakers are designed

to be aesthetically pleasing, but still built with high spec components for outstanding audio quality. The company’s range of loudspeakers cover everything from home theatres to cafes and restaurants. Production Audio Video Technology: (03) 9264 8000 or sales@productionaudio.com.au LIGHTWARE MMX6x2 MATRIX SWITCHER: Lightware announces its new MMX6x2 matrix is now available. It has a rich array of capabilities in a compact size including HDBaseT compatibility, two independent AV outputs, four HDMI 1.4 and two TPS inputs,

4K capability, audio insertion and de-embedding, built-in Event Manager tool and front panel USB port for easy configuration. The MMX6x2 will feel right at home in meeting room or classroom environments and can be configured in a number of ways. Lightware: www.lightware.com.au EXTRON VECTOR 4K SCALING ENGINE: Extron Electronics announces Vector 4K scaling engines, specifically engineered for critical-quality 4K signal processing and the most demanding 4K applications. Developed internally by Extron’s team of

signal processing engineers, the Vector 4K delivers the power and precision required to manage the high pixel counts of today’s 4K displays and content, whether providing clean, upscaled images when integrating legacy sources with 4K displays, or faithfully rendering a source’s detail and integrity when downscaling 4K content to HD displays. Scalers and video processors with Vector 4K scaling include convenient, user-friendly features such as EDID and HDCP management, streamlining integration and optimising system performance. Extron: www.extron.com.au Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

WHO’S WHO:

YOUR GO-TO GUIDE FOR DIGITAL SIGNAGE

3M AUSTRALIA 136 136 www.3M.com/touch

AERIS SOLUTIONS - JUST DIGITAL SIGNAGE (03) 9544 6902 www.justdigitalsignage.com.au

ADVANTECH AUSTRALIA (03) 9797 0100 www.advantech.com

AMBER TECHNOLOGY (02) 9452 8600 www.ambertech.com.au

AMX Australia (07) 5531 3103 5 Commercial Drive Southport, Qld 4215 sales@amxaustralia.com.au www.amxaustralia.com.au AMX is synonymous with networking and control systems. Not surprisingly AMX has entered the digital signage industry in its own right (after all, AMX supply a huge amount of gear for everyone else’s DOOH) and have on offer two products. Inspired Xpress is for smaller or simpler installations with a ‘tiny’ media player called the Is-Xpress-1000. The integrated software is comprehensive, yet straightforward and intuitive enough to cater to clients to get their screens up and running quickly with a minimum of servicing the message afterwards. Inspired Xpert is — as you might guess — a more serious DOOH product with better options like HD broadcasting that, among many other extras, takes advantage of those system command and control devices that AMX has in other corners of the warehouse to provide fully-blown large networks. Plus with Inspired XPert customers have access to custom content development and content management services from AMX.

BENQ AUSTRALIA (02) 8988 6503 www.benq.com.au BLUFI (02) 9792 4188 www.blufi.com.au

Command is a specialist digital signage and wayfinding supplier, installer and technology partner. Command is the distributor of the successful Navori digital signage software, a multi-user, multi-site management and screen display software, now including the low cost Android hardware player. Navori is a technically advanced solution suitable for all types of installations from Small Business to Enterprise as either a self-hosted or SAAS system. As a technical partner, Command can provide full supply, project management and installation for the deployment of digital signage systems for corporate, government, hospital, education, small business, retail, stadium and specialist requirements. Command’s product range includes Wayfinding, GlassVu projection films, RoomManager software, kiosks, video extenders, LED displays, media players and a range of mini computers. With 11 years specialising in digital signage, Command’s experience is guaranteed to leave their customers satisfied and productive. In summary, Command is your one stop shop for digital signage solutions and interactive displays.

COMMUNITECH (07) 3205 6188 www.communitech.com.au

CORPORATE INITIATIVES (03) 8878 9000 ciasia.com.au

CORSAIR SOLUTIONS www.corsairsolutions.com.au

Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

Digital Place Solutions International Pty Limited Elanora Heights, NSW 2101 hello@digitalplacesolutions.com www.digitalplacesolutions.com Digital Place Solutions offers - Consulting, Sourcing and Supply services, all with a commercial imperative in mind; • Digital Strategy & Tactics - Develop/Evaluate/Execute; • Digital Concept Development including Hardware, Content and Software considerations; and • Technology Sourcing as well as Project Management through to Installation Digital Place Solutions assists proactive clients gain a commercial edge through achieving their digital display and consumer engagement ambitions, always with a clear point of difference and a business outlook in mind.

Daktronics Australia Pty Ltd LED display manufacturer Suite 108, Ground Floor, 18 Rodborough Rd Frenchs Forest, NSW 2087 (02) 9453 4600 Blair.robertson@daktronics.com www.daktronics.com Since 1968, Daktronics has been reinventing the way you display. We are the world’s industry leader in designing and manufacturing electronic scoreboards, programmable display systems and large screen video displays. It’s our passion to continuously provide the highest quality standard display products as well as custom-designed and integrated systems.

CISCO SYSTEMS (02) 8446 5000 www.cisco.com/go/dms

COMMAND DIGITAL SIGNAGE Unit 2, 30 Park Road Mulgrave, NSW, 2756 Level 2, 22 Township Drive Burleigh Heads, QLD, 4213 1300 780 204 sales@commandaustralia.com.au www.commandaustralia.com.au

to harness the power of what was still back then a developing media. The strategy resulted in DAT Media creating a complete digital media network for BIG W that now includes in-store radio, digital signage, register Point Of Sale (POS) and a customer queuing solution that reduces the frustration of being caught in a long — or even wrong — queue. DAT Media expanded rapidly as they claimed some serious scalps for clients — among them Coles, Target and ABC Shops. DAT Media offer a comprehensive Content Management System and can assist new clients in broadcasting material across existing networks such as those mentioned above or will help you create a complete digital signage network from the ground up. They also have a Creative Services department that can take the hassle out of putting everything together.

Drawing from deep experience our four service pools offer diverse capability - Place Based Environments; Technology Insight; Advisory and Implementation; Education and Training. Digital Place Solutions represents NanoLumens Inc. in Australia and New Zealand. NanoLumens creates innovative new generation LED displays in any desired size, shape, or curvature, backed by the industry’s only Six-Year, Zero Failure Tolerance Parts Warranty. Digital Place Solutions also represents Panasonic LED display products in collaboration with the Panasonic Australia Business Systems group. Panasonic have supplied LED displays to the Australian market for over 20 years including some of Australia’s most Iconic sports score boards. Founders Stephen Rubie +61 412 333 710 Gerry Thorley +61 412 339 489

DYNAMIC VISUAL SOLUTIONS (02) 9431 6070 www.dynamicvisualsystems.com.au DAT MEDIA (07) 5575 7798 Ground Floor, 183 Varsity Parade Varsity Lakes Qld 4227 sales@datmedia.com.au www.datmedia.com.au DAT Media was established in 2003 to manage BIG W’s national in-store radio network. With over 15 years experience within the in-store media industry, Managing Director Andrew Becker was quick to notice the emergence of digital signage advertising within the retail sector. He began focusing on creating a visual media solution for current and future clients

ENGAGIS Level 12, 213 Miller Street North Sydney NSW 2060 1300 203 810 www.engagis.com Engagis creates connections for over 30 blue chip clients across ten industries, including retail, hospitality,

telco, finance, auto and real estate. Specialising in digital touch points along the pathway to purchase, including digital signage, self-order kiosks, mobile apps, mobile loyalty and enterprise solutions, Engagis manages over 19,000 connected devices in more than 4,000 locations. Engagis is the in-store digital media provider for the likes of Telstra, Bupa, Target, Flight Centre, Noodle Box and Country Road, to name a few.

Our core product categories include display, projection, brackets & screens, connectivity solutions, videowall processing, digital signage players and IP TV solutions.

INNOVATEQ (03) 9465 5055 www.innovateq.com.au

JEA Technologies Pty Ltd (03) 9757 5060 44-48 Rocco Drive Scoresby, VIC 3179 sales@jeatech.com.au www.jeatech.com.au

INSTOREVISION 0412 960182 www.instorevision.com.au/digital-signage/ FINGERMARK DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES 15 Halsey Street, Freemans Bay Auckland, New Zealand +64 (09) 358 4047 sales@fingermark.co.nz www.fingermark.co.nz A specialist provider of indoor and outdoor digital signage and kiosk solutions, Fingermark proudly offers its customers a complete turnkey solution, providing specialist advice, all hardware and software, content creation and distribution and nationwide service and support across Australasia. Adding to this, we have full software capability in-house which delivers a seamless approach. We design and develop our own customised solutions and have built a reputation for being leading edge thinkers, understanding the complexities around implementing digital technologies within challenging environments, especially in the outdoor market. Our service orientated model allows us to tailor our solutions to more accurately meet the specific needs of our customers. Enquire today. Innovate tomorrow.

FUJITSU DIGITAL MEDIA SOLUTIONS (03) 9924 3468 www.fujitsu.com.au HERMA TECHNOLOGIES (03) 9480 6233 www.herma.com.au

INTEL (02) 9937 5800 www.intel.com

interactive controls

pty ltd

INTERACTIVE CONTROLS (02) 9436 3022 www.interactivecontrols.com.au Interactive Controls (IC) offers a variety of services to customers from consultation to sales, hire and installation of display and control system equipment and software. They also design and develop media and hardware control systems for specific events, installations, film and commercial shoots, exhibitions, museums... okay, you get the picture. Medialon and Dataton hardware and software products get the nod from Interactive Controls and for digital signage in particular IC offers the Medialon show and media control software and embedded controllers along with Dataton Watchout and Medialon MIP HD Interactive Media Player. There is also the Medialon Scheduler application, which allows control of multiple venues and screens from a central server. Given Interactive Controls’ wide experience in installing innovative display systems it can help you choose the best way to deliver your vision and with Medialon’s strong history in show control systems, IC will no doubt have a neat trick or two to suggestfor impressing your audience.

HEWSHOTT INTERNATIONAL (08) 6230 2780 www.hewshott.com INTERACTIVITY 1300 797 199 Level 1, 1268 - 1270 High Street Armadale, VIC, 3143 sales@interactivity.com.au www.interactivity.com.au

MIDWICH AUSTRALIA PTY LTD 1300 666 099 Lot 4, Parklands Estate, 23 South Street, Rydalmere, NSW 2116 Sales@midwich.com.au www.midwich.com.au Midwich Australia PTY Ltd and Midwich Limited is a leading trade-only distributor of technology solutions with more than thirty five years of experience in the AV channel. Distributing audio-visual solutions, Midwich is adept at developing sound commercial propositions and prides itself on being first to market with value added opportunities for its reseller partners. Midwich is renowned throughout the industry for its professional distribution of complete solutions from many of the world’s leading electronics manufacturers.

In 2004 Interactivity was set up as a result of a partnership between F1 Software to develop the Interactivity foil which enables any window to become fully interactive ‘through the glass’ by allowing anyone, using their finger, to interact with a rear projected image or screen behind the glass. Interactivity is now embedded in this emerging popular industry of Interactive and Digital Signage and associated products. Its products and services are known for reliability, functionality and most importantly our ability to future proof the technology we deliver.

JEA Technologies has partnered with leading manufacturers of electronic peripherals and display products from around the globe and supplies these products to customers in Australia and New Zealand. Our customers can rely on JEA to work with them to carefully select and supply the most appropriate products for their needs, ensuring that these products meet our customer’s technical and commercial requirements, and to support these products over their life span. JEA’s Display products include Very High Brightness LCD’s, in sizes up to 72in and 5000cd/m² ( nits), Stretched LCD’s, MultiTouch Tables and Multi-Touch application software, Touch screen sensors and touch screen monitors, with particular emphasis on Projected Capacitive Touch technologies, Panel PC’s, Digital Signage PC’s and Industrial Grade Wireless modems. JEA customers are mainly systems integrators and resellers. JEA supplies these customers with high levels of technical support, pre-and post-sales, as well as warranty and non-warranty support and service from our Melbourne offices and workshop. JEA also stocks in depth allowing customers to source products at short notice.

LG AUSTRALIA (02) 8805 4000 2 Wonderland Drive, Eastern Creek, NSW 2766 DigitalSignage@LG.com.au www.DigitalSignage.LG.com.au The LG Digital Signage division is committed to offering comprehensive and indispensable technology solutions with the latest digital products and features tailored to the particular requirements of commercial environments. LG provides access to some of the most advanced and flexible digital products and accessories in the market. Each commercial product functions as an integral component within our business solution offerings and is fully supported by our dedicated team of sales managers, application engineers and customer support staff giving us the capacity to support your business in Hospitality, Healthcare, SMB or Vertical Markets.

MADISON TECHNOLOGIES SPECIALIST AV DIVISION 1800 00 77 80 Australia wide avexperts@madisontech.com.au www.madisonthech.com.au Madison is a manufacturer and distributor of technology infrastructure and hardware across cabling, networking, wireless, audio visual, and test and measurement Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

WHO’S WHO:

YOUR GO-TO GUIDE FOR DIGITAL SIGNAGE

disciplines. Australian owned and operated for over 20 years, Madison has been keeping Australian homes and business well connected. Which is appropriate, because our brand promise is Well Connected™. The principle behind our brand promise is that by working with Madison, either as a valued supplier or customer, you are well connected. It’s how we connect to our market, and it’s how we help you connect to your world. Madison Technologies’ Broadcast and Audio Visual solutions include AV Cable and Cabling Assemblies, Connectors and Adaptors, Digital Signage, Microphone Systems, Switching and Conversion, USB Extension, Video and Audio Distribution. Did you know? Madison is the largest Australian Distributor of Belden Audio Visual products, with stock held in four warehouses across the country, and dedicated specialist staff in each state.

MDS PACIFIC (02) 9888 7715 www.mdspacific.com

Pro AV Solutions delivers exceptional experiences at every point in our client relationship, from project inception through to design, delivery, ongoing service and support. We deliver projects on time and on budget, and are always aiming to exceed our customer’s expectations through our dedication to excellence, we call this Experience Excellence.

SHARP AUSTRALIA 1300 13 55 30 www.sharp.net.au SONY AUSTRALIA 1800 017 669 www.sony.com.au

PRODUCTION AUDIO VIDEO TECHNOLOGY (03) 9264 8000 www.pavt.com.au

STREAMING MEDIA (02) 9460 0877 www.streamingmedia.net.au

QUINTO COMMUNICATIONS (02) 9894 4244 www.quinto.com.au

STREAMVISION PTY LTD 1300 300 407 www.streamvision.com.au

RUTLEDGE AV www.rutledge.com.au (03) 9488 1534

SUMO VISUAL GROUP (03) 8290 0500 sales@sumovisualgroup.com.au www.sumovisualgroup.com.au

MOOD MEDIA AUSTRALIA 1800 808 368 www.moodmedia.com.au

NEC AUSTRALIA 131 632 www.nec.com.au

OAMM (02) 9939 3264 www.oamm.com.au

ONELAN (02) 8015 6735 oc.sales@onelan.com

OOH@MEDIA www.oohmedia.com.au

PANASONIC AUSTRALIA (02) 9491 7400 www.panasonic.com.au

SAMSUNG 1300 362603 8 Parkview Drive Homebush, NSW 2127 sales@samsung.com www.samsung.com Samsung’s digital signage is centred on its Large Format Display (LFD) range, a screen with chameleon characteristics in its role as the basis for all Samsung’s DOOH products. There is a straightforward model that can be used either stand-alone in portrait or landscape mode or as a part of a limited multi-screen display. A slightly different UD model can be linked with up to 250 units for a wall of vision. There is a Touchscreen version including an outdoor type with features to withstand the elements and a specialised uVending model for installing in the front of vending machines. MagicInfo is Samsung’s proprietary software for content control and creations. Samsung’s PROM system is already taking DOOH solutions along the fast-developing path of providing audience statistics to tailor the signage content. A wide dynamic range (WDR) camera embedded discreetly somewhere in the installation captures and recognises faces to determine who is actually watching the screen. PROM can either just collate the information for market analysis or actively change the display according to who is viewing it. It’s both clever and almost scary ‘big brother’ stuff. We’re assured these systems are completely anonymous. Still, maybe keep one hand on your wallet.

PRO AV SOLUTIONS 1300 287 253 www.proavsolutions.com.au

SCREENCORP 1300 65 90 93 www.screencorp.com.au

Pro AV Solutions is Australia’s leading Audio Visual Solutions Specialist. Housing some of the best minds in the systems integration industry, we design and deliver award-winning digital signage and audio visual technology solutions Australia wide.

SEIFERT SYSTEMS (03) 9801 1906 www.seifertsystems.com.au

As technical leaders in the AV industry for over 25 years and offices in every major capital city we employ the largest and most creative team of AV professionals in Australia. Our national team provide an unparalleled set of unified skills, that when matched with the worlds most advanced technology, deliver some of the largest and most prestigious national and global awardwinning projects.

Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

THE SCREENMEDIA GROUP (02) 8090 6565 www.thescreenmediagroup.com

TECHMEDIA DIGITAL SYSTEMS (SCALA) (02) 9526 7880 Unit 7 / 65 Captain Cook Drive Taren Point NSW 2229 info@techmedia.com.au www.techmedia.com.au TechMedia is one of Australia’s premier digital visual communications companies. TechMedia’s expertise is centered around the digital platforms, content and services driving the growth in Connected Signage and DOOH. With over 17 years of experience with Scalabased network deployment and management as well as customised hardware and data integration development, there is an abundance of local knowledge to tap into. Scala boasts an impressive list of clientele and is responsible for over 200,000 screens worldwide. Scala’s experience shows in its product; the comprehensive content creation and distribution software goes one step further with Scala Ad Manager, an accounting add-on that handles the financial side of your DOOH business such as generating invoices. In the hardware department, Scala has its own Scala Player for linking with the Content Manager software. From there Techmedia will source display screens and networks best suited to the job.

TECHTEL (02) 9906 1488 www.techtel.tv TELSTRA 1300 835 782 www.telstraenterprise.com

TOSHIBA (02) 9887 6000 www.mytoshiba.com.au

TRIPLE PLAY (02) 9929 3849 www.tripleplay-services.com

URBAN INTELLIGENCE (03) 9514 6000 www.urbanintel.com.au

INTRODUCING VIDEROLED www.videroLED.com VideroLED brings together the world’s most efficient LED manufacturers, Europe’s most advanced control and content management engineers and Australia’s most innovative AV integration company. It’s a combination that delivers you a properly specified and finished project every time, inclusive of design and specification, procurement, installation and maintenance support. Overall it’s a value proposition so compelling that prior to its official launch VideroLED won major contracts at Emporium, the MCG and Etihad as well as for QIC shopping centres throughout Australia. Such customers readily understand an LED screen is on display for its lifetime, not just the day of install. They are also delighted to substantially save on costs. Because thanks to its manufacturing strength, VideroLED is able to offer exceptional quality across a range of price points up to and including Nichia componentry, and is able to do so at a remarkably competitive price.

Get Your Own Do you work in the digital signage sector and would you like to secure your own copy of DigitalSignage? It’s easy, log onto our website and register. It’s free.

VISION2WATCH 1300 369 294 www.vision2watch.com.au As part of Vision2Watch global, Vision2Watch Australia is locally owned and operated. We deliver a range of out-of-home (OOH) Interactive and Digital Solutions to transform ordinary spaces and surfaces into touch and motion-activated displays. We’re also excited to be involved with Augmented Reality (AR) technology - specialising in the development of customised AR applications to help our clients achieve a cutting-edge promotional campaign.

VISUAL TECHNOLOGIES (03) 8692 6644 www.visualtechnologies.com.au

WILSON & GILKES (02) 9914 0900 www.gilkon.com.au

Should your business be included in our Who’s Who section? Listing is free. Contact Chris Holder at: chris@dsmag.com.au

www.digitalsignage.press

Comment:

Umpire! Bad Sports

Story: Mug Punter

he interesting thing about sports bars is that they’re not really for sporting people. Anyone focused in excelling in any sort of sporting endeavour isn’t going to be pouring pints of beer and packets of chips down their throat — which is, of course, what you’re supposed to do in a sports bar. Athletes are trained to treat their bodies like a sacred temple. Sports bar patrons like me prefer to regard our bodies more as a kind of 24-hour bar and bistro with a Happy Hour roughly every... well, 60 minutes really. However, we are experts at watching sport, discussing sport, gambling on sport and on how to coach any team in any field of competition to total, crushing victory (high-five yourself here). As long as the sports bar is properly set up.

Which leads me to a sad tale of an utter sports bar, AV digital signage failure. Beware, some readers may find the following paragraphs disturbing. BIG EVENT BAR OPENING

It’s October 2015 and yours truly has made the pilgrimage to Melbourne for the AFL Grand Final. We’d planned ahead — which is more than our football team did — so actually going to the game wasn’t necessary. It’s all about soaking up the AFL atmosphere... or something (note to Melbourne readers: balloons outside a cafe doesn’t really cut it). Besides, the cheapest tickets for the grand final will cost your first born child, the keys to your car and a second mortgage. Accepted currency for decent seats is anything by Picasso and a Dyson vacuum cleaner.

So I was tasked with the important quest of finding a local pub showing the game on a big screen along with the aforementioned atmosphere. As luck would have it, a hotel just metres away was having its grand opening on Grand Final day. During a reconnoitre we were shown lots polished wooden bars still smelling of varnish, blinding chrome stuff, new carpets... and lots of televisions everywhere including a big, drop-down screen with a roof-mount projector. Awesome. After a couple of pints we decided it was the place to be and gathered the crew. First, we camped like Germans around a Bali swimming pool in front of the drop-down screen and bought a ton of chips (and more pints) to stake the claim properly. Only to be told by 34

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management that the screen didn’t work during the day — thanks to poor positioning the daylight was too bright and the projector had proved underpowered. We had to make do with a 42-inch plasma in the corner. Say what? No one considers 42 inches as a ‘big screen’ anymore, right? OUTTA SYNC

Consoling ourselves with a few pints and watching the pre-game waffle, something seemed strangely amiss. Bruce McAvaney wasn’t making any sense — which as many AFL fans know isn’t unusual, but I mean it was really weird. The audio was seriously out of sync.

I went to mention this to a barman as the TV was showing the annual sprint competition they have between all the AFL clubs. The barman wasn’t that interested in my AV expertise until we watched a puff of blue smoke come from the starter’s gun and heard the Bang! — as the runners crossed the finish line. Even Usain Bolt needs 10 seconds to sprint 100 metres — the audio was at least 10 seconds behind the vision. The barman said several choice words the editor will never print here and went to find the manager. The manager apologised, admitted things “weren’t quite right yet” and did what any venue manager does — pointed a remote control at our TV screen and cycled through endless menus he didn’t understand. We took the opportunity to ask if he could turn up the in-house volume too, but he explained the speakers weren’t zoned and he didn’t want to deafen patrons at the other end of the room. Eventually, he somehow got the audio to about two seconds lag... and we got sick of watching the menu screens and said it’d do. I was desperate to grab the bloody remote off him and have a go, but I was at the bar buying a few pints — yes, again. I was on holiday, all right? SAUCE SELECT

My biggest complaint isn’t about the crap audio, small screen and unzoned PA, all which certainly ruined the fun — thank the footy gods it was a rubbish game anyway. Instead, I have to ask — if you’d paid a zillion dollars for a complete digital signage, AV refit and planned to open for business on arguably the biggest day on the sporting calendar, wouldn’t you make sure it all worked?

Even on a Grand Final Saturday, wouldn’t you expect the contractor to stick his head through the door, maybe have a quick pint — and make sure the bloody audio wasn’t 10 seconds out of sync?

In sports bar patron language that’s out-of-bounds on the full. It’s a triple-bogey, strike three, LBW, double fault, digital signage AV failure. Pass the sauce.

Mug Punter returned to WA the following day, which was far enough away from the ‘big screen’ for the audio to finally sync.  Mug Punter’s curmudgeonly carping does not necessarily reflect the views of DigitalSignage. If you have a differing view contact the editor Chris Holder on chris@dsmag.com.au

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