Boosting Customer Numbers in Retail with Outdoor Digital Signage
Retailers are no strangers to digital signage. One of the main users of indoor screens, retail has been on the forefront of digital out of home advertising (DOOH) since its arrival a little over a decade ago. Read More
Finding and Eliminating the Hidden Costs of Digital Signage
Digital signage has become a popular form of marketing and promotion. Initially an expensive endeavor, the falling price of LCD and plasma screens and the increasing availability of content platforms and turnkey solutions like digital posters has now made it a more accessible media. Read More
Secrets of Successful Outdoor Digital Signage
With outdoor digital signage and advertising now becoming a mainstream media, more and more organisations are looking to it as a means of advertising, promotion or branding. Many of these organisations may or may not already have experience using indoor screens like digital posters but an all too common mistake is that people assume that the same rules and methods for indoor will work just as well out. Read More
Welcome to David Robinson – the latest member of the Armagard Family
As the LCD enclosure and outdoor digital signage industry expands, Armagard are expanding too and have appointed a new director of sales for North America: David Robinson.
David, former sales manager at AV mounting specialist Premier Mounts, has joined the company to cope with the growing demand for LCD enclosures and outdoor digital signage protection in North America and the USA.
With over 20 years experience in the consumer electronics and AV industry, Dave will be working out of a new sales office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A graduate of West Virginia, and resident of Pittsburgh, Dave hopes to use his experience and business relationships to help expand the company’s already burgeoning sales in America.
All of us at Armagard welcome David to the company and wish him many years of success.
Snowy Weather – is your Outdoor Digital Signage Protected?
With most of the UK suffering from wintry weather, snow bringing havoc to many parts of the country, there is a potential for many of the outdoor digital signs that adorn our high streets to fail as the temperatures drop below the safe operating level of the LCD or plasma screen.
The severe cold can have severe effects on an ill-protected digital signage. When temperatures drop, internal components inside an LCD can freeze, with any humidity or condensation expanding causing severe damage.
Most outdoor screens should be designed to withstand quite a range of temperatures but when it gets too low, even the most expensive outdoor TV can run into problems.
To provide real comprehensive cold weather protection, insulation, heaters and other systems need to be deployed. LCD enclosures are one of the simplest solutions for this type of protection. The enclosure, that also offers waterproof and all-weather protection, has the space for all these temperature components.
Insulation can be used to maintain the internal temperature, as the screen itself will generate quite a bit of heat. But when temperatures really drop, heaters have to be used.
Commonly these are thermostatically controlled (otherwise the LCD will overheat when the temperatures rise) and switch on when the temperature gets below a certain level; switching off again when it rises.
LCD enclosures are used in all sorts of severe weather environments such as ski resorts, as they are a sure-fire method of ensuring the LCD screen will still function at sub-zero temperatures.
Another benefit of them is that they also have space for a media player of compact PC, used for uploading content, which will also benefit from the same level of protection as the screen.
LCD TV Protection – Indoor and Outdoor
There can’t more than a handful of people around who don’t watch or use a TV, and not just for entertainment, either. Modern TVs such as LCDs and plasmas are frequently used as computer monitors. Read More
Touch Screen – The Next Step for Outdoor Digital Signage
The digital signage market seems to be in constant flux. New developments, innovations and the reinvigoration of old ideas already exhausted in print media means there is always something happening in the world of Dooh (digital out of home). Read More
LCD Enclosures – Applications and Uses
LCD enclosures are a quite a recent innovation. Developed after the arrival of modern flat screen TV panels such as Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) and plasmas, they are designed to protect these standard TVs allowing them to be taken outdoors or into harsh locations, whilst still permitting the LCD to function normally.
LCD enclosures, therefore, have to be waterproof, able to withstand impacts, and have a wide operating temperature range.
The uses of these rugged and versatile protective LCD enclosures are varied, with new applications being implemented all the time, but here are the main uses of these flat panel protective housings:
Outdoor Digital Signage
One of the most common uses of LCD enclosures is to protect TV screens for use in advertising, branding and promotion. Outdoor digital signage is becoming increasingly common; there are high audience figures available for advertisers and promoters in outdoor locations.
LCD enclosures enable these outdoor promotional screens to function in any location providing a cost effective and versatile from of outdoor digital signage.
Outdoor TV
Outdoor TVs are becoing commonplace
Also becoming increasingly common is the use of TV screens in outdoor locations. Pubs and bars find they increase revenue by providing outdoor entertainment, especially in consideration of the smoking bans, but increasingly, homeowners too are placing TVs in back yards and patios.
As LCD enclosures house standard TV systems, this too makes a cost effective alternative to outdoor waterproof TVs, which can be extremely expensive – especially for homeowners who may not justify the decision. With and LCD enclosure an old TV can be taken outdoors or a new budget system can be bought just for the back yard.
Information Screens
Another application for LCD enclosures is to provide information. Transport hubs and train platforms are one such location where they are deployed providing a more versatile and informative system to provide delay information and other timetabling data.
Outdoor Signs – Advantages to Going Digital
Outdoor advertising is just as relevant it the twenty-first century as it has ever been. Outdoor adverts and promotions really work in generating awareness particularly with branding, with recent research from the Outdoor Advertising Association showing how effective this form of advertising still is.
But that doesn’t mean that the type of outdoor posters used in previous decades will still be relevant now to the more media savvy audiences of the modern world.
A more modern and engaging from of outdoor advertising is taking hold on many of our high streets and busy thoroughfares – outdoor digital signage.
This modern and visually appealing from of outdoor advertisements are not just better looking and more eye-catching than traditional static advertisements, it has other advantages too.
Outdoor digital signage is the use of modern flat screen TVs such as plasma and LCD erected outdoors to display promotion and advertising content on. The great advantage of this technology is that it is incredibly flexible and versatile.
Multiple content can be displayed on the same advertising screen, this means that advertisers can maximise the potential revenue from one site. Furthermore, there are cost savings to consider too. Standard outdoor adverts have to be erected by technicians but with digital signage they are not required as content can be uploaded centrally and remotely to an entire network of signs.
Another great advantage of going digital is that content can also be scheduled for relevant times of day enabling you to target specific audiences such as the lunch time crowd. This is unique for outdoor advertising where normally adverts can’t be targeted.
The only downside to embarking on an outdoor digital campaign is the need to protect the screens from the elements. Rainfall, excessive temperatures – not to mention impacts, either accidental of deliberate – can all damage an outdoor screen.
But protection for outdoor digital signage is fairly simple, cost effective and easy to achieve. All that is required is to house the display in an LCD enclosure which will provide all the weather and physical protection required for any screen to operate in outdoor locations.
Is Outdoor Digital Signage Green?
With the threat of climate change more and more businesses are taking environmental issues quite seriously. No longer is ‘eco’ a term from the fringes and green and environmental concerns are now becoming almost as important a consideration as investment when it comes to new projects.
Green initiatives are therefore attractive to businesses and this is one advantage of outdoor digital signage which can claim to carry eco friendly credentials.
Okay, I can hear what you are saying, and yes, LCD screens used for advertising do require power and when you consider that printed media such as posters and billboards do not need electricity then how can outdoor digital signage be green? Well, there are two reasons that outdoor digital signage has green credentials.
Firstly, when screens are networked together, as most outdoor digital signage screens are, then content can be uploaded centrally and remotely. For advertisers, this has both environmental and cost savings as content does not have to be manually replaced so technicians are not needed to drive around an area and replace posters and billboards.
The second reason that outdoor digital signage can claim to be green is that while screens do require electricity to function, many modern screens – especially LED backlit LCDs – are very economical and efficiencies. Printed media if it has to be seen at night also has to be illuminated. This is often done by adding lighting beneath outdoor billboards or placing the content on a light box. These lighting methods tend to use more power than an LCD screen that is illuminated by its own back-light.
While outdoor digital signage is not a carbon neutral or zero emission technology it certainly has green credentials so if you are thinking about changing your outdoor advertising content to a modern digital version then don’t let the environment put you off.