Get The Right Display Touch

With all of the different options of touch technology available on the market today, it's sometimes challenging to determine what type of touch sensor will work best for your display application. Fortunately, Planar has just released an easy-to-read eBook, Touch Display Sensors, that outlines five different touch sensors and explains how their specifications work for different applications.

Choosing the appropriate touch sensor can make the user experience for kiosks, outdoor digital signage and point of sale applications a breeze. The eBook will guide you through information about resistive, surface capacitive, projective capacitive, infrared and surface acoustic wave touch sensors. You'll discover that many enhancements, including optical bonding, can be added to the display surface to improve the view. Check out Planar's other eBooks to help with additional display questions.

Large Format Signage on Display at Digital Signage Expo

The Digital Signage Expo just ended at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Planar exhibited some amazing large format digital signage displays in our booth #1254.

If your display requirements call for deployment in retail environments, Planar's 42" digital signage might be the ticket. And, we offer displays ranging from 37" to 65" to meet other size requirements. Touchscreen integration makes it easy for your customers to interact with your digital content. The 46" outdoor digital signage includes an optically bonded IR/AR filter for superior sunlight-readability, along with a wide viewing angle and custom cooling design which requires no A/C. This display is perfect for extreme environments where outdoor conditions can impact viewing.

Also on display in Planar's booth was the Clarity Matrix LCD Video Wall. If you're in need of a seamless video wall and uninterupted operation for your control room operations, the Clarity Matrix LCD Video Wall, with its ultra-thin bezel, provides outstanding tiled visual performance.

Planar's customization display experience has been applied to numerous projects that need a tailored solution. Let us know what your large format digital display needs are.

Catalog of Specialty Displays

Have you been looking for a display solution for your project? Planar has just posted its Embedded Displays Catalog on its website. Almost every application you would need a display for can be found in this new and updated catalog.

Planar's display innovation began over 26 years ago with the Electroluminescent (EL) displays and has grown to include transportation, kiosk and digital signage, custom displays and 3D/Stereoscopic displays, to name a few. If your custom design project requires a rugged and custom display, Planar can assist with product definition and guide you through the challenges of developing a custom display.

An interactive guide to selecting a custom LCD can help with your display requirement selections, as well. Planar has developed a Guide just for that purpose. So, between the Guide and the Catalog, Planar can help guide you through the key considerations in creating your display.

Check out the catalog and let us know if there's something missing that would help you with your design project.

Oudoor Kiosks...A Sign of the Times

Outdoor kiosks are seen everywhere from Times Square to sporting event venues to airport terminals across the country, not to mention the increase in products offered for purchase from these point of purchase kiosks. Displays that are rugged enough to be used in high traffic environments like this offer a perfect solution to present an assortment of information and services including purchasing products, providing directions, displaying advertisements and offering news.

Just take a run through any airport in the U.S. and you'll see kiosks that allow you to buy and print your ticket and/or boarding pass, plus buy an assortment of products ranging from electronic devices to video and music rentals. The point of purchase option provided by kiosks is well on its way to becoming a mainstay for buyers.

Recently, an article written from a New Yorkers' viewpoint addressed this phenomonon of purchasing trends. Can we be nearing the day when all or the majority of our purchases can be made at a kiosk?

What did you recently purchase from a kiosk?

Windows 7, Gestures, Embedded Touch screens, and You

Windows 7 hits the streets for real on Thursday. This will be a huge release for consumers and business IT users. I’ve been using the RC version for a few months now and really like it for my home PC. I’m sure I will like even more for my work PC’s when that time comes. But what about those embedded applications, kiosks, and displays that currently use Windows XP-Pro? We’ve heard or seen demo’s of Windows 7’s new features for multi-touch and gestures? Can we start using those features right away? Can we experiment with them?

I’ve had a chance to do some experimenting with Windows 7 and touchscreens. To utilize Windows 7 gestures and multi-touch features, you will need a HID compliant touch screen, that also reports itself as a HID-Digitizer and not a HID-Mouse or other proprietary device. Unfortunately this means that most if not all existing touch screens will NOT be able to take advantages of these
built in Windows 7 features. These existing Touch screens (HID, Serial or USB-Driver) WILL work with Windows as single touch devices (with existing WinXP drivers), but Windows 7 will not
recognize these devices as digitizers and make use of all those cool gestures and multi-touch
features available to that display. Most likely existing touch screen hardware will not be field
upgradable either. New hardware and firmware will be required to ensure that touch data is
properly and accurately reported back to Windows 7 as a HID-Digitizer device.

To be clear, if you have an existing touch screen with drivers. The drivers and the touch screens
will work with Windows 7, just as it did with Windows XP. Furthermore if you have a HID compliant touch screen or embedded display it too will work with Windows 7, just as it did with Windows XP. Only touch screens that are multi-touch capable AND report to Windows as a HID Digitizer will be able to take advantage of the native multi-touch and gesturing of Windows 7.

Windows 7 will be a great tool for use in industrial display applications, we just have to get
new touch screens to market to make that happen.

Large Format Digital Signage Makes a Hit in Retail

Who knew the number of people who walk through the doors of big-box retailers was greater than viewers watching Idol? And, since advertisers are frothing at the mouth to get their share of consumer dollars it all made sense why consolidated marketing practices referenced in an article in AdWeek are so popular. We not only see the usual end-aisle displays, but also in-store video networks displaying content on digital signage which we believe is the best way to get your message out to consumers. Talk about a way to intergrate the shopper with your products! Here's an example of a large format digital display that can be used in many retail environments:



In this display format lots of information can be displayed and, in a touch display format, consumers can interact to find information about products in retail stores quickly. What features do you wish were included in retail digital signage?

The Keys To Effective Kiosk Design

Some of the members of our engineering team can write as well as build displays. Check out this article by John Jedrzejewski, Neil Brashnyk, and Scott Vahlsing about the issues and considerations of kiosk design. The article appeared in ProAV last year but it has a lot of useful information on testing, maintenance and cooling issues.