- BrightSign digital sign controllers have been installed in the VIP Room Theater, one of the most famous Paris nightclubs. The installation features coffee tables with 32-inch screens set horizontally into the table top. Video clips and playlists are updated remotely over the Internet using the BrightSign Network Manager and users can send messages in real time to each table using standard SMS text messaging.
- One of France’s leading digital agencies - L’île des Médias –-was commissioned by a major champagne company to design the six video tables, adapted to the nightclub environment. The goal was to reinforce the champagne’s exclusive image by showing advertising clips, video from its elite nightclub events and presentations of its VIP suites in Cannes, St Tropez and Paris. To add a further personal touch, the client wanted to show welcome messages alongside the main video zone.
- L’île des Médias selected BrightSign because it provided an all-in-one solution that met all requirements, while bringing simplicity to what could have been a complex implementation. According to L’île des Médias managing director Jérôme Hérard, “The simplicity and ease of use of the BrightSign Network Manager application was decisive in our decision to select BrightSign. It’s the best merge I know between Internet technologies and digital signage”.
- The resulting implementation of the six table displays consists of a dual zone display, in which video takes up most of the table area, whilst text content is displayed above it. This zones display was easily achieved with the help of BrightSign Network Manager’s presentation wizard, which allows users to customise their display into zones; and create and run a separate playlist for each zone. In this case a video and image looping playlist was created for one zone and an RSS ticker feed provides the text playlist content for the other zone.
- BrightSign’s advanced video decoding engines and scaling hardware provided the superior 1080i HD video quality required and, since BrightSign supports industry standard video and image formats, L’île des Médias was able to use its existing, proven, content development practices to create the MPEG-2 and JPEG images on display.
- Furthermore, the compact size of BrightSign and the fact that it can operate in demanding environments allowed them to install the units directly within the tables without concerns such as ventilation or temperature. BrightSign’s solid state design provides the necessary flexibility for complex installation and is significantly more straightforward than fitting players in a controlled back room and running cable throughout the venue.
- Each of the six interactive video tables is managed remotely via an Internet connection to update content. Video content is updated around once a month over the Internet and delivered in high-definition 1080i format. Text messages are delivered to the table screens via an Internet gateway and displayed in an RSS feed zone defined by the BrightSign’s configuration. BrightSign Network Manager simplifies the task of automated updates and L’île des Médias created a special application to make the SMS text messages display on the BrightSign units.
- According to L’île des Médias managing director Jérôme Hérard: “The BrightSign players are easy to install and we really liked BrightSign Network Manager for remote updates through the Internet. It is a user friendly application that offers a bunch of options to manage the content remotely and enhance the efficiency of the system“
- Conventionally video would be delivered from networked personal computers. However, BrightSign provides key advantages over the PC-based approach including lower acquisition cost, quicker, cheaper deployment and simpler network implementation.
- The concept is to be expanded to provide more and more table top video screens with SMS interactivity. As well as table-to-table texting, the solution offers a wealth of future enhancements, such as voting, for example, on which video to show next. Jérôme Hérard concludes: “Such technology could be very interesting for a lot of applications. The ability to send text messages through a mobile phone and to display them using a BrightSign offers a really cool, simple and smart way to update text content. It can bring interactivity to all kinds of digital signage installations.”
