Digital View Blog

Train station platforms and airports around the world bear testament to the value of digital signage in transport. The attraction is clearly the shear volume of people even if the demographics are broad. Read more…

We’re very excited about an installation of monitors that Alfacam have built using Digital View technology. Using our powerful LCD Controller board, the SVH-1920, and the HD-2000 and IP-50 accessories, Alfacam have deployed these custom monitors in their OB trucks during the World Cup just as they did at the last Olympics. This is enabling them to drive LCD panels to display the feeds coming in from the games. Read more…

Everyone should be familiar with the video technique of traveling across a map used in movies like Indiana Jones and documentaries similar to the example shown here.

This can be a great way to start a documentary clip for a museum exhibit or other digital signage project such as a promotional video in a travel agency and it is very easy to create. While a couple of software packages such as Road Trip Effects (Mac/PC) from Sol Robots provide dedicated tools the latest version of iMovie (Mac) includes a very simple and intuitive function that was used to create the example above.

To access it in iMovie simply select the Maps and Background browser in the iMovie main page as indicated in the picture here. Select a map style and drag it to the project window. A dialog box may open otherwise double click on the video in the Project window, this will allow you to set the duration and other settings.

Note: Digital View does not endorse, support or guarantee any 3rd party products mentioned on its blog.

Creating video from still images can be very effective, quick and easy. The various techniques available go well beyond simple slide shows and produce results suitable for retail product promotion, real estate agents and museums exhibit type digital signage. The following is a quick introduction to some straightforward methods:

• Many video editing software packages include a ‘pan and scan’ function or as Apple call it the ‘Ken Burns Effect’ (it is available in iMovie). This creates a video showing a portion of the still image, moving around it and zooming in or out. It is easy to implement and used quite extensively, the results can be excellent.
• Another very simple approach is to add scrolling text over a still image background. Most video editing packages enable this as a very straightforward function, often referred to as Titles.
• Some software packages and online services are focused on turning still images into creative videos. An example that seeks to address the professional market is Animoto, a web based SaaS service that also enables the inclusion of a soundtrack. Dedicated software packages include PhotoPresenter (Mac) and FotoMagico (Mac) from Boinx and Pulp Motion (for Mac) from Aquafadas that create animated slide shows that can be exported to video. Update: Of course there is also Apple’s iPhoto and Aperture.
• Finally, presentation software such as Keynote for Mac can be used to import still images, add text and effects then export to video.

Then of course there are a considerable number of professional tools such as Adobe CS5, Apple Final Cut Pro and various plug-ins generally requiring a specialist level of expertise and budget.

Note: Digital View does not endorse, support or guarantee any 3rd party products mentioned on its blog.

Integre at SID

At SID last week we put the new Integre chassis on display. This is designed for 32″ to 80″ LCD panels and can be used in landscape or portrait modes. As shown here it brings together a number of Digital View ingredients:

• SVX-1920 LCD interface controller
• RM-DN5 solid-state media player
• Power balancing with fail-over.
• Thermal management
• Airflow management

And what cannot be seen is the monitoring and reporting that is built into all of this enabling remote management and reporting.

All this adds up to a very easy to use package for display system integrators in the digital signage and AV display markets.

Time lapse is that fantastic technique that lets us see plants grow, flowers blooming and clouds move rapidly across the sky, it allows us to see things that otherwise happen too slowly. A similar and very much related technique is ‘stop motion’ which is the technique for creating clay animations such as Wallace & Grommit and model animations such as the many Lego animations that can be seen on YouTube.

Both of these techniques are very easy to setup and use, basically all that is required is a suitable camera and PC/Mac with appropriate software. The software used for capturing the images will export a video and may also offer some editing functions as well.

The only difference between time lapse and stop motion is that time lapse uses a scheduled interval between frames and stop motion uses a manual interval, so an object can be moved. When played back at normal speed such as 25 or 30 frames per second these can make up a smooth video.

Some digital cameras now include software to enable time lapse or stop motion. Otherwise examples of suitable software include Dragon Stop Motion (PC/Mac) which works with a number of digital cameras. iStopMotion (Mac) from Boinx suitable for both stop motion and time lapse. A search on the web will reveal many more.

Update: Smoovie from Open Planet Software is reported as being easy to use.

Note: Digital View does not endorse, support or guarantee any 3rd party products mentioned on its blog.