Sharp Rolls Out First Stand-Alone Digital-Signage Displays
(PRNewsfoto/Sharp Electronics Corporation)
Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA) today introduced its first stand-alone digital-signage solution that it says provides the flexibility and expandability to support various applications and usage styles.
The firm says that the new 40″ Class (39.5″ diagonal) PN-B401 and 50″ Class (49.5″ diagonal) PN-B501 professional LCD displays are digital signage solutions that support all types of content providers without them having to rely on external media players such as PCs.
Each PN-B series display features an Android-based, built-in SoC (System on a Chip) controller driven by the Arm Cortex-A17 quad-core processor (maximum 1.8 GHz), with 2 GB of memory and 8 GB of storage. The embedded SoC is said to provide for reliability, convenience, and power, reducing cabling and allowing for easier content deployment.
“The PN-B401 and PN-B501 are excellent smart digital signage solutions with significant benefits for both our channel network and end users,” commented Gary Bailer, director of product management, Information Display Products, Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America. “By implementing SoC technology, we eliminate the need for a separate media player or PC, thus lowering the cost of entry. This strategy helps us to simplify digital signage for our customers, making it more accessible for companies and organizations of all sizes.”
Content can be displayed on the PN-B series of displays in a number of simple ways. For example, Web-based digital signage content can be displayed simply by entering a URL in the embedded HTML5 Browser, while videos and still images can be routed through the pre-installed media player. For those requiring additional functionality and content management, the PN-B Series also embeds Sharp’s new e-Signage S Player.
The PN-B series is Sharp’s first professional display series to feature the SHARP Open Architecture Platform for digital signage, which offers end users easy ways to download, store, and play content directly from the display. The platform is a combination of Sharp technology and alliances with leading third-party digital signage software providers.
Both displays offer an expansion slot compatible with the Intel Mini Open Pluggable Specification (Mini OPS), which supports the addition of advanced optional wireless (PN-ZB03W), computing (PN-ZB03AO), or HDBaseT receiver boards (PN-ZB03H), giving the display a unique, open platform flexibility.
Multiple PN-B series displays can be set up in a daisy-chain configuration, providing customers with an economic, scalable digital-signage solution resulting in a 2×2 video wall with the equivalent of 4K Ultra-HD (3,840 × 2,160-pixel) resolution. The displays also offer several installation options, whether in a landscape or portrait orientation, installed face-up, face-down, or tilted forward or backward at an angle of up to 90 degrees. They may also be suspended with wires from the four corners of the rear housing.
The PN-B401 and PN-B501 are available to ship now. Sharp says it plans to expand its smart=signage platform in 2018 with additional sizes, resolutions, and brightness levels.
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