DV Signage Debuts Low-Cost GPS-Driven Media Player

January 13, 2012 by Dave Haynes

DV Signage, aka Digital View, has come out with a nice tweak to one of its workhorse products that introduces a low-cost solution for companies that want to tie messaging to GPS coordinates.

Its ViewStream 300GPS, says a release, allows the automatic triggering of specific videos and images according to realtime GPS data, on a non-networked box with no moving parts.

Google digital signage and GPS and you will get a healthy set of results, but the products tend to fall into two categories – networked and involving PCs (like UK-based Navaho), or Asian companies you’ve never heard of and can’t be sure aren’t one guy, a web page and a cellphone.

DV Signage (disclosure: way back I worked for Digital View and sold my share of ViewStreams) describes this as an “easy to use professional grade media player has an integrated GPS receiver that updates its internal geographic coordinates as it moves from location to location. Longitude and latitude data is automatically retrieved and displayed on an LED readout. This information can then be used to pre-program specific videos or still images to play at any point during a journey.”

Ideal for fixed route vehicles, from buses and trains to theme park rides and golf buggies. The specific coordinates of each section of the journey can simply pre-programmed with a relevant piece of information or revenue generating advertising.

The media storage is just a Compact Flash card and the units are small and pretty much bulletproof. It comes with simple and free software, and media and firmware (I think) get updated by inserting a USB stick. The normal Viewstreams are low-cost items meant for volume, but these ones are quite a bit different, with a special power filtering, a heavy duty aluminum enclosure, conformal coated electronics, the ruggedized GPS module and LCD readout.

End user price is more like $1,000/unit. The company will have the unit amidst its various pots and pans at ISE 2012 at the end of this month.

Non-networked units have, of course, limitations on updating and also on reporting back their status. But there are all kinds of media companies and private operators out there doping things like screens on airport and rental car shuttles, and local rail systems, that don’t need or want steady updating. The benefits of these sorts of things is they take all the vibrations and thuds, but cost a fraction of proper industrial grade PCs.

[expand title=”Show/Hide Press Release” expanded=”true”]

Location Aware Media Player Offers Signage On The Move.

DV Signage launches ViewStream 300GPS, a solid state digital media player that automatically triggers content according to location…

Morgan Hill, CA (PRWEB) January 13, 2012

[/expand]