Hungary’s Dension Debuts Android Digital Signage Player

June 10, 2013 by Dave Haynes

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A Hungarian company best-known for making pro audio devices for the auto market has moved into the digital signage space, developing a purpose-built media player that runs on Android.

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Dension Ltd has developed a system on chip playback device and it will start shipping with Signagelive’s HTML5 platform. Called CPX-1, the product is being launched this week in Berlin at something called Digital Signage Expo 13.

Dension made a name for itself building iPod and iPhone car integration kits and now does that for most car manufacturers globally. It already does in-store radio systems and has a Linux digital sign player.

The big selling point here is that the CPX-1 is one of very few units – so far – on the market that has been built from the ground up for unattended 24/7 digital signage use, and is not a modified product from China that was originally destined for use in a living room as part of a home theatre kit. We’ve heard lots of stories from the larger companies that have launched Android products of their sorting through dozens of devices before finding the engineering design and production quality necessary to drive a sign network without issues.

“Together with Signagelive, we have developed an android-based media player that satisfies a growing demand for portable, smart, non-PC based solutions for commercial use,” says Ferenc Balogh, CEO of Dension. “The low power consumption of the CPX-1 compared to conventional PC based-solutions means we can present our product as the “green option” for the digital signage. In addition to being an Android-based player, its HDMI functionality means we can offer extra value to existing customers, such as the ability to combine a local audio signal into Signagelive’s cloud based multi-zone content system.”

The unit is an ARM A5 CPU, and the full specs are here. The product will be sold as a bundled offer between Dension and Signage with the price for the unit and 1 year of cloud software less than $400 MSRP.

 

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