Planar The Latest Displayco To Add “Smart” Displays

January 17, 2017 by Dave Haynes

Beaverton, Oregon-based Planar has started marketing a 4K pro display series that includes an embedded, networked Android media player capable of driving  4K resolutions and ready for h.265 video and HTML5.

It looks, however, like the only way to manage these displays is via Planar’s own ContentSmart management software – which at a quick glance looks a wee bit limited and old school-ish. Could be wrong there, but it’s an installed desktop client for Windows only and there seems to be a lot of enthusiasm and attention paid in the manual to tickers and PowerPoint slides.

The other so-called Smart displays out there have platforms 3rd party software developers can work with through APIs or development kits, use open versions of Android, or can run signage off a URL.

The news release says the Planar QE Series is the industry’s first all-in-one 4K solution for high-impact digital signage. I THINK all the other System on Chip displays out there are 1080HD, and not 4K.

Available in 75-inch, 86-inch and 98-inch sizes, the Planar QE Series incorporates an embedded media player and software, providing a simple and cost-effective way to design, distribute and play back ultra-high resolution digital signage on a single display or multiple displays within a network. Multi-touch models are also available, offering an affordable solution for professionals who seek to collaborate or interact using large format, high resolution displays.

“Market momentum towards the use of large format 4K displays in commercial applications is undeniable,” says Steve Seminario, vice president of product marketing at Planar and Leyard. “The Planar QE Series was designed to further break down barriers to 4K adoption in digital signage and collaboration by providing an affordable and simple professional solution.”

All Planar QE Series displays offer cutting-edge 4K video performance, with support for native 4K at up to 60Hz, with HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2 to enable smooth motion video. The displays allow for four sources to be simultaneously viewed in quadrants on the display, making them perfect for collaboration or huddle environments in conference rooms as well as digital signage applications. The displays can be oriented in either landscape or portrait and come with a logo-free, all-metal bezel design for enhanced durability.

Audio is built into each display with two internal 10-watt speakers. The displays are compatible with a multitude of Ultra HD inputs, including emerging 4K sources requiring compliance with the High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) standard.

 

The display series starts shipping this quarter.

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