LCD Monitors

[sc411]

Thank you for providing your fantastic DS software!
I have couple of questions regarding the screen:
1 What is your recommendation for LCD monitors - brand, size and best source to acquire them.
2 Should one install HD LCD TV ? what are the pros & cons (price is very reasonable)
Thanks!

[admin]

LCD monitors are easy... Go to http://Costco.com
Great selection, low prices and easy to return if need be.

HD are just fine, just use good hardware like the MSX350

http://www.digitalsignage.me/html/advertising_monitor.html

Alon.

[sc411]

Thanks for the quick response. Do you recommend a particular model?

[admin]

All new models today support VGA/HDMI and all work well...

[DelrayDigital]

What are your thoughts on commercial grade monitors vs. consumer? Is the price difference really worth it? I'm not talking a sign in an airport that really runs 24/7, but what about a sign that runs a typical 8-10 hr work day in a medical office, retail store, etc. & gets turned off every night.

Thoughts anyone?

[admin]

I think a standard Costco Monitor will do just fine.
Will have an operation life of 3-5 years.

David.

[causticbuddhist]

I've been using an almost no name (Insignia) HDTV for a computer monitor personally for about 3 years now no problems, averaging about  30 hours of on time a week (sometimes a lot more sometimes a lot less).

The one property I have media signage running on has another almost no name monitor (Aomni) 42" that's been pretty much on 24/7 for about the last 4 months with no problems (the first 3 months it was running an HTML page).

Now after this time I would have expected a little bit of burn in (seeing how the screen is basically static about 80% of the time) but I haven't seen any visible changes to either screen during all this time.

Do some digging around for good monitor prices (I saw a 23" HDTV for something like $250 the other day) string two of those together and get roughly 46"x16" monitor (easily getting 2048x768 workable space), controlled form a single computer for about $300 (Tiger Direct has some great deals at the moment).  Total cost of components for that would be under $1000 (assuming you wall mount with 2 fifty dollar mounts).

My basic opinion is that the basic digital signage installation as a whole should be pretty cheap, this is a great selling point for your packages. 
While a company might look at you askew for asking $5000-$10000 for a couple of TVs and a computer.  They'll look at you a lot less funny asking for $2000-$3000 and a monthly fee to help manage their content.  Get them to agree to a portion of the advertising cost and you could be making a decent amount of residual income.

[James]

Here is an article I wrote that may be of interest to those asking the question: Commercial vs. Consumer with regards to Digital Signage Monitors.

Commercial-grade Monitors a Digital Signage Imperative | Digital Signage Information http://bit.ly/1vE0IO