Catalog of Specialty Displays

Have you been looking for a display solution for your project? Planar has just posted its Embedded Displays Catalog on its website. Almost every application you would need a display for can be found in this new and updated catalog.

Planar's display innovation began over 26 years ago with the Electroluminescent (EL) displays and has grown to include transportation, kiosk and digital signage, custom displays and 3D/Stereoscopic displays, to name a few. If your custom design project requires a rugged and custom display, Planar can assist with product definition and guide you through the challenges of developing a custom display.

An interactive guide to selecting a custom LCD can help with your display requirement selections, as well. Planar has developed a Guide just for that purpose. So, between the Guide and the Catalog, Planar can help guide you through the key considerations in creating your display.

Check out the catalog and let us know if there's something missing that would help you with your design project.

LCD Displays and the Future of Touch

The researchers at MIT's Media Lab have been working on a thin LCD display design that is touch and gesture friendly, much like your iPhone. Despite the fact they've already developed a large -scale gestural interface like the system that Tom Cruise's character uses in the movie Minority Report, the goal is to be able to incorporate the gestural display into a thin LCD device without wearing gloves or any type of tracking tags.


LCDs with built-in optical sensors are new to the market and Media Lab hasn't been able to procure any yet, so they are experimenting with a mocked up display in their lab to test their approach. The LCD display includes an array of optical sensors right behind it and serves as lens to display a black-and-white pattern that lets light through to the sensors. On Dec 19 at Siggraph Asia, the MIT team is presenting the first application of its work, a display that lets users manipulate on-screen images using hand gestures.


Customized LCD displays can be used in a multitude of other applications, too. Planar's use of an ultra-thin digital signage display provides premium performance by using LED backlighting. If your display specifications require more brightness and less wattage, Planar's in-house design and manufacturing capability enables performance advances in TFT display technology. Or, if you have some questions about selecting a custom LCD display, Planar offers some answers in its ebook and provides a guide to help navigate your display project requirements.


How would you use gesturing or touch for your display project?

Interactive Guide: Define a Custom LCD

We just released an interactive tour to complement the ebook, Guide to Selecting a Custom LCD. We guide you through all the major considerations and trade-offs in defining a custom LCD. This application provides two options:

1. Short Version - 10 questions built for a quick experience
2. Full Version - 46 questions built for being comprehensive

You can request an email summary of your specs at the end of the guide. Try the Guide.

Display Technology 101 Guides

Looking for a source that will provide guides to your display technology questions? Look no further than Planar's new Display Technology 101 Guide page. Questions from How to design an EL display to an Interactive Guide to Selecting an LCD display are all covered here, along with lots more information. We've even posted some Ebooks for a quick read to answer your questions about display technology. Check out the informational videos on our YouTube page, as well. We've got you covered with a host of informative resources!

Whether you're starting, in the middle or just plain stuck in your display process, what other guides would be helpful to answer your questions for a successful product?

Display Projects - Last Minute Issues

Have you ever thought you were finished with your display project plan only to discover you had a last minute change to your product definition? These kinds of changes are not only time-consuming, but can adversely affect the project budget. Yeah, you can find lots of information out there that can guide you through the steps to create your display project plan, but Planar has created an easy-to-read Ebook that addresses answers to questions that will avoid killing your schedule.


Everything from regulatory requirements and changing product definitions to environmental considerations is covered in this quick read. Avoid overlooking these critical components of your plan. There's a lot to cover when developing your project plans for displays like custom displays and electroluminescent displays!


Share any last minute changes you've had to make to your display project plan with us! Do you use Ebooks to find answers to issues quickly? Check out other Ebooks on Planar.

Checklist for Selecting a Display Vendor

We know there are a lot of considerations in finding the right display partner. We want to make it easier for you to find the right fit. Request a display partner checklist and guide to making this decision.

Customized Digital Signage

Our engineering team has been cranking on an exciting new custom project. A few details were recently released about our collaboration with PRN, the leading provider of television networks in retail environments. Who watches TV in stores? Evidently a lot of folks as PRN is the 5th largest TV network. Here's an excerpt from an article in Inc. Magazine from a few years ago.

But PRN is the biggest television network you've never heard of because of these traits, not in spite of them. Its name stands for Premier Retail Networks, and it is the in-store ESPN of consumer products. In industry argot, PRN is by far the largest network in the domestic "narrowcasting" niche, the business of sharply targeted "out-of-home" networks that was born of the fragmentation of traditional television audiences. PRN responded to the fragmented media landscape with a question elegant in its simplicity: Considering that about 70% of brand-buying decisions -- Charmin or Cottonelle? -- are made inside the store, why not try to get relevant ads in front of shoppers at the moment of decision? "Where else," asks Jim Wiatt, CEO of William Morris and a PRN board member, "can advertisers get the message out better?"
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20050601/tv-network.html

Check out the release "Planar Systems Wins Contract with Thomson's PRN to Deploy Digital Displays." Look for more news about this project later in the year.