Photo by Peter Saunders
By Peter Saunders
At the beginning of 2013, Atec Signs & Service, based in Brampton, Ont., installed what manufacturer Nanov Display calls the sign industry’s first 1.8-m (70-in.) high-brightness outdoor liquid crystal displays (LCDs). The project involved integrating two of the displays within a free-standing pylon structure, positioned on the north sidewalk of Toronto’s Bloor Street East. The chosen location is in front of the Marriott Hotel at the Hudson’s Bay Centre, a shopping mall and office building at one of the city’s busiest intersections, which is generally considered the midpoint between downtown and uptown Toronto.
The timing of the installation during winter helped ensure the unit would be tested by the elements. The screens use 1,200 charge-coupled devices (CCDs) to provide clear viewing in daylight and patented air-circulation technology to ensure continual operations under severe weather conditions. A water-resistant housing, including powdercoated cold-rolled steel plates and tempered glass, provides a moisture-free interior for the screens’ embedded personal computers (PCs).
This installation was particularly important for Nanov, based in Miami, Fla., to verify its displays could withstand not only the heat and glare of a sunny summer and exposure to moisture—having supplied LCDs for outdoor swimming pool areas, spas and even boats—but also the sub-zero temperatures and blowing snow of a Canadian winter.
That said, the company was not alone in striving for this goal. The final product was the result of co-operation among a group of digital signage companies. Nanov’s design concept was upgraded by Mega Vision, for example, which increased the screens’ brightness by adding light-emitting diode (LED) backlighting units (BLUs).
The sign was installed in the middle of winter to test how well the LCDs could perform in sub-zero temperatures and blowing snow. Photos courtesy Nanov Display
Toronto-based Kramer Design Associates (KDA), a consultancy well-known for ‘street furniture,’ designed the pylon structure and specified the Nanov LCDs. At less than 305 mm (1 ft) deep, the double-sided display is comparable in terms of compact design to a standard ‘static’ sign of the same scale.
Atec built and installed the customized housing and applied for the necessary permits. The system was also approved by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) for installation in Toronto.
TOV Virtual integrated software that would ‘connect’ the sign to the shopping centre. The sign debuted with generic on-screen content for its test phase, but is soon expected to showcase information for shoppers, mall promotions, store directory listings, weather reports, event listings and advertising. Each side of the sign can be controlled separately and remotely, using the system’s embedded PC Internet connection over Category 5 (Cat-5) cable.
“The displays are an opportunity to increase revenue through both client advertising and the promotion of upcoming Hudson Bay Centre events,” explains Myungkune Moon, vice-president (VP) of Nanov, which has established warehouse facilities in nearby Mississauga, Ont., to ship its systems to the Canadian market. “They allow shopping centre property owners to think of outdoor digital signage not just as a directory, but as an outdoor media player.”
Along with Atec serving as Nanov’s local digital signage integrator, the systems are being distributed through Synnex Canada, a Toronto-based information technology (IT) wholesaler.
With files from Nanov Display. For more information, visit www.nanovdisplay.com.
