Review: DT Research's WebDT Digital Signage

In many cases, the media player hardware, display management software, and the display itself were all produced and sold by different manufacturers. Although some have collaborated to create out-of-the-box solutions; integration can be quirky, and who to call for support can sometimes be hard to determine.

With their new WebDT Digital Signage Solution; San Jose, Calif.-based DT Research has created a fully integrated, single source, out-of-the-box product. The Test Center looked at the company's 37-inch DS3700 product and found it to be a solid, easy-to-use solution.

Designed as an all-in-one modular device, the WebDT signage systems look like a standard LCD display; but hidden within the console is a 1.5 GHz, x86 processor running Windows XP Embedded on a flash-based drive (the smaller, 15- and 17-inch screens are also available with a 2.0 GHz CPU). Our evaluation unit came with the optional IR touch screen.

Setting up the system consists of simply mounting the unit (mounts are not included), connecting the power cord and network cable, and plugging in a USB keyboard and mouse. After the system boots up, testers were greeted with a Player Registration window. This registers the player with the WebDT Content Manager (more about this below). Once the device is registered, the keyboard and mouse are no longer necessary since all management is done over IP. The software components of the WebDT system are entirely browser based. There is the Device Manager and the Content Manager, both of whose names are self explanatory.

The Device Manager application allows for the remote management of the actual hardware in the system; this includes inventory, logs/reports, updates, system restarts, etc. The Content Manager application is where the heart of the system lies. The Content Manager resides on a server that would typically be hosted by the reseller, similar to the way Websites are hosted (or it can be hosted in house on a Microsoft Web server).

The customer would then log into it by browsing to the reseller-provided URL. For our review, DT Research provided the hosting. Although the Content Manager appeared to be a little overwhelming when first logging in, it turned out to actually be a very simple, logical application. In the left frame is a menu divided into sections. Under the System section, network settings and user accounts can be managed.

The Player/Group section allows for the creation of multiple groups and lets the user assign each device into its relative group. This is useful for customers (or resellers who handle their customer's management duties) who want to display different content depending on location, time of day, or for any other reason. The WebDT Signage system can easily scale up to thousands of units via the deployment of intermediary WebDT Edge Servers, whose function is primarily to offload bandwidth usage from the main central server.

The Management section is where the media is uploaded to and stored. The WebDT system supports a plethora of file types:

- Images: JPEG, BMP, PNG, TIFF, GIF, TGA, and PCX

- Audio: MP3, MP2, WAV, WMA, MIDI, REAL, AIF, AU, and SND

- Multimedia: SWF, MP4, MPEG1/2, WMV, AVI, VOB, MOV, and HTML

Through a partnership with AccuWeather, WebDT also provides access to real-time weather and news content delivered directly into their digital signage networks. With the optional touch screen, interactive content is also possible. (We were notified during our tests that DT Research will be upgrading the Content Manager within the next two weeks to include the capability to display video input for television programming, as well as do offline content update via USB flash drive.)

After we uploaded our media files, we created a template, which is as simple as resizing different zones within the Full Screen Zone layout. The next to last step is to populate the template with Playlists. A playlist comprised of previously uploaded media can be created for each zone. There is also a Ticker feature that can be set up to scroll across the bottom or top of the display. The Ticker can either be pre-populated with text, or configured with an RSS URL. Its colors, size, speed, and position are all customizable.

Once content was created, we clicked into the Schedule section and were able to schedule which playlists will play on each group, by date, time and rate of occurrence (daily, weekly, monthly, or every x hours). If the schedule is being published by a Normal User, it is placed in a queue to await approval by a Manager.

If SMTP settings are configured, a notification email will be sent to the Manager alerting them that approval is needed, and to the User after the Manager approves or rejects the schedule. Cell phone SMS is also a notification option. The difference between Normal User and Manager is the permission to schedule. Managers can also create an Urgent Cast. Urgent Cast allows the ability to immediately broadcast important content and messages to the players. This takes precedence over all normally published playlist schedules. The Urgent Cast message can contain a ticker-like text message, multimedia content, and background audio.

DT Research offers two different partner programs. The no-fee Reseller program benefits include margin opportunities and extended warranty options with advance replacement. VARs can also increase profitability with monthly hosting residuals. There is also a Creative Content Partner program designed to build mutually beneficial relationships and provide practical tools and information to help sell the solution.

The WebDT Digital Signage Solution is an intuitive, well-designed system that fills a hole in the growing digital signage arena. Anyone would be hard pressed to find fault with the quality of its hardware, or the simplicity of its interface.