Cabletime develops and manufactures video distribution and communications systems with a history steeped in video and audio distribution products for cable TV. So bringing that knowledge and experience into the retail scenario for screen networks means there’s a solution not to be lightly dismissed. MediaStar Evolution boasts delivering unbeatable quality digital signage. The IP-based digital video delivery system comes specifically tailored to meet the exacting needs of the retail sector, including shops, supermarkets and malls.

As a blackbox solution where everything and anything, content-wise, is pumped in and the right items pumped out, in the right order, to the right place at the right time. Simplistic analogy? Yes but that’s exactly what it is and does. The MediaStar Evolution digital signage player delivers high quality image reproduction. It can deliver locally stored content and also act as a streaming device bringing in any content for playing from anywhere, any time.

MediaStar Evolution reckons to exploit the best of digital and analogue communications. It takes on advanced digital video streaming and multimedia content delivery across an LAN or WAN, whilst incorporating an analogue overlay that delivers real time TV wherever a wired twisted pair infrastructure can reach. As a total solution, the system can easily be configured to meet any managed media delivery needs locally, regionally or globally.

For digital signage, the range and scope of displays are increasing and MediaStar Evolution, which is completely scaleable, from a single endpoint to entire multiple networks with multiple MediaStar Evolution boxes and thousands of individual displays, readily delivers to small shelf edge displays to giant outdoor screens.

The system can output to any digital or analogue display including HDTV, (1920x1080i), whilst RS232 I/O ports, additional to USB, enable external device control or touch screen access. The MediaStar Evolution player incorporates 2Gbytes of on-board memory which is upgradeable to 8Gbytes for fast and efficient data handling.

Local content is easily uploaded and fed to MediaStar Evolution via the USB port, Smart Card or PCMCIA Type II memory card whilst streamed content, in MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 format, is readily delivered from a local or wide area network, or central video server. The integrated cardbus also accepts static flash memory and Wi-Fi cards.

MediaStar Evolution is easily set up to check for new content stored on a network which it will automatically collect, replace and play the new material according to requirements. At local levels, individual store managers, for example, can also synchronise their screens to co-ordinate and maximise their own promotional messages as and when necessary.

For retailers, MediaStar Evolution enables centralised video content manipulation and management using editable playlist sequencing that ensures the appropriate content is delivered to individual outlets. It also enables suitability checking at local levels before content is played out.

Dedicated Thinking
On the thinking behind MediaStar Evolution, Paul Reeves, Cabletime’s Sales & Marketing Director, explains, “The requirements of the digital signage market and retailers are very specific and we adjusted our thinking to adapt MediaStar Evolution from being predominantly an MPEG2/4 streaming device into one that can receive content from a variety of sources and maintain a very high quality delivery to screens.”

Cabletime has been working closely with its customers for over ten years and sees itself as totally aware that video content delivery to screens varies according to the network in place. “MediaStar Evolution ensures that we are able to provide solutions to customers no matter what their network capability,” says Paul Reeves. “We give organisations the ability to have a digital signage solution that will be future-proof for new delivery methods and network capabilities.”

MediaStar Evolution is easy to use and because it can be centrally controlled before content distribution, the system provides an invaluable means of helping large retail chains to build core marketing messages that can be readily and easily adapted according to store geographical location. “The system is also very flexible so retailers can change their content overnight,” says Paul Reeves, “for example if they need to respond to fluctuations in the market such as pricing or direct competition from other stores.”

The MediaStar Evolution blackbox is a highly reliable multicore computing engine. It operates on Linux, delivering full multimedia handling capabilities for MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 streams. The system can display PowerPoint, JPEGs, Tickers, and HTML pages, making it also ideal for corporate, medical and educational, as well as retail, applications.

3’s Bluwater ThreeStore,

First company to take on the advanced capabilities of MediaStar Evolution is mobile media company 3 with the Cabletime digital signage solution installed in its ThreeStores. The system is already up and running in 3’s Bluewater ThreeStore and is set to roll out to over 20 ThreeStores by the end of Q1. In store, rich mobile media content is played on a series of five displays of different sizes strategically placed on each side of the store. “3 has a brand that sets it apart from the competition on the high street,” says Marc Allera, 3’s Sales Director. “This innovative store design concept delivers a new experience-based retail approach that is both fun for the customer and a great place to work. Not only do we have a great range of handsets and the best price plans, people will want to visit a ThreeStore and have a look around just because they’re so different.”

AVE Systems, a specialist AV integrator worked closely with Cabletime to adapt its new IP based delivery system to meet 3’s requirements. Although Cabletime’s MediaStar Evolution is an IP based digital video delivery solution, designed to stream content over IP networks, 3 wanted the ability to deliver content from its own content provider via its own wide area network. The content was then needed to be played out on screens from local storage, enabling 3 to tailor marketing messages locally.

"I was confident that past experience with Cabletime and the then news of the imminent release of the Evolution product range was going to be the right solution for 3,” says James Shanks, Director of AVE Systems. The use of the Cabletime solution in conjunction with content supplied by Realisation, 3’s content provider, allows synchronisation to a millisecond that can be downloaded and updated daily via the USB port. The system’s built-in ability to recognise new data and then synchronise across the respective screens enables the images to constantly change and thus maintain interest. The in-store message is most intensified when synchronised across the five 3 in-store screens to create one image.

In addition to the flexibility to deliver stored video content or receive streamed MPEG2 or MPEG4 from a network or central video server, the choice of 3 to use MediaStar Evolution’s USB capabilities in its ThreeStores also enables content to be entered via PCMCIA card.

A major benefit to the ThreeStores is the ability to respond to last minute marketing opportunities and remain ahead of the competition. Price based content can be quickly updated on MediaStar Evolution and delivery can be segmented depending on the geographical location of the ThreeStore.

The 3 system, which delivers high quality image reproduction, is updatable to deliver over IP in the future with built-in security. It is fully supported and maintained by AVE Systems.

3, who launched the UK's first 3G network, currently has over 3.2 million customers in the UK and over 10million worldwide. The 3 network provides national coverage for calls and texts, with over 86% population coverage for 3G services. Its three core areas of business are communications, entertainment and information services. Communications includes all forms of personal communications: voice and video calling; text, picture and video messaging and mobile blogging. Entertainment services include television, music audio and video, computer games and media publishing. Information services include wireless web, Internet access and a range of news and other information services.

From Cabletime’s initial first generation product, CableStar, the company developed its skills in video, audio, RF and management software for what was in the early 90s a fledgling cable TV industry in the UK and Europe. Now the company reckons to sit at the heart of the revolution, bringing video media to the workplace through its MediaStar video distribution and conferencing system. MediaStar is now running in hundreds of major corporates worldwide, managing and delivering video and audio content, including banking and trading institutions.

MediaStar is also used by publishers, media, sporting and leisure companies, as well as in Government, education and medical sectors, delivering specialist channels such as CNBC, for example, to the desktop of financial traders or corporate TV to a plasma screen in a reception area.

The MediaStar Compact hub can provide 16 video and stereo audio inputs from a variety of sources including DVDs, VCRs and satellite decoder boxes. With an RF input option, as at Saks, up to eight standard TV channels can also be incorporated. By daisy chaining MediaStar Compact hubs together, up to 80 users can be accommodated on a network.

MediaStar Compact is therefore also suitable for retail environments. It can deliver, for example, video and stereo audio from a variety of content sources. A store can choose to display, for example, live fashion via satellite on some screens whilst simultaneously displaying music TV or product promotions for concessions within store on different screens. The store is in total control via an IP/RS232 interface through a standard browser on a PC or alternatively, for individual screen remote control through MediaStar’s IR system.

MediaStar Pro, a TV distribution system developed by Cabletime, has been installed by Sky News in London to deliver TV to 336 screens in the broadcaster newsroom. The system is designed specifically for audio and video delivery over structured cabling. It is also scaleable with a host of features and comprehensive software management. The system was installed by IVC in conjunction with Cabletime.

W: www.cabletime.com