A lot of attendees of InfoComm 2017 learned about Skreens and its relatively cost-effect and labor-efficient solution for displaying multiple video sources on a video screen for the first time during the trade show in Orlando, June 14-16.
Those that did learn about Skreens at Infocomm will never think about video wall or digital signage content management quite the same way again, at least according to the folks at Skreens.
[related] The pricing, for one thing, is disruptive, according to VP of channel business development Tim O’Neil. Skreens’ components come with either two or four HDMI ports allowing integrators or end users to display up to four customizable content windows on video walls or monitors for digital signage or meeting rooms.
With streaming sources, they can go beyond four.
They can also turn any TV monitor into a multi-window video wall.
Using a Skreens app users can easily make windows larger or smaller, switching sources, changing the configuration.
With Skreens’ line priced from $1,399 to $3,499, O’Neil argues that alternative solutions for displaying video wall content will cost around $9,000 – that’s where the “disruptive pricing” comes into play.
What Sets Skreens Apart from Competition?
During InfoComm 2017, integrators zeroed in on a few benefits of Skreens’ solutions, according to VP of product engineering Lynn Birch.
- “It creates a better user experience with dynamic placement of content,” she says.
- “It shortens installation times,” she says indicating that there isn’t much an installer has to do beyond plugging in the sources via HDMI and accessing the Skreens app in order to configure however they like.
- “It’s also a scalable solution,” she says. “It can span across multiple locations and venues.”
Managing content, whether it’s for digital signage or a conference room, can be a challenge for integration customers, O’Neil points out. He says Skreens’ extremely simple user experience via its smartphone app, can eliminate a lot of those headaches for integrators. Meanwhile, he says it helps integrators that might not have broadcast market experience create a “broadcast level” content management experience for customers.
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The user-friendly aspect is a big focus for Skreens, which is also seeing its solutions adopted in residential applications with interest from gamers that want to display multiple windows. The residential market, O’Neil points out, is seeing mainstream voice control platforms like Amazon Echo (Alexa), Google Home and soon Apple HomePod play big roles in home automation. There is no reason to expect those products won’t also make their way into meeting rooms, he said.
As such, Birch demonstrated Skreens’ compatibility with Amazon Echo calling out, “Alexa, show me train schedule” and “Alexa, show me weather.” It’s not hard to envision that voice-control application gaining traction in digital signage as well as in meeting rooms.
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