Viewsonic shows off embedded digital signage player

Further taking the "C" out of CES, Viewsonic and Freescale demonstrated an embedded digital signage player which uses a Freescale chip to display digital content on Viewsonic screens. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff, but there is certainly a lot of room for improvement in the embedded player space. Here's their blurb:

Designed for large-scale video wall installations in enterprise, retail, hospitality and healthcare environments, ViewSonic's solution eliminates the need for a local PC or video converter box, typically required in other digital signage offerings. The solution also supports multiple screen zones, enabling video, Web pages and PowerPoint content to be mixed and matched within various zones of the large-screen display.

ViewSonic has chosen Freescale's MPC8270 PowerQUICC(TM) II communications processor, based on a PowerPC(R) core, to provide the embedded intelligence for the network display solution. By leveraging the integrated control- and data-plane processing capabilities of the PowerQUICC device, the solution can provide remote display monitoring and control across enterprise and retail networks -- without the cost and complexity of using personal computers to drive each display.

Of course, what they don't say is that often that PC can handle much more sophisticated content schedules, dynamic layouts, etc. But that wouldn't help their advertising much :) You can read the rest of the press release here.