Digital Signage: High Definition Signs Grow Increasingly Important

HDTV is becoming more commonplace in U.S. households and around the world everyday. The latest figures from research firm In-Stat show that as of the end of last year there were 22 million homes across the country where HDTVs were being used to display high-definition programming, and another 17 million that have installed high definition televisions but aren't yet watch HD programs.

Worldwide, too, the number of HDTV households is on the rise. In 2007, the number of homes across the globe with HDTVs stood at 29.6 million. By the end of last year, that number had grown to 37 million, In-Stat said.

There appears to be no slowdown in consumer adoption of HDTV going forward, either. Despite the ongoing recession, consumers are projected to gobble up high definition consumer electronics at an incredible pace. A recent forecast from research firm iSuppli, foresees unit shipments of HD products worldwide growing threefold from 2008 to 2012, when they will number 202 million. Granted, iSuppli clumps lots of different HD products together –everything from HD set-top boxes to high definition game consoles. Regardless, though, this tally also includes displays, and more importantly it points to a day in the not-too-distant future when high definition stuff will be the rule, not the exception.

What does any of this have to do with digital signage? Quite a lot actually. The same people who live in HD households and watch their high-def TVs day in and day out also are in public on a daily basis seeing digital signage messaging at airports, hotels, stores and restaurants.

The growing tide of people exposed daily to high-def programming and televisions demands professional digital signage communicators to ask themselves a single, simple question: “How well does my digital signage messaging hold up to what my viewers see everyday in their homes on their HDTVs?”

Like it or not, the public increasingly will judge the digital signage messaging they see against what’s seen at home. Digital signage content producers who lag behind the growing public appetite for high definition run the risk of sapping the "wow" factor from digital signs.

The good news for digital signage content creators is that although they will have to retool their creative arsenal of hardware and software for high-def, the prices of those tools have tumbled in recent years to approach and in some cases equal what they were accustomed to paying for standard definition tools. From professional level camcorders to HD video editing tools, high definition text and animation software to special effects packages, high-definition creative tools are affordable –especially when compared to a few years ago.

Equally sweet music to the ears of businesses looking to deploy HD display panels as well as HD digital signage playback servers and controllers are also more affordable than ever. At the same time, they offer all of the functionality, if not more, than their existing standard definition counterparts.

To be sure, large and small businesses alike are keeping a close eye on their capital and operating expenses given the current state of the economy. While doing so is a  reality of doing business in today’s economic climate, it’s equally real that the number of folks at home with HDTVs is growing. To stay competitive for their attention, deploying high-def digital signs and creating HD content will increasingly become just another cost of doing business –one that even the most frugal business manager won’t be able to afford to ignore.