At home, I have an entertainment center filled with A/V equipment: HDMI receiver, DVD/BD player, VCR (yes, still), Apple TV/Boxee, Comcast cable box/DVR, and of course, the LCD TV. In talking with customers on the phone, I find that most have similar setups. You might be thinking, why don't you use all this high-powered equipment to display photos on your 60 inch 1080i LCD TV and call it a day? Or, just plug you digital camera or USB flash drive into your LCD TV? Or better yet, just display them on your computer?

We have this conversation all the time but how do you really explain the PhotoVu experience and the reasons to buy our products?

I believe it starts with the same reasons we buy all these single purpose devices to watch TV/videos or listen to music...best in class or best product for the job. There isn't any technical reason that all these A/V products could not be scaled down or combined into one. There are also customer usage patterns that a singe company or product isn't going to change. Fundamentally, all of the above A/V devices are lean forward. Meaning, you interact with them a lot. What most don't know is that the digital photo frame is a lean back device. You set it up and forget about it. Then, as you go about your daily business, it enriches your life.

At PhotoVu, we've always taken the approach of working with your entire photo archive. Why? Past memories are just as important as current ones. In some cases, more important. Also, technology should blend into an environment and lifestyle so aesthetics are just as important as functionality. Believe me, very few significant others are going to allow a "computer looking device" to occupy the wall of their living room!

The lean back experience can be very hard to describe until you see it personally. As you go about your daily routine, you're not waiting or expecting to see anything. Then, a photo catches your eye, you pause, look at it for a few seconds or more, and you're off to a happy or sentimental place...as you run to put the next load of laundry into the washer. At times, you'll will be sitting on your couch watching TV then a commercial comes on. You focus on the PhotoVu for a few minutes then drift off into a series of past memories about friends and loved ones. No plan, no order, no interaction, and no...sit down and watch my slide show. It is unscripted, personal entertainment at its best!

In the end, I find it truly becomes the "ah ha!" experience for customers, their photos, and all the lost memories sitting in their shoe boxes.

There is nothing better than a happy customer...especially when they write really nice articles about you! Here are a few quotes from Tim's recent GRAND Magazine Gadgets article:

Enclosed is the entire article for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

You might be curious about the main image in our site's digital signage section. We get a lot of pictures from our customers but this one happened to show a really nice example of an affinity project. The details of the customer and installation were recently supplied to us so we always like to give credit where credit is due. Thanks guys and great work!

Renown Hospital featuring artists Richard Altman and Lyle London

During the design of a major atrium sculpture for Renown Hospital in Reno, NV artists Richard Altman and Lyle London were asked to also create a new concept for a series donor walls. The hospital foundation wanted a contemporary donor recognition system that harmonized with their new facilities and corporate theme of skill, expertise and technology. After kicking around several ideas, the concept of using LCD technology emerged as the winning idea.

Researching LCD options lead to the PhotoVu digital signage displays that were selected because of quality, functionality and cost effectiveness. The goal was to integrate the LCD technology into contemporary wall sculptures. Three wall sculptures were to be created. The employee sculpture contained one 19” PhotoVu digital sign, the major donor installation contained seven 19” digital signs, and the annual giving wall contained six 19” digital signs. The design and engineering for the project was done in 3D CAD to ensure ADA compliance, guide fabrication and generate mounting templates.

The monitor content was designed around the Renown corporate identity with input from the hospital’s marketing team. A template system was created in Photoshop to allow easy content changes by hospital staff. After production, the content was moved onto the PhotoVu displays and programmed with content transitions, duty cycles and other display settings. To keep updating simple, USB keys were used to transfer and store content for each monitor. A staff person from the foundation was then trained to use the Photoshop templates and make basic changes to the PhotoVu display settings. The systems have been operating for over a year without problems.

The installation was a big success for the hospital foundation and they are currently looking to add additional systems to other hospitals within their network.

This project is the result of collaboration between Richard Altman of Fusion Studios (www.fusionstudiosaz.com) and Lyle London of Art In Metal (www.artinmetalusa.com). The donor walls were part of a larger project that included the design, fabrication and installation of two dichroic glass and stainless steel atrium sculptures for the new Tahoe Tower at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, NV.

Photo Credits, © 2008 Richard Altman