Our information display solutions run on a variety of display hardware. A distinct difference exists between the display itself, and some sort of intelligence running software inside or connected to that display hardware often called a video controller or a System On Chip (SOC) solution.

Display hardware is defined as a device that displays content.

A display, or also called a monitor or screen, is usually identified by size and resolution, and depending on specific criteria, in brightness, contrast, aspect ratio, and viewing angle. These last specifications are beyond the scope of this article.

The size of a display is usually specified in inches, and refer to the diagonal measurement of the device. For devices that display content to viewers, the widescreen is most commonly used.

For example, the most commonly used sizes are 32" and 42" for flight information display at check-in desks, gates, belts, and arrival and departure concourses. Larger sizes, such as 55", 65" and higher are usually implemented for content display like 4K or 8K advertising and other graphical content.

The Lumicast display solution products support any sized display hardware.

The resolution of a screen defines the sharpness of what is displayed at the monitor. The higher the resolution, the larger and sharper the image, but the more resources that content will need to display, i.e. the more expensive the hardware will be.

Resolution is specified in width and height, and the unit is pixels.

Lumicast software supports any resolution and can scale the image to display to the actual size of the monitor.

Lumicast software is brand-independent, we aim to support all display hardware. Most popular commercial brands include, in alphabetic order:

More specialized hardware is Aesys, extremely suitable for professional, 24/7 solutions, such as public transport venues and airports.

Lumicast needs some sort of intelligence in or connected to display hardware, as the basic component for the software is an HTML 5 browser. This is usually called a display controller if it is embedded or connected to display hardware, or a System On Chip if it is built-in in the display. The basic component of the Lumicast software is an HTML5 browser, so the controller or SOC minimally needs to be able to run an HTML5 browser.

This browser will run our display client software and that client connects to the display system kernel over a TCP/IP network. Depending on the level of intelligence in or connected to the display, higher or lower resolution content can be displayed.

Well-known display controllers include Raspberry Pi, Intel sticks, OPS slide-in modules, all connected or built into a device. Well-known SOC solutions are Samsung's Tizen and LG's WebOS.

SOC solutions are cheap, as they come built-in the display hardware, but they are limited in resources, such as processing power, memory, and content storage. Besides, they are often not expandable. SOC solutions are well suited for displaying information, images, and SD to HD resolution movies.

Video controller solutions are more expensive but provide more features, and are usually expandable by using a more powerful processor, more RAM, and larger HDD or SSD storage. Video controllers are well suited for displaying vivid full HD, 4K, or 8K video content, in combination with information.

A video controller is a hardware module that is externally connected to the display hardware or can be embedded into the hardware, often called an OPS module. Lumicast supports most external and internal solutions.

Externally connected video controllers have the benefit that any controller can be chosen, but the downside that it needs to be mounted on or near the display hardware, and probably will have cables between the controller and the display panel. The controller is connected with an HDMI, DVI, Display Port, or VGA cable to the display panel, and often needs an extra connection to a power outlet. Some controllers can be inserted into an HDMI slot directly, eliminating the HDMI cable.

Internal controllers or Open Pluggable Specification (OPS) controllers are slid into a dedicated space in a monitor. This means that the monitor needs to support OPS solutions, and specific brands have specific OPS specifications. The benefit is that there are no external HDMI or other graphical cables, and no separate power cable.

Both solutions often can run Windows, Linux, Android, and/or Raspbian operating systems, and depending on the chosen hardware, can be more or less expanded to increase resources such as processors, RAM memory, graphical features, and content storage.

The most commonly used SOC solutions are

Both systems support running apps, such as the HTML5 browser, and they support some sort of secure communication with (inter)networks. The solution is cheap as it is already built-in to the hardware, but resources may be limited to display the content you need, such as full HD, 4K, or 8K content.

Lumicast supports both SOC systems.

The Lumicast display solution products support any video controller or SOC solution that has at least the following specifications:

For monitors that display information and SD to (small) HD video content we suggest:

For monitors that display full-screen large HD, 4K, 8K, or higher content, possibly integrated with (flight) information, we suggest external or OPS video controllers with > 4GB memory, a graphical processor, and > 8GB file storage.