| Digital signage software supports Flash, YouTube videos |
Apr. 18, 2008
 Netpresenter has announced version 5.0 of its digital signage player software for Windows XP Embedded. Netpresenter Player supports continuous, full-screen display of YouTube videos, Adobe Flash content, RSS feeds, and emergency alerts, according to the company.
Netpresenter is a software package that includes an editor for creating presentations, plus player modules that display content on PC workstations or signage systems. The players are offered in pop-up and screen saver versions, or a "TV player" version that runs full-screen continuously.
According to Netpresenter, no special server software is required by its products. Once a presentation has been created, it can be "published" on any server that is visible to the clients, including those on a corporate intranet, or external HTTP or FTP servers.
The Netpresenter Player (pop-up version shown)
(Click to enlarge)
The company claims that, in general, the bandwidth requirements are low. In line with the limited storage space available on embedded systems, the Netpresenter Player -- shown above in its pop-up version -- is a 350Kb .exe file without any DLLs, and a self-cleaning cache directory requires only from 1MB to 2MB.
The NetPresenter Editor (below) has a presentation graphics-style interface that enables layering of graphics, video, and sound objects. It also includes a thumbnail view (above) of all slides in a presentation, plus the ability to schedule content playback.
The Netpresenter Editor
(Click to enlarge)
Media supported by the package previously included still graphics in BMP, GIF, JPEG, and PCX formats, video in AVI, MPEG 1, MPEG 2, MPEG 4, and DivX formats. As noted above, version 5.0 now supports Adobe Flash and YouTube content as well.
Netpresenter also offers three add-ons: Netpresenter Message Server, Netpresenter Emergency Alert Server, and Netpresenter Newsfeed Server. The first of these is designed to let non-technical personnel send announcements using simple templates. Messages can be sent to Netpresenter Players, to web pages, or to RSS feeds.
Netpresenter Emergency Alert Server is a package designed for the sole purpose of sending alerts that will interrupt whatever else was happening on digital signs or desktop PCs. The visible emergency alerts, with flashing red borders, cannot be stopped by popup kilers or other software, claims Netpresenter.
Finally, Netpresenter Newsfeed Server sends RSS (really simple syndication) feeds to Netpresenter players. The company says RSS feeds can be converted into Netpresenter slideshows using templates. They can also be converted into web pages using XLST (extensible stylesheet language).
Further information
Netpresenter offers a free trial download of the Netpresenter Player, plus a publicly available demonstration version of the Netpresenter Message Server. These are available from the company's website, here.
Pricing was not quoted, but the software is available now. As well as running on Windows XP Embedded, the player supports Windows XP and Vista.
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