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The comparison of soundbar with 4K LCD TV and pure audio player for Dolby Atmos

Post author By admin
Post date February 13, 2025
No Comments on The comparison of soundbar with 4K LCD TV and pure audio player for Dolby Atmos

The main difference between a soundbar audio player working with a 4K LCD TV to demo Dolby Atmos audio experience and a pure audio soundbar player via eARC port working without a 4K LCD TV for showcasing Dolby Atmos audio lies in the role of the TV in the system and how the audio content is processed and delivered,. Here’s a detailed comparison:

1.Soundbar Audio Player with 4K LCD TV to Demo Dolby Atmos

There are 3 types of system layouts based on the demo soundbars I/O ports availability.

1-1.From soundbar to TV mode.
• Audio Source: HDMI output from the soundbar audio player is connected to the soundbar via HDMI.
• Video Signal: The soundbar processes the Dolby Atmos audio from the HDMI input and then outputs the video signal to the TV via line-out (HDMI or other video out connections).
• TV Role: The 4K LCD TV is responsible for displaying the video, while the soundbar handles the audio processing, including decoding Dolby Atmos.

1-2.From TV to soundbar mode

•Audio Source: HDMI output from the soundbar audio player is connected to the 4K LCD TV via HDMI.
• Video Signal: The 4K LCD TV processes the Dolby Atmos audio from the HDMI input and then outputs the video signal to the soundbar via HDMI.
• TV Role: The 4K LCD TV is responsible for displaying the video and decoding /passing through Dolby Atmos audio, while the soundbar receives the audio from LCD TV & soundbar audio player, all controlled by CEC commands.

1-3.Typical mode, soundbar & TV get dedicated HDMI ports

•Audio Source: HDMI output from the soundbar audio player is connected to the soundbar via HDMI.
• Video Signal: The soundbar audio player connects with 4K LCD TV via HDMI.
• TV Role: The 4K LCD TV is responsible for displaying the video, while the soundbar handles the audio processing, including decoding Dolby Atmos.

Summarize the above
• Audio-Visual Integration based on soundbar to TV mode :
When connected to a 4K LCD TV, the soundbar serves as part of a complete audio-visual system. The TV handles the visual component (video content), while the soundbar provides the audio output, including advanced surround formats like Dolby Atmos.
• Dolby Atmos Audio via eARC:
The TV is responsible for either decoding or passing through the Dolby Atmos signal. If the content supports Dolby Atmos, it’s typically sent from the TV’s HDMI eARC port to the soundbar.
• The soundbar processes and plays back the audio in Dolby Atmos format, providing an immersive surround sound experience.
• The video and audio are synchronized, creating an integrated experience where both the visuals and the audio (surround sound from the soundbar) work together to create a more engaging experience.
• Role of eARC:
eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel) allows for the transmission of high-quality, uncompressed audio signals (including Dolby Atmos) between the TV and soundbar. This enables lossless audio transmission for optimal sound quality.

2. Pure Audio Player via eARC Port Without 4K LCD TV

Audio-Only Setup:

In this setup, the eARC port is used for audio transmission only, and there is no video source or display involved. The soundbar is connected to a media player or audio source device via eARC, but there is no visual component like a TV screen. The setup focuses solely on audio playback.
• Dolby Atmos via eARC:
The audio player (such as a dedicated audio player, a Blu-ray player, or a streaming device) sends the Dolby Atmos audio signal via eARC to the soundbar, which processes and outputs the audio, but there’s no video to accompany the sound. This means the audio experience remains the focus, but visual cues, such as synchronized movie sound effects or spatial audio related to the video content, are absent.
• Simplified Use Case:
This setup is generally used for audio-only systems, where the user may be looking for high-quality audio playback (like for music, podcasts, or audio demos) and doesn’t require a visual element. The eARC connection still allows the highest quality audio, but it’s not tied to the video content from a 4K TV.

Key Differences:

1. Role of Video:
• In the TV setup, the TV handles video output (4K, HDR, etc.) while the soundbar focuses on audio output.
• In the pure audio setup, there’s no video source; the soundbar processes and outputs only audio.
2. Dolby Atmos Integration:
• In the TV setup, Dolby Atmos is used as part of an integrated audio-visual experience, where video and sound complement each other.
• In the audio-only setup, Dolby Atmos is focused purely on audio playback, with no visual elements or synchronization.
3. eARC Usage:
• eARC with TV enables high-quality, lossless audio streaming alongside the video, offering an immersive, synchronized experience.
• eARC without TV is focused purely on audio, where the soundbar receives high-quality audio signals (e.g., Dolby Atmos) but without any video component.

Conclusion:
• Soundbar with 4K LCD TV: Ideal for a complete audio-visual experience with both video and Dolby Atmos audio.
• Pure Audio Player with eARC: Best suited for high -quality audio playback only, without the need for visual content.

The key difference is that when using a TV, you’re getting a full multimedia experience (both audio and video), while with the pure audio player, you’re focusing solely on audio quality without the video component.

For each specific branded soundbar with eARC port, the system layout is determined by the availability of I/O ports of the demo soundbars as well as the demo 4K LCD TV.

Tags Audio Demonstrator, audio player, eARC soundbar, headphone demonstration

News Releases

USB-C headphone audio player- An All-in-one retail solution released！

Post author By admin
Post date September 1, 2023
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Over the years, we have developed and engineered a wide range of retail demonstration audio players, from 16-bit /48KHz to 24-bit / 192KHz, from audio only version, audio & video, audio video with touch control, audio video sync with GPIO control from 3^rd party device, these great retail audio solutions have supported quite a few international audio brands to deliver the seamless, engaging user experience in the retail shopping field.

But audio experience is evolving and our customers are adapting new technologies every year, today’s consumers are much informed and the latest audio products are becoming quite sophisticated, it brings some real challenges for the retail audio products demonstration. Some of them stay unsolved, for example, there is no all-in-one audio demo solution for USB-C headphones & speakers, 3.5mm stereo jack becomes old-fashioned now after iPhone 7 adopted Type-C audio port in Sep 2016, consumers get used to USB C port, they love them .

but there will be some challenges for retail audio demonstrations.

>3.5mm is analogue while Type-C is digital, most of retail audio players are still 3.5mm type for analogue audio output only.

>Type-C headphones & speakers require USB charging, even using analogue audio pins on Type-C to supply audio signal, USB power charging is still an issue.

>Most of USB-C audio products require fast-charging while USB 2.0 charging doesn’t work.

>Some USB-C headphones require linear DC power ( noise isolation ).

To solve the above mentioned challenges, many of our retail audio solutions need to be redesigned.

Today we proudly release our USB-C headphone demonstration audio player with built-in Type-C audio output.

Here is the demo video:

For most of Type-C headphone & speaker displays with A/B comparison listening, this is an all-in-one solution, as it is optional to come with 4x USB-C ports for multi-headphones demonstration, Optical Line-in & Line-out for devices cascading, analogue 3.5mm & digital Type-C together for all types of headphones, it supplies standard Type-C compliant digital audio and 500mA USB charging (fast-charging compliant ).

Tags audio player, headphone demonstration, type c audio player, USB C headphone demonstrator, USB type C audio player

Design Process Development Engeneering News Releases

8K Signage Media Player RK3588 Released !

Post author By admin
Post date June 16, 2022
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Our 4K media player Is Still Strong

5 years ago, we released our 4K media player with 512MB super small RAM and hardware video decoder, it has been proved as a great success in 4K digital signage category especially for the advertising scenarios for in-store product demonstration and 4K video looping for 7/24/365.

Customers need a future-proof 8K digital signage solution

Our customers like our 4K signage solution (MP40) very much, but MP40 was developed as a budget 4K player, it is a versatile solution with the most economic computing power. It is not designed to address the needs when customers require more computing power. Thus, Our clients keep asking us whether we have a 8K future-proof digital signage solution, even on roadmap level.

The New Flagship

Today, we proudly announce the release of our new flagship, the 8K media player powered by RK3588.

Specification in brief:

CPU: 8 Cores, 4x ARM Cortex-A76 @ 2.6 GHz 4x ARM Cortex-A55 @ 1.8 GHz;
GPU: 4x ARM Mali-G610;
Memory: 8GB LPDDR4;
Storage:32GB–1TB EMMC;
HDMI Out: 2.1 8K/60Hz *1;
HDMI In: 2.0 4K/60Hz *1;
Type C: OTGx1, DP*2;
Ethernet: 1000MB RJ45x2;
Developer I/O: TTL/RS232*3, TTL/RS485 *1, I2C*1.
OS: android 12.

Product roadmap:

Daisy-chain video-wall monitor & media hub with 6x HDMI ;
8K video demonstrator;
Any custom projects which require high performance computer power.

Interested ? for project inquiry, please contact us now.

Tags 8K, 8k media player, 8k player, 8k signage solution

News Releases

4K UHD Retail Displays

Available in Monitors, VideoScreens, Or Tablet Kiosks

Introducing Mstar 6190 award-winning Smart TV based 4K Display Solution With Strong Video Decoder & Rich Panel Interfacing Options, More Importantly, The Exceptional Color Performance.

Customization Options With Content & Peripheral Authoring Tools

Like Our Other Solutions With Unified Architecture For Interplay Of Hardware & Software, All The Interactivity Options & Play Control Commands Available in 1080P Versions Remain Unchanged In 4K Display Versions.

One-Stop Retail Solution With Product Life-circle Tech-Support

With Our Capable 4K UHD Retail Solutions, We Are Expanding Our Display Sizes Up To 86-inch, And We Are Still Working Hard To Address The Most Demanded Needs, To Innovate, Engineer, Design, Manufacture, Deliver The 100% Tailor-made Display Solutions With Product Life-circle Tech-Support. To Let Our Clients Enjoy Peace-Of-Mind While Focusing On Their Core Strength To Support More Brands & Enterprise End-users.

Interested in our 4K UHD Retail Display Solutions ? Send us an inquiry Today

Tags 4K, 4K audio, 4K commercial, 4K retail demonstration, 4K retail signage, 4K UHD

News Releases

1080P Version Battery Driven Low Power Retail Video Solution, Released!

Post author By admin
Post date April 20, 2022
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Basic facts about 1080P battery driven retail solution

Battery Driven Low Power Retail Media Player Solution, Now Available for large sized screen up to 31.5-inch

Over the years, we have pioneered low power battery driven retail video players of small sizes up to 15.6-inch.

These Alkline D battery driven solutions have been receiving continuous positive feedbacks from the market and our clients, due to the unique features than no other:

Fastest user activation time within 2 seconds from standby mode to video reproduction;
Lowest power consumption that supports months of operation without maintainance;

However, this battery driven solution had limitation on the LCD panel resolution support, it supports up to 1366×768 pixels, the matched screen is 15.6-inch maximum.

Every year, we are asked whether this battery driven solution could be upgraded with 1080P support, and we keep selecting from various low power 1080P video player Soc and validate its performace in user activation interval and power efficiency.

After years of engineering & innovation, we are proud to announce the official release of our 1080P version low power retail video players.

It supports up to 31.5 inch full HD screen with 3.5 seconds fast user activation, 30 times of 20-second video playback for more than 90 days based on 24 pcs D batteries.

basic facts about 1080P battery driven retail solution — Basic facts about 1080P battery driven retail solution

The validated learnings we got from such an innovative battery solution are more rewarding: larger screen ensures higher rate of shopper engagement, shorter video length required while delivering high impact advertising messages with multi-zone of video clips across the increased display area.

Let’s take 24-inch 1920×360 stretched screen for an example( 1/3 of 27-inch 1920×1080 pixels full 1080P screen). Its active display area is 597x112mm, about 3 times of 10.1-inch with active area 216x135mm. In terms of ads message graphic frames delivered with 2 or 3 display zones, a 24-inch stretched screen delivers 2-3 times of content than 10.1-inch screen. That’s to say:

For 24-inch screen, the same retail video for 10.1-inch, could be resized into 2 or 3 display splits/ zones, and reduced down to one third of video length, saying from 30 seconds to 10 seconds, 21 seconds to 7 seconds only; Shorter video length without compromise on ads message content means higher chance of user engagement.
Shorter video length means more video playback times, as the unit playback power consumption is reduced due to the decreased video length.

Sounds interesting and enlightening ? Let’s check its performance in terms of user activation interval and power consumption.

3.5s: from user activation to video reproduction when user sees the video loaded.
12V, 750mA for the whole unit of 24-inch video player.

Here are what we have validated, 20 hours of video loop 1920×360, 200 nits brightness, audio level 70dB within 1 meter of the display, based on 24 pcs of Alkline D batteries.

Conclusion: This 1080P version battery driven retail video player is competent to support the marketing goal of the retail field, supporting enough user activation times required over the designed operation period of 90 days.

Tags 1080P, 13.3 To 21.5-inch, Battery-driven, custom retail screens

Engeneering News Releases

Bluetooth Headphone Display Solution For Retail Demonstration, Updated.

Post author By admin
Post date February 23, 2022
No Comments on Bluetooth Headphone Display Solution For Retail Demonstration, Updated.

Analogue to Digital USB Type C Adapter

Bluetooth® headphone demonstrators & Challenges From Retail Field

Since Apple cancelled 3.5mm headphone port in iPhone and Type C digital audio port has been introduced into Android smartphone ecosystem, the wireless Bluetooth® headphones and earphones are becoming mainstream, making wireless headphone demonstration retail system becomes a new niche, but there was so few presentable, useable Bluetooth® headphone demonstrators on the market due to some unsolved challenges from the retail showrooms.

Previously we have a bluetooth (wireless) headphone demonstration system using bluetooth dongles or bluetooth hub to get demonstration headphones paired and let user listen & compare music like another interactive headphone display.

Then we note some challenging issues from the field, the daily maintenance, and yes, it is not maintenance-friendly, it requires the following operations daily:

keep the headphone charged when needed so that they have enough battery power ( thus, this may require local store staff turn off the headphones, and connect them to USB charging cables )
Other than the charging, every morning, local store staff need to disconnect the headphone from the charging mode and power them on;
Pairing and testing: so that the system works as expected, though the pairing is almost automatic, but it is not 100% equally consistent.

Validated Learning From Previous Wireless Headphone Display Projects: Charging & Pairing Are Troublesome

Knowing that charging and pairing will be one-solved-issue-creating-another, we developed a new, better solution utilizing the analogue to digital (USB) adapter to turn our existing headphone demonstrators compatible with bluetooth headphone with type C digital input, then charging will never be a problem, and the demo headphones are type C connected, thus bluetooth pairing is not needed any longer.

analogue audio to USB Type C digital and charging power — Analogue to Digital USB Type C Adapter

Customer Audio Line-in, Personal Audio Demonstration

Customer audio line-in is also no problem , as users could use the 3.5mm to type C/lightning adapter cable and connect it to the existing line-in 3.5mm port directly.

The final diagram will be as the following:

Bluetooth headphone demonstrator — Bluetooth Wireless Headphone Demonstration System Illustrated

Thanks to this universal analogue to digital audio adapter, all our existing headphone demonstrators can be seamlessly integrated to support wireless Bluetooth headphones with Type C USB digital input.

News Releases Uncategorized

How Sound Bar Demonstrator Supporting Dolby Atmos Works

Post author By admin
Post date June 30, 2021
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How Sound Bar Demonstrator Supporting Dolby Atmos Works.

Dolby Atmos is an object-based sound system, it has become now the benchmark for at-home surround sound. The format is now widely available from Ultra HD Blu-ray discs and streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+.

What exactly is Dolby Atmos ?

Dolby Atmos isn’t actually a soundtrack at all. It’s metadata that is used by compatible audio gear to control which speakers are reproducing certain sounds. A good example is when a aircraft flies overhead in a movie. Without Atmos information, the sound of the aircraft is embedded in one, or many, of the surround sound channels. But so are all of the other sounds you’re hearing.

With Dolby Atmos, the aircraft is treated as its own discrete object, and a Dolby Atmos receiver can use that information to separate the aircraft sound from the background sounds and move it independently from one speaker to another. The result is a very convincing 3D placement of sounds for a much more immersive movie experience.

There are many Dolby Atmos-compatible sound bars, and they can get access to Dolby Atmos content then deliver Dolby Atmos sound, that’s it ?

Technically, yes, but actually no.

For retail display manufacturers or sound bar brand end-users, they are facing the following challenges:

the sound bar demonstrator or soundbar audio player is not Dolby Atmos compatible if they use OEM media players;
the brand audio players which are Dolby Atmos compatible are not re-programmable, that’s to say, they could not build customized, interactive shopping experience;

AOK Display’s solution is very simple.

we take advantage of the pass-through capability of our 4K UHD sound bar demonstrator, to let the audio player send the raw audio data to Dolby Atmos Compatible receiver (the demonstration sound bars ) decode the Dolby Atmos content directly. Thanks to CEC control, we could program interactive user flow and control the following user elements:

playlist,
volume increments,
default volume,
audio timeout,
default loop file,
default status: loop, mute on/off, standby,
playlist matcher,
CEC control
LED retail lighting patterns

All those will be tech-free done with a XML based text file, with simple syntax we defined.

To get the detailed instruction on how we make this revolutionary Dolby Atmos Sound bar retail demonstration solution, please get the user manual below:

User-Manual-For-Testing-Dolby-Atmos-Soundbar-Demonstrator

Tags Dolby Atmos

Development News Releases Uncategorized

Introducing touchless sensor based airbutton for drop-in replacement of traditional push buttons

Post author By admin
Post date December 8, 2020
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Introducing touchless sensor based “airbutton” for drop-in replacement of traditional push buttons

Due to long time conditioning with Covid-19 crisis, shoppers prefer to use buttons without touching them, thus, we have to bring a new contactless solution to the interactive retail fields. We are introducing you our touchless sensor (PIR) based “airbutton” for drop-in replacement of traditional push buttons in existing interactive displays.

By waving or swiping the hands over the air (sensing range up to 10cm), the 2 PIR sensors could record the hand movement and send commands to the media player board, just like what we are doing with push buttons.

As the pin assignment and the installation profile remain unchanged compared with the traditional push buttons, our touchless sensor buttons could support drop-in replacement with the metallic push buttons on the existing interactive retail displays. Retail brands could also retrofit the existing displays with the touchless sensor button technology.

News Releases Uncategorized

Commercial Tablet O/S: Which To Choose & Why

Post author By admin
Post date April 24, 2020
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On the basis of the operation system, the commercial tablet global market is categorized into Android, Windows, iOS and Linux.

With Android is seemingly becoming the dominating operation system (O/S) for most of retail signage projects, other O/S are also playing high-impact roles in different end-use industries like iOS for fashion & luxury segment, Windows for healthcare & education, government, And Linux is also very popular for some top-level, highly purpose-built projects due to the obviously advantages.

Windows Commercial Tablet With Peripheral Kit

For a custom signage project, what operation system should we choose, it is mainly based on several factors like the following:

Performance : Hardware configuration.
Cost: purchase cost, as well as switch cost if changing from existing OS to a new one.
Support: ease to get update on hardware and software, parts availability in next 5 years, compatibility with the hardware manufacturing ecosystem.
Buyer’s Internal Team and engagement depth in product development & innovation.

1# Performance: Hardware configuration

This is two sides of a coin, at one side, today’s hardware configurations are very high already, but at the other side, the Andy and Bill Law has swallowed too much hardware performance by continuously updating the O/S.

Andy and Bill Law is playing a very deep impact for OS of Android, Windows & iOS.

If the end-use application is very simple, while people choose O/S like Android or Windows to rule the hardware, then it means a huge part of hardware performance has been wasted compared to Linux OS, which is light-weight, running on very low RAM to afford the end-use applications.

2# Cost

Cost is always a main factor, here there is an invisible part of the cost called switching cost, for example, if switching from Windows to Android, for some industries like healthcare, government, education, the switching cost mainly comes from the app development, in most cases, these industries have special regulations to evaluate and approve the new alternative applications.

3# Support

Windows is a closed ecosystem, thus, it is different with Android in which every developer could modify the system level code to their own convenience; Android is an open-source platform, but chipmakers O/S level SDK is not open-source. So Android is very friendly to app-developers, but in most cases, it still requires chip-makers’ support for many critical features. Compared with Windows & Android, Linux is widely used for hobby & DIY market due to its newly 100% open source ecosystem except the hardware design schematic is not open to public.

4# Buyer’s Internal R & D force

If you are an android app developer, the most preferred O/S may be Android ; In addition, if you feel exhausted to manage the different app versions with Android O/S updates from android 4.4, android 5.1, android 6.0, android 7.1, android 8.1, to android 9.0…, you may want to try Linux and start building the kernel level drivers, video codecs etc, even if it is always very time-consuming and challenging at the beginning.

brigntsign alternate media player Commercal Tablet — **Brightsign Alternate Media Players**

But this journey may pave a way to success, please note that Brightsign media players running its proprietary Linux-based apps take a biggest market share for digital signage segment.

Understanding the 4 decision factors, we have refined our commercial tablet lines into the 3 categories:

Android: for most of retail signage projects when end-users have access to android application developers.
Linux: For customers who have deep knowledge about their application and have the internal R& D force to develop their own Linux based app, And we have built our hardware to be friendly to the open-sourced PI inspired hardware, via plug & play basis for implementation.
Windows: We have built a handheld POS peripheral kits with interchangeability so that we would use modular based commercial grade Windows / Android tablet to build a versatile POS station without the burden to manage different tablets hardware, when I/O and peripherals interchanging are not a challenge.

News Releases Uncategorized

LCD Sheld Edge Screens For Any Needs

Post author By admin
Post date November 30, 2019
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Design+Develop+Production Under One-Single Roof

We design the electronic board, develop the software, and mechanical tooling, then fulfill production in-house.

Different Configurations For Different Applications

Multi-screen bar display or single stretched screen; Stand-alone or Networked; Media Player Screen Or Monitor; Non-touch or touchscreen, we are able to customize & configure the most suitable solution.

Unifiealsld API For Integrating IoT Peripher

Everything required on shelf edge, no matter it is motion sensor, facial recognition camera, or any other retail analytical IoT sensors, we have produced, developed or researched for you.

Multi-screen Bar

A Group Of Media Player Screens

Display Your Compelling Video Ads In A Group Of Split Screens,
To Generate Massive Attraction Like A Theatre Display Of 1.5M Wide; Each Screen Stores Its Content With The Same File Name To Form A Playlist With Play Sequence Controlled By The Synchronizer

Single Stretched LCD

Up to 48″

The Shelf Screen has an internal media player with full HD video decoder (1080P), plug in a SD card or USB drive with your content then it plays directly in a loop. The solution mother board is available with any interactivity options for retail advertising use.

Android Multi-screen

Small Screens, Big Impact

Android Networked Shelf Edge Screen Solution Is Working with 3rd party remote content management system to update the content and device playback logging in real time, the display element can be promo QR code, voucher code, video, image, etc.

Videowall Monitor Strip Networked

What Big Brands Prefer

Videowall monitors come with HDMI-in & HDMI-Out to connect with media player controller to receive the assigned signage content , the IR sensor is used to set the monitor wall sequence & position (X, Y)

Vertical LCD Strip

Vertical animation

In some application like elevator screen where space is very limited and vertical animation delivers great impact to audience inside.

4K Ultra-wide Strip

4ft / 1200mm wide

Shelf Stretched Screen comes in 4K resolution, shelf edge wide size to employ the available space with the greatest efficiency while delivering the highest quality video content, it is available either as monitor, media player or android networked player.