Philips Professional Display Solutions (PPDS) has just announced that it is shipping the world’s biggest full color ePaper digital signage display with a size of 32-inch. The Philips Tableaux 5150I will go on display publicly at ISE 2024 in Barcelona in three months, using E Ink’s Spectra 6 as the color platform of choice.
The display doesn’t consume energy when displaying static imagery and only requires power when content is being updated - in order of microwatts says E Ink, so low that you could get it solar powered.
It is not meant to display videos and its 30:1 contrast ratio means that the picture is likely to be less vibrant than on LCD monitors we’re used to see. Worth noting that the it has a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels, lower than the 3200 x 1800 pixel of some of its predecessors; the aspect ratio remains the same at 16:9.
It means that it is best suited for replacing paper-based communications like posters, menus, in-store advertising, promotions etc. Being able to remotely manage ePaper displays using one of the many third party applications or PPDS’s own inhouse software (PPDS) is what makes such a solution attractive compared to traditional alternatives.
ePaper large format display? Not for now.
Compared to smaller, previous generations (25-inch and lower), PPDS has reduced the size of the bezels which makes the screen appear bigger. As expected, the 5150I integrates an Android PC with 2GB of RAM and 16GB onboard storage.
Connectivity includes USB, microUSB, a microSD card reader, an Ethernet connector and a Wi-Fi 5. Details on availability and pricing will be announced in early 2024 but I expect the 5150I to cost north of $2000 given that a smaller version, the Philips Tableaux 25BDL4050I, retails for around $1,900.
Compared to traditional LCD, ePaper not only consumes less power (E Ink claims up to 97% energy saving), it is also lighter, more flexible (as they can be bended) and rugged as well as they are made up of plastic. E Ink displays do not use backlight as well which means that they do not produce heat (or need cooling).
Large format displays based on ePaper technology remains an elusive prospect. E Ink had a working 42-inch prototype in 2017 but it was only monochrome. There’s, of course, the possibility of assembling them in modules similar to how Samsung produces massive displays like the Wall for AV installations but the cost is likely to be prohibitive.
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