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Developing New Software for Control of LED Displays

2016-01-06 1311

Existing programs were utilized to develop new software that meets different industry needs, explains Mark Stross of ANC Sports Enterprises. What makes a technology great? Does it deliver as promised, defy expectations, or fulfill a need in a niche market? Looking back upon the success of ANC’s Sports patent-pending signage software, “VisionSOFT,” the one overriding factor that contributed to its inception, success and market penetration was simple need.


In 2000, we could not find any software application capable of running what we perceived as the future of LED signage in sports, including our own unique FasciaSOFT system. FasciaSOFT was the first version of VisionSOFT, but was limited to running one video board, which it still does in small LED deployments today.LED was quickly becoming the staple of signage in sports venues for various reasons, ranging from its longevity, durability and flexibility to image quality. As the leading provider of rotational signage to professional sports venues, ANC realized the need to adjust with this signage technology to meet its clients’ growing demands.


The flexibility of LED technology is where ANC quickly found its niche. Replacing rotational advertising systems found on the façade of stadiums with LED ribbon board provided the sports industry with more advertising inventory, while enabling animations, statistical displays and numerous other images to be displayed during a live event. However, without an advanced operating system, the sports industry was not able to maximize the use of the thin ribbon-like LED technology that began appearing at venues in the late 90’s.


ANC launched a furious research and development cycle to create a new type of signage software that would service this growing digital signage demand. Rather than being inspired by advertising content which was typically found on stadium and arena facades before the widespread implementation of LED ribbon, VisionSOFT’s roots come from video, live action, fast-paced, extremely exciting content that we now refer to as “Rich Media”.


The quest for better reproduction of all content thrown at a digital display immediately forced our software development team into considering “what makes images pop” on an LED screen. “Eye candy” always looks better when you go back to basics, such as minimal compression; consistent movement; plenty of colors; and passion in the content delivery process. At the turn of the century, we discovered that most digital signage software was simply trying to get and keep displays “on” or active, while the ability to run and create a truly unique live event experience every night was secondary.

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