The worst framerate screen for the different reasons - new Full color E-ink displays now available

[williamcll]

E-link is often associated with slow refresh low power monochrome screens and the availability of full color E-ink screens since 2016 have been incredibly rare. However a new fullcolor version is now available on larger screens size more common to computers monitors.

Quotes

Quote

E Ink Gallery Plus is using E Ink ACeP™, a full color electronic ink system with four color pigments: cyan, magenta, yellow, and white, used to achieve a full color gamut at each pixel. The contrast ratio is improved by 40%, from 10 to 14, providing a more impactful visual experience. The look and feel of the new generation is similar to color prints, with the benefit of digital changes that allow for instant updates to match with promotion and communication needs. E Ink Gallery Plus will be available in various sizes for customers, including 13.3-inch, 25.3-inch, and 28-inch. "E Ink has been investing considerable R&D resources in ePaper film and modules, as well as in color drivers, hardware and software, enabling continuous refinement and innovative breakthroughs in ePaper technology," said the CEO of E Ink, Johnson Lee. “The new generation of E Ink Gallery Plus significantly improves the contrast ratio of our full color ePaper, and can help customers’ make their advertisements more eye-catching.” E Ink will cooperate with ecosystem partners to jointly introduce E Ink Gallery Plus into the digital signage market. The goal is to replace single-use printed posters in commercial advertising and public information displays and reduce the impact on the environment. E Ink Gallery Plus features low-power consumption, can be driven from solar power and is eye-friendly, attributes that are beneficial in the development of sustainable smart cities.

 

My thoughts

Fantastic alternatives for people that want a digital screen for wallpapers but don't want the downsides of burn ins. 

 

Sources

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220323005070/en/E-Ink-Launches-the-Latest-Generation-of-Their-Full-Color-ePaper-Module---E-Ink-Gallery™-Plus

[Arika]

forget digital photoframes, bring on the digital posters.

[Moonzy]

how often do you need to change your menu to justify the cost of one of these instead of just printing a new menu?

i can see this more for advertisements, not for menu showing in a restaurant, imo

though, McD in my place are already using TV, so i guess there's certainly a market for these

[Rauten]

12 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

though, McD in my place are already using TV, so i guess there's certainly a market for these

Some of our factories also use TVs to display information about shifts and other semi-static information.

As long as the refresh rate on these is at least 1 FP-5Sseconds or something like that, I can see these potentially replacing those TVs in the future. Even if the upfront cost is higher, it will probably be cheaper in the long run due to the much lower power consumption.

[Doobeedoo]

Cool I guess. Color.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

2 hours ago, Moonzy said:

how often do you need to change your menu to justify the cost of one of these instead of just printing a new menu?

i can see this more for advertisements, not for menu showing in a restaurant, imo

though, McD in my place are already using TV, so i guess there's certainly a market for these

most fast food resturants and coffee shops in the US have tvs for menus.

Id much rather they use these and save power....

[wanderingfool2]

3 hours ago, Rauten said:

Some of our factories also use TVs to display information about shifts and other semi-static information.

As long as the refresh rate on these is at least 1 FP-5Sseconds or something like that, I can see these potentially replacing those TVs in the future. Even if the upfront cost is higher, it will probably be cheaper in the long run due to the much lower power consumption.

Even if it's a slower screen redraw time, I could see it still being practical.  No flicker at all, because it's a static image.  Better readability, since it's pigment based (less eye strain).  And yea, the power consumption thing is where it will be at as well.

 

3 hours ago, Moonzy said:

how often do you need to change your menu to justify the cost of one of these instead of just printing a new menu?

i can see this more for advertisements, not for menu showing in a restaurant, imo

though, McD in my place are already using TV, so i guess there's certainly a market for these

Well lets say you have one of the chalk style boards, and change it for breakfast and dinner.  You have to get an employee to do it (so maybe a few dollars a day for employee cost...albeit not really saving money if done in the slow time)...vs just clicking the dinner/breakfast option.

 

The bigger thing is power consumption though, a 28 inch screen averaging about 38W.  Assuming 18 hours on-time, that's about $25 per year per display in electricity cost (assuming 10 cents)...if you assume a 4 year life-span that's about $100 in savings on electricity alone.  Although it's super expensive compared to a monitor solution; I'm betting that this will become more and more common...just out of the fact it's easier to read and works in different lighting conditions.  I can def. see this being utilized.

[leadeater]

4 hours ago, Moonzy said:

how often do you need to change your menu to justify the cost of one of these instead of just printing a new menu?

i can see this more for advertisements, not for menu showing in a restaurant, imo

though, McD in my place are already using TV, so i guess there's certainly a market for these

They get used for advertisements. Every TV/Screen in a restaurant/fast food place here is used for menu, ordering and advertising.

 

McD here has those giant ass touch screens for self ordering and when not used they display ads and crap.

[BuckGup]

Infinitely easier to read than glarey ass 1080i monitors they use now. A smart poster sounds really cool and you could pay a subscription to get access to display NFTs in rotation from small artists you like. Much quicker than physically purchasing the art and supports the artist directly. I also wonder how bright these are as they are probably much thinner than a TV so using them for a smart mirror might be much better

[wanderingfool2]

8 minutes ago, BuckGup said:

Infinitely easier to read than glarey ass 1080i monitors they use now. A smart poster sounds really cool and you could pay a subscription to get access to display NFTs in rotation from small artists you like. Much quicker than physically purchasing the art and supports the artist directly. I also wonder how bright these are as they are probably much thinner than a TV so using them for a smart mirror might be much better

It's e-ink...sure there might be options with lighting but in general it's the concept that it's suppose to be light printed on paper.  It doesn't inherently emit light, but rather reflects what is hit.  That is why e-ink's are easier to read; because it matches more the ambient lighting.

[IPD]

Definitely early potential with menu screens.  But the application possibilities are virtually limitless.  Even something bizarrely exotic like aircraft skins being coated in e-ink instead of traditional aerospace paints.  Billboards--where most (modern ones) are using BLINDINGLY glaring LED style displays--this could be a welcome "step back" to the older, print-style ones that can use more subtle lighting.

 

Trains could use this for ceiling displays, wall displays etc (eg. train routes map).  Sports stadiums could use this on a variety of surfaces that would previously have been unsuitable to various forms of jumbotron.  Many more possibilities out there.

 

Good stuff.  I welcome more.

[Quackers101]

Also nice to see upgrades for this kind of tech.

 

if anyone wondered about E-ink, here is an old video on it from them. 2011.

Some also use the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) approch but with "worse image".

 

"history of e-ink"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by3rW57XWgM

 

it also seems from the last time they brough it forth, for showcasing.

there was a lot of different models and viewing differences between them, so its fun to see how well it becomes and price.

For shops, this could be really good if they had a system in place for them.

 

Ads, ads, ads everywhere! at least they don't attack the eye (or some of them might not).

Rollable, bendable, color ink my paper. Video is from 2021.

[Fasterthannothing]

E-ink is so amazing for smart watches. I miss my pebble gosh that thing was so far ahead of it's time.

[poochyena]

On 3/23/2022 at 11:13 AM, williamcll said:

Fantastic alternatives for people that want a digital screen for wallpapers but don't want the downsides of burn ins. 

Its the low power usage thats the biggest draw to it I think.

12 hours ago, Moonzy said:

how often do you need to change your menu to justify the cost of one of these instead of just printing a new menu?

i can see this more for advertisements, not for menu showing in a restaurant, imo

though, McD in my place are already using TV, so i guess there's certainly a market for these

Whats the cost? I didn't see that mentioned anywhere

[Bitter]

Some airport IT Admins are just wetting themselves over this.

[wanderingfool2]

2 hours ago, Bitter said:

Some airport IT Admins are just wetting themselves over this.

The sad thing is this statement isnt that far from the truth, had to coordinate with an airport authority once.  In their office there was equipment I could only dream of getting, and empty meeting rooms that each had tablets controlling/booking the room for meetings.

 

Those "airport improvement fees" of like 5% on everything purchased there wasted on expensive trivial things.

 

On 3/23/2022 at 10:13 AM, williamcll said:

don't want the downsides of burn ins

e-ink's can get stuck as well (actually might be worse than LCD stuck).  It's why ebooks have a tendency to cycle between background images when not in use (at least that's what I've heard).  Not sure if that sort of thing was resolved though.

[RedRound2]

E-ink is a pretty cool technology. Just the price needs to come down in price and be available everywhere for mass quantities, so I can get one and play around with it. So hoepfully in the next 5 years with e-ink colour

 

[Quackers101]

1 hour ago, wanderingfool2 said:

e-ink's can get stuck as well (actually might be worse than LCD stuck).  It's why ebooks have a tendency to cycle between background images when not in use (at least that's what I've heard).  Not sure if that sort of thing was resolved though.

try overclocking your E ink paper

and get stuck, hey! step jetson!

But like you say, it will have a hard time with refreshing, and can vary between design and versions. Would be more noticeable in color displays that has added complexity. Also like in the videos above, since they are in a liquid/fluid, stuff can happen, but would like to know the failure or quality of their refresh rate, like before an image is completely switched when updating content.

[Mihle]

Do E ink displays wear out in any way?

[wanderingfool2]

8 hours ago, Mihle said:

Do E ink displays wear out in any way?

They sort of can.  I have no clue on the real longevity of these types of displays (as they have been iterated on magnitudes of times since the early displays)...but at least the earlier displays the suspended material sometimes gets clumped and the display starts showing a ghosting type of effect in those areas (doesn't quite clear as well even after multiple clears).  With that said, it's not like it happens immediately.

 

I don't know how it handles constant switching that would be like on an ad...but I wouldn't be surprised if it could last longer than 5 years with that kind of abuse.  After all, the early kindle displays were designed for 10+ years of use.

[BuckGup]

On 3/24/2022 at 12:29 PM, wanderingfool2 said:

 but rather reflects what is hit.  That is why e-ink's are easier to read; because it matches more the ambient lighting.

That's why they might be perfect for a smart mirror as you want OLED level of blacks as to not have a light grey mirror 

[cmndr]

On 3/24/2022 at 5:02 AM, Moonzy said:

how often do you need to change your menu to justify the cost of one of these instead of just printing a new menu?

i can see this more for advertisements, not for menu showing in a restaurant, imo

though, McD in my place are already using TV, so i guess there's certainly a market for these

Once every 5 minutes?

Presumably you can have a digital carousel of content pop up.

As it stands right now a lot of businesses use LCD TVs for their menus.

[Dabombinable]

This is what is needed in larger e-readers, because comics books are best read on at least 12" screens. And the OLED tablets that size are expensive, crap or both.

On 3/24/2022 at 10:02 PM, Moonzy said:

how often do you need to change your menu to justify the cost of one of these instead of just printing a new menu?

i can see this more for advertisements, not for menu showing in a restaurant, imo

though, McD in my place are already using TV, so i guess there's certainly a market for these

Think along the lines of cinema and public transport stops. Even train time tables would greatly benefit.

[wanderingfool2]

2 hours ago, BuckGup said:

That's why they might be perfect for a smart mirror as you want OLED level of blacks as to not have a light grey mirror 

It's not practical as an smart mirror...by default it's not really reflective (you get some things like oled because you can use a transparent layer).  Plus the contrast isn't as large.

 

Also this is a demonstration of an earlier version of it...by the looks of it, it took like 5 seconds to draw the entire image.  It would be okay for something that cycles occasionally but not good enough for something that needs higher interactivity at the moment.

 

[TetraSky]

Oh nice! This is what I wanted. The existing coloured e-ink just look washed up and there's like, next to no tablet that uses it. So this new screen is definitely something I'm looking forward to seeing one day on a tablet.