large message displays in Plant

anyone used a large message display in a plant?

I am thinking about an application but know nothing about them.

what do you recommend and what interfaces can be had.

i want to connect to PLC's (Rockwell PLC5,SLC5/05,Micro,Compact,Control all with Ethernet comms) and Citect SCADA.

Large size displays with many interfaces (Profibus, Profinet, DeviceNet, Modbus, serial, parallel, analog, Ethernet TCP/IP, counting pulse, timer,)

http://www.siebert-group.com/en/index.php

A recent thread on this subject

http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=95047

I have a demo at my shop using a 55" LED TV, with a $100 Windows 8 PC, running an AdvancedHMI app, and displaying data from various AB PLCs and a Beckhoff PLC via Ethernet. Total cost of all hardware and software was about $500. I'll see if I can post a picture later.

I really like the Alpha Big Dot displays. But you have to write to them using a serial port.
We tried some of the AB Ethernet displays but even the AB rep and tech support couldn't get it to work, so we sent them back and got the Alpha's.

These used to be made by / sold by Allen Bradley but are now a Spectrum Controls product line. Given that they used to be AB and that Spectrum is very familiar with AB protocols you probably can’t do better (quality, ease of use, etc…) especially when interfacing with AB PLC’s / PAC’s.
http://www.spectrumcontrols.com/InView.htm

If you're interested at all in the InView (now by spectrum controls) I'd suggest also considering the EZMarquee by EZAutomation. IIRC it's around 1/6th the price and quite easy to set-up.

The original InViews i had comissioned used legacy software that needed a work-around to run in windows 7, although i believe that spectrum has added a secondary ethernet port on their communication adapter for accessing setup through a web interface.

The InViews are structurally a better display, but for most cases (hanging from the ceiling) they're out of harms way in general.

many thanks for the replies, much appreciated. i will do the research into the link provided. like the idea of the spectrum units with an easy interface to AB. all my PLC's are connected to CITECT SCADA so that's another option for me to drive it from Citect.

We have 55" LCD TV's throughout the plant that use a small form factor PC running software by SeQent. OPC and ODBC data based.

SeQent.com