The customized in-flight entertainment systems for buses on the market are differentiated by three factors: the content offered, whether on-demand or linear, the type of technology used to transmit the data (via Ethernet, radio frequency or wireless) and the Screen size, usually 7” or 9”.
In this article, we'll take a closer look at these factors as they are crucial when choosing the best personal inflight entertainment system.
The type of content offered is an important part of the in-flight entertainment system on the bus. With the on-demand systems , the passenger selects the desired content via a touchscreen display. The passenger can access the basic content offering, which usually consists of movies, music, radio, e-books and games , whenever he wants. He can pause, play, rewind the content...
Other options that can be added to the inflight entertainment offer are satellite television (by installing the appropriate antenna and a tuner) and also the Internet (by adding a router with enough bandwidth for users to surf the Internet simultaneously). If we decide to offer Internet, it is very important that the displays are capacitive (this allows us to zoom with our fingers), that they contain a recent version of Android and graphic applications (Adobe Flash is the most widespread on the current webs ) can support.
In the case of linear systems , the passenger accesses the channels offered one after the other by using the +/- buttons. Each channel contains content: film, TV channels (if you have an antenna + tuner), music and radio.
The playback of the channels is fixed and the customer cannot pause or vary the playback.
The type of technology used in data transmission is an important factor that goes well beyond the technical scope. There are several types: a WiFi system (completely wireless), a wired system and a radio frequency wiring system.
– Wireless system – WiFi : It is the simplest form of installation. Displays that look like tablets are used, with a large graphics and application capacity that only require 24V voltage. They also have fewer sources of error and are more flexible, e.g. B. if we need to move the seats or reconfigure the recliners, we only need to change the 24V power supply.
In the event of the system being uninstalled to be installed in another vehicle, almost everything is used, since only the 24V cables remain in the first vehicle.
– Wired system. This is a more complete installation as each display requires its own data cable and therefore has more points of failure. On the other hand, more management options of the software are possible, since all its strength lies in the server that transmits the data over the cables. It is enough to modify the server software so that the entire system is reconfigured, while with the wireless system each display would have to be reconfigured.
– Wired technology via radio frequency is used exclusively for linear systems. It is not a digital transmission, but an analog ("video+audio"). The cable that runs through the bus is coaxial (like that at home). After all, it's like a video at home, except in this case it's an armchair.
Choose the screen size 7” or 9”.
The popular sizes are 7” and 9” and that is no coincidence. The standard bus reclined seats allow for the installation of 7” displays in the seat backs (but not all) while the 9” displays take up more space. The distance between the passenger's eyes and the display is suitable for 7” and 9”. The 7” displays are recommended for configurations with little space between seats so that the display is not too close to the passenger when the seat is reclined.
Some manufacturers offer 10” displays for the Asian and South American markets because they tend to use larger armchairs and have a greater distance between the seats. It doesn't make sense for Europe, except for special vehicles.
After considering the three factors, one question remains: how to choose the most appropriate system? In addition to the technical aspects that we have written about in this article, we must also consider the economic aspects , among others. Here is an example: let's assume that the most expensive system (Ethernet) costs €100, a wireless system would cost €75-80 and the wired over radio frequency would cost €60-65.
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