A couple of months ago E INK announced a new e-paper system called Marquee. It was designed with digital signage in mind. It features a bright and vibrant 4-particle color system, supporting cyan, magenta, yellow, and reflected white particles. Each color can be mixed with another, such as yellow and magenta, or white and yellow. Marquee also supports an extended temperature range for outdoor and indoor environments.
E INK has just unveiled Marquee at an event in Tokyo, Japan, and Good e-Reader was live on the scene. We saw a 13.3-inch variant with picture quality of 301 PPI and color accuracy that was uncanny. Typically, with e-paper geared towards digital signage, there is a long delay between one picture showing and then a bright, flashing transition to the next, which is disjointing. However, Marquee plays a neat animation between the frames, which resembles a screensaver. It is very fluid with no flashing between frames. I did find out that it takes around 7 seconds for one image to transition into the next.
Another huge positive with E Ink Marquee is its extremely low power requirements. It does not require a complex cooling system either, which is quite unlike traditional displays, which tend to get hot when used for an extended period of time. All of this makes the new E Ink Marquee an extremely power-efficient, versatile, and maintenance-free display solution. It is fully functional operating temperature range between -20 and 65 °C.
“Building upon our pioneering ePaper foundation established in 1997, E Ink Marquee represents an exciting evolution.” said Edzer Huitema, US CTO, E Ink. “We expect E Ink Marquee to redefine the digital display industry and challenge people’s perception of E Ink and what is possible.”
An E Ink representative did not disclose the cost or the release date. They did say that E Ink Marquee’s roadmap is still being defined, and they are merely showcasing the latest prototypes to people attending various international events to gauge business interest.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.