Digital Brilliance Spotlight
Digital Brilliance is being inspired by people with exciting
new ideas for products and applications that illuminate
the imagination through the fusion of advanced technologies
and intelligent design. Here we highlight the stories
and achievements of these Digital Brilliance pioneers.
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Take a Ride on the eBUS - Sit Back,
Relax, and Get Ready for the Ride of Your Life!
The ability to deliver advanced audio-video entertainment
on long distance tour busses is now a reality thanks to
the eBUS Video-On-Demand entertainment system developed
by WinVane Technology. As a group of journalists found
out during a quick tour at this year's VTF, traveling
by coach is the new way to travel in style.
  
One step on board, and you quickly forget that you're
on a tour bus at all. The Ho Hsin Bus Traffic Company
of Taiwan have equipped these luxury busses with everything
a road-weary traveler could want and more. The 15 seats
are large and well padded, allowing passengers to recline
for plenty of legroom. For those who need even more pampering,
each seat becomes a virtual masseuse with variable massage
settings built into the chair.
So, comfort is taken care of, but what about the entertainment?
WinVane
Technology has designed and developed a system that
fuses advanced computer technologies with multimedia entertainment
for bus travel to create the eBUS Video-On-Demand entertainment
system, a complete onboard client-server network based
on the VIA EPIA Mini-ITX platform for personalized entertainment.
Unlike the usual method of broadcasting the same audio-video
programming to every person on the bus, on the eBUS, each
passenger now has the ability to choose what content they
wish to view and when, making the entertainment experience
a more enriching and interactive one.
The server is based on the VIA EPIA V8000 Mini-ITX Mainboard
with the VIA C3 processor, a flexible platform powerful
enough to run a full range of multimedia applications.
The stability, high levels of integration, and excellent
cooling capability of the VIA EPIA mainboard make it the
ideal platform to power the VOD entertainment system.
The server is located in the cargo compartment of the
bus and is connected to each individual seat. Each seat
comes equipped with an individual entertainment system
for which WinVane chose the VIA EPIA V5000 mainboard,
a fanless, silent embedded platform to power these systems.
These small boards enable high quality video-on-demand
with channels offering both English and Chinese movies
as well as television programming all on a LCD touch screen.
Passengers not only have the ability to play the movie
of their choice, but also are in full control of playback,
with rewind, fast-forward, pause and stop at their leisure.
Along with a full range of the most recent movies, the
eBUS VOD system also serves as an on-demand music database.
Passengers can also peruse the ebook section for their
favorite novel, or check out the information pages for
tour information, news and cartoons cached in the server.
An entertainment system wouldn't be complete without the
ability to play video games; with that in mind, each seat
comes equipped with a game controller and wide selection
of networked video games such as Doom II and Counter-Strike.
The eBUS Video-On-Demand entertainment system enables
travelers to experience living room quality entertainment
from the seat of a moving bus. No more boring bus rides!
The only problem is figuring out what to try out first.
Going on the road is now truly digitally brilliant!
To learn more about the WinVane eBUS VOD system, please
visit the VIA
Embedded website or visit WinVane
Technology.
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