New From digEcor

digEplayer XLP - Source: digEcor

Over the past year, we’ve reported several times about digEcor and product prototypes and enhancements. Well, all of their hard work and time has come to fruition again as digEcor announced last week the release of the digEplayer XLP, the third generation digEplayer (a comparison of the players can be found on their website). With an increased battery life at a record setting 16 hours, the XLP is designed to provide airlines with longer flight segments an affordable, lightweight, and flexible IFE platform.

We caught up with President Brad Heckel and asked him a couple of questions. When asked what airlines could expect with this player besides the battery life, Heckel responded, “The XT has had one of the brightest and sharpest screens in the industry. After considerable research and testing, we found that we could increase the brilliancy of the screen even further by upgrading to an LED backlit screen. As an added benefit, the screen is lighter and more power efficient. When we field tested the screens, both flight attendants and passengers gave rave reviews.” So what are your clients and airlines telling you about the player, we asked? “We’ve had very strong interest in the XLP from a number of airlines spanning about every continent and we expect to see some deals close in the near future.” “The XLP has a number of similar features to the digEplayer XT,” he added, “which include the credit card swipe, exterior battery indicator, dual audio jacks, and Power over Ethernet content loading. We did however add an external DC jack for powering without a battery.”

We also got the inside scoop on some further developments at the Utah-based, portable IFE manufacturer. Expanding its wide variety of available content, digEcor now offers current documentaries from well-known news source CNN. We were impressed with acclaimed documentary offerings such as “Revealed” depicting the personal lives of some of the world’s greatest thinkers, champions, and leaders, which have been flying on seven of digEcor’s customers since May of this year. Content already available through digEcor includes Sony, Buena Vista, Warner Brothers, Fox, Universal, and a host of Independent and Regional suppliers. “Our IFE business is divided into two segments. One is the award winning hardware and the second is desirable, high-quality content. We have teams devoted to continuously enhancing and improving both of those offerings. Our content team works hand-in-hand with studios and distributors worldwide to procure airline requested content direct and reduce the cost by encoding in-house,” remarked Heckel. With a new portable offering that reaches the long haul airline demographic and increased content options, the next few months should prove to be very exciting for the portable pioneer as the industry prepares for the WAEA show in October. For more information on the digEplayer XLP, you can visit digEcor’s website. (Ed. Note: Readers, you should note that this new portable player product seems to be designed perfectly for the so-called, “imbedded IFE” system.)