Not sure if people noticed this. It is quite early of a mention of the embedded digeplayer. Also, makes it look like APS may be in alliance with other ife companies:

http://www.shephard.co.uk/Inflight/default.aspx?Action=-1000945703&ID=e736f770-4d57-454e-9206-c64464e86608

Wraps come off Inflight Canada regional-jet solutions

October 1, 2004 – DESIGN and installations specialist Inflight Canada revealed the details of its IFE solution for regional jets at last week’s WAEA show in Seattle (see also Inflight Online, September 9).

The new design is a response to a Bombardier request for a scheme to install in-seat IFE in its CRJ705, with a weight budget not to exceed 450lb. At the same time, future CRJ705 operator Air Canada asked handheld and other IFE vendors to work with Inflight Canada to develop plans for a suitable system. APS and Thales responded, and concepts for both solutions were on display last week.

Thales Avionics took the new wide-format 8.9in monitor and made it some 85 per cent thinner by removing its electronics and re-packaging them for installation in Inflight Canada’s patented underfloor iCACHE. This arrangement leaves only a thin, lightweight LCD panel embedded in the seatback, eliminates seatboxes and preserves Thales i-4000 system features such as the touchscreen, card-swipe and USB.

Thales is also working to supply both power and Ethernet data to the screen via a single set of cables, with redundancy, resulting in further weight savings.

A major incidental benefit is the fact that, because the slimmed-down screen adds less than three per cent to total seat weight, the existing 16g certification can be retained without expensive dynamic testing.

Also at the request of Air Canada, APS disassembled a digEplayer, eliminating the battery and removing the hard drive, controls and electronics. These items and an in-seat power system were switched to iCACHE, leaving only the LCD screen in the seatback and a passenger control unit in the armrest. “APS calls this the Embedded digEplayer,” says Inflight Canada president George Smallhorn. “If a hard drive fails, only one seat is left without service - and that can be solved by giving the passenger a conventional handheld digEplayer.”

As the initiator and the leader of the project, Air Canada will make a decision after APS has completed airworthiness testing, with the ultimate aim of installing the winner in 15 CRJ705s - total weight less than 450lb per aircraft - and 45 Embraer 190s (less than 575lb).

The Canadian carrier is also evaluating an Inflight Canada design for the replacement of handheld DVD players in the first-class cabins of its 17 Boeing 767-300s. The Inflight Canada solution combines Embedded digEplayer with the company’s LePEDestal plug-in unit, designed originally to house and power DVD players mounted on deployable arms. Each LePEDestal unit, installed one per seat pair for a total of 15 per aircraft, contains two screens, hard drives, electronics, passenger control units and a power supply to deliver what Smallhorn calls “instantaneous embedded AVOD and in-seat power”.

Also on show in Seattle was Inflight Canada’s new narrowbody iCACHE. This accommodates both AVOD and in-seat power standard triple boxes for up to six seats in the Airbus A320 in a single air-cooled cluster beneath the aisle, stacking the IFE units two deep to take advantage of the aircraft’s exceptional underfloor volume.

In other news, Smallhorn confirmed that Inflight Canada now numbers Virgin America among its customers. The new Virgin venture plans to offer low-cost services in the USA from the middle of next year. Describing the carrier’s service offering as “high-style,” Virgin America IFE director Charles Ogilvie says: “Inflight entertainment will be part of our success formula.”

-Jason