[pwg]

> I'm sure airport displays don't need MPEG2, VP1 and so on codecs, for instance.

They don't, until the day the airport managers are approached by an advertising company waving the wads of cash the airport could be 'earning' if only they let "AdCo" display, in the top 1/4 of each screen, a video advertising loop. At which point, those displays need the codecs for "AdCo's" video ads.

[westpfelia]

Boy do I sure hate you for saying that. I mean at some point you are right. That is the future. But god am I mad at you for reminding me this is the world we live in.

[prmoustache]

That is not the future but the present. I have already seen flights information panels alternating with ads every few seconds in some airports.

[nullindividual]

Absolutely (sigh)! But with a deployment of devices like that, the operator has a solid central management system from which they could push software as-needed.