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INFOCOMM: Digital signage providers tap into an AV audience
InfoComm served as a common marketplace between AV pros, systems integrators and digital signage industry members.
June 22, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. — Like many tradeshows in 2009, InfoComm wasn't as well-visited as its 2008 expo, but plenty of digital signage companies took the opportunity to release and showcase new products to the various audience that were present at the AV industry's largest yearly gathering.
Much of the excitement in the digital signage realm surrounded the display manufacturers, who were able to visually demonstrate progress made in the past year in the areas of brightness, power consumption, bezel width and application-specific screens.
Here are some of the noteworthy releases at this year's InfoComm:
Acceleroptics showed Capture, the company's new line of high ambient light, front projection display systems. The 72-, 84- and 92- inch screens designed specifically for the needs of the education and corporate markets, said Gary Quasebarth, sales engineer. The screens' native 16:10 projection format is fully compatible with computer presentation aspect ratios.
Belkin announced its AV360 modular AV system and CAT5e Extenders. Designed for use in conference rooms, higher education and hotels, the Belkin system can support video displays of up to 1080p at 100 meters and up to UXGA resolution at 300 meters.
DT Research announced the MS1600 digital signage appliance, which is capable of powering content over up to 16 screens, as well as content blending, or tiling, across multiple screens.
The company also announced the release of the SA3000. The SA3000 features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, which means faster video processing speed and content playback quality.
Situated at the front of the digital signage pavilion, Harris Broadcast Corp. demonstrated Punctuate, its traffic and sales system for digital signage, along with its InfoCaster digital signage solution. The combined system is designed for content creation, network management and media playout, including multi-screened synchronized content.
Harris hosted two live case study interviews on Wednesday and Thursday of the show, highlighting projects with the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center and the Orlando Events Center, respectively. Lyle Bunn served as the moderator for these conversations, speaking with Michael Kilgore of the TBPAC on Wednesday and Harris Morris and Rich Zabel of Harris Corp. on Thursday.
LG had one of the most novel booths at InfoComm: the Digital City. The city had LG digital signage solutions at its mock bus stop, a bar, a school, retail stores, a hospital and a hotel. Highlights of the Digital City included:
The LG SmartVine line of monitors and desktop system, which allows up to 11 users to connect to a single PC with each user running their own applications through virtual desktop software, was on display in the education area.
Pro:Centric-equipped LCDs (shown in the hospitality area) allow hoteliers to customize in-room experiences, providing Interactive Electronic Program Guides (IEPG) with advanced channel search and selection capabilities on all in-room screens. It also gives them the ability to offer guest services, such as room service menus, spa services and golf course schedules without additional hardware such as set-top boxes.
Magenta Research showed its Infinea M-HDX series, the latest in its line of signal extension products for commercial AV, digital signage and KVM applications. The Infinea M-HDX Series is capable of delivering uncompressed high-definition video, audio, serial and USB signals over 2000ft/609m of fiber optic cable.
Magnetic Media, which produces autostereoscopic 3D digital signage, introduced a new 22-inch display into its line. Magnetic CEO Tom Zerega said the company sees the small screen making an impact in the gaming sector in its open-frame form, as more slot machines are being manufactured with one or two on-board LCDs. Magnetic's hardware provider is Tatung, which owns a large market share in the gaming display industry.
Matrox Graphics partnered with two digital signage companies at InfoComm: YCD Multimedia and X20 Media. With YCD, Matrox powered an Ultra High Definition (UHD) decorative display wall solution for digital signage applications, called the MuVi Wall. The video wall uses Matrox M9140 and M9120 graphics cards, each of which can transmit full HD (1920x1080 at 60Hz) resolution video per output. Each card can connect up to four screens, and when multiple cards are integrated with YCD MuVi Wall, a maximum resolution of nine screens at full HD can be shown.
The Matrox M9140 graphics card was also powering a video wall above the Matrox booth running on X2O Media's Xpresenter digital signage platform.
Mitsubishiunveiled two commercial-grade LCD monitors: the MDT521S, 52-inch slim-bezel screen and a similar 42-inch version. (Note that the slim bezels are nowhere near as thin as current Samsung and NEC models). The 52-inch model features an on-board Cat5 receiver and a front and back dual light sensor, for use in digital signage applications in retail stores, airports and other public spaces. The monitor has a brightness control feature that interprets the ambient light data and automatically balances the image brightness and power consumption.
Also featured at Mitsubishi were software providers C-nario and play-out.com.
NEC both gave and received awards at InfoComm09. Its 82-inch NEC MultiSync LCD8205 LCD screen was named "Best Digital Signage Product" in the InfoComm/SCN Installation Product Awards and InfoComm/Rental & Staging Systems Product Awards.
NEC also sponsored the Best of InfoComm award, which was given Friday morning to Da-Lite's JKP Affinity screen. Read details here. The cylindrical trophy was modeled after NEC's InfoComm booth.
Inside the booth, NEC launched the NP3250, NP3250W, NP2250 and NP1250 stackable digital projectors, designed for corporate boardrooms, education lecture halls and public display environments. The projectors display images up to 5,000 lumens, but when stacked, four projectors can boost an image's brightness up to 20,000 lumens, which is ideal for larger-sized screens and environments with heavy ambient light.
Omnivex's president, Jeff Collard, announced the release of Moxie 6.03 software next month, which will further support enterprise-wide communication.
"This was once a nice to have, now it's a must-have," Collard said.
Despite the continual economic woes, Collard feels positive that a shift is happening in the digital signage industry.
"We're seeing more project quotes coming back," he said. "Customers are also more educated and have higher expectation. I think this shows a real maturing of the industry."
Panasonic offered a preview of its new 85-inch plasma display and introduced its new PD series of professional Plasmas, specifically designed for digital signage. According to a news release issued during InfoComm, the TH-85PF12U is the industry's first 85-inch, full HD 1080p plasma and takes advantage of Panasonic's Neo PDP technology, which means a slimmer, lighter and brighter display with lower power consumption. Panasonic says it will be available in fall 2009.
Also making its debut at InfoComm was Panasonic's 42- and 50-inch PD 12-Series plasma displays, specifically designed and priced for digital signage. They featured fixed input terminals for PC, VGA, component, composite and S-video.
Roku used InfoComm to preview two additions to its BrightSign line of digital media players: The Live Video Module and BrightAuthor.
The new Live Video Module enables live video to be played back on BrightSign and mixed with BrightSign content, including video, still images and animations. The live video playback can also be mixed with other content sources, including Internet delivered content and SD flash card content.
Roku says the BrightAuthor PC application has tools and wizards that take users step-by-step through the process of creating presentations. Zone templates and custom layout tools are provided, helping content authors make create digital signage content without manually configuring coordinates and image sizes.
In perhaps the vastest digital signage booth on the floor, Samsungshowcased its new high-brightness outdoor LCD display line, the DR Series. With one being demonstrated in the 90 degree heat outside of the convention center, the DR series has a brightness level of 1500 nits and a static contrast ratio of 3500:1 and is designed for indoor and outdoor installations that are affected by high ambient light. Samsung had the screen set up in retail window and bus station demonstrations at the booth.
Samsung also announced that it will release a 65-inch LCD in Q4, a news screen size in the Samsung line. The company also showed two of its energy efficient plasma screens which ran at around 375 watts, similar to the energy consumption of an LCD.
Scala launched its Release 5 of Scala 5 software at InfoComm, which EVP Jeff Porter said is geared to make digital signage more accessible and cost-effective for existing and future customers. Release 5 supports more media playback appliances and audio-only channels, as well as improved usage of the new wave of ultra low-cost PCs for digital signage.
Traditionally, Scala has been licensed exclusively for PC-class hardware, but Release 5 offers new licensing that is compatible with low-cost media hardware such as digital photo frames and standard and high-definition MPEG appliances. Hardware providers FrameMedia, IAdea and ViewSonic were also on hand to demonstrate how Release 5 works with low cost playout devices.
X2O Media demonstrated the latest version of its X2O Web Portal at the show. The digital signage software, coupled with the company's Web-based Xpresenter platform, provides control over all players in a network, with live thumbnails and detailed real-time performance information available for any player at any time. It can also integrate with Google Maps to show network managers detailed views of the locations and statuses of all players.
Advertising3D Digital SignageTradeshowsDisplay TechnologyHardwareRetailAccelerOpticsMagenta Research Ltd.Magnetic MediaOmnivexScala
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