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INFOCOMM: A showcase for screen innovation

June 19, 2008

Samsung's Magic Wall, a 40-screen large format video wall.

At the center of the expo on a raised balcony in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center were the massive Samsung and Panasonic areas. Samsung's highlight was its huge "Magic Wall" video wall made up of 40 screens that overlooked the show floor.

"At this point, people have figured out how to do video walls, but Samsung took it a step further," said Andy Weis, senior product marketing manager for Samsung. Weis said that the screens in the video wall were Samsung's "Intelligent Display," an embedded PC designed in conjunction with technicians from the University of California-Irvine, most of who were on hand to explain the back-end technology.

After a year and half of being in the market, Panasonic's 103-inch plasma screen is seeing some significant deployments, one of which was in its booth as part of a three-screen video wall. It is 

NEC's mock showroom, complete with BMW M3.

Panasonic, which exclusively produces plasma screens, insists that burn-in on plasma screens is becoming less of an issue but discussed a feature called picture-wobbling, where the image moves very slightly to as not to remain static and burn in.

NEC Display Solutions had its booth set up like an auto dealer's showroom to demonstrate several solutions designed to improve the customer experience. A large touchscreen allowed users to choose the color and style of their next car, while another showroom screen ran footage of the cars in action. NEC also featured a screen designed for the parts and service department, which advertised services, displayed a waiting queue and featured real-time news and content.

LG's Stretch Screen, which is a 32-inch screen cut in half lengthwise.

LG Electronics featured several concept screens that seemed to be favorites among visitors to the booth. First was a "stretch screen," which is a 32-inch screen cut in half length-wise, which gives it a very unique look. LG also showed its 42-inch "Shine-Out" display, which can switch from showing content to being reflective so it can be used as a mirror. Also on display was the Triple View, a screen with an overlay allowing 3 different pieces of content to be viewed on the entire screen depending on which angle you view it from.