Falling back into show mode

Michael Heiss looks at some of the trends coming out of trade shows as they make grand returns this year.

As summer is coming to an end, many of you are probably still shaking off the down time of vacation and holidays. Along with that, after two years of isolating from one another, we’re also venturing out again to conventions, trade shows, training seminars and the like. Who would have thought that would be something that you would look forward to!

Despite the warnings and limitations, and after missing CES and CEDIA along with all the rest during Covid, I’ve been somewhat uncharacteristically throwing caution to the wind this spring and I actually did a few trial runs by attending events out here on the US West Coast. Not only was it great to get back on the road, but these trips also gave me an opportunity to get back to seeing people and new products first-hand.

The world did not stand still while most of us were hunkered down and working from home. Therefore, it made sense to get a handle on some of the trends and products that were discussed and on display at shows, particularly those that might be considered outside of our field of interest. My annual disclaimer to that point: NAB, Display Week, the DEG Expo and some of the regional production industry shows that I’ll talk about here may seem to have little to do with “us”, but we need to look outside of our residential silos and see what is being used at the root level to create, distribute and display content. From there, we will have a better idea about what formats and distribution technologies will be popular or on the rise, and what devices will be used to access, view and listen to them.

To quote the oldies rock 'n roll song: Bend me, shape me, anyway you want me!

Let’s start with NAB. The first learning surrounds 8K. After all, the infrastructure to create, distribute and display it has to be there before 8K is widely available. Post NAB, the answer to that is a definite “yes”, but with a big “but…”. Everything a broadcaster or streamer needs is there, with many choices and at increasingly affordable pricing.

However, while the content creators and distributors can do 8k, the question is whether or not they will. Based on what was shown at NAB this year the answer to the former is yes, but to the latter not so much. You’ll see some, but for those installing 8K displays, the advice remains to emphasise the image improvement from the scaling and possible availability of 8K games (don’t hold your breath too much on that one though!). But as for regular content, not too much.

“It became obvious that miniLED backlighting will continue to be a major system component, but don’t count out OLED, either.”

With 4K, however, with the production capture, record and edit hardware and software well in hand, the bigger question remains how to squeeze 4K through the smallest pipe possible. Lots of progress on that point, as thanks to HEVC I saw 4K distribution encoding at NAB down to 9 Mbps, no more or even less than is common for 1080p/FHD. At this point, the best educated guess as to how much more and when we will see a wider variety of 4K programming is as much as anything a business decision on the part of the streaming services and the ability of the ISPs to continue to offer more bandwidth. To be sure, 4K is definitely here to stay.

Next up on my show list was DEG EnTech Fest here in Los Angeles. At this event the lure was the expert presentation session, as this really is more of a conference than a trade show. Anyone who has read the business or financial news over the past two or three months will know that subscription-based streaming services such as Netflix are changing their models and are, for some, going through a period of high subscription churn. Why should you care?

New and even tighter pixel pitch displays were all over the InfoComm show floor

The answer is simple: AVOD (Advertiser supported Video on Demand) and its linearly programmed cousin, FAST (Free Advertiser Supported Television), are becoming more popular by the day, as people begin to suffer from “subscription fatigue” and are dropping services or thinking about lowering their tier to one of the paid, but lightly ad-supported versions of the services. Even Netflix is said to be joining the ranks of offering that as we move into the new year.

For you, it is a warning flag to watch where all these services are, what devices and smart TVs offer them, and make certain that, even with the new ones that will be popping up, your clients have the right hardware to access them. This is particularly important for Smart TVs, as they don’t often update to new services as quickly as external streamers, and they also tend to cease updates after three or so years.

“To be sure, 4K is definitely here to stay.”

Next on my spring travel schedule was the first in-person Display Week show since Covid hit, held again in San Jose in the heart of Silicon Valley. Remember, this is the place where the companies we buy from go to buy components.

Trends of import were many. For smaller devices there were many displays with foldable, bendable and scrollable panels. They are finally in production and expect to see the prototypes I saw at Display Week in the market as products from Samsung and others this year in the form of phones, tablets, and laptop screens.

Poly’s new PolyStudio P21 packs everything one needs for easy conferencing into a 21” display: lights, speakers, mics, ACTION! Yes, that is your humble author on the screen!

Of course, we’re “big screen people”, and there were products on display that you’ll probably start seeing in January at CES and onward through 2023. I’m sure you have gamers amongst your client base? Would they be tempted with a 75” 4K screen with 576Hz refresh or how about a 75” 8K screen with 288Hz refresh? I’ll bet they’d be happy to pay the premium pricing. Those panels exist and they are amazing with the latest, fastest games and video cards. Laptop gamers are not forgotten, either, with a 15.6” laptop display with 480Hz refresh also on the show floor.

For more home theatre-ish viewing, walking the Display Week floor and attending the technical sessions, it became obvious that miniLED backlighting will continue to be a major system component, but don’t count out OLED, either. Both technologies will get better than ever. The QD-OLED sets shown by Samsung and Sony at CES are likely to be only the start of that type of product. Also in line with panel lighting and filtering advances, it should be noted that you can expect to see more flat panel displays getting ever so close to full Rec.2020 this year.

The last major stop on the spring 2022 show tour was InfoComm. While the temperature soared above 41° both days I was there, the weather wasn’t the only thing that was hot; there was a wide range of new products and ideas across a number of categories.

While it wasn’t that long ago that InfoComm was where those of us of a certain age went to check out the latest in projectors, for the past few years it has been the direct view, microLED displays, now referred to in many of the stands as dvLED, that was the darling of the display stands. Of course, projectors remain a big product category for both the InfoComm attendees as well as those of us on the residential side of things.

From a technology standpoint, those who look for the best and finest, with that “finest” referring to resolution, there were panel modules on the show floor down to 0.3 pitch. Yes, the pricing is in the “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it” range, but that does show the advancements that have been made in recent years. To be certain, for most of us, dvLED systems in the 0.9 to 1.5 are more the norm.

Closer to the residential side of things, two of the major players in display were there with things of interest to us. LG had a preview of their first residential-specific dvLED system. Availability is later this year, so it is best to say that anyone doing a long-term search should put a placeholder in for LG. The unit on display in Las Vegas was quite impressive and aimed for home systems. Look for more news on this in our reports from CEDIA Expo in September.

One of the more innovative solutions for dvLED was first shown at ISE, but for those such as myself, it had its US debut at InfoComm. The Samsung “IWB” series All in One system is my winner of the “If I’m so smart, why didn’t I think of it!” award for this series of trade shows and conferences. The innovation comes from being able to ship a 146” 4K 0.84-pixel pitch system in only one carton. That’s right, no road cases, no multiple modules to connect together and no complex mounting. Samsung claims that you can mount the 146” system in about two hours.

Despite the high interest in dvLED, projectors remain important to all types of installations. One of the most innovative products on that score was the Satellite Modular system from Digital Projection. The imaging engines are in a reasonably compact cabinet, the laser system and main electronics in separate rack-mounted units and they are then connected by armour jacketed fibre links. The system becomes a 40,000K lumen projector that also delivers Rec.2020 colour with a projector head that is considerably smaller than the size of an all-in-one unit capable of that level of performance.

Particularly as we move out of a full “work from home” environment to a “hybrid, work from anywhere” model, requirements for webcams are getting tougher. For those with larger, more enterprise-level budgets, or for those doing boardrooms or house-of-worship jobs, PTZ cameras up to 4K resolution with eye-tracking were all over the place.

However, a more interesting approach for many of your applications and clients might be AVerMedia’s PW313D DualCam. At first glance it looks like a conventional webcam, but looking closer, there are not one, but two cameras onboard. One obviously looks forward, while the other has 270° rotation so you may point it down to show physical objects or other things on the desktop while still showing the presenter. Priced under $150 USD, and similarly priced in EMEA markets, it is something that may well help a client continue to work fully from home.

One trend on display was a “video bar”, which sits atop your monitor and encloses speakers, far field mics, a camera, AI-based tracking and all the rest, a great solution for clients who want an “all-in-one” with high-quality. Taking that notion one step further, products such as the PolyStudio P21 from Poly; here you not only have all the things mentioned, but they are built into a brilliant 21” display complete with built-in, adjustable lighting. If you have a requirement for a true remote system with everything provided via one USB connection, this is one of the better options for a price that is comparable to what assembling all the individual parts would add up to.

Yes, it has been a long drought for many of us during Covid with regard to getting out to see new products in person, meet with suppliers, and partake in educational seminars and manufacturer training. However, as noted by this report I can state with a certainty that the trade show and conference drought is definitely over. Next up? IFA and, of course, CEDIA Expo. If you are coming to Dallas for Expo, I’d love to say hello. Don’t worry, the famous test pattern jacket and tie are hanging in the closet and ready to be packed!

Main image: Video encoders on display at NAB were able to fit a full 4K image into the same bandwidth as a 1080p FHD stream!




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