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AVG’s Best of Infocomm 2017
Innovation is Everywhere
Orlando, FL - This year it appeared that "4K" and "UHD" were not simply just buzz words anymore, but have found their way into most manufacturer's products and here to say (unlike 3D a few years back). We were hard pressed to find anyone who couldn't handle this resolution in some capacity. It seems everyone is trying to differentiate themselves on how they handle the compression and delivery over a network. The other big take away is that HDBaseT seems to have been replaced with streaming. HDMI over twisted pair, or the latest- HDBaseT, seems to be a thing of the past. Many of the signal routing companies, if not all, seem to be embracing the Network switch and not the Matrix switch. Encoders and Decoders are everywhere and it seems that our industry continues to run like ants when someone kicks the hill, rather than marching in uniform when it comes to standards. We saw streaming in H.264, JPEG2000, and SMPTE to name a few. We didn't see a lot of H.265 which was surprising, but our feeling is this form of technology will grow tremendously in the next 24 months and universally adopted as the leading content delivery platform. Enough with industry observations, now onto the cool stuff that left us talking after the show.
Planar/Leyard LED MultiTouch Interactive Video Wall - The folks showing this product at the booth proudly let us know this is the industry's first seamless interactive LED video wall. The smooth-to-the-touch interactive surface appeared sturdy with an impressive 32 simultaneous points of touch. The Touch frame blended in quite well and looked like it wasn't an after thought like many other touch frames. What didn't make our list, but very well could have was Planar's DirectView 0.7mm LED panel (the smallest in existence). The only reason we aren't handing out an award is because it isn't shipping, nor will be in the near future. Still pretty cool to see....
LG OLED Wallpaper - An impressive 3.65mm, yes - millimeter, module is razor thin. It attaches to the wall with some form of a magnet frame leaving the viewer to believe the mount has somehow sunk into the wall. Color reproduction and contrast are quite impressive when viewing it beside a traditional LED display. The displays are available in 1080p and 4K, so let your creative minds run wild.
Crestron Mercury Tabletop Conference System - This is a "must have" in the smaller meeting rooms that require audio conferencing, web-based video conferencing, and presentation requirements. The device has a full featured VoIP speakerphone with Bluetooth capabilities. It also can turn the room into a video conference by connecting a laptop with a USB cable (we just heard the unit can now natively connect to Zoom). The tabletop system has presentation functionality that allows a user to hard wire a laptop with a provided HDMI cable or connect wirelessly for the BYOD millennial. And it wouldn't be a Crestron system without a touchpanel for a simple to use interface.
Cisco Spark Board - With the Spark Board, a user seems to be all powerful. No cables, wires, widgets, or adapters are visible and all functionality can be achieved through the touch of a finger. The device allows a user to connect to team members inside the room, inside the building, in another state, or even another country through the Spark App. Audio and video conferencing are native to the product as well as touch annotation. Displays come in both 55" and 70" sizes.
One of the greatest things of this industry is the endless innovation. The technology sector continues to evolve, improve, and impress us. We don't have to wait 365 days until next year's Infocomm to be wowed, so stay tuned and reach out to our sales team to learn how the best solutions in this marketplace can make your workplace better.