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Volume 4, Issue 7 — July 22, 2010
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The Projector's Slow, Lingering Death
By Joel Rollins, CTS-R Sometimes, there is little difference between the needs of the rental/staging company and the mainstream AV dealer. We use the same equipment (albeit sometimes in different ways) and are driven by the same technological changes in the overall market.
But often, our special circumstances call upon us to deal with a technological change either faster or slower than the "mainstream" of AV. And here's one of those times.
Over the last two years, I've read a lot of commentary from the industry and industry press about the inevitable downfall of the projector, including from Gary and a lot of my other colleagues. And even from me.
Disclaimer: As most of you know, I'm a mostly a video projector guy. For the last 25 years, I have sold them, rented them, installed them, consulted on them and taught about them. I was a vocal voice for (and then a participant in many different roles) of the old Projection Shootout. I named my dog Barco.
Second Disclaimer: I completely agree with the predictions of the demise of the projector – and all the difficulties and waste of useable space that they entail. It's obvious from the march forward in flat screen and modular panel technologies that for a great portion of the general market the projector's use will decline.
However, for the rental and staging portion of the industry, even though we have been among the first to adopt alternative display technologies, let me paraphrase Mark Twain to say that the rumors of its immediate death have been somewhat exaggerated.
While there is indeed a massive boom going on in alternative large-screen display technologies, and projectors are becoming a very "mature" market, that's one of the things that makes projectors still the mainstream display in rental and staging. Because of the maturity of the projector market, an entire industry of necessary support services and products from third parties has sprung up around it for rental, which has not yet happened in the alternative displays area of the market.
In our area of the industry, the investment in the actual display technologies, especially in the staging end of the market, is dwarfed by the costs of support, accessory, and protection equipment. Most of my projector costs look quite small, for instance, compared to the lenses and accessories each must be equipped with in rental.
So, while the new technologies already represent a powerful force in rental, the mature projection market gives us choice after choice of combinations of equipment with which to stage a show – making our entire inventory work together more effectively.
Consider, also, some of the other rental advantages to projection-based systems:
Projectors RULE in one of our biggest areas of concern: portability and ease of transport. Projectors use less trucking space and weight, and are easier to handle (and thus, less expensive) than any of the alternative large screen technologies, much as we love them for some shows. In fact, the larger the screen you're making, the more the projector becomes the less labor-intensive display. The cost of drayage alone for large flat screen walls, in some instances, could BUY the projector. Our labor costs are almost always higher than our equipment costs, and here's where we make decisions that affect them.
Plus, shows aren't done with displays – they're done with SYSTEMS. And our industry is fully set up with peripheral parts that are BUILT, mainly, for projection systems. Screen warping, blending, effects systems, control systems, lighting controllers – most of our inventory has been designed and optimized to work with projection displays.
And, while we're mentioning support hardware, lets talk about the kind that it sits on. Our vendors offer us, and our inventories contain, large amounts of support hardware (rigging, scaffolding, frameworks, etc.) especially designed to make projection systems faster and easier. Replacing it with different hardware, in many cases, will add weight, size and expense to rental systems.
Rental is also a game of quantity. Nobody has enough inventory ALL the time, and a mature cross rental network is available around the world for dealing with cross-renting projectors and accessories when we need them. That kind of quantity and variety has not yet become as widely available for many of the newer technologies.
And, as I've said, sometimes this is a game of quantities — and here's one where less is more — compared to a modular wall, especially at larger sizes, a projection system has fewer powered components, and therefore that many less places for a system to potentially fail. It makes a much easier system to back up with a redundant system.
And let's talk about our biggest cost, once again — labor. It is currently much easier to get required crews, especially out of town with freelancers and union that have a high level of experience with projection than ones with experience in the new display technologies. Crew, freelance, and union familiarity with equipment are a huge part of planning a touring show.
Add it up. The larger the display size needed, the greater the savings in equipment weight, size, rigging, setup labor, casing costs, transport costs, insurance.
And, in our industry, we must also think about theatricality, lots of which is easy to establish around projection. For years, it has set the stage for great announcements and memorable moments. After 25 years of shows my heart still skips a beat when the house lights come down, and I’ll miss it when they don't have to come down at all anymore.
I could go on a long time talking about the advantages of mature and stable projection technologies to rental, and go into the ease of producing large screen 3D displays, or of image warping around irregular objects. But there's no need. We're a practical industry, and to quote Marx, we get from each technology according to their capability.
I believe totally that the role of the projector will be diminished by more efficient, brighter, and easier to implement display walls. And I'm as enthusiastic about the new technologies as anybody out there.
So will projection use decrease as an overall percentage of rentals? Yes.
Will it happen quickly? Not by a long throw — er, “shot.”
rAVe Rental [and Staging] contributor Joel R. Rollins, CTS-R, is General Manager of Everett Hall Associates, Inc. and is well known throughout the professional AV industry for his contributions to industry training and his extensive background in AV rental, staging and installation. Joel can be reached at Joel can be reached at joelrollins@mac.com Back to Top |
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AV Stumpfl Announces Wings Platinum 4.20 AV Stumpfl has released an update to version 4.20 for its multimedia software Wings Platinum. In addition to various detail improvements, the software includes a new title generator that not only provides for high-quality text, but also offers a wide variety of extensive formatting options and useful effects.
With the update, virtually all fonts installed on the computer can be used at excellent display quality in any size. Text formatting is object-oriented, i.e., the text objects can simply be dropped into a picture track. Separate text tracks are no longer necessary. Since the fonts can be embedded in the EXE presentation, the show can be run on any other computers without problems, and the fonts don’t have to be reinstalled there. The text can also be provided with a 3D-contour and with transparent, soft and hard shadows. In addition to this, different colors and effects can be applied both to font fill and the optional border. About twenty presets are supplied and can be applied with just one mouse-click. Users can also modify these preset effects and adjust them to their own requirements or even create new presets. Text effects can also be combined with other effects Wings Platinum has in store for images and videos. Very special titles may have an arc applied to them – a feature that already available with a Basic License or higher. Any other text effects require the Advanced License or higher. For Wings Platinum 4 users, the update is free and available for download on the website here: http://www.avstumpfl.com/en/service/downloads/software/wings_platinum_4
I’ve been very impressed with Wings in the demos I’ve seen done, although haven’t had any personal excuse to use it in show production since I’m personally a Mac-based life form. But its combination of production, playback and control make it an incredibly versatile tool for a dedicated shop, and I’m anxious to see this latest iteration.
–JRR Back to Top Sharp Shows New Thin Bezel LCD for Video Wall Applications At InfoComm, Sharp showed what they say is the world’s thinnest bezel LCD display – with a bezel that is only 2.4mm thick. The new display, the PN-V601, is a 60” professional LCD monitor with LED backlighting.
The PN-V601 will be introduced to the Japanese market in August 2010. There’s not a ton of information available now, but go here to see what is: http://sharp-world.com/corporate/news/100607.html
I’m impressed by the initial specs for this, especially after realizing that what they meant is that the GAP between units is 6.5mm, and the unit’s bezel is actually only 2.4mm on the right and bottom sides, and 4.1mm on the top and left.
–JRR
Back to Top Prysm Makes InfoComm Debut: First System to Challenge Christie's MicroTiles At InfoComm last month, Prysm, Inc. launched the industry’s first real challenge to Christie’s MicroTiles technology, powered by its proprietary technology, Laser Phosphor Display (LPD). Although larger than the MicroTiles, the Prysm solution is similar in that they are also “building block” style displays that can be stacked in a wide variety of sizes and shapes to form a display image. Using a 25” diagonal (4:3) tile as the foundation, designers, integrators and architects can build displays into a variety of sizes to meet the individual needs of each application. According to Prysm, they LPD blocks feature a viewing angle of nearly 180 degrees in both the horizontal and vertical planes. Each block has a brightness spec of 800nits, an optical seam of .25mm and a refresh rate of 240Hz. Powered by LPD’s solid-state components, the display solution offers what Prysm calls “an internal health monitor and auto-calibration system” for 24/7 continuous operation and stable performance over the life of the application. For more information, go to: http://www.prysm.com
Tile-based systems are growing by leaps and bounds, in both capability and quantity (largely driven at this point in time by competition with Christie’s impressive MicroTiles) and the competition entering the market can only be good for everybody as staging increasingly utilizes display systems that are more efficient in space utilization than projection systems.
–JRR
Back to Top projectiondesign's 8000-Lumen F32 Projectors Now Shipping projectiondesign announced at InfoComm that its updated F32 projector series is now shipping. With comprehensive changes to optics and color processing, the updated F32 now delivers up to 8000 lumens brightness on select models. The series is available in a wide range of application-specific configurations, and in WUXGA, 1080p, and SXGA+ resolutions.
Using single chip DLP® technology, the F32 offers projectiondesign’s DuArch™ dual illumination architecture with ‘hot-swappable’ lamp modules and the unique RealColor™ color management suite. The updates to the F32 series further enhances color accuracy and display, alongside the increased brightness levels available, for greatly enhanced image quality and extended calibration and color-matching capabilities.
For more information, go to http://www.projectiondesign.com/?CatID=1716
Single-chip systems like the F32 have gotten very impressive for their size and cost over the last couple of years, as I’ve mentioned more than once. But the 3-chip systems have advanced equally quickly, so they now just increase the choices the stager has to fit the right product to the show.
–JRR Back to Top Extron Ships Two and Four Input HDMI Switchers Extron is now shipping the SW HDMI LC two and four input switchers. These switchers support HDMI 1.3 specification features, including data rates up to 6.75 Gbps, Deep Color, Lip Sync, and HD lossless audio formats. HDCP compliance ensures interoperability with other HDCP-compliant devices. The switchers support all HDTV rates including 1080p/60 with 12-bit Deep Color, and PC resolutions up to 1920×1200. Front panel LED indicators provide visual confirmation of signal presence. Input cable equalization for each input compensates for cables up to 50 feet in length. The SW HDMI LC switchers are ideal for sending HDMI video and embedded multi-channel digital audio to a single display.
The switchers also supply +5 VDC, 250mA on the HDMI output, providing power for peripheral devices. Control options allow for easy integration into a variety of environments. These include front panel control, auto-input switching, IR, and RS-232 control. The SW HDMI LC switchers are housed in rack-mountable 1U, half rack width metal enclosures.
For more information, go to http://www.extron.com/product/product.aspx?id=swhdmilc&s=0
HDMI, as I mentioned in my last column, has been a problem in switching and distribution for rentals – but it looks like our major manufacturers (such as Extron) are stepping up to fill the gaps. It’s nice to have some (outwardly) simple choices like these available.
–JRR
Back to Top Renkus-Heinz Intros AFMG Aubion x.8 at InfoComm At InfoComm, Renkus-Heinz announced its distribution of the Aubion x.8, the new 8-channel A/D-D/A converter from Ahnert Feistel Media Group (AFMG). The Aubion x.8 is specifically designed to complement AFMG's EASERA and SysTune, an audio measurement and system tuning software tools for professional sound engineers.
The company says the Aubion x.8 is the first 8-input/2-output converter specifically designed for live sound and installed sound measurement. Equipped with four XLR/TRS combo mic/line connectors, eight SUB-D-25-based line connectors and two TRS servo-balanced outputs, Aubion x.8 is fully integrated with both EASERA and EASERA SysTune Windows-based software packages. Ethernet connectivity makes most Windows Audio driver issues a thing of the past, and fully digital control maintains calibration even when changing input/output levels.
The Aubion x.8's eight input channels allows large systems, including line arrays, to be tuned using multiple simultaneous measurements, with real-time display and control from both EASERA and SysTune. Aubion x.8 is also ideal for measuring room acoustics at multiple locations. Aubion x.8's rugged half-rack design is suitable for portable or rack-mount use.
For more information, go to http://www.renkus-heinz.com/ Back to Top |
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For all you REGULAR readers of rAVe Rental [and Staging] out there, hopefully you enjoyed another opinion-packed issue!
For those of you NEW to rAVe, you just read how we are — we are 100% opinionated. We not only report the news and new product stories of the rental and staging industry, but we stuff the articles full of our opinions — in this case, it’s industry-veteran Joel Rollins' opinions. That may include (but is not limited to) whether or not the product is even worth looking at, challenging the manufacturers on their specifications, calling a marketing-spec bluff and suggesting ways integrators market their products better. But, one thing is for sure, we are NOT a trade publication that gets paid for running editorial or product stories. Traditional trade publications get paid to run product stories — that’s why you see what you see in most of the pubs out there. We are different: we run what we want to run and NO ONE is going to pay us to write anything good (or bad).
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To send me feedback, don't reply to this newsletter — instead, write directly to me at gary@ravepubs.com or for editorial ideas: Editor-in-Chief Sara Abrons at sara@ravepubs.com
rAVe [Publications] has been around since 2003, when we launched our original newsletter, rAVe ProAV Edition. rAVe HomeAV Edition, co-published with CEDIA, launched in February, 2004. rAVe Rental [and Staging] launched in November 2007. rAVe Ed [Education] launched in May 2008. rAVe DS [Digital Signage] was launched in January of 2009.
To read more about my background, our team, and what we do, go to https://www.ravepubs.com
Back to Top Copyright 2010 – rAVe [Publications] – All rights reserved – All rights reserved. For reprint policies, contact rAVe [Publications], 210 Old Barn Ln., Chapel Hill, NC 27517 – (919) 969-7501. Email: sara@ravepubs.com
rAVe Rental [and Staging] contains the opinions of the author only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of other persons or companies or its sponsors. |
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