This was FAR from the normally-slow news summer we are used to in AV. I think part of it was due to the slightly later InfoComm 2019 date but, in reality, there’s just a lot of new technology hitting at the same time. Let’s take a look:
Displays: This summer saw the second generation of native 4K projectors — and, finally, smaller 5K to 8K lumen ones too. And, the third generation of laser projectors hit the market at the same time. Now we have laser lighting up nearly every imaging technology inside projectors as well as covering nearly 70% of the currently available products. Then, with flat panels, we have three form-factors of OLED, flatter LCDs, brighter LCDs, bezel-less LCDs and now rollable displays.
Video and Audio Gear: It’s all about AV-over-IP and, this summer, we saw another dozen new products ship into the category. And, although we don’t have a true “standard” yet, the market adoption picked up this summer on college campuses doing upgrades. That’s going to likely account for nearly 50% of all the AV-over-IP installs over the past four months. Although the installed market is well less than 5%, it’s moving rapidly. And, this fall should be AV-over-IP big-time!
Soft-Codecs are driving ProAV: UCC is, certainly, all the rage right now. Driven by the wow-factor of Zoom, the move towards simplicity isn’t just relegated to them. Google, Microsoft, Poly, Cisco and nearly every other VTC platform company is dumbing-down the complexity of connecting in video-based meetings — and it’s sparked a bunch of new installs and new product development. This includes new UCC cameras, networked UCC-based mics and a plethora of really cool UCC accessories.
LEDs are moving mainstream: The LED market used to be exclusively relegated to live events. But, now the pixel pitch is small enough to move inside and move to smaller applications. Still expensive, they are super-bright, last 10+ years and can be put nearly anywhere. So, this garnered a lot of attention this summer. In fact, this fall, you’ll see LG, Sony, Samsung, Absen and Optoma all release new 100” to 180” pre-packaged LED walls that don’t require an external processor. The install will be similar to hanging an LCD monitor on the wall in that you drive them with just a single HDMI input.
And, everything I mentioned above is shown below in one format or another. Just look at how much new stuff debuted in August, of all months!
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