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Opening Day in Amsterdam

joelblog1First impressions: the show is huge, and everyone is lost. Which may not be a bad thing, because while I was lost I discovered a number of manufacturers I had never seen before, with some interesting products, which I’ll be going back to see.

From my own point of view, and especially for you stagers, I’ve seen a couple of exciting things already.

First, from Dataton, theWATCHPAX. This is a dedicated, single-screen media server about the size of a pack of Canadian cigarettes (slightly larger than a US pack, as the Canucks like to put 25 in theirs). It has built-in Watchout software, addressable over TCP/IP. It seems as rugged as the old Smartpax used to be (for those of you who remember) and to me, it looks like joelblog2Dataton has returned to their roots in dedicated staging hardware. Arrays of Watchpax can be addressed in sync, and it looks to me like this is going to be an exciting product. I’ll be going back this afternoon for a detailed run-through, and I’ll bring it to you here.

joelblog3Second, I saw a demonstration of a new multi-screen production and control package from a source I never expected it from – Mitsubishi. And it has some REALLY intriguing possibilities. The package is called “Composer” and from the brief demo I saw it is incredibly easy to address and mask multiple screens. I’ll be sitting in on a private demo with it’s developer on Thursday, and I’ll bring you the details.

Well, I’m off to find a pack of Canadian cigarettes, and then wander the halls some more. Will bring you more later on, and will post a special edition of “the Week” onrAVe Radio tomorrow.

JRR

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