Report from the Integrated Systems Europe-2014

Multitach-wall, on which several people can simultaneously draw at once

This year, from 4 to 6 February, the next Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2014 exhibition was held in Amsterdam. This is one of the most significant events in the audio-video and multimedia integration industry: the best manufacturers and a lot of IT people come here every year. Last year, for example, there were 44 thousand participants and 900 manufacturers.

If you go to ISE "from the street", you will first see absolutely stunning things like TVs with curved screens, complex-shaped LED panels hanging in the air, different installation acoustics, video walls with that. And all this - with amazing content. Word for word, speech will go about switching systems, controllers and other technical details - and then you will understand why you should really go to ISE.
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The main trend of this exhibition is a 4K (UltraHD) image. It's 4096x3112: UHD is 4 times cooler than Full HD. When watching a movie in this resolution, there is a very unusual feeling of realism. The flagship in this matter is the Christie company, already well known to us from past exhibitions and integrations. Naturally, at exhibitions, content is specially selected for display, on-air TV is still very far from such permissions.

4K systems

Direct projection screen with 4K projection

Practical all manufacturers of switching systems have already announced support for 4K in their flagship products - including our partner AMX in their line of matrix switchers Enova. Well, then catch up with vendors Crestron, Kramer. 4K, among other things, means more controller performance requirements, a new microchip architecture, problems with overheating, old interfaces and backward compatibility. Fortunately, this segment of the market changes every year, and therefore this scaling for iron has been established in almost all of them just like clockwork. But, of course, before buying iron, it is better to test and listen to the comments of engineers - for this, in particular, we go to similar exhibitions.


Rear projection system (the projector is located behind the screen) in 4K format.

It is necessary to separately say about 4K systems. Most likely, already this year we will be assembling them for interior advertising (they will be very useful for expensive retail, in particular, in clothes and jewelry). Also in the future, possible installation of facade advertising, various hi-end negotiations and so on. Dispatch centers and engineering complexes for precise design are a very special area: 4K may well be a very convenient thing for implementation at nuclear power plants and other complex objects. The cost of human error in the design there is high, so in the energy and oil and gas sector, quite often any new display technologies are used, which give a more accurate picture. And 4K-screens do not require a complete rework of the infrastructure, so I think very soon we will begin to carry them to Russia.


Modular 4K matrix switcher of the Enova series.

As for the 4K format displays, Samsung went farther away, presenting LCD panels with diagonals of 95 and 110 inches with 4K matrixes.


Due to the bright color, the girl on the screen looks more realistic than the man next.

It looks very good, especially when in the picture of the model with the display of a new collection of clothes or underwear. By the way, given the resolution, I can imagine what kind of hell the makeup artists do. On such screens, even the smallest defect of the skin, for example, will be perfectly visible.

Here is an interesting solution from the home segment.


LG called this curved 105-inch panel for UltraHD home theater. 5K is the curvature of + 4K.

And, of course, you should definitely tell about the next stage of the “space race”. At each exhibition there is a real war for the pixel pitch. This time, the 4K LED screen was brought to LEYARD with a minimum pitch. Step - 1.6 mm. For the first time in the industry, exclusively for ISE-2014. Last year we saw 1.8 and 2. Just in case, let me remind you that LED screens show themselves much better than LCD panels on the street in terms of performance and price, and in rooms they are just brighter and juicier. Payback for insane color quality and high brightness - fairly large pixels, which can be seen from one or two meters. Accordingly, the new screen is good even for European storefronts, where the buyer can view content from half a meter.


LED screen with a pixel pitch of 1.6 mm.

Video walls

Video walls are used for all sorts of advertising and sharing information. Most often, you can see these solutions in retail, in exhibition complexes, in the financial sector (for example, in the coolest offices of banks), as well as in dispatch centers. Video walls are good because people can approach them directly, watch the right piece of information - and sometimes even interact with the content. For example, for retail, a frequent example is the display of a collection of dresses (or cars for men). Each object can be approached and viewed closer. If there is a camera, IR system or other sensors - by touching, you can get more detailed information or change the color.

In Russia, there is almost no video wall for advertising, but the big screens of dispatching and situational centers are almost always made using this technology. In such cases, video walls are indispensable.


Here is the LEYARD wall 10 meters long and 2 meters high, which looks like a single whole.

Now most of the video walls are made of video cubes. The video cube is an element of the video wall. By putting together several video cubes, you can get a universal means of displaying large amounts of video information. It is believed that the classic rear projection video cubes will completely leave the market in the next 2 years, and LED screens with small pixel pitch will come to replace them. Here is one such example on the EYEVIS booth. The reason is cheaper technology and simpler switching and control.



But the living classics in the form of Mitsubishi cubes, here you can see quite well how the wall is assembled from elements:


Solution for situational centers


And this is for engineering objects.

The most annoying thing about video walls and composite screens is the seam between the panels. It is often very uncomfortable for customers, so for a couple of projects we were even asked to close these stitches with stripes in the background color of the presentation.

Accordingly, from the exhibition to the exhibition on any stand there is always an inscription: “THIS IS HAPPENED! Now the seam between the panels is even smaller - only 3.5 mm. ”New to this inscription every time is just numbers. The very case when the manufacturer is not ashamed to say - and I have less! And in fact - well, this is how to assemble on the spot. Last year, the seam was 5.5 mm.

In general, of course, beautiful. Pay attention to the correctly selected Samsung content - it takes into account the screen architecture.


Just the case when you can choose a car with your finger and change its color.

A little about Multitouch-video walls. Especially memorable Multitaction Videowall from the company Multitouch. Because like a big iPad.


Tactile sensations as on a capacitive touchscreen. It is a matter of covering LCD matrices, but they still do not disclose technology. Impressed. No other manufacturer of interactive video walls has ever seen such a thing.


The interface worked very well, even though the walls constantly touched several people at the same time. It was possible to draw, to consider different objects - and all this made many people at once without a glitch. The software, of course, was written by the manufacturer for the exhibition and was “sharpened” for a specific installation, but even with this in mind, the possibilities are more than impressive.

In general, at this exhibition there were few touch-solutions in the form of video walls. Individual panels were brought more often, here is an example:


This car can also be repainted and change wheels.

Glassesless 3D

I can not say that I like it in glasses, and without them it is generally doubtful. However, NEC introduced panels with this feature. LG - too. It turned out something like this:




The photo does not convey.

In general, 3D technologies were presented much less than at previous exhibitions.


And this is a 3D TV based on an LED screen with a 1.6 mm pitch and without glasses (note - the smallest step in this area).

Custom solutions

In the VIP.CUSTOM.INDIVIDUAL nomination, the Spanish company Albiral won with its product line Arthur Holm. In general, excellent products, and most importantly very "Flexible".



And of course, note that with the right approach to the project, any individual integration with peripheral equipment, including video conferencing and congress systems, can be done.







All this is great combined with audio devices, different peripherals, includes charging for speaker devices and so on. In general, all for the good of man.

Digital signage

In short, Digital Signage is a smart information system. For example - screens in banks throughout the country that show the dollar rate (taking it from the server in Moscow), and your place in the queue at the checkout (taking it from the local server), and can - the weather on the street plus traffic jams (from any other source). A particularly cool version of DS is interactive content with adjustment to the viewer. For example, when you enter with a corporate elevator pass, the screen may show you your meeting schedule for today. Or on the camera to track sexual identity and issue relevant content.

From this part of the exhibition we were waiting for new methods of working with content. Our partner A-open was pleasantly surprised by introducing small 19-22-inch tablets already with built-in PCs. It is very convenient to hang on the wall, somewhere near the conference room or meeting room.




Very handy stuff. Several of these at the conference - and they will be able to show the schedule, plus perform the role of navigation.

YCD Multimedia actively advertised all its interactive installations, including the office of the future, made by us. In general, their product C-nario has proven itself well over the past 2 years, it has been developed and introduced everywhere.



Scala showed a very interesting presentation of the presentation, photo, unfortunately, does not convey this, but the effect is stunning.


Here is a virtual tour of the office.

And here, perhaps, the most beautiful showcase of the exhibition:


Fashion show

Traditionally, for the third year in a row, the exhibition has a lot of digital signage solutions for retail. The European market in this regard is much larger than ours.

3D mapping

Special attention should be paid to the Coolux stand, which specializes in the technical equipment of media and promotional events, as well as colorful presentations and multimedia shows (for example, the opening of the Olympics).


The size of the projected image is not limited - using the technology of seamless information of several projectors - panoramic screens, you can achieve images that cover an area of ​​any size.

The essence of the technology is that multiple projectors can work on a single screen. You should get a large image without differences in brightness at the edges and seams. For this, the projected images intersect in such a way that the same pixel can display 2-3 projectors (soft overlap stitching) or exactly pixel-by-pixel can be delimited (hard stitching). Accordingly, this requires more than proper adjustment, precise installation, high-quality projectors and controllers to control the display of the picture.
Multi-layer three-dimensional systems are often made when projections are performed not only on the screen, but also on different objects (like on the ball in the photo above). All layers can be freely positioned and animated in 3D space to create multimedia shows. Actually, you saw it at the opening of the Olympics.

By the way, the easiest way to get acquainted with the 3d-mapping technology is to go to the Van Gogh multimedia exhibition. Revived canvases (Van Gogh Alive) ”, on the occasion of passing now in Moscow. In Europe, you can see different shows right on the streets.


A nice novelty for presentations - Christie Brio

The uniqueness of the novelty is that wired and wireless connections are used to simultaneously display several presentations on any of the displays of the meeting room or on two displays at once. Any meeting participant using a Mac or PC, an Android tablet or iPad, can quickly arrange their presentation and display it in a few seconds. The beauty is that now you do not need to get up and look for a cable - the wireless solution works. Yes, there were wireless options before, it is this solution that works completely without unnecessary shamanism and quietly picks up any source devices.

Finally - mimicouper in LED strazikah:



Oh yes. Not so long ago, the company Panasonic ceased production of plasma panels. Now they are releasing LCD panels with LED backlighting:

Generally

There was also a lot of audio equipment at the exhibition - for example, installation acoustics, which every year is presented by new vendors at the exhibition. The market segment is small, we usually do not look much. Nevertheless, it was interesting to colleagues, because the solutions are better and better every year. It seems every year there are breakthroughs in microphones, new solutions for concerts and programs in the open air. In Russia, most often such things are rented for specific projects.

Well developed congress systems. Every year (despite the falling market as a whole) become more interesting. This year was a convenient vote from the tablets. Video conferencing is also developing, Cisco stands are particularly interesting.

By and large, of all that we met at the exhibition, already this year 4K screens for retail and project bureaus will be installed in Russia, and almost certainly 3D mapping equipment, in particular, when organizing various large events.