Display Solution AG introduces the world`s first Mini USB/Multi Cell LCD TFT module that allows product information or entertainment to be displayed on limited-height retail shelves.

This multi-cell LCD-TFT module (MCM) consists of 2/3 x 4.3” TFT LCDs aligned abreast with each other. Each MCM combines the total resolution of 960/1440x272 pixels. Up to four MCMs with a total resolution of 5760x272 can be connected in daisy-chain to one MCM-Array.

This can be used for the retail-shelf (advertisements, video, price, info etc), gaming machines (ads, video, score and even instruction information), POI and POS (video and information in height sensitive areas) and logistics (shelf-information centrally controlled).

Go Shelf Edge Displays

Watch Mini Multi Cell LC Display for Retail Digital Signage

The University of Calgary, University of Munich, and Columbia University worked jointly to figure out a way to use a smartphone to project the phone’s display on to external displays nearby.

The team describes its technology approach, Virtual Projection, as "borrowing available display space in the environment."

Virtual Projection “is based on tracking a handheld device without an optical projector and allows selecting a target display on which to position, scale, and orient an item in a single gesture.”

The user holds up the smartphone to the computer screen, the phone camera captures and compares images from the screen to work out location -- the system relies on tracking where the phone is being pointed--and passes information back to the computer screen via wifi to project on the screen.

Multiple users can place images on the same screen if the users want the images to mingle together.

Watch Virtual Projection

To survive, says Pacific Media Associates, any industry needs to innovate and change. Like a sports team, our industry needs a strong offense. Product innovation is one type of offense: for example, in our case, short-throw projectors, interactive projectors, PC-free presentations, and solid state illumination (laser, LED, and hybrid).

But a sports team also needs a strong defense. PMA’s Dr. Coggshall will make a presentation at the Projection Summit 2012 conference entitled Playing Defense in the 2012 Projector Business.

Some--or many--projector manufacturers probably need to seek better defensive strategy and tactics than they now have.

His thinking goes like this:

1. Unlike most other industries, where prospective new entrants to an industry do their homework by looking at the size of the market and the number and strength of competitors before jumping in, but a lot of companies apparently neglected this step, leading to too many big fish in too small a pond. The natural response to this over-competition is to cut prices, so that many manufacturers are now making less-than-desired profits.

Mitsubishi designed the 7000 Series LCD projectors for applications in large meeting rooms and lecture theatres, as well as for other pro uses (rental, digital signage, etc).

Launched at ISE this year and now shipping in Europe, the 7000 Series LCD projectors are available in three resolutions.

• XL7100U / XL7000U (1024 x 768 pixel XGA)
• WL7200U / WL7050U (1280 x 800 pixel WXGA)
• UL7400U (1920x1200 pixel WUXGA)

Based around a long-life, inorganic liquid crystal panel, the 7000 Series offers light output of up to 6000 lumens at 2000:1 contrast ratio. Lamp life of up to 4000 hours and less than 0.3W power consumption in standby mode.

Mitsubishi combines here a number of performance-enhancing innovations: Dynamic Contrast Correction feature analyses the dynamic range of the input signal and automatically makes contrast corrections in real-time to ensure shadow and highlight details are not lost. The advanced Super Resolution image processing algorithm dynamically interpolates missing data from the source material for improved clarity. Combined with Mitsubishi’s Natural Colour Matrix, the result is an image that offers what Mitsubishi calls “ superb sharpness, high dynamic range and natural-looking colours.”