Trends in the corporate sector show an increase in video wall installations, especially in HQ buildings. Now-- with sub 3mm pitch high resolution-- LED displays will compete with LCDs on price.

Unicol sees “LED overtaking back-lit LCDs for indoor video walls in the next 5 years or sooner.” And they argue LEDs are also brighter, easier to install and outdoor capable, even the price point for higher resolution panels is coming down.

The LED display systems offered by Unicol are not LCD displays back-lit by LED lighting but “true” tile module LED displays--which are not only brighter and bolder, but can be used outdoors as well.

The LED display mounting structures offered by Unicol are, in the company's own words, "bespoke solutions for free-standing, floor to wall and ceiling suspension." These LED displays have already been used by companies in the corporate sector as well as retail and public sectors in order to showcase dynamic, interactive information to customers.

Furthermore, LED displays from Unicol can be configured to between 8 metres by 3 metres or even larger, and can also be designed in various formats, including normal screen formats, extended portrait formats, and stretched landscape formats. These mounting structures are all purpose-designed as well as manufactured precisely according to the requirements of the clients. They can also be easily assembled on-site, and are maintenance- and installer-friendly as well.

Aside from standard LED display mounting structures, Unicol also offers rolling LED display mounting structures which can be easily moved to gain access to media players, cables, and the like, or moved from in front of shop windows or lobby areas.

Go Unicol LED Displays & Mounting Solutions

Spatial projection displays are the future for signage, says Omron Electronic Components Europe. Their technology allows directions and other images to appear floating in the air in shopping malls, transport terminals and other locations.

Masayuki Shinohara, an engineer who led the commercialization of aerial imaging at Omron, remembers, “Omron’s research of light control technology had already been launched before I joined the company.”

That was more than 20 years ago...He says his predecessors had accumulated light technologies one after another, in the same way that each stratum of earth stacks one layer atop the previous. The outcomes of their endeavor were passed on to Shinohara, and this eventually came to fruition in the form of aerial imaging.

“By 2020, I want to fill the entire city of Tokyo with aerial images. Our goal is to make aerial imaging something that is commonly used and found everywhere in the city,” says Shinohara-san.

Imagine, says Omron, you are walking in a large transportation terminal with an intricate web of passageways. If there is an easy-to-understand 3D sign floating in the air by the exit or at each corner of the station, you will no longer need to worry about losing your way. Aerial imaging can also project a floating image of information in front of products on display in a showcase.

Commenting, Gabriele Fulco, European Product Marketing Manager Sensors of Omron said: “This is the future of signage. We believe that aerial imaging will become a commonly used feature of our cities and public spaces. For example, easy-to-understand signs can be placed floating in the air by exits making it easier for visitors to find their way. Aerial imaging can also project information in front of products on display in a showcase.”

Using Omron’s Spatial Projection Display (SPD) technology, images can be projected anywhere and appear to be floating in the air. Earlier space projection technologies have required a large number of distinct components and are relatively large systems requiring substantial space to install.

Omron has used its light directivity and micro-fabrication technology developed through the LCD display and backlighting businesses to allow images to be projected into empty space with just one sheet of plate and a single LED. The sheets themselves are transparent, so are unobtrusive, thin and light for attaching to glass and other surfaces.

Omron is initially supporting 2D and 3D images with SPD technology. In future, it will introduce curved plexiglass panels that can be adapted to objects with shaped surfaces.

Go Omron’s Spatial Projection Display

Event technical production specialist Central Presentations Limited (CPL) invests in 80 square metres of new ROE Black OnyX 3.4 mm LED screen plus ROE LED Strip product … both of which are going directly onto a job in London-- and then will be available from their UK (West Midlands) rental stock.

[Photo caption: Crew from CPL’s Video Division with some of the new ROE LED screens.]

CPL project manager Simon Haydon explains this screen was chosen “because as a high quality HD indoor product…ROE is one of the best known and most widely used brands in the European rental and staging markets, and has gained a great reputation for being practical and innovative.”

“We purchased it as a versatile all-round solution that will be perfect for the range of shows and events we service,” confirms Haydon.

Robust magnetised magnesium alloy frames and bumper-bars with clamps that hold the 500 x 500 mm lightweight panels make it easy to assemble, and CPL says one person can build a complete LED wall on their own.

Each touring frame comprises four quadrants, so the panels - weighing 9.4 Kgs each - can be removed for maintenance and repair – even in situ – and damaged pixels can be repaired quickly and easily.

The screen modules are intelligent and store the calibrating and operational parameters separately for further enhanced maintenance.

This particular ROE product can also create a concave curve of 10 % using plate attachments to the rear and it can be ground stacked or flown.

The screen – all purchased from the same batch for continuity and consistency - also integrates seamlessly with the Prolyte trussing and ground support system, which CPL has already purchased. This makes creating ceilings, walls and other shapes from the ROE 3.4mm Black OnyX extremely easy.

CPL’s own custom single point projector brackets can be used with the LED panels to create interesting and creative structures, panels can be attached vertically to the truss and also rotated easily to give architectural effects and cool shapes like a line of panels on a diagonal, etc.

New Brompton processing will be used to merge the screen surfaces together and also to colour match additional product that might be sub-hired.

The 60 x lengths of LED strips feature two pixels per side and are 1.2m lengths, with an 18.75 mm horizontal pitch and a 9.375 vertical pitch. Also IP65 rated, they can be used for making creative shapes and borders-- and come neatly packaged in 4, 8 and 16 way flight cases.

The new LED panels, strips and processing will join CPL’s stock of projectors, media servers, cameras and PPUs. LED is being increasingly specified for events of all sizes and budgets, so CPL says it was “a logical step to start investing and building up a stock.”

Go CPL

Canon Europe launches the XEED 4K501ST, the latest addition to its 4K installation projector range and an upgrade to the XEED 4K500ST model.

The XEED 4K501ST offers a compact and lightweight design for simulation, design and exhibition environments-- with improved functionality with the addition of HDMI 2.0, which enables 4K video playback via a single cable.

The 4K501ST is for environments that can benefit from high quality content from a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player, such as medical conferences, lecture theatres or creative installations. HDMI 2.0 connectivity also provides an improved framerate of 60 frames per second to ensure smooth delivery of 4K video content. Its support for HDCP 2.2, the latest encryption technology for copyright protection, allows compatibility so 4K media can be projected.

With a brightness of 5000 lumens across the entire zoom range, the high definition 4,096 x 2,400 LCOS panel in the XEED 4K501ST also lets content to be projected at a resolution that exceeds 4K digital cinema.

Canon’s unique and improved AISYS (Aspectual Illumination System) optical system delivers better colours and black, with an increased contrast ratio for an enhanced viewing experience.

Andreas Herrnböck, European Business Development Manager Projector, Visual Communications, Canon Europe, says, “The launch of the XEED 4K500ST last year marked a significant step in our journey to becoming the leading company in the 5000-10,000 lumen 4K installation market. With today’s launch of the XEED 4K501ST, we are opening up further installation opportunities to cater for a wider range of applications to help us achieve this aim. By using advanced technologies such as HDMI 2.0, and HDCP 2.2, we are providing installers and integrators with a solution that not only delivers exceptional brightness and resolution, but also a variety of connectivity options to support end-users with their varied installation requirements.”

The XEED 4K501ST is also supported by Canon’s 3 Year Lamp Warranty, which effectively eliminates the cost of replacement lamps for a three year period from new. This substantially lowers the running cost of the XEED 4K501ST—added appeal for a wide range of installations.

The 4K501ST will be available from October 2016.

Go Canon XEED 4K501ST

Futuresource says the global video wall will sustain double digit growth out to 2020, with the market becoming more dynamic than ever.

The 6th edition of their global video wall report, monitoring the adoption of technologies in the tiled display market since 2003, shows in 2015 global video wall sales reached over $3.4bn.

This yearly Futuresource tracker reviews the penetration of the more established technologies such as rear projection cube (RPC) and super narrow bezel (SNB) then compares and contrasts this with the newer, emerging display technologies such as narrow pixel pitch (NPP) LED category which, is an incredibly disruptive force in the market with most major international vendors now adding the technology to their display ranges.

“Much of the growth in the global video wall market has been driven by SNB, with RPC remaining remarkably resilient in this increasingly challenging environment,” comments Chris Mcintyre-Brown, Associate Director Displays & Broadcast Equipment at Futuresource Consulting.

“NPP LED had a fantastic year, with total values reaching $678 million in 2015. This represents 3X both the volume and value reported in 2014. This growth is being driven by falling ASPs for all pixel pitches as well as the introduction of the 2020 and 2121 SMD LED package, encouraging many local Chinese vendors to go into production”.

Other co-existing technologies in this space such as RPC, closed the year positively, being 1% up on 2014 volumes were it saw a drop in sales, demonstrating the resilience and longevity of this product segment.

The report highlights that LCD narrow bezel video wall experienced another massive year in 2015 showing 21% year on year (YoY) growth. LCD video wall saw the introduction of extra narrow bezel (ENB) product in 2015. This development is expected to gain more market share in the control room space, where near-bezeless product is desired.

The report also compares and contrasts vertical adoption across geographies, applications and technologies. In China there were found to be a greater focus on the control room environment and corporate sectors with the international market being dominated by corporate, exhibition, broadcast and retail applications.

Each technology platform has clear advantages across key vertical markets. RPC is still very focused on control room applications. LCD video wall is still the go-to technology for public facing applications and NPP LED has had significant success with corporate/exhibition and broadcast verticals.

Go Futuresource AV Reports: Video Wall

It's clever. It's bold. It's the sort of thinking that reminds us we are in a creative industry serving customers that are looking to leverage our creativity to express theirs.

And most importantly for us: they will need pro AV distributors and integrators to bring this new product to market.

Screen Innovations is the king of home theatre screens, holding that crown with its Black Diamond material.

As good as that screen material is, it comes with limitations: because of the extreme engineering required to manufacture the optical qualities in the material, it is limited in height.

To overcome that limitation, Screen Innovations (SI) have hit upon a solution that also opens up a much bigger door into pro AV and digital signage.

Screen Innovations have created a system that uses smaller "Tiles" placed together in a precision running-bond pattern in order to create one larger screen.

To ensure the strongest possible tiling system (and highest precision), Screen Innovations use a new computer controlled cutting system capable of exact specifications in combination with a running-bond pattern.

These SI Tiles (photo left) by design come 75% pre-fabricated. Each panel then “snaps” into place with an attachment system that utilizes neodymium magnets. This installation process allows integrators to assemble a video wall of any size with ease, minimizing hassle on the job site.

A little bit about Black Diamond screen itself: It is made up of 8 layers of optics coating that reject ambient light in the room coming from vertical and horizontal angles-- and allow only the light coming from the direction of the projector to be reflected back to the viewer.

Screen Innovations says its ability to reject ambient light in both the vertical and horizontal planes makes Black Diamond unique in the screen world.

And now, the SI Tile system makes Black Diamond unique in the world commercial AV.

Go Screen Innovations Tile system

Futuresource forecasts global projector volumes sales will fall by around 20% from 2015 to 2020.

Market value is expected to move in the opposite direction-- and is set to experience double-digit growth over the same period.

This value will be driven by greater adoption of solid state solutions (which will retain their premium over lamp-based equivalents), replacement demand of digital cinema models and erosion of the bottom-end of the market.

Given their history of correctly predicting how the projector market will develop, Futuresource says the notion that value will grow as volumes decline-- (and we are quoting here)-- can "almost be considered a fact."

Despite the numerous and varied factors impacting the projector market, Futuresource shows it still continues to predict the development of volume sales with accuracy.

For example, in Q1 2014, Futuresource forecasted the global projector market in 2015 was set to hit 7.6 million units – the actual number was 7.67 million units-- a difference of just -0.9% Y2Y.

Regional level predictions were also precise—Americas’ results were just -0.3% out, APAC -2.4% and EMEA only 0.8%.

Claire Kerrison, Senior Market Analyst, Professional Displays at Futuresource Consulting says, "Despite the debate surrounding the impact of Euro 2016 in EMEA and macro-economic/political issues across several key markets, Futuresource's CYQ1 2016 forecasts were out by just 3.8% as the market hit 1.73 million units – a tad greater than the 1.67 million units predicted a year earlier. The forecast accuracy can be attributed to careful consideration, on a country level, of numerous market influencers."

In calculating its forecasts, Futuresource analyses: penetration rates, development of competing display technologies (of which Futuresource has several well-established trackers), mobile PC tenders, government spend, economic outlook and market seasonality-- as well as more macro factors such as advances in projection technology.

Go Futuresource Consulting

A world landmark with more than 10 million visitors a year, N Seoul Tower opens the 2016 season enhanced as a cutting-edge tech attraction for the digital age—with LG OLED digital signage.

So. Koreans made one of the most high tech societies on the planet, yet visitors to the N Seoul Tower have been seriously awed (and fascinated) by the video art displayed on the 248 LG OLED panels that make up the OLED Tunnel, OLED Panorama, OLED Wave and OLED Circle.

You should watch the video (link at the end of this article) but the combination of outcurved and incurved design of the OLED displays such as those in N Seoul Tower has created a unique, cutting-edge attraction.

On the first floor, an OLED Panorama and OLED Tunnel were installed. The 14.7 meter long OLED Panorama is installed on a curved surface.

On the second floor is the OLED Circle and on the 4th floor there is the 24-meters long OLED Wave.

Meanwhile, LG's first actual commercial OLED products are the Dual-View Curved Tiling OLED which offers slim tiles (two, three or four), each 65" in size and 4K in resolution and the Dual-View Flat OLED which uses a single double-sided 55" FHD panel and three different installation options.

Seoul's Incheon Airport hosts the world's largest OLED display-- a huge 13m x 8m tiled display made from 140 individual 55" OLED TV displays. Those 55" OLEDs offer a 4K resolution each - 290 million pixels in total.

Watch LG OLED Signage at N Seoul Tower