The Las Vegas Convention Center buzzed with innovation activity last week at a level not seen since 2018 as the North and West Halls filled with digital signage and audiovisual exhibits, education sessions and networking at InfoComm.
Summer might not be the ideal time to visit Las Vegas weatherwise, but if audiovisual and digital signage innovation are what you’re after, the time and place were once again right on the money.
The Las Vegas Convention Center buzzed with innovation activity last week at a level not seen since 2018 as InfoComm filled up the North and West Halls with exhibits, education sessions and networking.
Attendees got the message upon arriving at the entrance lobby, greeted by autonomous robots from LG Business Solutions USA offering print show dailies and digital maps of the exhibit floor.
The show, produced by the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association, welcomed 19,681 verified attendees from more than 110 countries and all 50 U.S states, and 522 exhibitors across 294,500 square feet of the trade show floor, according to the association.
In addition to the main show floors, a digital signage pavilion featured touchscreens, interactive displays, content creation software and direct-view LED displays.
Exhibits also addressed conferencing and collaboration solutions that power remote and hybrid work styles and learning environments.
Following are trade show highlights in alphabetical order.
BrightSign
BrightSign, a digital signage media player manufacturer, introduced its XC5 media players for digital signage, the first new players unveiled by the company in nearly two years.
The BrightSign XC5 lineup consists of two models, the XC2055 and XC4055. Both models support 8K output — one model offering dual HDMI-out and the other offering quad HDMI-out.
Users can drive two or four displays at once from a single BrightSign XC5 player using its multiple 4K HDMI outputs to effortlessly create video walls in a wide range of layouts.
The XC5 models represent an expansion of BrightSign’s media player portfolio, as the LS, HD, XD and XT models will continue to be sold.
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| Company representative John Snedigar presents the XC5 media player at the BrightSign exhibit. |
Exertis Almo
Exertis Almo marked its rebranding at the show and featured fully integrated marketing, sales and service teams.
The company presented workflow solutions, lecture capture appliances, controllers and digital signage display management and software for AV conferencing, 4K displays, media players, document cameras and more.
Manufacturing partners represented in the booth included Absen, Atlona, Avocor, Barco, Gefen, Jabra, Joan, LG, Lumens, NewTek, NowSignage, Nureva, Samsung, SNS (Studio Network Solutions), Sony, SpinetiX and Yamaha.
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| Todd Heberlein presents digital signage management software at the Exertis Almo exhibit. |
LG Business Solutions USA
LG Business Solutions USA presented its first multi-purpose customer service robot, the LG CLOi GuideBot, designed to provide wayfinding, enhanced security, advertising opportunities and data on interaction times and usage.
The robot’s digital face, voice activation and two large touchscreens improve the customer experience from museums and convention centers to movie theaters and hotels.
The GuideBot is able to answer voice questions, accompany guests to their destination and track how many times a motion-activated advertisement is displayed in a day.
The multi-lingual robot stands just under five feet and has a 9.2-inch LG LCD “face” display, a microphone, 3D camera and 18 sensors including light detection and ranging, time of flight, magnetic bumpers and an inertial measurement unit to navigate spaces and react to approaching users with visual and auditory effects.
The company also showed its LG CLOi ServeBot, an autonomous indoor delivery robot that carries and delivers food, goods and supplies.
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| Michael Lawrence presents the GuideBot at the LG Business Solutions USA exhibit. |
Matrox Video
Matrox Video presented its AV-over-IP portfolio including a series of routing, monitoring, streaming, recording, extension, switching and video wall demonstrations.
The company introduced its ConvertIP standards-based, IPMX-ready encoder/decoder engineered to provide system integrators and AV professionals flexibility to support compressed and uncompressed 4K IP signal transport across a variety of Pro AV/IT applications.
With multiple input/output connectivity options, ConvertIP facilitates the integration of new technologies into existing AV infrastructures, all while delivering lossless 4K-over-IP with imperceptible latency.
In addition, the ConductIP NMOS-based signal routing platform simplifies media distribution in networks of any size by enabling users to discover, monitor and route any AMWA NMOS-enabled ST 2110 or IPMX-ready signal.
The company also displayed its 4K streaming and recording, control room collaboration over IP and digital signage video walls.
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| Ron Berty presents the ConvertIP and ConductIP at the Matrox Video exhibit. |
Navori Labs
Navori Labs presented its marketing analytics Aquaji solution, a camera based insight software for retailers and public spaces which uses artificial intelligence and computer vision cameras to detect how people interact with the digital space.
Paired with a digital signage platform, Aquaji reports audience statistics per content impression.
The software generates performance indicators on a site’s foot traffic, its physical appeal and the time spent waiting for service. It also tracks visitor attention span of a physical object or advertising content shown on screen.
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| Jordan Feil presents the Aquaji solution at the Navori Labs exhibit. |
Panasonic Connect North America
Panasonic Connect North America presented its new turnkey, immersive solutions to streamline productions and expand the possibilities of entertainment. The expanded ecosystem of audiovisual solutions include interactive projection mapping and workflow advantages to enable venues to develop visuals for engaging activities in entertainment applications.
The solutions create experiences that bring attendees into the storyline to become a part of the event instead of simply watching a show or looking at art.
The company’s new PT-RQ25KU Series offers a 20,000lm 3-Chip DLP 4K laser projector designed for venues hosting live events, concerts, festivals, theme park and location-based entertainment attractions.
The company also presented its outdoor digital menu boards and media players.
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| Jason Shelton presents Panasonic Connect North America’s audiovisual solutions. |
Peerless-AV
Peerless-AV presented its Seamless dvLED video wall mounts, outdoor TVs/displays, interactive display carts and outdoor menu boards.
The Seamless dvLED video wall mounting systems are available in both Bespoke and Kitted options designed to solve design and integration challenges.
Seamless Kitted solutions offer Z-adjustment to help overcome installation irregularities while Seamless Bespoke solutions are precision manufactured for tight tolerances.
The company also introduced the latest edition to the Neptune lineup, the Neptune Partial Sun Outdoor Smart TVs. Available in 55, 65 and 75 inches, the Neptune Partial Sun Series offers a maintenance-free design and can withstand harsh weather conditions while offering color and video quality from any viewing angle.
The company also introduced the 75-inch Xtreme High Bright outdoor display with new generation 65-inch and 55-inch display models that will launch later this year. The models are fan-cooled and include a patented thermal exhaust system that keeps internal components cooled in extreme heat and a gyroscopic sensor that detects any movement of the display and sends an alert to warn of potential tampering or theft.
The company also presented all-weather-rated outdoor digital menu boards that support 55-inch outdoor digital signage displays from Peerless-AV and LG.
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| Chad Gebhardt presents the Seamless dvLED video wall mounting systems at the Peerless-AV exhibit. |
Planar
Planar introduced its UC Complete family of wide-view LED video wall displays designed for video conferencing, unified communications and hybrid meeting rooms. The video wall displays enable life-sized, high-resolution video conferencing windows and document sharing when used in conjunction with meeting room solutions such as front row for Microsoft Teams Rooms.
Featuring 21:9 and 32:9 aspect ratio configurations and pixel pitches from 0.9 to 1.5 millimeters, Planar UC Complete displays provide a large seamless surface, close viewing distances and help facilitate authentic and engaging video conference experiences between remote participants and their in-room colleagues.
The displays reduce the time, complexity and cost of designing and installing LED video walls. Each Planar UC Complete model is equipped with LED display cabinets, mounts, trim, cables, spare modules, IR remote and the Planar WallDirector video controller. Customers simply select the video wall size and resolution and pair it with their preferred room communications system.
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| Jeremy Sternhagen presents the UC Complete solution at the Planar exhibit. |
Samsung Electronics America Inc.
Samsung Electronics America Inc. presented its display division offerings, including self-order kiosks, digital signage, LED screens, videowalls, hospitality TVs and monitors.
The self-ordering restaurant kiosk is available as a countertop, free standing or wall mounted and eliminates the need for an external PC while reducing power consumption compared to external PCs.
The self-ordering kiosk accepts credit card, QR code, barcode and near field communication payments. The kiosk fully integrates with the Clover payment processing system.
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| John Dittig presents the self-ordering kiosk at the Samsung America Electronics exhibit. |
Sharp NEC Display Solutions
Sharp NEC Display Solutions, in partnership with Guise AI Inc., introduced its NaViSense computer vision technology, a cost-effective computer vision solution for gathering anonymous customer attributes using off-the-shelf or existing camera sources and processing them through a variety of edge computing devices such as RPi4.
This technology gathers the dwell time of people in front of the display, as well as a variety of other attributes, like their estimated age and gender, the brand of clothing they are wearing, traffic trends and more.
NaViSense technology will bring a depth of features to currently available displays and introduce of variety of groundbreaking innovations to the market. Potential use cases include airports, restaurants, office buildings, banks and credit union branches and various retail settings.
All of the information collected by NaViSense can be used to improve customer service and the customer experience. For example, in a retail setting, a deeper understanding of customer attributes, i.e., clothing color, clothing type and brand logos, could inform product mix and digital content.
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| Jody Baines presents the NaViSense computer vision technology at the Sharp NEC Display Solutions exhibit. |
Skykit
Skykit presented its Dashboard Connections as a Skykit Beam feature that allows businesses to securely connect their cloud-based data and analytics tools to digital signage which can increase the number of employees who can view and act on real-time performance indicators and reduce the amount of time required to connect the data to screens throughout multiple locations.
Dashboard Connections enables the storing of encrypted credentials for data visualization and analytics tools, eliminating the time previously required to manually log each screen into the various tools.
The solution reduces restrictions in how businesses share real-time information and dashboards across their employee base and can rotate real-time data visualizations with other key corporate messaging to keep employees informed and engaged.
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| An InfoComm attendee uses the booking solution at the Skykit exhibit. |
Sony Electronics
Sony Electronics, a manufacturer of AV products and solutions, highlighted its most strategic partners in its Alliance Partners, including Navori Labs, Skykit Appspace and Korbyt.
The Alliance program prioritizes the company’s focus on optimizing and integrating hardware and software products for channel partners, integrators, resellers and consultants serving corporate, government, retail, education, healthcare, entertainment, transportation and faith markets.
Sony also presented its BZ35J and BZ30J series of its 4K HDR Bravia professional displays available from 43 to 75 inches for corporate and education environments. The Bravia displays incorporate Pro Mode, enabling users to customize settings, while the One Step Setting allows for optimization at the touch of a button.
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| Jay Leedy presents the Bravia displays at the Sony Electronics exhibit. |
SpinetiX
SpinetiX presented ARYA, a cloud-based platform that enables a location to create and display digital content in minutes on any screen.
With only a network connection and a compatible player, SpinetiX ARYA enables a location to deliver custom digital signage content for any display and from anywhere using the cloud. ARYA can set visual messages on a display in minutes with photos, videos, logos and color codes.
Paired with the SpinetiX DSOS purpose-built operating system, ARYA makes digital signage easier to use and more secure.
The solution can be maintained on a wide range of compatible Intel-based devices from SpinetiX HMP players to the Intel NUC and Intel SDM product lines.
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| Nikola Knezovic presents the ARYA platform at the SpinetiX exhibit. |
Visix
Visix presented its new data analytics features, enabling clients using both cloud and on-premise content management systems to track and report for message playback, message approval, playlist activity, content submission and user activity.
Users can set the number of days to retain data, run reports by date range, choose and rearrange columns within reports, and sort, filter, group and funnel report data with conditional logic.
The company’s version 1.55 of its AxisTV signage suite software gives administrators tracking and reporting for digital signage messages, playlists and users. The release also provides an updated web browser widget to enhance compatibility with modern web pages.
On the hardware side, Visix added two models to its digital signage media player portfolio, the HDx and the Element. Both units are fanless, support wired and wireless networking and have HDMI output.
The HDx is under 5-square inches and weighs 1.5 pounds, while the Element is a mid-tier player with 1080p content playback in a small chassis with an external power supply.
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| Chip Kepner presents digital signage software solutions at the Visix exhibit. |
(2022, June 13). Elliot Maras. Retrieved from https://www.digitalsignagetoday.com/articles/digital-signage-innovation-beats-the-vegas-heat/
