Day One at DSE

February 28, 2008 by Dave Haynes

Well, as expected, I never got more than about two feet beyond my master’s booth all day, so about all I can tell you about Day One is that was a blur and my favorite new client is the guy who took one look at me at 4:05 and said, “Hey, let me buy you a beer.”

Which is how I discovered the Las Vegas Convention Center has a beer wagon right on the hall floor. God bless America.

Needless to say I did not wander around and see much. Maybe this morning before the floodgates open and I get drowned again.

What people were telling me: they didn’t see much that was new or wound them up.

The one thing that I had time to see, and was impressed by, was a very big 70 inch LCD that has been custom-developed with the outdoor industry in mind. It could get cranked as bright as 4,000 nits (I think) – which means it could double as a tanning booth and, pointed up, be seen from Pluto.

panel.jpg

I have seen big-ass high-brights before (SunCutter has one outside the trade hall), but what was different here is the backlights are not tubes but LEDs — roughly 10,000 of them. So the panel doesn’t actually run all that hot, is more energy-efficient, and the LEDS will last much longer than conventional backlights.

The screens are made by excitingly-named Manufacturing Resources International (sometimes you can tell when engineers, not marketers, run companies) of Alpharetta, GA and this marks their first real move into the space. Company president Bill Dunn said all of their background is making ruggedized display panels for military clients.

Given these monster panels are meant for things like transit shelters, the things have to take a ton of abuse. Among other things, they’ve taken shots at the things with rifles to see if the glass held up.

The other thing I picked up on was the number of new companies drifting around, handing out cards, saying they were expressly in the content production game.

Finally, there are multiple people here from major media and technology companies, as well as investment groups. I did not, however, bump into a single retailer – though I’m sure they’re here.

My masters had a party last night at the Palms. All I will note is a LOT of people (we had to get a second lounge/room), vinyl couches, stripper poles in the massive shower rooms, and a lot of people getting their Vegas on.

  1. Thanks for the update on the show. Will see you shortly. Sorry I missed the party last night!

  2. aideycot says:

    Turning up the brightness – nits / candelas is NOT the way to solve the issue of poor visibility with LCDs in ambient daylight. As you point out the screens run hot. You put that screen outside in daylight as well it will get even hotter.

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