InfoComm Impressions – Day One

June 10, 2010 by Dave Haynes

The big AV gadget show is on here in Las Vegas, with a few days of seminars for that crowd followed by a three day exhibit hall. This show gets something like 30,000 and it is a must for people who deploy screens.

I don’t have a bunch of solid impressions just yet because my first day was spent far more in meetings than wandering around.

I also don’t have much time to pound on this laptop keyboard, so quickly:

Big crowd, and even the people who aren’t showing seem to wear their company logo shirts for some reason.

I am not totally sure what many of these companies do, but some have MASSIVE booths.

There are yet more companies offering digital signage software solutions. AMX, for example, has one. Who knew?

I saw the new laser phosphor displays from Prysm. They’re nice, and will compete for deals with Christie and its MicroTiles. I do some writing work with Christie so I may be biased, but thought the Prysm tiles visually quality lacked much of the “pop” that I see with the MicroTiles. Their booth and configurations definitely borrowed liberally from the Christie playbook.

With Christie, one of the biggest booths at the show, I hung around (there was beer) for a press conference that let out the news that 800 of the tiles will go into the new presidential library, presumably in Texas, for George W. Bush. That is likely an order in the area of $2 million, and a big win. They have already done a huge wall in the new NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte.

I finally had an X20 demo, and was impressed. Very deep and a bunch of things about it make it seem well-suited to employee communications programs.

There are 3D theatres and displays everywhere. I still think the whole glasses thing is a non-starter for broad adoption, and it looks SO weird seeing a bunch of people sitting down and putting on some Buddy Holly glasses to stare at a screen.

I confirmed the little Gefen digital signage box looks like the Spinetix box because they get it, software and all, from Spinetix. I also confirmed it does indeed play out HD video. It’s nice, but pricey, at least in low numbers.

My little mixer went off just fine. Not a pile of people but a good catch to catch up with people, and cheer the Black Hawks.

Just two meetings today so will have more time to poke around. Then … YAY! … a red-eye ride home. 10 days in Las Vegas is not recommended.