The Industry Through the DSE Looking Glass

All the big CMS companies, including Capital Networks Group, Scala, Real Digital Media, and Omnivex, among others, had large exhibits to treat attendees to their latest and greatest, and giants Intel and Google made their presence felt by adding even more credibility to the evolving professional nature of the digital signage industry and markets. Capping off all the monster-sized exhibits were the smalt-but-powerful booths and hidden treasures (read: solutions) were more the rule than the exception, but required a little more exploring on the part of the determined attendees. There were some real gems to be seen in the "outback"! So in this sense of being amazing, attractive, and enthusiastic, the DSE 2105 was a "wow." Some will suggest that the show did not reveal any blockbuster level technical breakthroughs, but I disagree. If last year was the year of 4K displays, this year was the year of LED. No, not LED backlighting for LCD, but direct view LED. In speaking to Steve Hargis of Bass Pro Shop, and I must add a member of the DSF Board of Directors, he noted the "LEDs were in your face everywhere with a trend towards even smaller dot pitch. Samsung's very impressive 1.1 mm was fantastic and I thought at first it might be a 4K flat panel. It's also a nearly seamless tile in 16:9 aspect vs. some competitor's 4:3 aspect. It will naturally make a more suitable display aspect if 16:9 is desired, but may also be built to random sizes and offsets. Remarkably clear at 10 feet or more away, and I see a trend in some video walls with monitors going away at this dot pitch continues to improve and impress. Bezel? What bezel?" One nearly hidden gem was Planar showing off transparent OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) displays in a few sizes, combined into an impressive collage. The image was easy to overlook - "hidden" away at the back of their booth - but if you stopped to examine it, it showed the promise started by the transparent LCDs (that were still a strong presence). Sharp also showed off a very impressive steeply curved LCD display as a technology demo - not the gentle curve of some consumer TVs today, but a very deep curve (something like 60 degrees!) that could be suitable for wrapping a column with a video watl or creating unique shapes. "I think the fact that DSF had a record number of new member sign-ups at the booth (on the DSF's 5-year 'anniversary') is a telling sign of the industry coming together and really stood out to me. It indicates that our m