On 14 and 15 May, more than 1,500 visitors crossed the threshold of the Velodrome in the Olympic Park in Stratford, East London for the sixth NEC Solutions Showcase. This was the highest attendance for the event, which for the first time this year was spread over two days.
As in previous years, the exhibition was divided into themed application areas, where NEC Display Solutions partners presented their offerings, frequently working together to show combined solutions.
Simon Jackson, vice president of NEC Display Solutions, declared himself “delighted” at the end of the longer-format event. He told Installation: “Our partners are happy because they’ve had more time, and a better breadth of customers.”
Watch our video interview with Simon Jackson below (or if the video is not displaying, click here for mobile-friendly version):
One of the most eye-catching exhibits was a 180-degree curved videowall, created by PSCo. This consisted of a 12 x 3 array of NEC’s X554UNS 55in LED-backlit ultra-narrow bezel displays and PSCo portable bracketry from Unicol. This 7860×1080 wall was driven as four HD blocks from a PSCo Video Wall Processor using Matrox Mura graphics cards. Four of the processor’s eight inputs came from a Green Hippo Par4keet media player, with overlays from four additional sources including Kin Design 3D imagery technology.
Among the product launches at the event was DisplayLite’s 55in Zero Bezel projective capacitive technology touchtable. With 40 touch points, the standard product is available as a bar or coffee height table, with a coloured border around the face of the screen glass. The table is fully compliant with Windows 8 and instantly responds to two-digit scrolling, flicks, pinch zoom and other complex gestures, as well as edge swipes that require a high level of edge detection. With no bezel to worry about, designers do not have to worry about positioning icons too close to the edges of the frame.
Beatpixels launched UpState – a proof-of-operation monitoring service for flat panel or projection displays.Using a combination of a sensor and a microprocessor, the UpState unit can monitor and analyse what is on the display, rather than the traditional method of monitoring the output of a media player. When a marker is applied to the content, the system produces accurate proof-of-playout reports based on what has been shown on the display. PC hosted, direct LAN-connected or 3G cellular sensors are all available, making UpState suitable for the majority of locations for OOH and DOOH displays. As well as digital screens, Upstate can monitor the performance of the illumination in backlit poster sites.
Digital signage software developer Netpractise launched its new Digital Pro Media Android client, running on the NEC OPS media player. Ed Heal, sales director at Netpractise, commented: “We have been waiting for the point at which the Android player hardware development had matured and could offer an ‘always on’ commercial quality media player that would match the reliability of Netpractise software solutions. The NEC OPS Player is what we were waiting for. This development has the potential to provide large-scale signage networks at an attractive price point, whilst maintaining the mission-critical performance levels required for the transportation market.”
Also launching an Android client for the NEC OPS was digital signage and AV solutions provider Digital Media Systems (DMS), with its squareVIEW DSA.”One of the visitors to the Showcase is talking with us about deploying more than 500 NEC V and X series screens with the NEC OPS and our proximity trigger solution throughout the UK and Europe,” said Avtar Singh from DMS.
www.beatpixels.net
www.digitalmediasystems.co.uk
www.displaylite.co.uk
www.green-hippo.com
www.nec-display-solutions.com
www.netpractise.com
www.psco.co.uk
www.unicol.com
