Well, Day 2 at Infocomm 2012 has streamed past us like a geek rolling through the trade show floor on a segway. Yeah I saw one rolling strong today, not sure if that makes him really amazing or really 2006 but after my 4 mile walk last night for dinner... maybe not such a bad idea. But back to the reason we’re all hanging out in Vegas, in this crazy heat: to get up close and personal with some really cool technology. And just like Day 1 at Infocomm 2012, Vegas didn’t disappoint on Day 2.
So as per my standard trade show routine, I hit the ever popular Starbucks to ensure a good sugar rush as I head over to the LVCC. I hop on the shuttle bus and get to the floor in time to check in with the boys from AVNation.tv and kill a few minutes waiting for the floor to open. Now knowing it was going to be a busy day, I got moving as the floor open and got my fast walk on.
The first booth I hit that messed with my head was the Casio booth where I got a quick overview of the booth and their new and updated Laser and LED projectors. I must say, I’m always amazed at the output of these little projectors. I mean, they’re so tiny! I got a chance to look at their digital signage applications in conjunction with the latest 3M glass films. They had a female projected on to this glass film that was controlled and played back different information after touching a projected button beside her image. They also showed me their version of a projected ebook concept that allowed you to flip through catalogue type material via a touch based input. Very cool, you’ve got to see it. (On a side note to the CASIO peeps who may be reading this: Name your USB press kit drive)
Yesterday I made it into Middle Atlantic and didn’t get around to highlighting on of the most practical things I’ve seen all week. MiddleA and Legrand, addressed something that we see all the time that drives me mad. You know that boardroom where you have wiring coming up through the floor and terminating inside a table top box. We hate it when the wires hang down from the middle of the table, not dressed well at all. Well, MiddleA has a great solution. They’ve fabricated a Under Table Cable Management system that is just like a over the floor raceway. It’s a thing of beauty, I gotta say. Now I know you’re probably thinking I’m crazy, but remember one of the things you have to keep in mind is that although it’s not the most technically advanced product - Sometimes its about a product that allows you to do your job better. Well this is one of those products. It will make your life better, trust me!
I made it over to Christie to take a look at their 4K curved projection display showcasing a Chevy Cruize car digital footage. It looked amazing. Really, what more do you need... crazy high resolution and cars. Seriously! Now before I left the Christie booth, i ran upstairs and watched one of their reps demo the power of their ‘Auto Stack’ edge blending control. For you see, the demo of this system was on a very wide, curved screen and when activated the projectors allowed for proper edge blending and caused the the projectors to warp to the curve of the screen and the slight bubble that is produced with a curved screen. After watching these projectors in active mode, pretty impressive!
One booth that I loved seeing at this show was the guys from Black Magic Design. One of my favorite professional video companies, the Black Magic guys always have some super cool stuff. I loved checking out the HyperDeck Studio Pro that is the perfect replacement for all those aging recording decks in so many of our clients systems. This unit can record up to 2K in full uncompressed resolutions straight to SSD. It’s pretty cool! Now how good is an amazing recording deck with out some great monitoring? That’s where the SmartViewDuo comes in. It’s a dual rack mountable SDI 8” monitor system, not only is it a great monitor system at a great price, it’s got some killer looks. This is the perfect system to throw into a flyaway rack or a portable monitor rack.
There were so many other items out there on the show floor that I could have mentioned, but then I’d be writing even later into the night and I’ve got to keep a few things for me to see tomorrow.
May your future be bright and your lights dim!
