June 17, 2011

In balmy Orlando, the InfoComm audio-visual conference has now wrapped up. All of the top names in digital signage were on hand to show off exciting new technology. One of the big trends this year was the multi-panel video wall system. According to Christine Persaud, writing for the Market News:

“At InfoComm 2011 the second clear trend on the commercial end is video walls; whereby a series of flat panel TVs are daisy-chained to display a single image, or series of images that work together through a centrally controlled network. These can range from single 2 x 2 or 3 x 3 designs, to an infinite number of panels to take up a wall in a stadium, for example. We already see the trend toward video walls at shows like CES and CEDIA. But it’s the commercial sector that will really realize its growth potential.”

Planar is well ahead of the game when it comes to video wall technology. The Clarity Matrix video walls are powered by remote, rack-mounted video processing units and power supplies. Simply, the noise and heat of the video wall aren’t on the wall.

With the new Clarity Matrix 55 inch panels, the video walls are enormous and lovely. Each panel is full 1920-by-1080 high definition, so a relatively small 2-by-2 video wall has a stunning 7680-by-4320 pixels of resolution. The minuscule gap of 5.7 millimeters between panels means that there are only 9 pixels worth of space separating the images on each panel.

A great example of the Clarity Matrix at work in a design environment could be seen at the Berlin Happens Exhibition earlier in May at the Relative Space showroom in New York City. The Clarity Matrix LCD video wall displayed the creative work of award-winning German architect, Juergen Mayer H, recipient of the Audi Urban Future Award 2010, and Relative Space principal Tyler Greenberg.

The Clarity Matrix display isn’t only large and beautiful, but it’s also tough and functional. The Extended Ruggedness Optics (ERO) surface protects the screens from damage so they can be installed in high-traffic areas.

Touch screen interfacing (provided by SMART Technologies) transforms a passive video wall into an interactive presentation center, direction kiosk or command center, with multi-touch capabilities.

May 27, 2011

Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan of Architizer.com recently wrote an excellent recap of the Berlin Happens Event at the Relative Space Showroom in New York City, which featured local architects and designers who curated a variety of objects from their cities.

Featured in the post is Planar's Clarity Matrix LCD Video Wall, which displayed the creative work of award-winning German architect, Juergen Mayer H, recipient of the Audi Urban Future Award 2010, and Relative Space principal Tyler Greenberg.

The show will stay in New York until June 3, and then it will travel to Toronto on June 17.

Read Campbell-Dollaghan's full blog post on Architizer.com.