Season's Greetings

Grant's Perspective's Season's Greetings.

I'm looking forward to spending the next few days with my family eating turkey.

A big thank you to everyone that has been reading this blog. Also a big hug to all.the good people at Inland AV.

I look forward to continue tracking the AV industry in 2011.

Grant

Sharp PNV601 Video Wall Applications

Grant's Perspective on ... applications for the Sharp PNV601 video wall.

I wanted to expand on last week's post that talked about the Sharp demonstration of the PNV601 video wall monitor. This 60" monitor has the world's thinnest bezel and has a really bright yet even image.

What video wall applications are there?

1 - Utility Control Centers require very large screen viewing areas so that they can visually monitor their pipeline or transmission lines over a very large geographical area. Perhaps a 2 monitor high x 5 monitor wide display would provide the aspect ratio required to display the very important information.  Or a 3 high x 5 wide and with the addition of a video processor would accommodate many video sources and provide a mix of various video windows placed where and when required.

2 - Shopping Malls can use a video wall to inform shoppers about mall events, entertain them with a feed of important cultural events (think back to the Vancouver gold medal hockey game) and it is a revenue generating opportunity as stores can advertise. A 5 x 5 (25 monitors) wall would work well in this application to provide one giant live video screen for live events like fashions shows, multiple images for advertising, and a combination of the two where part of the screen is live video and surrounding smaller images for advertising.

3 - Corporate Reception Foyers could configure a 1 x 2 video wall as a part of their digital signage solution.

4 - Trade Displays that incorporate a video wall as a part of their booth would really attract attention! A simple 2 x 2 while fitting within the booth is not only flashy to get attention but also practical to present idea’s or display media materials.


5 – Clubs – someone somewhere will utilize a video wall for the dance floor to blow away that Saturday Night Fever system.  Probably already done somewhere…..


Below is a video shot at a trade show showing the video wall and the video floor. At the 1:21 mark a person walks onto the monitors.



If you can think of other applications (theme parks, smaller arenas), feel free to add a message to this post!

Grant

Sharp PNV601 Video Wall Demo

Grant's Perspective on ... the new Sharp PNV601 monitors in a video wall application

This week I had a SHARP experience. ( www.thesharpexperience.com ) LOL.   I was invited to the Introduction of Sharp’s PNV601 Ultra Slim Bezel LCD Monitor event at Sharp Electronics of Canada Ltd. in Mississauga.

Most of the event revolved around creating video walls and was very interesting to a guy like me who has tolerated the older technologies used in video walls.  I’m glad the days of CRT monitors, 3-gun projection cubes, and fluorescent backlit LCD monitors are done.

Sharp is a world leader in LCD (Liquid Crystal Display).  Their LCD panels are used in many products everywhere including the displays in new automobiles.  The reason I mention this is Sharp has been the first to do many things; LED backlighting in LCD monitors.  Sharp arranged LED elements in an array directly behind the LCD to create uniform brightness across the entire panel. In addition, the lens over each LED has been developed to improve light output and increase the dispersion of the light to also improve the brightness uniformity.  Here’s a illustration of a monitor that had the LCD panel cutaway to expose the LED array.

This is very important in video wall applications as the screen brightness of each individual monitor needs to be uniform from edge to edge as the monitors are all butted up against each other.  Otherwise non-uniform brightness will show even more and make the wall look cheap.

For example if you’ve ever seen an LCD type video wall where the brightness isn’t consistent, it’s probably because those monitors use CCFL (Cold cathode fluorescent lamps) – fluorescent tubes basically – they’re notorious for not being able to illuminate from edge to edge.

The Sharp PNV601 monitors used in the wall I saw have the World’s Slimmest Bezel Width of 6.5 mm.  When the monitors are butted up against each other the gap between them is minimal, creating almost seamless display for a more desirable and impressive wall.

Add in the ability of Sharp products to create a fantastic picture. The images are clear and sharp and the scaling of the video is just great.  In fact I’ve designed systems where I utilize the electronics processing inside the Sharp instead of using a 3^rd party controller.

And talk about bright!  Holy crap – everyone was making jokes about needing sunglasses

There are more factors that contribute but these are the main ones.  For any facility that wants to do it up right, this is the way to go.

Grant