By the time the show floor for InfoComm ’09 opened at 9 a.m. on June 17, dozens of seminars and workshops had already taken place and over eight hundred exhibitors had spent countless hours setting up in the Orlando Convention Center, including roughly 50 lighting companies. The show, which started as an audiovisual show (why does the term “audiovisual” conjure images of overhead projectors and 16mm film in grade school?), has been growing the lighting side as evidenced by the increasing number of lighting exhibitors and lighting-related seminars. The official count was over 28,000 attendees, although a cab driver said he thought it was closer to 17,000 to 18,000. We wouldn’t second guess the official report, but we did note that the cab driver also estimated the fare to the airport within $0.25.
Since InfoComm started as an audiovisual show, there were far more audio and video exhibitors than lighting and staging. Several new projection technologies and advances were evident on the show floor. Several “lampless” projectors, which is market-speak for a projector with an LED source, were being shown. The DLP projectors use three LEDs, one red, one blue, and one green (sound familiar?) in place of a discharge lamp, but the rest of the DLP engine is the same, with the except for the spinning dichroic wheel. They looked surprisingly bright, but only because of the increased contrast ratio and the carefully controlled environment in which they were shown. In reality, they are less than 1000 ANSI lumens so far, though at the rate that LEDs are developing, it won’t take long for them to double that mark. But the colors in these LED projectors are vibrant, just like the difference between conventional incandescent Christmas lights and LED Christmas lights.
Another major area of development is in 3D projection. Every video manufacturer, it seemed, was showing their own version of the technology, and most of them had very convincing third dimensions. When live productions adapt this technology in large-scale format, it will be interesting to see whether it turns into a fad or a long-lived production technique. There’s no question it’s a viable technology and there are already reports of high profile productions that will use 3D projection before the end of the year.
Aside from LED and 3D projection, projection is making major advances in brightness, size, cost, and several other areas of improvement like contrast ratio, elimination of artifacts, processing, and more. Much of the research in 3D projection has yielded several advances in conventional projection, according to some manufacturers. From the displays on the show floor, it was evident that this year’s models are much improved over last year’s.
That advances in projection technology will spill over into the lighting realm is a given. But just how those advances will influence lighting is up for debate. Walking the floor of InfoComm can give lots of hints and clues, but ultimately you, the PLSN readership, will decide which of these products and technologies will survive and which will be kicked to the curb.
We’re fortunate to live in a time when technology is advancing so rapidly that we can check in with the industry every few months and be totally surprised and impressed with some of the new technologies and products. Not even a recession can slow down the rapid pace of development when you live in these exponential times.
For full coverage of InfoComm09, please visit www.prolightingspace.com.
