Integrate 2025 some thoughts

Already one week since Integrate 2025 opened its gates. Every year again and of course I had to see how the show looked.
Being visually oriented, my gaze first went to anything visually attractive, projection or digital display.
Of course, as to expect, the show was dominated by two main technologies. Anything related to control, switching and transmitting and LED.
In between some LCD plus the odd projection display.

Of course, projection is always a big investment at any show. Big and impressive screens require substantial floor space and eye watering projection further requires proper blackout, which adds to the required budget. On the other hand, projectors as such are nothing spectacular to look at. A box with a lens at the front and some cables input at the back or side.
Plus, projection is old fashioned and out of interest.
One could think, but reality is different as we all know and a great, good designed projection and well told story can always wow an audience.
In this respect I liked the Fujifilm by Igloovision curved screen display using the New ZUH6000 projector and the Epson 3D display.

In fact the Epson display required a bit of a second look. At a quick glance it looked like a vastly overlit, burned out projection. It required a second look to see the subtle 3D effect and the nice dynamic of the image. Considering that this was in normal ambient illumination the result was impressive.

I have written already about the new 4K ZUH6000 projector from Fujifilm, so I was curious what they would do to show its abilities. Fujifilm has internationally co-operated with Igloovision, the specialist for immersive projection. For Integrate they set-up a curved screen together with floor projection. The display was impressive, even if for my taste a bit low on contrast and colour depth. But again, having streaming ambient light, that is difficult.
Plus, as I discussed with James Sheridan from Igloovision Australia, the use of a darker screen surface may have improved this and maybe reduced any cross reflection. But again, in the environment of an exhibition, this could have tuned the screen to dark.

Not to argue about was the image quality of the 4K projector. While optically similar to the WUXGA versions, the natural cropping of UST projection into a curved environment, guaranteed that the pixel number remained high enough.
Of course the 4K would really make an impact if projected on to a much larger, say 6 x 3.75m screen or in an ever larger, blended set-up vs the WUXGA projectors..

But what about LCD and LED?

In the LED scenery what stood out for me were the SparQ video display at the Westan booth. Neat, tidy and clear. A great digital signage product.

But walking across the show floor, there were so many LED offerings that it was a bit difficult to keep track, in particular if it is not part of your main product offering. There are of course many more LED specialists who can comment on the technologies on display. For me I looked mainly if there was something so outstanding to keep me making a second turn. For example a transparent LED’s or the Viewsonic direct-view unit.

In fact I spend a bit of time at the Viewsonic display, not only to see the demonstration of how the top panels could be removed and replaced without shutting the wall down, but because I liked the picture quality. One of my complaint about many direct view panels is the reproduction of picture and video material. Don’t get me wrong. They all look great when it comes to graphics, tables, powerpoint. But the playback of subtle colours and shading is often suboptimal. But this Viewsonic display seemed to have everything. At least for my taste.

I have no idea about the price and certainly no budget to put it in my home, plus my wife would get a fit with the size, but considering the performance on the exhibition floor, this LED product could look good in pre-view studios, museums, galleries and anywhere where photo quality is required. At least that is my take.

In summary, Integrate is certainly worth visiting and the show offers a wide variety of exhibitors. But the absence or low key presence of some larger and industry leading manufacturer was a bit disappointing. At least for me. Maybe for future shows some real application focussed, multi-brand displays could be developed, not only showing how different products work together, but also giving smaller distributors an affordable floor to demonstrate their products.