Orion Plasma (Seoul, Korea; www.orion.com) was at InfoComm this year in the booth of its exclusive US distributor, Salitek (Northbrook, IL; www.salitek.com). The company introduced its upgrade to the 42-inch Plasma Video Wall, dubbed the "Infinitely Expandable Multi-PDP." Among other things, the solution can be configured in a cube and includes the new "Dead Zone Free" technology from Orion.

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor

This is actually a very thin bezel solution using technology the company calls "a nearly invisible seam between the panels" that is less than 3 mm. The company said the dead-zone-free technology allows the panel edges to emit light. For more details, click here.

The solution also includes multiple screen control software that allows for RS-232C control and media playback from a standard PC with Windows operating system.

Salitek will target NOCs (network operating centers), public display and other "themed environments." Orion introduced the video wall technology in 2006 and had three updates since, including the 4230, the 4220 and 4210 displays. At InfoComm, the Orion 4230 was shown using the Comotronix (Karlsrue, Germany; www.comotronix.com) burn-in compensation technology (BIC, for short). BIC was launched in an Orion panel at InfoComm 2007.

Comotronix said its BIC technology generates a dynamically changing compensation picture to compensate any "occurring inhomogene" deterioration, rendering burn-in effects "almost invisible," according to company literature.

BIC uses an optimized real-time algorithm for processing complete sub-pixel history information. The approach includes capturing the video stream, logging the brightness value for each color pixel, processing the values, generating a correction picture, all in real time, then processing the dynamic correction picture into video stream, balancing brightness and blue (color) emission. Beyond PDP, Comotronix also sees applications in OLED, SED and FED technologies, plus a possible application in TFT-based LCDs.

Orion’s M-PDP cube solution offers flexible design and claims thickness and ambient light brightness advantages over conventional projection cube designs, with both horizontal and vertical build formats available.

We see several potential effects of this dead-zone free and BIC technology now available in the Orion panels. First, it may help breathe new life into PDP displays in the pro AV market, a sales channel they once dominated, but are now clearly ceding to LCDs. Orion’s advanced tiling and burn-in compensation technology will go a long way toward making plasma a viable alternative to LCD panels, particularly in sports bars and other venues where fast motion response is desired.

It also offers one more example of how flat screens are developing to serve the growing needs of the pro AV market, particularly as digital signage continues to mature into a major growth engine for displays. Long term, advanced tiling like Orion’s dead-zone free technology may even help flat panels displace projectors as the entrenched display choice for board rooms, video conference systems and even education, a trend we are now seeing in this space.