We had a meeting with Tobias Augustin, NEC’s senior product manager for large-format displays. As NEC only had two smaller (single-viewer) displays on its large stand, this felt like a great fit!
NEC is moving towards a solutions focus, offering bundled products to its customers. The first permanent bundles, which will be sold for the foreseeable future, will appear soon. The targets will mostly be verticals like QSRs, education and transportation.
The outside of NEC’s new stand was covered in video walls; an area in which the company forecasts huge growth. It believes that the video wall market can be divided into those customers who want a cost-effective wall and those needing a high-end solution. The first group, which includes retailers, requires easy set-up, a fixed install and – usually – a 16:9 aspect ratio. The latter group – for example, control rooms – is more challenging, requiring more reliability, but also flexibility and bundled software.
An entry-level video wall was being shown using the new X555UNS (NEC Scales Content for Faster Set Up). Nearby, the new UN551 was being used in another (but more premium) retail-type wall. This 55″ display has a 1.9mm pixel-to-pixel distance, with an IPS panel and 700 cd/m² of brightness. It is designed for fixed installations. A 49″ display in the same series may also be launched by the end of the year.
Unlike previous video wall displays, which incorporated high-end and entry-level displays in a single series, NEC will have a series dedicated to both soon. The UN displays will be the entry-level units, launching this year. Next year, NEC will introduce a range of premium displays – tentatively known as the UX series.
A 1.5mm LED product, developed with S[quadrat] of Germany, was next. We have reported on this previously (NEC Planning LED Signage with Peel-and-Replace Modules). It is part of NEC’s ‘LiFT’ (LED intelligent Front Technology) products, with controllers by NEC but LEDs by S[quadrat].
The X551UHD is a 55″ UltraHD FPD, joining NEC’s existing 65″, 84″ and 98″ units. NEC plans to launch the display in March. It is designed for 24/7 applications and supports Dicomm Simulation. Pricing will be 15% – 20% higher than a comparable 1920 x 1080 mode. NEC has installed a new anti-glare filter, with a much lower haze level; the old filter had about 44% haze, while the new component has about 25%.
Later this year, NEC will introduce new options in its Multisync P-Series, which is already available in 40″, 46″ and 55″ sizes. Customers will be able to add mirror glass or Shadowsense touch from Baanto. A new set of P-Series displays will be launched in December, with second-generation Shadowsense: the main advantage is thinner bezels. Another incremental upgrade will be added to the 98″ X981UHD; a new model, set to launch later this year, will feature an OPS slot. It will be known as the X981UHD-2. Thanks to NEC’s engineers, video will be able to be transferred from an OPS module and displayed at 60fps, rather than 30fps (which OPS is normally limited to).
Also using Shadowsense was a modular video wall, using the X555UNS. The Shadowsense system itself was modular; the electronics are contained in the outer bezel of the video wall cabinet, which can be ‘clipped’ together. The solution will be launched in the summer.
NEC’s X651UHD was being used as a table display nearby, with optical in-glass touch supplied by U-Touch. The advantage that NEC has when creating table displays, said Augustin, is that the company uses professional panels. These will not deform over time (such as developing a shallow ‘bowl’ in the centre), which would affect the image.
The final large-format display was a 55″ high-brightness (2,700 cd/m²) unit, with 10-bit colour. It will be launched at the end of March or early April.
