We have set up a special “Microsite” for the SID Display Week which in 2015 is taking place in San Jose, California. As someone that lives outside the US, one of the joys of the SID, beyond the technical content, is that the event moves around the US, allowing a chance to see many of the great cities of North America.
The fact that the flat panel display industry is an Asian business means that there is now a clear bias to more shows on the West Coast than on the East. I have been attending and reporting on the SID for 20 years, my first was 1995 in Orlando (I had thought it was 1996 in San Diego, but my 1995 article had missed the database!). At one point, the show looked worryingly as though it was running out of momentum, especially when the difficult to reach venue of San Antonio, Texas coincided with the SARs epidemic and economic crisis in 2009. However, SID has given the event a real push and it remains a key event.
The show being in San Jose should mean that attendance from those that design products in Silicon Valley should be strong, so we expect a well-attended event.
In writing this article, I looked back at my 1995 report and I thought the table below of NEC products gives a good example of the “state of the art” in 1995.
I don’t think that a 12.1″ panel weighing a kilogram would get very far, these days. It’s also surprising to see references to “high brightness” displays at 170 cd/m².
It’s also intriguing that the report makes no mention of any Korean, Taiwanese and Chinese companies at all. There were US companies, European and (in LCD) mainly Japanese. How things have changed!
I also realised that there were no photos in my report. In those days, getting pictures into the newsletter meant processing the photos, then scanning and editing, which was just too slow for us. These days, the images and videos are available instantly!
Bob
