As the 2017 edition of the world’s largest consumer electronics shows draws to a close we take a look at some of the main talking points and consider the impact they could have on the AV market.
Drones
Drones undoubtedly have the most potential in the live events sphere although feeds to fixed installations such as command and control centres is another use case. At CES, drones were again a big talking point with Zero Zero showing its Hover Camera Passport, billed as ‘your foldable, self-flying personal photographer.’ This compact device uses facial recognition to detect, follow and record people on the move, and you can take and manage photos and recordings using hand gestures. On a larger scale, EHang returned with its EHang 184 autonomous aerial vehicle. Designed for medium and short distance communication and transportation, the 184 is designed with a fully redundant power system and a fail safe setup that ensures the vehicle will land in the nearest suitable spot should there be any component malfunction.
Drones of all shapes and sizes were on show in Las Vegas and at the other end of the scale was Nine Eagle’s Mola UFO prototype. This palm-sized selfie drone features a triple axis structure for added stabilisation and can follow subjects and shoot with a range of 360-degrees from its high resolution 4K camera.
Screens
TVs, laptops and gaming screens were once again big at CES. Of more interest to the AV sector was Sony’s CLEDIS (Crystal LED Integrated Structure) system. Designed for large-scale display and visual entertainment and for a range of commercial applications as varied as industrial product design and displays in theme parks and museums, the CLEDIS self-emitting display technology uses R (red), G (green), and B (blue) ultrafine LEDs mounted on the display surface, with each pixel emitting light independently. Each pixel is composed of one separate R, G and B ultrafine LED, with the light source only 0.003sqm in size. The remaining surface area is more than 99% black. The scalable canvas is made up of multiple display units (each measuring 403 x 453 mm) that can be joined together.
Back in the more mainstream world, Samsung revealed an 8K TV; HiSense opted for a curved 4K option while LG went one step further with an 18inch rollable display.
AR/VR
With big names such as Oculus and Magic Leap not at this year’s event you could be forgiven for thinking it might be a quieter show for AR/VR, but there was still some innovation on the showfloor. Global Imagination’s VR Sphere drew crowds. Designed for use in corporate spaces, education and for live streaming of VR events, the touch interactive device can also be used to create VR content.
Meanwhile, ODG showcased its first consumer AR/VR glasses. The R-9 is aimed at light enterprise and prosumers, while the smaller and lighter R-8 is aimed more at the consumer market. Both pairs are the first smart glasses designed using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 chip and both are built on Android.
