Overview exhibitions in Las Vegas, Moscow and Shanghai
The exhibitions dedicated to light engineering and especially, LED products and applications become regular events and the number of visitors to such exhibitions grows each year. It is clear that the most outstanding events occur in the countries, where either the advertising and entertainment market is well developed, for example, in the USA or the countries, which lead in the manufacturing of this kind of goods such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. For this very reason our magazine decided to dedicate this article to the main exhibitions, which took place recently on different continents: in the USA (Las Vegas, 24-27 April 2006), in Russia (Moscow, 14-16 June 2006) and in China (Shanghai, 19-22 July 2006).
The exhibition in Las Vegas
It is no coincidence that Las Vegas was selected as the place for one such event. This Mecca of entertainment can brag of the enormous number of advertising and especially LED screen outdoor installations.
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| LED screens advertising installations in Las Vegas | |
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| Daktronics LED screens at Las Vegas exhibition | New models of LED screens by Mitsubishi at Las Vegas exhibition |
It is clear that Daktronics indisputably rules on the LED screen market in the USA. Leadership of Daktronics is well-deserved - it is confirmed by the high quality of LED screens and by irreproachable color balance.
If we look closely we’ll see that the openness of the US market is an illusion. There are few foreign manufacturers of LED screens on the American market, and competition with the biggest American brands can be sustained only by strong and renowned companies like Mitsubishi.
One more impression which shows the tendencies in the sphere of LED (light-emitting diode) technologies - is the obvious readiness of LED screens to penetrate the indoor advertising market. If in the past LED screens did not have competitors only on city streets and on the highways then now they are an indispensable attribute of shopping and exhibition malls, cinemas and the offices of big companies.
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| Indoor LED screens | |
The specialized exhibition “Display-2006” in Moscow
Not long ago in Moscow the specialized exhibition “Display-2006” took place. On the exhibition there were represented practically all main players of the Russian market for LED video screens. Each company tried to show visitors its latest achievements.
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| New LED screen by “Nata-Info” (Russia) | New LED displays by “Nata-Info” (Russia) |
“Nata-Info” company presented to the public its model of LED SMD video screen with super high clearness (480x576 pixels). Companies “Araneus” and “Alexart” showed their base models of 28 and 25 mm pixel pitch accordingly. The exhibition is the excellent place to launch new names and company ideas. For example, the new company introduced itself: “Display systems”. The company presented to the public LED rods which are being manufactured in China in large quantities, but on the Russian market they appeared only recently.
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| “D’light” company's booth | “ATV Outdoor Systems” company's booth |
“D’light” company showed on the exhibition the analog of DynaScan (360-degree LED display) video screen which is well known abroad. “ATV Outdoor Systems” company astonished visitors of the exhibition by the original layout of the elements of video LED screen which made it possible to show different commercials both on the different parts of the composition and on all parts simultaneously.
The exhibition in Shanghai
The exhibition in Shanghai is a significant and momentous event. This exhibition occupied more than 37 000 sq. meters and attracted 456 companies from different countries such as China, USA, Germany, the Great Britain, Holland, Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, etc., which came to Shanghai with advanced applications in the sphere of advertisement. On display there were exhibition and rear projection equipment, signs and materials for their production, LEDs of all types and shapes, neon signs, materials for printing and other modern solutions.
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| LED screens at exhibition in Shanghai | |
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| Indoor LED screens still have low brightness and are more expensive in comparison with projection or plasma systems | |
It is obvious that China is gearing for the 2008 Olympics, and LED industry accelerates manufacturing and acquires the new models for production. Chinese LED screens cannot fully compete on the world market with the main manufacturers such as Barco or Daktronics yet. But the associated goods of Chinese production with the light-emitting diodes (LED) become more widely-distributed and actively occupy market niches of many European countries and USA.
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| Companies competing in the attempt to present their new models to potential customers: LED letters, intellectual LED pixels, LED modules of different shapes for the illumination and color staging | |
Chinese companies are quick on their toes. Many new technological solutions are being implemented there first. Original novelty was represented at the exhibition in Shanghai: the usage of LEDs in “Trivision” outdoor technology. Appearance of such solution is logical. It shows the marked tendency toward the usage of LED systems in outdoor advertisement not only in the form of LED screens but also as the systems which supplement standard means of advertisement.
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| Curved LED screen | |
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| LED screens at Shanghai exhibition | |
Approximately 5-6 years ago the Taiwan company “Agon-tech” presented the technology which for the most part remained unnoticed: special banner which covers LED screen in the daytime (when the screen is visible badly). In the evening the screen begins to work in video mode. As a result, the saving of electric power is achieved but advertising carrier doesn’t “stay idle”. And now at the exhibition in Shanghai this technology was presented but already by another company – “Collection LED”.
