One of the growth areas of IT is the presentation graphics arena. Innovation is a central theme for most new product releases today, says Andre Rossouw, a technology specialist at Rectron. He spotlights some of the latest offerings and looks ahead to some of the more interesting technologies that are expected to appear.
The presentation graphics market is one of the fastest growing in the world today. A plethora of new technologies and ever improving products have found their way into the market.
Business executives have, for many years, used images and graphics to enhance their presentations. Until around 10 years ago, slide projectors were their primary tool, but the advent of Flash, Powerpoint and similar graphics software changed the presentation solutions landscape and the era of the data projector was born.
This piece of hardware was soon complemented by new technologies and the ability of new-generation notebook computers to link directly to external monitors and "big screens".
Impact is important
Today, big screens are important because "impact" is the name of the presentation graphics game. New technologies abound and prices are sinking fast - thanks to South Africa`s stronger rand and the high level of competition among vendors.
For example, entry-level data projectors now retail at below R8 000, a price unheard of only a few years ago.
Even at this level, data projectors are highly specified with many boasting two or more PC inputs, giving the presenter - or presenters - the option to control multiple screens independently, simply switching between them as required for more visual impact.
Multiple screen and projector technology is also fuelling advances in animation, 3D virtual reality and in the use of holographic avatars that interact with audiences and presenters.
Solutions are also available that allow full frame MPEG-2 video presentations within Powerpoint presentations that deliver breathtaking multimedia and video sequences across any size or shape screen.
With an eye on the video conferencing market, some data projector vendors are now adding digital video cameras to the package, which in wireless format, allow for almost unlimited mobility and flexibility.
Projectors Projectors fall into three categories - tubed, LCD (liquid crystal display) and DLP (digital light processing).
The tubed projector is a box with three lenses. They focus separate red, green and blue images on to the screen to build a picture as large as you like. This type of projector is used in cinemas, conference venues, meeting rooms and at public displays.
There are two other options, LCD (liquid crystal display) and DLP (digital light processing) projectors.
The traditional disadvantage of LCD has been pixelation - the individual cells that form the picture become obvious when magnified by the lens. But this is now less of a problem because newer models have higher resolutions.
A solution for a wide range of business applications is DLP technology projectors. They employ a Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) chip, which consists of a matrix of individual cells, each of which contains a microscopic hinged mirror.
When a charge is applied to a cell, the attractive force causes the micromirror to angle towards it. The reflective properties of the mirror are thus changed, and light bounced off it will contribute one illuminated pixel to the picture.
The images thus produced are routed via the optics and projection lens to the screen: the eye combines them into a colour picture. DLP projectors can produce bright and detailed images, with none of the lag associated with some LCD models.
Technology
Some of the latest notebooks - such as Toshiba`s Qosmio - have a "presentation button" to allow instant presentations without the need to endure a boot-up phase.
They are part of the move by technology-oriented companies - such as Toshiba - to give presenters more mobility and flexibility through the use of wireless technologies. These include Bluetooth connectors that link monitors or projectors to the PC via its external USB port.
Opportunities for the channel
Many industry watchers maintain that the presentation graphics market, being technology-driven, has become commoditised and there is a shrinking window of opportunity for resellers to show a return on investment in this market sector.
For innovators, the presentation graphics market will always present new challenges - and hold new promises. Increasingly the retail market is seeing more creative use of multimedia presentation graphics solutions with "live" displays in airports, train and bus stations and in shopping malls and sports facilities. With this in mind, there will be opportunities for solution providers to partner with marketing professionals to reach new markets in innovative ways with strong, impactful messaging.
They will need to align themselves with their clients` marketing plans and strategies and deliver tailored solutions that effectively reach and influence a desired target audience.
Ideally, these solutions will be part of an end-to-end marketing strategy that will communicate important information both internally and externally with all elements working together towards clearly defined business goals.
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