By Gary Kayye, CTS

But, look at the bright side: Infocomm 2001 is there from June 13-15 (yes, this year's show is Wednesday through Friday) at the Sands Convention Center.

What could be better? Nothing.

Infocomm, the premiere presentation products trade show in the world, is holding it's annual affair in the nation's second largest tourist destination and is hoping to draw big crowds. Last year's event, hosting about 21,000 attendees, set an attendance record in Orlando, no complaints here--except it was a bit muggy and humid. So, how does ICIA, the association in charge of the annual show, solve this complaint? By heading to the much drier, albeit hotter, Vegas.

All kidding aside, this year's show does hold the promise to be the biggest and potentially the best ever. Some major technological advances will be unveiled and, with the financial crisis hopefully in toe, new products will rule the buzz surrounding the show instead of economic woes.

The biggest pre-show buzz seems to be coming from the projector manufacturers who claim that not only will we see micro-portable LCD projectors breaking the sub-4 pound size barrier, but we will see palm-projectors from the DLP camp that could break the sub-2 pound weight category (maybe as small as 1.5 pounds). This is significant, as it will represent a major threshold where the average portable projector could, in fact, be smaller and lighter than the average laptop.

But, for the church market, the big buzz surrounding the projector manufacturers will be two technological improvements that may change the install market forever: affordable 7000 ANSI lumen LCD projectors and network integratable projectors.

Last year, Sanyo and Proxima (now owned by InFocus) both privately showed 5000 ANSI lumens install projectors aimed at the church and auditorium/lecture hall markets. These projectors represented a milestone in the market as prior to their introduction at around $30,000, the cheapest high-brightness (over 5000 lumens), church-compatible projector hovered around the $70,000 mark.

This year, not only are these 5000 ANSI lumens products in stock and shipping in the form of the $28,000 Proxima ProAV 9350 and the $28,000 Sanyo PLC-FX20, but also Sharp hit the market with a 5K unit of their own dubbed the XG-V10WU. But, this year's show will debut the 7000 ANSI lumens LCD projector capable of being used in virtually any environment (except outside). Both Proxima and Sanyo will show them and expect the pricing to still be well below the $45,000 mark.

In addition to light output improvements, virtually every manufacturer will demonstrate network integration and its impact and usefulness with projectors.

Imagine the projector treated on the network just like the laser printer is. If you have a networked organization of 10 people and all of you want to print documents on a laser printer, you either need 10 laser printers or one that is networked. Every person can access that printer simply by first being connected to it (via the network) and then by sending a command to it from some desktop software application. The printer doesn't need a computer connected to it to print things out or to carry out any unique commands (collating or multiple copies for example). In addition, it's there all the time ready to print things any time you need it. You don't have to walk over to it and turn it on, set it up or load special drivers into it. It simply prints.

Well, using that analogy, think of the projector as a printer. If it were in the ceiling of a church and connected to the network, first, you could remotely access virtually any information from the projector (i.e. number of lamp hours, average number of minutes per use, and review and adjust settings like power on/off, input selection and usage data). This is great as you can pre-perform or plan maintenance and avoid any down time.

But, even better than that, projector manufacturers are even challenging users to re-think the way they design systems and simplify the application of installing projectors virtually everywhere. If the projector were on the network that means it has access to anything a PC would have access to on the network. For example, to project hymns, there wouldn't be the need to have a dedicated PC in the church or even a reason for anyone to bring their laptop into the room just to make a presentation. A person could access information just like they do from their desktop, from the projector itself, using only the networked projector and a wireless mouse or keyboard.

How does this work?

Well, it's simple really. From a wireless keyboard and/or a mouse (or other remote control system), it's possible to operate the networked projector and give it access to almost anything on the network like a PC would -- like PowerPoint files (which were sent to the projector and stored in memory in the same way they are sent to a printer and cached or, simply displayed on the projector from a file stored on a server somewhere. In fact, the projector could even browse the internet. All a user has to do is send the presentation to the projector (like printing it). And, using a data compliance standard like T-120, that presentation can be accessed from virtually anywhere through something like NetMeeting or NetShow from Microsoft.

But, now think ahead. With Ethernet networks going wireless, why couldn't the projector? Now, that would be simplicity.

Infocomm 2001 will host a network pavilion that will explore the applications of networked ProAV and presentation products, including projectors.

Finally, no Infocomm preview would be complete without mentioning a couple of the shows premiere special events: the Shoot-Out and the Display Systems Exploration (formerly Projection Encounter).

The Shoot-Out is the only place you can go where virtually every projector manufacturer product is set-up side-by-side in an environment where you can compare like resolution projectors with each other. It's a once a year opportunity to evaluate a manufacturer's offering and how they stack up against each other. But, keep in mind that not everyone competes in the Shoot-Out.

The Display Systems Exploration is an interactive learning event where you are toured through six rooms (wearing wireless headsets) that educate you on the art of integrating projectors and other AV gear into a system. It's totally an educational event, it's free, and it's the one place where you can learn about all the aspects of systems integration in a church including lighting issues, screen selection criteria, control system design, selecting the right projector for the environment, cabling and issues like digital video integration and networking the environment. The tour takes less than 25 minutes to complete and is considered to be the premiere learning event on the show floor. It's located at the entrance of the Shoot-Out in the ballroom area. Check it out!

Gary Kayye is Principal of Kayye Consulting a firm that specializes in providing marketing consulting and training development to the professional audiovisual (ProAV) industry. He can be reached at www.kayye.com or via e-mail at gkayye@kayye.com.