Event previews


IFA – where AI meets OLED and 360-degree sound


IBC: the world’s most influential media entertainment and technology show?


IBC describes itself as the “world’s most influential media entertain- ment and technology show. Although it’s a few years since we ma- jored on the event, again AV News has committed to the evet as an official media sponsor.


LG rollable TV – among the innovative technologies on show at IFA Berlin in September. IFA


Consumer Electronics unlimited 6 - 11 September 2019 Messe Berlin Germany


AV News has agreed to serve as an official IFA Global Media. Why? Because of the develop- ments in artificial intelligence, mobile devices for tomorrow’s 5G networks, flexible screens, 360-degree sound and wire- less music streamed from vinyl grooves – all of which are be- ing progressed in the consumer electronics space.


This year artificial intelligence (AI) will be setting the tone for exciting trends: many types of devices make use of self-teach- ing digital systems and are able to


improve their performance


over time. Voice-controlled sys- tems for example can continu- ally upgrade their performance. AI is built into the latest gen- eration of 8K screens so that they can perfectly adapt today’s image resolutions to the new, ul- tra-sharp pixel grid. It also helps make the sound as good as the images: intelligent software can recognize whether the sound comes from a football stadium, a newsroom or a concert hall and make corresponding adjust- ments.


New screen technology


Innovative screen technolo- gy continues to set the tone in spectacular fashion at IFA -flex- ible OLED screens for instance: visitors to IFA can look forward


to large TVs that can be rolled up and stowed away in a neat cabinet as well as tablets that can be folded in half to make a handy smartphone. Prototypes will offer a foretaste of the mo- bile phone of the future, look- ing like a large bracelet adorn- ing one’s wrist. Other prototype screens are able to switch to ‘transparent mode’, if desired, and resemble a clear window- pane until the device software puts colourful images onto the screen again.


Micro LEDs, also known as Crystal LEDs, represent another type of screen technology with good prospects. These displays create images using colour crystal LEDs – and are already spawning an entire new range of products: IFA will be show- ing Micro LED displays which can be transformed into tiles of varying shapes and sizes .


New generation projectors


A new generation of projectors is now capable of screening mega-sized images. The ones made for convenient home use can project images from a very short distance close to the screen. Other fascinating mod- els that can be easily installed in any location come in slim, high-sided, portable cabinets. They project light upwards onto


folding mirrors, so that images can be positioned precisely onto a screen without complicated adjustments. New projectors that make use of separate red, green and blue laser beams as their light source promise spectacu- larly colourful images.


The wide range of soundbars that can create a home movie at- mosphere with 3D sound formats are a perfect match for these large images. But that is not all: the latest trend is 360-degree sound. Loudspeakers that acous- tically cover the farthest corner of the room give the term surround sound a whole new meaning. Finally, wireless speakers con- tinue to be among the most pop- ular consumer electronics items. Many of them can be connect- ed up in multi-room systems, and they are all competing for the consumer’s attention with a growing range of streaming ser- vices – including those offering hi-fi quality music over the inter- net.


When IBC2018 closed its doors last year some 55,884 visitors had passed through. As well as providing a host of new initiatives this year, the exhibition grew by 667 m2 and conference delegates were up by 14% year on year. The IBC App has provided all sorts of networking opportuni- ties, with more than 91,000 interactions on the match- making platform. In addition, IBC trended number one on Twitter in the Netherlands on several days of the con- vention, with 185 million po- tential impressions and over 250,000 video views. En- gagement with IBC has also increased on a year-round basis with IBC365 – the site now has over 55,000 sub- scribers averaging 49,000 active users per month. Michael Crimp, IBC’s CEO, comments: “The show is about engagement, engage- ment, engagement. The stats are up in almost all areas and re-bookings are ahead of last year. IBC is much more than a trade show, we have devel- oped a basket of data-driv- en statistics including sales leads generated on stands, conference


attendance and


IBC365 views and this shar- ing of information is pivotal to the longevity of IBC’s success and sits at the core of the or- ganisation.”


“All of the initiatives this year have been aimed at bringing together the best minds, the original thinkers, to network and share their knowledge. As all communi- cation becomes video and au- dio, IBC continues to be the place to debate the future of media, technology and enter- tainment,” adds Crimp. Guiding the renewed focus this year was a new con- tent steering group, drawn from across the industry, and chaired by Keith Under- wood, Chief Operating Offi- cer at Channel 4 in the UK. IBC head of content, Jaisica Lapsiwala, said: “This year, we have worked closely with the industry to create a pro- gramme that is not only re- flective of the changes in the ecosystem, but which also


paves a path forward for our industry. This has resulted in an engaging and diverse 2018 edition of IBC. An example of this was our Global Gamechang- ers day which brought creative, technology and business chiefs such as Zahra Rasool from Al Jazeera, Peter Salmon from Endemol and Lindsay Pattison from WPP to the stage. Threaded through the programme were the cutting-edge technologies trans- forming the industry. Blockchain is a great example, with a key- note from Kim Jackson of Singu- lar DTV and papers from people who are already implementing it, like Éric Minoli of Groupe Média TFO.”


Alongside the conference, IBC hosted three invitation-only ex- ecutive


forums. The Leaders’


Forum looked to the future, con- sidering what the new ecosystem could be following consolidation, acquisition and collaboration. The Cyber Security Forum con- sidered not just the threats but how to respond to them. New to the programme this year was the Telco and Media Innovation Fo- rum, a vital point of debate as the boundaries between media and communication blur. Once again, IBC was the venue for an examination of the inter- section of craft and technology in The Big Screen. Sessions in- cluded an in-depth look at the effects in Game of Thrones and Pixar’s Dominic Glynn talking about the animation marvel that is The Incredibles 2 – and how things have changed in the 14 years since the original movie. The Future Zone is always a busy part of IBC, with presen- tations from researchers and academic bodies developing the ideas which may become the hit products five years from now. This year saw the addition of a theatre stage, presented by one of IBC’s owners, IABM, with a rolling programme of presen- tations discussing the ideas in more detail.


As well as the IBC Big Screen, the IABM Future Trends Theatre and the Content Everywhere Hub, staged presentations and enlarged on-stand meeting areas are becoming an increasingly common feature


of exhibition


stands throughout the show. “As the industry has moved


on from big boxes handling discrete functions towards a software-based world that looks across the content sup- ply chain, so the way vendors present themselves and inter- act with visitors at IBC has changed,” said Roger Thorn- ton, chair of the IBC exhibi- tion committee. “Today, it’s all about collab- oration to deliver solutions that give broadcast and me- dia companies the agility and flexibility they need to keep ahead in this rapidly trans- forming media landscape. That’s why we’re seeing more and more companies using big-picture theatre presen- tations on their stands and providing large meeting areas where the conversations that kick off the collaboration get started.”


IBC2019 starts with the first day of conference sessions on Thursday 12 September, run- ning until the exhibition clos- es on Tuesday 17 September.


The Innovation Zone at IBC 2018.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16