AV industry experts discuss UHD and HDBaseT networks in digital signage and digital signage

In the visual and interactive framework of the new Demo Room that NEC Display has in Madrid, this manufacturer has organized, in collaboration with Digital AV Magazine, a series of working breakfasts with the participation of experts from the AV and digital signage industry with the purpose of analyzing and debating the latest technological trends in the market and their practical application to business projects.

'Ultra high definition and possibilities of HDBaseT networks', applied to the dynamic advertising and digital signage environment (DS), has been the topic that has inaugurated this cycle of technological debates, with the expert contribution of José Antonio Giménez Blesa, engineering director of Vitelsa; Carlos Rojo, field sales engineer de NEC Display Solutions; Jose Manuel Menendez, coordinator of the Teleco Application Group. Visuals of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM); Isidro Sánchez-Crespo, CEO of Music, and Victor Castro, operations director of Mira DSS, around the table moderated by Ana Sanz, director of Digital AV Magazine.

The possibilities that 4K-UHD technology offers to the dynamic advertising market are enormous for all participants, although the use of HDBaseT to reproduce signals in these environments still presents too many pitfalls.For J.M. Menendez, of the UPM, “The qualities and functionalities that UHD offers on a screen contribute to achieving greater proximity and impact for the user who observes it.”, accentuating immersion in the content displayed. But also, offers new options linked to the detection of user interest, profile targeting, age, sex, display time,…which entails the generation of new content, images and scenes focused on that personalized role”.

With another nuance, Isidro Sánchez-Crespo, of Music, points out that “it is still a technology of the future, because it is not yet present in its adoption by the market, although in the environment of dynamic advertising it will be essential. Everything that concerns the improvement of content and user experience is vital in any business. But there are also many doubts regarding business models., since for years the options have been reduced to the sale of hardware and software, but the content is made by the client, and vice versa; which has meant that in the end these visual networks are largely limited to decorative screens and the disappearance of many commercial companies and content creators”.

The NEC Display Expert, Carlos Rojo, goes further and emphasizes that “there is an increasing motivation to generate new content, and if it is with the maximum definition the better. It is also true that when we talk about the adoption of new technologies, like 4K, We almost always think of large clients and not of an SME that wants one or two screens with creative content to impact their clients.. And this is a problem that occurs both in hardware and in content generation”.

In this sense, Rojo emphasizes that “there are clients who do not need to have everything in their installation, but they do want to invest in these types of systems and do something with them. I would also differentiate the options offered by digital signage, with different formats and scales that allow for greater depth. An example of this is the installation that we have carried out at Aena, with 40” monitors that offer quality information to the user in less space and at more points”.

Para J.A. Gimenez Blesa, the Vitelsa, “4K technology makes no sense in small format, but from 60 a 80”, although it opens a new world for the AV sector. I agree that all projects must be seen with a global vision, whether big or small, and that the same solution cannot be given without taking into account the needs of the installation, the contents according to the most appropriate technology or interactivity with the user”.

HDBaseT, A standard or a statement of intent for DS?

The question is clear and the experts' response is along those lines and encourages debate: “is in gestation”. Then, What consequences does it have for audio and video?, Ethernet, USB, control and power use a simple LAN cable of up to 100 metros?

The head of Vitelsa goes a little deeper and points out that “the signal works perfectly in broadcast environments for broadcasting programs.”. HDBaseT is, at the moment, a kind of path built between various manufacturers and the standard, as such, is minimal. The objective is to transport video signals, audio, data, control and even power by a single cable to an 'x' number of displays, and until then it is real, but each manufacturer has its own system and interoperability is zero. It is a standard, but not de facto, "It's immature".

Carlos Rojo responds that “all the changes are complex and that it is not a Vesa standard, but it is brewing, pero nuestros equipos están preparados y las empresas tecnológicas y de ingeniería fomentamos esa compatibilidad”.

“De acuerdo –replica Giménez Blesa-, pero resulta que la compra de un transmisor y un receptor para ello, con una matriz de uno y otra al final de otro fabricante para llevar una señal a una pantalla, vale a veces más que la propia pantalla. Es de locos, y al final se opta por el modelo monofabricante. Besides, al abaratar los costes se accede a periféricos de terceros, donde la interoperabilidad es igualmente cero y al final no funciona. Puede que sirva para el entorno doméstico, pero no para la industria. Al final una solución broadcast es más efectiva que una propuesta HDBaseT”.

The head of the UPM adds a new element to the debate: “change HDBaseT for DisplayPort, which is license free, since DVI does not carry audio. The problem is that HDBaseT cannot be converted into a regular 'jpeg' if it wants to evolve; or that it is an extender to use the signal transport wiring and then it is not coordinated with systems and the requirements of each project”.

For Rojo, one option “is to develop a new range of products, as CAT5 extenders. Precisely this Demo Room is used to test these solutions, and in fact we have invited HDBaseT developers, like Crestron, Extron, Kramer, etc. One of the problems of these big brands with HDBaseT is that they use different powers. In the case of manufacturers, we are required to put an HDMI in our systems, and in most cases we also have DisplayPort to output in 4K, which at the moment is more mature than HDBaseT and offers more bandwidth”.

Giménez Blesa also clarifies that “as integrators, we have a microlaboratory, since we do not install anything that we have not tried before, to know both the theoretical standard and its practical application and check that it works, in order not to do failed experiments and learn from mistakes. HDBaseT is not a norm or standard: It is a declaration of intent, because its supporters are not oriented towards interoperability and, at the moment, It doesn't look like AMX, Crestron, Extron, etc. open your protocol and approve it”.

“The problem,” says Rojo.- is that there is double information, wrong, sobre 4K, since clients simply think that it will look better but they do not know where and how it will be connected, and that is why this last aspect is so important, because when you do a project you can't fail. It is necessary for HDBaseT manufacturers to agree and, from there, make all communications compatible.

The challenge of infrastructure and ROI

But, reached this point, Is signal distribution the main obstacle? Y, then, Where can we play 4K signals from?? Does it depend on the standards we use to encode and compress to carry out the chain connection? Given these questions that arise at the table, Carlos Rojo introduces a fundamental element in the deployment of this type of projects: the ROI.

“It is essential,” he says.- that the client knows the return on their investment and, at the moment, With 4K technology we do not have any pilot test or feedback to provide us with it, because we are working with betas, since it is not very ripe, although there is a great offer and customers can afford it. At NEC we have developed 4K content players for our Intel devices. Most of our signage and DS solutions integrate them and, even if it is not native 4K, yes they can support it to work with this format, which reduces the cost to the customer. In many facilities, What can airports be like?, 3 video walls×3 reproduce this type of content, since the processor divides and expands to offer greater resolution, something that does not happen in a control center”.

But Giménez Blesa does not entirely agree: “either I do post-production to divide into four real Full HD signals or there is nothing to do. At Vitelsa we have had 4K experiences in museum environments, where the kit is in 4K production and post-production (with cameras, workstations…). The resolution issue is not standards, ni broadcast, nine IT/AV, because what you have to do is integrate moving images, regardless of technology, and that depends on powerful processors, like those with control centers, to achieve different resolutions and even go to more than 4K”.

“The issue of backward compatibility is very important,” says José Manuel Menéndez.- but I don't know how dangerous it is. The SD signal for a Full HD system cannot be used with backward compatibility because you ruin the system. The signal must be adapted to the infrastructure because it is counterproductive for all the agents of a project. There are cabling and HDBaseT solutions without compression that offer this capacity to allow the deployment of more economical infrastructures”.

For Menendez, this topic is clear: “the resolution should not be adapted to the space, but the other way around or with multiples of native. You have to analyze and play with the specific environment, with the impact you want to offer,…and then integrate the technology. An example of this is the standards that the Santiago Bernabéu stadium has in public address and audiovisuals., which are vital for security reasons”.

For your part, Sánchez-Crespo emphasizes that “we define ourselves as specialists in user experience, and when with new technologies we transfer this to large clients and they see its possibilities, It usually stays in the installation of a flagship, but they do not extrapolate it to their chain of stores or establishments; At most they make it effective in queue management and for the medium-long term. One of the challenges is to raise the discourse of what we do and market, we have won regarding the interlocutor, that before it was always systems or purchasing and they did not understand the effectiveness of these tools in sales and marketing, which is now present”.

Is there a future in 4K deployments in the short term in Spain?

The answer is made by Víctor Castro, by Mira DSS, “from a commercial point of view, All brands are focused on 4K because it is the future in the short-medium term, but we found two obstacles: the price of the product, since the client does not see the investment but bases it on costs; and the development of quality 4K content and its broadcast, Because if we don't kill flies with cannon fire, it is necessary that systems and content adapt in a balanced way to the client's investment.".

"It's true. The goal of classic manufacturers, especially in the broadcast environment, is to sell 4K, but not software. I think the trend will be to sell 4K pickup and mixing to activate it by software”.

Carlos Rojo adds that “the market, in DS and digital signage in Spain, not yet ready for 4K solutions, but it is also true that in these same environments you can already carry out work in which 4K makes complete sense., but the client still doesn't see it. “Where it is becoming clearer and more evident is in the control centers.”.

“But we limit ourselves to very professional environments,” Castro emphasizes., as also happens with health, who need this type of solutions in UHD, but in retail there are no 4K contents and they remain as they are, They do not advance nor do they see the possibilities they have”.

The head of NEC agrees and adds “the video game environment, with very powerful graphics cards; the architecture or the museum. We have experience in digital cinema, and in this area there are no content problems in this type of format. The challenge is to transfer this generation of content and balance the cost in other markets, and we are prepared to help customers”.

“Indeed,” continues Giménez Blesa,, the future is already here, but you have to train and train and listen to the client's needs to provide effective solutions, because we are all apprentices to guarantee its practice. It will evolve and in the end it will be all 4K and we will soon have 8K screens. We have hardware and software, but the market has to demand it and provide common sense in the infrastructure, the systems,…”

The CEO of Musicam shares all of the above and “to point out something more attached to day-to-day life, It is vital to listen and evangelize, but do not kill the technology or confuse the client and cause rejection or a stoppage as has happened on many occasions.. The crisis has served to professionalize the sector and offer valuable service to the client”.

“We are learning that technology allows certain things and that it should contribute to the business model,” says Víctor Castro.. The question is to analyze what my business is and what I need. When you see a video screen it is inevitable that your eyes go to it, And if it is impressive and well-armed content, even more so., That is why we have to analyze what the context is and, depending on it, decide the most appropriate. Technology conditions how campaigns should be carried out, and the possibilities that 4K offers are undoubtedly to generate attraction and feedback”.

The UPM expert ends the debate table and wants to contribute a disruptive reflection: “We have talked about very interesting and innovative topics. We have analyzed UHD in the professional environment and I think that in the domestic environment it is paradoxical. We are in an important technological transition, as we have lived before from SD to HD and now UHD, and it is something that will continue to evolve and give us new solutions for different scenarios. Today we are in UHD1-4K, but we already have UHD2 – 8K to open a new debate”.