Inside Planar’s New 4K Displays
The initial UltraRes Series 4K rollout also revealed a lot about the commercial applications in which Ultra HD displays are in demand. Planar found the applications to perhaps more well-rounded than initially thought.
Seminaro has seen demand for 4K in digital signage, “companies that use high res information for making decisions” like CAD designers, automobile designers, architects, surveillance, military mapping, utility management. “The final area where we’ve gotten a lot of traction is modern conference rooms,” he says.
Related: Will 2014 Be the Year of 4K at InfoComm?
“We ended up doing about 2.5 times what I forecast for the [UltraRes Series 4K] product. Standing here today and looking at our announcement for InfoComm we’re seeing more broad commercial demand, sometimes bigger and sometimes smaller.”
The InfoComm 2014 launches are indeed aimed at a wider commercial 4K adoption target, explains Connors. “It’s ranging from 28-inch to 90-inch and across three different product families, so it’s designed to reach out to different applications.”
Planar UltraRes 4K
“We had success with the 84-inch UltraRes and received a lot of positive feedback, but customers said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if you did something bigger?’ So we’re doing a 98-inch,” Conners says.
“It’s equivalent to the size of a 2×2 video wall, so it’s really quite immersive [and has] the same features as our 84-inch. We’re still able to have a very slim profile. The bezel is also incredibly thin, 20mm, and we don’t put our logo on the bezel so there is very little distraction.”
There won’t be touchscreen capability for the 98-inch model at the launch, “but it’s something we’re investigating,” Connors says.
What Planar says about UltraRes 98-inch …
With the Planar UltraRes 98″ the company is expanding its award-winning Planar UltraRes Series line to include a large format 4K display in a size that supports large rooms by providing a seamless, single-display solution to applications previously requiring a tiled video wall. Designed for resolution-rich commercial applications, the Planar UltraRes 98″ combines 4K clarity with state-of-the-art design and performance. From conference rooms to training centers to public display applications, the immersive 98″ display captures the attention of audiences from a wide range of viewing distances.
Like the best-in-class Planar UltraRes 84″, which Planar introduced in 2013, the Planar UltraRes 98″ offers extensive connectivity options, including support for up to eight connected sources. The Planar UltraRes 98″ includes built-in UltraRes MediaPlex™ software, which allows multiple sources to be viewed simultaneously with the ability to upscale and downscale content to full screen or quadrants of the screen. With an installation depth less than four inches, the Planar Profile™ Mounting System makes the Planar UltraRes 98″ compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements and ensures easy installation in any environment.
The Planar UltraRes Series now supports true 4K at up to 60Hz via HDMI 2.0, enabling smoother fast-motion video and mouse tracking, as well as compatibility with new and emerging 4K playback devices. “We choose Planar for many of our display needs, including the upcoming demonstration of our new BrightSign 4K media player at InfoComm 2014,” said Jeff Hastings CEO of at BrightSign, the market leader in digital signage media players. “Planar has built a reputation as a premier commercial 4K display manufacturer in the industry, and is also proving to be a leader in the effort to support true 4K resolution at 60 frames per second, an important requirement for smooth video playback.”
