What New CES 2020 Technology Will Make Its Way into Commercial AV?

Headset redesign for AR & VR applications seems to be the trend that could have the most immediate effect for CIs at CES 2020 — but don’t ignore 5G.

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What New CES 2020 Technology Will Make Its Way into Commercial AV?

We’ve made a habit in recent years of looking to the annual CEDIA show every September and trying to project which residential-focused product might eventually creep its way into the commercial space.

This practice, of course, was inspired by the transition of the iPad and other tablet devices from the home to just about every board room—or any other space that needed an easy-to-use control system. While that didn’t sit well with control system companies, it did slap them with a dose of reality.

With CES 2020 in full swing in Las Vegas this week, attendees are being bombarded with easily thousands of new products being hyped as the first to do this or the only one to ever do that. How many of these new releases as the event formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show will go commercial?

Former CI columnist Dan Newman ran down the top five themes he expects to see at CES this week: 5G for the mainstream, a proliferation of devices in all shapes, sizes and configurations; connected and autonomous vehicles; new AR and VR headset designs and more streaming services.

From CES 2020 to Commercial AV

We’ve all read and heard about the hype surrounding 5G—but this doesn’t seem to be like the hype we heard when 3D TVs were all the rage for a while—then suddenly they were gone when manufacturers realized no one wanted to wear funky glasses while vegging on their couches.

While 5G could revolutionize how people access and deliver information, there’s a long way to go before there’s widespread adoption and availability—and, most importantly, understanding—about it and why a CEO should spend money to access the super-duper-fast information lane.

My thought is the transformation of AR and VR headsets could be the tool that becomes most useful for commercial integrators in 2020—perhaps before we all head back to the desert for InfoComm 2020 in June.

Savvy integrators including Mechdyne have been relying on AR and VR for years to help their customers better envision how their proposed designs and solutions can solve their problems and meet their needs.

And, of course, let’s not forget that esports seems like it’s going to continue its upward ascendance as we enter the 2020s.

There’s always been a bit of a stigma about strapping on those helmets though, not unlike the feeling of wearing 3D glasses to watch TV at home almost a decade ago. If the helmets look better moving forward, maybe those in AV will find wider acceptance and use them more?

Although I’m not one to question Newman’s wisdom, I hope his prediction about autonomous vehicles becoming a popular thing on our roadways after CES 2020 isn’t right. Then again, it could revolutionize the AV industry in some ways, helping integrators dispatch only vehicles and not people when supplies or tools are needed.

Which technology do you expect will make its way from the living room to the board room in 2020?

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