Q&A with Eiki
What was your favorite innovation at InfoComm?
Steve Rubery – There were a number of different categories of products. There were a lot of product evolution, but there wasn’t really anything revolutionary. The new laser projectors were definitely the highlights for most manufacturers. For EIKI, in particular, we’re the only ones using red and blue lasers in our projectors. It’s a very unique product in the market.
John Schippers – The level of resolution are capable of now is amazing. It allows you to mix and match shapes and sizes of projectors or flat panels. But they can’t compete with size and accommodate rooms and large crowds like we can do with projections. In video, size does matter!
What really excites you about your industry?
John – Lasers! That’s probably the newest technology coming out. One of the problems you have with traditional light sources, like lamps, is cooling and the cost of maintenance. One of the advantages of using the red and blue lasers is you have a 20,000 hour lifespan on your light source. It gives you better color accuracy and saturation, less failure of color, and there’s less maintenance involved.
Steve – Our industry as a whole is unlike most industries. It’s a fun business because we deal with fun people. We work with all kinds of musicians, bands, churches, staging companies. We’ve worked with Weird Al Yankovic to Brad Paisley to Kid Rock. And when you see things evolving in this industry, you actually see stuff change because it’s visual or audio. In the computer world, you might see something is faster but it’s not as obvious. We get these new innovations with video walls and different types of effects, machines, LED, warping, and projection mapping like we were doing with PacMin. It’s always new, innovative, creative. It’s a very creative industry.
How did having large scale models impact the atmosphere?
John – It had a very big impact. It complimented our theme and people stopped and looked at the booth. In the past, AV was always an afterthought and now that is changing.
Your booth had a very cool “space” theme. If commercial space travel becomes possible, would you try it?
Steve – Yes! Even Mars or the Sun (if it were at night!)
