In mid-June the digital signage industry will once again descend on Las Vegas at InfoComm 2014. This is a perennial favorite of mine. Even though the show's focus extends far beyond digital signage, I like InfoComm because it affords us the opportunity to showcase the unique ways that digital signage is integrated into the much larger pro AV market.

As for what we can expect at InfoComm, I believe the key takeaway from the show will be that 4K has gone mainstream. True, 4K buzz is nothing new and 4K-capable products are hitting the market on a steady basis. But to say that 4K is now mainstream is a bit of an overstatement. That’s about to change, and InfoComm will be the tipping point where that change starts to occur.

At DSE we saw specific applications for digital signage, including 4K playback. In fact, our own 4K player powered many of the booths showcasing 4K content. Then at NAB great emphasis was placed on streaming 4K content in the broadcast market, such as the MPEG-DASH streaming of live 4K video content over IP. Both were great testaments to the promise of 4K, yet key hurdles still existed, such as the availability of 4K content, and the ability to display such content at 60 frames per second via HDMI 2.0.

InfoComm will signal the mass-market shift to 4K. I predict we’ll see a wave of new displays supporting HDMI 2.0, effectively completing the 4K-delivery ecosystem. This shift will naturally drive declining pricepoints in various 4K-related product categories, further accelerating adoption of 4K. Announcements made at InfoComm will catalyze many of these market shifts, giving key industries such as broadcast, digital signage and Pro AV powerful tools to thrust 4K into mass-market acceptance.