AV Magazine
The pandemic continues to play havoc with the naturally cautious approach to life and business of Japanese people. The country may have narrowly avoided slipping into recession for the second time in just over a year but an extension of emergency measures to stem a rise in coronavirus infections has dented the growth outlook and consumer confidence.
pp33-36 https://www.avinteractive.com/digital-edition/#digital-edition-1
also https://www.avinteractive.com/features/territory-features/weathering-covid-19-typhoon-04-09-2021/
Analysts expected Japan's economy to grow 4.2%
this year, as exports gradually increase due to a recovery of overseas markets,
but that’s far lower than the 7% rates in other leading global economies.
“There is volatility in the electronics supply
chain,” says Samuel Recine, VP of Sales – AV/IT Group; Americas &
APAC, Matrox. “Trade and politics remain complex. COVID-19 is still not
entirely dealt with and will have lasting impacts. The strongest areas of the
market will probably continue to be powered by enterprise, government, and
industrial dollars while performance media at a distance will likely be a key
area of growth.”
As elsewhere, the live events business was
impacted negatively in 2020 but products and services to help with remote work
and collaboration have performed strongly.
“COVID obviously had a
negative impact on the majority of Japanese AV projects. Most of them have
either shrunk in size, have been postponed or simply cancelled,”
reports Ken Sampei, director of Mix Wave (a VIOSO and AV Stumpfl distributor).
Michael Austin, Director of Sales and
Accounts, APAC for Datapath says the country has weathered the storm
“comparatively well,” with a few ‘soft’ lockdowns of varying degrees of
restrictions.
“Even with no ‘hard’ lockdowns, retailers have
struggled and postponed investments in video walls, so unsurprisingly sales in
this area have dipped,” Austin says. “There are some recent signs that this
segment is picking back up, albeit slowly.
He says business in Command and Control
and similar applications has held up reasonably well. Many government projects
have continued either as normal or on delayed schedules.
“There has been a somewhat modest drop in the
more signage - and presentation-focused corporate video walls. As Japan’s
vaccination program progresses, there is reason to expect things to return to
normal across all verticals. However, the extent to which the new ‘normal’
affects investments in corporate, public, and retail video walls remains
to be seen.
For example, Austin predicts larger video
walls will be split into multiple smaller walls in different rooms or different
locations, enabling multiple locations to be inter-accessible in terms of
content and control.
Hajime Kogai, GM, B2B
Business Division spots momentum for work style reform in
Japan, and predicts there the strong demand
for remote technology and its improving efficiency will continue.
“For example, to effectively transmit
information and carry out social activities while avoiding the three C’s
(closed spaces, crowded places, close-contact settings), there is an increasing
demand for large-screen, high-quality displays in various fields,”
says Kogai. “Educational institutions, companies and government offices
are also showing the need for video recording and distribution.”
He points to demand
for “remote-compatible” products, such as Sony’s AI-based Edge
Analytics Appliance, which allows users to create video content in real time
without the need for specialist training or additional staff or equipment.
Shift to remote
Corporate
and education had to continue to operate during COVID-19 and made big technological and
cultural shifts to remote productivity technologies.
“Not all of those shifts will be walked
back,” says Racine. “Some of the changes are here to stay. The creative
solutions that emerged for productivity and for entertainment monetization will
have long-term enduring positive effects. The immense role that was played by
IT staff in helping to deliver AV experiences at a distance will also have
a permanent impact. It’s clear there are often multiple ways to assemble a
solution.”
One thing that hasn’t changed in the last few
months is “the preference from Japanese AV users for high-end and high-tech
based systems and solutions,” finds Sampei. Mix Wave is toasting a new distribution partnership with StagePrecision to tap this.
“Online communication will become essential
even for real events,” announces Koji Iida, Head of Marketing and
Operations, disguise. “People will start to announce various products and
services at their own online events. Companies will invest more in content
production, such as setting up their own distribution and recording studios.
Companies engaged in concerts and events will acquire skills and tools for
recording and distribution, and their operations will become more complex.”
Culturally risk averse
ProAV businesses and experts often seek to be "risk-free" and
will spare no effort or pursuit to achieve this, says Iida. “Therefore,
they are very demanding and time-consuming users for manufacturers. It is said,
‘If Japanese professionals are convinced, it will be accepted
worldwide.’” For the same reason, they are particular about the accuracy
of support and maintenance.
There’s a “strong bias for quality products
versus cost leadership” according to Racine
and Kogai highlights domestic preference for Japanese
brands. “In addition, the level of demand for the reliability of
products and solutions seems to be extremely high,” he says.
Of the AV channel, Austin observes that there
are typically far more layers between the manufacturer and the end user, and
that everybody seems more or less fine with this. In other markets, he says,
downstream customers are more likely to try and cut out layers in search of
better pricing, whereas Japanese customers value relationships and respect
everyone’s role – even if it is just as a transactional reseller with minimal
technical support capabilities.
“Local preference for the familiar means that
adoption of new technologies or design concepts can be painfully slow. This can
include the somewhat ‘Galapagos’ ways of presenting and controlling content on
command center video walls, the use of video matrix
switchers instead of AV-over-IP for source distribution in larger
installations.”
Olympic spotlight
The decision to hold the Olympics without
spectators has taken a heavy toll on the country, with many scheduled related
events and exhibitions being cancelled as a result.
“Probably as a result of this, the spotlight
will be on the parts of the event that contribute to broadcasting and the
staging of the opening and closing ceremonies,” says Iida.
There’s no escaping the public’s apathy and
even antipathy to its staging while the country is in emergency lockdown.
“I think the spotlight will be dimmed
considerably,” says Austin. “Fewer, perhaps even no spectators, will be present
to see the AV solutions being used, and there will be fewer public viewing
stations given the concerns about social distancing.”
Nonetheless, Japan is a very proud country,
says Racine, and no effort will be spared to deliver the best possible
Olympics experience worldwide. NHK, the state broadcaster, is producing the
Games’ Opening and Closing Ceremonies as well as some athletics, badminton,
football, judo and swimming, events in 8K UHD for Japan’s domestic consumption.
“If there is any area that will get
showcased, it is going to be the delivery of highly produced content over
internet protocol as both live production and content delivery will be powered
heavily by IP-based technologies,” he says.
While AV would normally expect an increase in
demand stimulated by an Olympics showcase, “the reality is that for integration
and installations, the recovery will most likely be seen once the Pandemic is
over or confined,” says Sampei. “The situation will probably not
improve dramatically until the country recovers.”
South Korea
Like Japan, Korea has avoided many of the
stricter lockdowns imposed in the West, which has helped. Its
economy shrunk 1% last year, the worst performance in over two
decades but is bouncing back driven by exports of chips and electronic goods.
“SK event companies have had a prosperous
period during the pandemic,” reports Fang Liu, Pixotope's VP Sales & Marketing, APAC. “Ranging from
private or corporate events to major national occasions, AR/VR/XR
technology has been widely adopted in almost every production to
maximise the viewer experience in the absence of an audience.”
Among them the P4G Seoul Summit, where SK
President Moon Jae-in gave a speech in an immersive environment rendered by Pixotope; and the 2021 V DIUM X KCON - a virtual
concert produced in greenscreen using Pixotope.
However, there’s a huge skills gap in the
market – “there’s simply not enough human resources properly qualified to work
on Unreal Engine,” Liu says. “The industry needs to invest in building up
the necessary capital.”
Liu goes on to note that some proAV manufacturers in the market have a “bad reputation due to
their poor choice of local partners/resellers which provide inefficient support
and services, “giving customers less security.
“Naturally, this means that the manufacturer
and the local partner need to have good communications, form a strong framework
of collaboration, and build up long-term trust and confidence.”
For its part Pixotope works with Donghwa AV, “a very
early entrant to virtual production technology and one which has
invested heavily in building up its Unreal expertise.
Datapath finds its Korean partners including
J inTech and Oneed to be “very professional, practical, and respectful – and not
so dissimilar from Japan, attentive to detail,” informs Austin. “Unlike Japan,
Korean customers are more willing to develop or integrate new technologies.
This includes greater use of AV over IP such as the use of VNC agents and H264
encoders for source distribution across a solution network.”
HYPERVSN holographic systems are popular in Japan and SK, where people are able to appreciate the really colourful and futuristic 3D images and videos our dev ce’s project,” says regional manager Timo Yorsh. “It is somewhat in their cultural code that they are used to being surrounded by illumination and neon in the street. “For our technology to be properly appreciated, it is important to see it live. Hopefully, by September- October the vaccination rates will be high enough that crowds will be drawn back to stores.”
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