At 7 a.m. on August 6, Beijing time, the opening ceremony of the 31st Summer Olympics was held at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This may be the poorest opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in the past two decades. However, for Brazil, whose economy is relatively depressed but passionate and energetic, it does not seem difficult to give the Olympic Games a more eye-catching opening ceremony. Watching the entire Olympic Games opening ceremony, probably the most impressive thing for people is: projection, singing, and dancing. The visual show created by 110 20,000 lumen projectors conveys strong Brazilian emotions and shows the passion for the Olympics. Compared with the large number of LED displays used to help the opening of the Olympic Games in 2008, at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games held in Brazil, apart from LED lights to create various stage effects, there were not many LED displays. This has to cause the LED industry to think deeply.
It is understood that the budget for the opening ceremony of the Brazilian Olympic Games is only 21 million US dollars, less than half of the London Olympics. Therefore, it is not easy to hold an opening ceremony with a reputation that is at least as good as previous ones. Being frugal is frugal in many aspects. Choosing relatively low-cost display equipment is indeed the best choice for Brazil. As projection and other technologies have continued to improve in recent years, they are increasingly able to meet customer needs. Therefore, in many occasions, LED displays no longer seem to be necessary. As we all know, the cost of LED displays is high, which is a big burden for Brazil, which has a relatively difficult economy. Secondly, although LED display technology is constantly improving, its control is still difficult, and the cost of manpower and material resources may increase during use. Finally, the engineering construction of LED displays is also relatively complex. Therefore, economically underdeveloped countries do not dare to use expensive and large display equipment easily.
In addition to a large number of projection equipment, the opening ceremony of the Brazilian Olympic Games was also enhanced by the use of virtual technology. For example, the groups of little people in red clothes jumping and running among the rising buildings that were presented to the audience at the opening ceremony were created using visual virtual technology. The use of projection and virtual technology made the opening ceremony of the entire Brazilian Olympic Games colorful. The effect displayed was also twice the result with half the effort for Brazil, and was no less than the opening ceremonies of previous Olympic Games. The wonderful display at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games seems to have corrected the misunderstanding that many people believe that LED displays must be used on many occasions. Although LED displays can be the icing on the cake for many large-scale events, such as the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games held in Beijing in 2008, with the continuous advancement of various display technologies, LED displays no longer seem to have the supreme status.
For this reason, with the continuous advancement of projection technology and the increasingly popular use of virtual technology, should the LED display industry sound the alarm? The author believes that, first of all, LED manufacturers should get rid of the practice of relying on key engineering projects to promote LED displays; secondly, for the long-term development of LED displays and to be more competitive in the display field, the industry should work together to fully consider market demands at different levels. Through technological progress and emerging display technologies such as virtualization, we can reduce manufacturing costs, reduce the difficulty of operation and use, simplify its engineering construction, and do our best to make the screens affordable and controllable in fields of different economic levels. Only in this way will it be more likely to make LED displays irreplaceable.
ANNA