Barcelona once again demonstrated its role as an international hub for the AV industry. Hans-Joerg Schieder, Heiko Müller and Robin Walz share the latest innovations and key trends they identified during their visit and professional exchange with peers.
Projectors are becoming more compact and quieter, with reduced power consumption while maintaining consistent luminous output. The range of ultra-short-throw lenses continues to expand.
With Auracast, Bluetooth is taking the next step in its evolution – unlocking significant potential for the audio sector. Users can connect directly to displays or event audio systems using their own headphones or hearing aids and receive personalized content such as language channels, assistive listening, or 3D audio. What once seemed like a distant vision is now becoming reality: the first market-ready solutions are already available.
Large-format E-Ink displays with higher resolutions and an increasingly comprehensive, realistic color range are emerging as a serious and sustainable alternative to traditional poster advertising, information displays, and wayfinding systems.
IP-based signal transmission such as NDI and SMPTE 2110 is establishing itself as the standard for modern production workflows. While SMPTE 2110 is already firmly established in studio environments due to its near-zero latency, NDI is rapidly catching up in terms of quality and latency. Applications now extend far beyond studio and broadcast environments: event venues are increasingly adopting IP-based infrastructures, as conventional cabling drives up costs. As a result, high-performance network infrastructure – particularly fiber optics – continues to gain importance.
IP-based production networks, while enabling new workflows, also introduce IT security risks. This creates a growing need for guidance among users and project owners on how such workflows should be structured and how networks can be effectively secured against potential threats. This was a major topic at ISE 2026.
The LED revolution in stage lighting continues. This year’s highlights included increased output performance, more compact fixtures, high-quality light spectra, moving systems, and further technological refinements.
Camera technology has also reached a new level: nearly all systems are now 4K or UHD capable. Auto-tracking for PTZ cameras has become standard for many manufacturers. A recent innovation is the PTZR camera, which, in addition to pan and tilt functions, enables rotation around its own axis – allowing even greater flexibility in production and live environments.
Our colleagues Marcus Blome and Felix Beckmann from our subsidiary Müller-BBM Acoustic Solutions GmbH were also on site. We greatly appreciated the lively exchange with industry peers and new contacts, as well as the many fresh ideas gained for future projects.
