That the concept of 4K has gripped the digital signage market was undeniable at ISE 2014. A year on from its introduction to the sector, the show resembled a feeding frenzy of companies desperate to grab a slice of the action, from the multitude of product launches at the show to the giant 4K logo that dominated the approach to the Christie stand.

The hype that surrounded the technology was such that it gave the impression of peacocking between manufacturers: "You've all been hearing people talk about having 4K, but the one thing you did not see anywhere else, except for here on the Crestron stand, is real 4K distribution," claimed the presenter positioned at the company's massive stand. Yet the hype around digital signage products with this resolution was not limited to the behemoths - companies as disparate as MultiTouch and Samsung were competing in much the same space when it came to releases.

Christie and SiliconCore both decided that bigger was better with their diverse 4K display offerings, demonstrating giant screens at their stands, the former with its Mirage 4K 25 with 120fps output and the latter with its even larger 584cm (230") LED Magnolia screen. While admittedly impressive in their respective halls, the effect of 4K resolution is somewhat diluted by the size - it is a resolution that works best for screens where the viewer can get up close and personal.

This was certainly the case on the Samsung stand, where the company released two 4K displays along with its upgraded Smart Signage Platform. The scrum around the company's flagship offering - a 241cm (95") display for retail use - proved that, for the right application, this is a technology that really can make people stop and stare.

NEC's stand included plenty of interesting content, including the soft launch of AR-style interactive software based on triangulation, but its principal offering was its 213cm 84" 4K LCD X841UHD, which demoed a BMW vehicle configurator, powered by an iPad, as a way of emphasising both the colour quality and the detail possible with an enlarged resolution. Panasonic also had its own 213cm (84") 4K Display at the show, which it intends to release world-wide in Q3 this year, along with a 238cm (94") screen.

Philips meanwhile, chose not to gamble with its foray into the market, showing pre-production samples of its UHD range, with the 165cm (65") and 213cm (84") on display due to be released later in the year. MultiTouch also chose to pursue this route, taking two touchscreen prototypes, at 213cm (84") and 140cm (55") respectively, to the show with the aim of soliciting attendee feedback and inclusion in RFPs ahead of a launch anticipated for this summer.

"We believe that 4K will take over the single display market," believes Hannu Antilla, business development manager for MultiTouch. "We have long gestation periods with our products - six to twelve months, even - so we want to put these products into projects now, ahead of a launch around InfoComm time."

Beyond the displays themselves, many media player specialists were also lauding their latest 4K wares. BrightSign made a point of showcasing its player on a cheap display as a way of proving the ability of the media player to drive H.265 content at 60fps. Advantech launched a new 4K player based on Intel Bay Trail, which it exhibited in conjunction with partners, such as Net Display Systems, Matrox and Mitsubishi. Onelan was also on hand with a player based on Bay Trail Atom processors, although its stand looked more distinctly at specific applications for the technology on show, including menuboards.

ISE 2014 proved that, while hype abounds over this new resolution, there is still confusion as to what makes a product suitable to be labelled 4K. In a way, it didn't matter - the 4K products on display at the show clearly stood head and shoulders above rivals' high-definition screens. For all of the quibbling about whether BrightSign's (or anybody else's) media player was really 'true' 4K, there was no doubt that the end result was stunning video quality regardless.

A year on from the first flurry of 4K launches, we now have an increasing range of displays and media players capable of handling 4K. Yet the market has yet to adopt this resolution on a grand scale, and many of the more innovative content providers at the show, such as Seenspire, are predominantly creating exciting content at a lower image quality than 4K, in line with the customer requirements. It is likely that these companies will be itching to move into content creation for this resolution, but more needs to be done to drive interest among the general public for this technology.

We have the screens; we have the media players. Now we need the right 4K content - and promotion of the right applications - to drive widespread adoption among end users.