Recently, Fox News proudly showed off their newly remodeled “Fox News Deck,” that featured expensive and HUGE new 55-inch touchscreens by Microsoft. Sadly, for Fox and Microsoft, those giant screens have a much lower resolution than even a 9.7-inch Retina display iPad.
The displays are sold by Microsoft, which last year acquired Perceptive Pixel, the manufacturer of the giant touchscreens. The screen is essentially a very high quality HDTV equipped with a “projected capacitative” multitouch sensor. The screens are powered by Windows 8 and can also be navigated using an “Active Stylus,” which works like a wireless remote control.
Fox News says the month-long remodeling of its studio was in response to viewership changes, as shifts are occurring among users who obtain their news from mobile phones and tablets.
“The way people consume news is changing,” said Jay Wallace, Vice President of News at the company. “People aren’t so linear. They don’t sit down and watch TV at a certain hour. You know, and stick with the same thing from show to show to show.”
The set includes at least ten of the massive displays, each of which goes for around $7,100.
“You’re looking for more than just a recap of the stories you’ve followed all day,” Fox News anchor Shepard Smith explained over a video of users reviewing their Twitter feed on an iPad and an iPhone. “Just like you, we get our news across multiple platforms. And this is the place where viewers can watch us sort it all out as it happens.”
He added, “we had to completely overhaul the way our news gathering works.” However, the “brand new tools to track developing stories,” that Smith said Fox was installing on stage for viewers to observe actually convey far less information that a typical pair of 17 inch computer screens.
The Microsoft PPI screens have a 1920×1080 (2 megapixel) resolution, the same as a standard HDTV. That’s a fraction the resolution of Apple’s 15 inch Retina Display MacBook Pro (2880×1800, or over 5 megapixels), and Apple’s Retina display iPad (2048×1536 or 3.1 megapixels).