By Molly Stillman Director of Marketing and New Business Development
The year was 1963. Chris Huston, the lead guitarist for The Undertakers, voted the third-best rock and roll group in Liverpool at the time, was hanging out with the rest of his band near the back of the Cavern Club where they were having a lunchtime playing session. They hanging out with their friends George, Paul and John from a little better-known group called the Beatles.
Brian Epstein, the manager for the Beatles at the time, came down the stairs and interrupted the boys’ conversation. Epstein pointed at Chris and a couple of bandmates and said, “I’d like to see a couple of you boys in my office later,” and walked away.
Chris said, “What was that about?”
John looked at him and said, “I think he wants to manage you guys.”
“But we already have Ralph Webster — we’ve got plenty of places to play,” Chris retorted.
The next thing he knew, John smiled at him said, “Good job! He ain’t done nothing for us, yet,” threw out an expletive or two, and walked away. And that’s the day The Undertakers turned down Epstein as their manager and Chris was cursed at by John Lennon.
Today Chris Huston is the senior acoustical engineer for Rives Audio, but he’s no stranger to the industry. Huston is the man you want to listen to for hours. I could write a book on the life of Chris Huston.
It was a Tuesday morning when I hopped on Skype to have my interview with Chris. I knew he’d been a performer for years. I knew that he was well versed in the audio segment of the industry. I knew that Chris was really a pioneer with audio production and engineering. I was prepared.
What I wasn’t prepared for what his level of enthusiasm and passion for the industry, and the incredible experiences that led him to where he is today.
Before moving to the United States in 1965, Chris spent a good number of years playing lead guitar for a few different bands in the Liverpool Merseybeat music scene before finding his niche with leading British beat group, The Undertakers. The Undertakers opened for groups like Gerry & the Pacemakers and The Beatles, and sometimes those groups would even open for The Undertakers.
“The Beatles borrowed our amps quite a few times,” said Huston. “I mean, we had the better amps, and they knew it.”
After moving to the U.S. in 1965 to do a tour and record an album with the band, Chris realized he didn’t want to play anymore.
“I wasn’t a guitar king,” Chris said. “I was adequate, but I had ideas. I saw the potential in the recording industry. Whenever I worked with a group they’d be like, ‘Where should we setup? What should we do?’ and I’d tell them to set up like they’re rehearsing — that’s a good place to start. I was making it easier on the groups and making them feel comfortable, I realized we were no longer taking the creative energy out. Unfortunately, that’s what happened to us [The Undertakers] when we recorded for PYE records. We were told where to stand and the tone and volume of our amplifiers was adjusted by the recording engineers.”
This was all before multi-track recording.
And Chris quickly realized that if he wanted to be a decent producer, he needed to get a working understanding of engineering — how records were made, and more than just his own understanding. Chris needed to learn the ins and outs of engineering.
So he stayed at the Pye Records studio and learned to become a producer. He slept on the couch in the back office at the studio. He mopped floors and acted as a second engineer and he started to bring groups in.
Back then, records were made using a 4-track recorder. The band would play live in the studio and each thing would go on four specific tracks.
For example a typical track assignment might be:
Track One: Rhythm
Track Three: Strings and Horns
Tracks Two or Four: Vocals and any overdubs as you worked between the tracks
So, using the ’ping-pong’ method you would be able to record on one track, then ‘bounce’ recording that to another track while adding any additional instruments and/or vocals — you just couldn’t ping pong between adjacent tracks or else you’d get feedback. So, Tracks One and Three, Tracks Two and Four, or Tracks One and Four could all be used for ping ponging, but never Track Two and Three, which were adjacent. Many great records were made in this manner, including some of the Beatles albums.
Then, in 1967, 8-track came along and the ability to break things up more became available. Then, 16-track and 24-track recording machines followed quickly.
But as Chris learned more about engineering and the advancement of recording, he learned things were taking a turn for the worse.
“In an effort to further isolate instruments and vocals, they had to change the beautiful acoustics of the rooms,” Chris said. “They took the LIVENESS out of the rooms — they killed those beautiful live acoustics in order to improve the ability to separate tracks in a multi-track machine. Before, you’d have two or three mics on a drumset. Then suddenly, you found yourself with 10 to 12 mics or more on a drumset.
“Back then you were documenting a performance. Today, you’re creating a performance.”
And despite this “turn for the worse," Chris has had the pleasure of working with artists like Led Zeppelin; The Who; Benny King and the Drifters; Patti LaBelle and the Bluebells; Blood, Sweat & Tears; James Brown; War; Sweetwater and many other great musicians and singers. Chris also has a Grammy to his name for his work on War’s “The World is a Ghetto.”
To this day, Chris has taken his love of producing and engineering and transferred that knowledge and experience that to his work at Rives. He now designs home theaters, high-end listening rooms and recording studios, both commercially and in homes.
He really does love what he does. But he still remembers those days in Liverpool as one of the leading bands on the Merseybeat music scene.
Today he also still gets asked for his autograph. I kind of want his autograph. The truth is, I won’t ever be able to do the coolness of Chris Huston justice.
Molly Stillman is the director of marketing and new business development for rAVe [Publications]. Reach her at molly@ravepubs.com
Do you know someone in the industry with an interesting story that should be featured in our monthly column? Email Molly and let her know
By Mario J. Maltese, CTS-D, CTS-I, CQT Executive Director, The Association for Quality in Audio Visual Technology, Inc.
This is the third in a multi-part series from the Association for Quality in Audio Visual Technology (AQAV) and its push for everyone in AV to adopt the AV9000 standard for quality management. Read the first article here and the second article here.
What is "AV9000 compliant" — and how can I participate?
The larger the organization, the more difficult it is to manage quality, and the more difficult it is for the organization to obtain full ISO9001:2008 Certification.
But let's say your company has been following along with the movement, has invested in the necessary AV instrumentation and has initiated the tests at Staging and Commissioning that the AV9000 calls for in all its projects. Is there some recognition for that paradigm shift, to let your customers and prospective customers know that their system will indeed be installed on-time, complete and according to the best industry practices?
Certainly, it trumpets a policy of quality, and adds credibility to a prospective buyer that management is serious about delivering a system that is consistent with what the customer ordered.
In an effort to provide a "stepping stone" for organizations to reach certification, AQAV has begun to recognize AV Companies that have worked at least the Staging and Commissioning battery of tests into their processes, and to measure performance. The details for applying are found on the AQAV website: http://aqav.org/Page_8.html
What are the advantages?
Significant drop in costs, from several areas. Speed improves, as the team becomes more systematic, and tends to do things "right" the first time. Call-backs to the jobsite drop considerably when jobs are not only "done," but "done-done." Less equipment ordered for a job that will never be installed because it is the wrong equipment.
Special consideration from technology managers and buyers, who recognize that vendors who can manage their quality drop their hidden costs on projects, and revise their procurement practices according to the total cost of procurement rather than price tags.
A shift in morale from a mindset of fixing blame to one of organization-wide continual improvement.
Satisfied customers become a highly effective sales force.
User Interface Prof. Takashi Ohta and his colleagues at Tokyo University of Technology have demonstrated a means for linking displays through a new user interface they call “Pinch.” As shown in the images and video below, the Pinch interface allows users to wirelessly connect via Wi-Fi the displays of multiple touch screen devices.
By placing one finger on each of two devices and pinching the fingers together, the displays of each device link up to display an enlarged view of the underlying image or application. The user or users can then interact with the enlarged image or application just as though it was displayed on a single larger device. Several displays and displays of different orientations and sizes, for example two smartphones and a tablet, can also be linked using Pinch.
The developers note that multiple screen views can be changed dynamically while the application is running on each device. This feature of Pinch is perhaps best illustrated at the researchers’ website (Note to readers: the QuickTime video takes several seconds to load and must be double-clicked to run). A video illustrating the use of Pinch with comments by Prof. Ohta is provided below.
Utilizing the Pinch concept the researchers aim to enable a user interface that can provide for new forms of interactions. For example, by rearranging devices in different orientations, the Pinch user interface can trigger a reaction of the displayed information. The idea is to inspire new application designs offering new interaction capabilities that are not achievable with a single display or a static multi-display environment. Operating environments like Pinch in which multiple users can interact should appeal to developers of social media applications.
Prof. Ohta sees plenty of potential applications, saying, “This Pinch interface we’ve developed is used to create applications that make devices react when they’ve both been pinched, so they work together. In the case of a graphics application, when the devices recognize they’ve been pinched, they can show the whole picture as if it’s on one screen.”
"You could use Pinch to develop a variety of apps. For example, with a music app, if you connect devices horizontally, you could keep playing music for a long time.
"People probably own just one of these devices each. So, I think people could communicate in fun ways, by getting together with friends and putting their devices next to each other. In the case of advertising, I think you could create applications where people put their devices together to talk about the products.
"We’ve presented Pinch at conferences, but we haven’t shown it to the public yet. We’d like people to use this system to develop apps. So, we’re offering Pinch to developers and are basically just asking them to do something with it. We’ve just started several projects like that."
Prof. Ohta and his research colleagues are also working on additional display and user interface developments. One project, “Strobe” is an automatic multi-display configuration tool. Strobe (see image below and a video at the researchers’ web site) utilizes a webcam and a PC and allows multiple displays to be quickly rearranged to form a dynamic multi-display environment. A system based on Strobe could be used to control a video wall display that could be easily and rapidly reconfigured — for example by sales staff in a retail sales setting.
Ongoing user interface research around the globe on projects like Pinch and Strobe is enabling new devices, systems and applications. Now will someone pinch me to make sure that I’m not just making this stuff up.
With the launch of the iPhone and iPad, as well as the new Macbook, Apple has continued on its path of increasing its display resolution. Apple created the term “Retina display” not just as a marketing phrase, but to educate end users about high resolution. Apple has been leading the trend in displays with high pixels per inch (ppi, the measurement of resolution), especially with the launch of iPhone 4, the first smart phone with a resolution of more than 300 ppi, and the new iPad, the first tablet PC with over 200 ppi.
However, other smart device makers, including Samsung, HTC, Google, Amazon, Sony, Lenovo and ASUS are closely following Apple, and in some cases have introduced products with higher resolutions, such as Google’s Nexus 10 tablet PC, with a 10.1” 2560×1600 display at 298 ppi, and coming smart phones using 5.0” 1920×1080 displays at 490 ppi.
Many speculated that Apple would introduce the Retina display concept into all of its products and keep increasing resolution, but the iPad Mini does not have a Retina display, and the iPhone 5 are not higher resolution compared to their predecessors, iPhone 4 and iPad. So will Apple continue to lead the trend of the high resolution? Or has the company decided that current resolutions are good enough, and is focusing on improvements in form factor and power consumption?
The pixel density of Apple’s iPhone 4, new iPad, new Macbook Air and new Macbook are exactly 4 times of the pixel density of their predecessors (iPhone 3, iPad 2, Macbook Air and Macbook), as shown in the figure. One possible scenario is that Apple will increase the resolution of the iPad and iPad mini display to 330 PPI, which would mean that its three main mobile devices will have Retina displays, with roughly the same resolution.
Exceeding 300 ppi in a tablet PC display may require new technologies, particularly oxide TFT (such as IGZO) because of the high electron mobility required to drive small pixels at low power consumption. Sharp was the first to mass produce oxide TFT panels, but Samsung, LG Display, AUO and Chimei are all working on oxide TFT as well, for the sake of readiness for Apple’s requirement. In addition, high pixel densities will increase backlight power consumption, and thermal dissipation of the LED is also a concern. All of these are challenges for the panel makers.
It is not yet clear whether Apple intends to upgrade the resolution of the iPad and iPad mini. However, end users are becoming used to 300 PPI and higher in smart phones, so they may be looking for the same level of the pixel density in tablet PCs.
Apple’s display resolution evolution (blue) and potential upgrades (yellow):
This column was reprinted with permission from DisplaySearch and originally appeared here.
As 2012 comes to an end, the LCD TV panel market continues to be tight due to new process technologies, capacity conversions, a strong Chinese market and average size growth. New sizes like 39”, 50”, 58”, 60” and 65” were successful in 2012, and some sizes are becoming mainstream with wide adoption and volume growth.
Looking toward 2013, established sizes (e.g. 26”, 32”, 37”, 40”/42”, 46”/47” and 55”) will give way to new sizes as the TV brands adjust their product mix. In the latest NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly LCD TV Value Chain Report, we compared the 2013 panel product mix of all panel suppliers to the LCD TV size mix in the Quarterly Global TV Shipment & Forecast Report. As the figure below shows, we found that there are great differences between the panel suppliers and buyers.
Panel makers want to maximize the efficiency of each fab generation, while the TV brands want to maximize market share and revenue. As a result, their goals do not match perfectly all the time. And now, as panel makers aggressively expand into new sizes, the mismatch is growing more serious. When the market is tight, the push from panel makers is usually stronger than the pull from LCD TV brands. Many LCD TV brands will have to adjust their product mixes accordingly.
There are numerous factors affecting the size mismatch:
To pursue the highest capacity utilization and value, panel makers have been moving faster to larger sizes than LCD TV brands, especially for 46”, 47”, 50”, 55”, 58”, 60”, and above.
The very low priced 60” has changed the ecosystem. Some Chinese TV brands introduced 58” to compete with 60”. Samsung and LG Display are producing more 60” to compete with Sharp and Vizio. Since Gen 8 is not optimized for 60”, panel makers are using “multi-model glass” in which they make 60” and 32” panels on the same substrate.
Almost all panel makers in Taiwan, Japan, and Korea are planning to reduce their 32” production in 2013. The tightness of 32” gives Chinese panel makers a great opportunity to obtain design wins with international brands.
To prepare for the possible replacement of 46”/47” with 50”, most TV brands that are selling 46”/47” are using 50” panels. These include Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Vizio, LG Electronics, and Chinese brands.
The lack of Gen 7, especially in China, is creating a shortage of 40”/42”. Panel makers like AUO, LG Display, and Chimei Innolux are planning to produce more 42” in Gen 8.
Many TV brands are adjusting their product mix for 2013. Samsung’s strong dominance enables it to add every new size to its product line. Toshiba recently shifted from current mainstream sizes like 40”, 46”, and 55” to new sizes like 39”, 50”, and 58”. Sony is considering 42” and 39” to avoid concentrating too much on 40”. TV brands in China are coping with a complicated Chinese TV market since Chinese consumers tend to go for new products.
This column was reprinted with permission from DisplaySearch and was originally published here.
Get Involved To Help Hurricane Sandy Victims and Those Hurt By Other Disasters
Our industry has always been known for being a small, tight-knit community. We are not just companies, competitors and professional colleagues — we are friends, confidants, and supporters of each other, in the best of times and the worst.
Our hearts and prayers go out to the people and businesses (many of our own) in the northeast that have been devastated by and will continue to suffer the effects of the second largest storm in our country’s history, both personally and professionally.
Please join us and get involved in helping victims of Hurricane Sandy who desperately need our help. Let’s come together as we have so many times and bring much needed support and technical solutions to help people rebuild and return to their lives with hope and encouragement.
Our immediate goal is to equip shelters with a portable projection screen and projector or a flat panel display in time to watch the Macy’s Day Parade. This is a cherished and long standing tradition for the people of New York and New Jersey and your assistance will help bring the sense of community and togetherness that makes up the very fabric of who they are.
We also need volunteers, both with delivering gear and installing it, as well as creating a database of AV professionals who can respond in the future when a disaster hits around the country.
Time is of the essence. Our entire industry is about helping and making life easier for our customers and clients. Well, there are people who need us RIGHT NOW that we will never meet, will never be a return customer and will probably never know who we are. But, they will ALWAYS remember that we appreciate the challenges they face and in some small way, hope to make their road ahead a little less riddled with twists and turns.
Volunteer: Can you volunteer a day or more worth of work, as an installer, engineer, or doing clean-up? We are looking for both short-term volunteers for the NY/NJ area and also volunteers to sign up in the event of a future disaster in other parts of the county. Please fill out a quick form here: http://www.itdrc.org/volunteer.html
Donate: We want to help shelters with providing large audience viewing displays in time for the Macy’s Day Parade and assist the ITRDC with providing Internet connectivity to shelters long-term.
Can you donate the following new or used equipment?
Projector(s)
Portable projection screen(s)
Flat panel display(s)
Cabling (Cat 3/5/6, HDMI, fiber)
Equipment racks
Power conditioning equipment
UPS equipment
Please ship these items to either:
Staten Island
Attn: Carl V. Bini Memorial Fund
18 Hervey Street
Staten Island NY 10309
Long Island
Attn: ITDRC c/o Digital Sales Group New York
1227 Walt Whitman Rd.
Melville, NY 11747
The ITDRC is in significant need of UPS, power protection and network equipment. If you can donate any of these items or other equipment, please email: partner@itdrc.org
The ITDRC also needs our help in winning $5,000 worth of gas to continue providing relief. Please vote for them in the Fueling Good contest! You can vote once a day, every day through Wed., Nov. 28th. It takes two seconds; let’s help them win by voting here: http://www.fuelinggood.com/rewardinggood?id=1305703
Partner in Sound Productions and JD Systems are also helping Staten Island receive all necessary items to recover and rebuild through the Carl V. Bini Memorial Fund. This fund was started in memory of Carl V. Bini, a New York firefighter tragically taken during 9/11. They can really use gift cards to major department stores and Home Depot, as well as, cash donations. You can find information on how to help here: http://jdsystems.tv/hurricane-sandy-relief-for-staten-island/
Finally, our special thanks to the generous contributions of Access Networks, ITDRC, Partners in Sound Productions, JD Systems, Digital Sales Group NY, Women in AV, Crestron, FSR and Kramer Electronics. They are leading the efforts to get help those in need and we applaud them for all they are doing to help.
Christie Shows World’s First 72,000-Lumen Laser Projection
By Bob Snyder Editor, rAVe Europe
The last record for lumens in laser projection was Christie’s own 63,000-lumen record, set at IBC Show in September. Now Christie raises the bar again for achieving the world’s brightest laser projection.
In Beijing, Christie did a demo of its prototype laser projector: the world’s first 72,000-lumen laser projection. Short movie clips of 3D content projected on a 20-meter wide by 12-meter high screen were screened at typical 3D brightness levels of 3-4 foot-lamberts and then using the laser projector at 14 foot-lamberts at the theater of Wanda Shi Jin Shan Cinema, leaving the audiences in awe.
“Today’s laser projection demo was fabulous! I’m impressed with the ultra brightness and life-like colours delivered onto the screen,” says Ning Ye, general manager of Wanda Group.
Presenting at the laser demo event, Don Shaw, senior director, product management, Christie Entertainment Solutions said, “Audiences deserve to see the brightest 3D with 14 foot-lamberts on cinema screens. Our demonstration today showed just how truly spectacular a movie maker’s vision can be realised when shown at the highest light levels, making the shared experience more immersive, and, ultimately, driving more cinema ticket sales.”
Dr. Shaw continued, “Some attendees leave 3D movies complaining of headaches, fatigue and sore eyes. Just like reading a book in low light levels, low brightness on the movie screen is one of the reasons for these complaints. Delivering more lumens to the screen will help address these effects, as will the advent of ‘eye-easy’ high frame rate (HFR) movies.”
Commenting on the laser projector, Shaw said, “There are a half-a-dozen different ‘forks in the road’ decisions that have to be made when designing a laser-projection system and most manufacturers will take different paths.”
Shaw also shared with the exhibitors information on Christie IMB, an integrated media block solution that seamlessly converts and delivers feature-film and alternative content within a secure environment to all of Christie’s 2K and 4K, DCI-compliant Solaria Series 2 projectors. Following his presentation, the audiences were treated to a demo of Christie IMB showcasing MPEG2 contents.
Cisco is basically hiding this white paper, but we found it — and it's a great read. Basically, it goes over the basics about how the cloud works.
As our market starts seeing more cloud applications (e.g., VTC systems that are cloud-based), as well as content sending (e.g., digital signage delivery) via the cloud, this is white paper is a good primer on how this all works.
Q3 Projectors Market Quarterly Highlights from Futuresource Consulting
The calendar year Q3 projectors market came in at 2,032K units, 3.6 percent up on the previous quarter and showing very slight year-on-year growth on Q3 2011 (2,029K units), according to the latest round of research from Futuresource Consulting.
The flattening and — in some cases — decline of the developed markets in Europe and the Americas is borne out in the Q3 numbers and while growth was achieved across many emerging regions the current suspension of a number of key education projects in territories such as Mexico and Indonesia casts doubt on the prospect of year-on-year growth for full calendar year 2012 volumes.
Futuresource Research: EMEA
In the EMEA region, Western Europe posted a regional total of 304K units, 15 percent down on CYQ3 2011, the shortfall in demand coming from the entry level data projector and the home cinema segments which achieved good volumes in CYQ2 2012 prior to the start of the European Football Championships. However, promotional stock left in the channel after the close of the championships negatively impacted demand with the greatest decline in volumes seen in Germany. The MEA region posted a strong result this quarter with reportedly good sales across a number of surrounding territories including Iran being serviced by distribution partners based out of the UAE. Turkey which had seen a drastic decline in volumes going to the education business in the first half of the year, after the announcement and administration of phase one of the Fatih tender for interactive flat panels, posted a strong quarter at 29.1K units. Increased demand coming from the private school sector where both Smart and Promethean won sizeable deals to supply IWB and some smaller education tenders in the public sector. Russia once again posted good year-on-year growth of 40 percent with a total volume of 77.5K units after strong demand in the education sector across a number of regions, strong demand from the education business is expected to continue through CYQ3 2012.
Futuresource Research: Americas
In the Americas region the USA posted a quarterly total of 375K units a year-on-year decline of 7.1 percent, feedback from the market suggests a relatively flat education season that was not as poor as expected earlier in the year, but considerably down on volumes seen in previous years. The HDT project in Mexico’s primary schools remains a question mark. The project which plans to install up to 165,000 classrooms with projectors and IWB’s has, as yet, failed to gain the support of the incoming government. Meetings to discuss the future of the project are scheduled for the first two weeks of November. Brazil continued to offer good run rate and regional tender opportunities, while the 2nd and 3rd rounds of MEC projects, tenders totaling a possible 200K have been postponed until next year.
Futuresource Research: Asia Pacific
In the Asia Pacific region, after a strong start to the year China posts a solid quarter at 515K units to achieve YTD growth of 5.5 percent on the period CYQ1-3 2011, China remains the #1 global market. The impact on Japanese vendors of the continuing political dispute between Japan and China will be an interesting development to watch. Growth in short throw projection is once again seen in China with short throw units accounting for 21 percent of all volumes shipped, sizeable growth on CYQ3 2011 where short throw projection accounted for 13 percent of total volume. In Indonesia, allegations of corruption made against Ministry of Education officials has reportedly led to the suspension of funding, at a central level, for the governments ambitious plans to equip 75 percent of classrooms with a projector by 2014. The project continues in some regions with smaller scale installations being tendered at a district level.
Registration for ISE and Insight Media's new event, the Megapixel Summit, is now open. These events will run from January 28-31, 2013 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Attendees can register at: https://registration.n200.com/survey/0yl7cuq9zpx4k?check=1
The Megapixel Summit taps into a growing trend to create large display solutions with resolution well in excess of full HD. Such solutions are becoming more and more popular in digital signage, visualization, simulation, rental and staging and other professional and corporate markets.
The Megapixel Summit will focus on understanding how pixels are generated, processed, distributed, and displayed on a variety of display technologies. These are complex solutions that can feature a wide range of input pixel resolutions and formats, and an even greater range of output formats and display types.
The goal of the Megapixel Summit is to provide useful and comprehensive information on the components of these solutions as well as providing insight, case studies and tips on how to configure successful megapixel solutions.
To accomplish this goal, you will hear from the leaders in this space: Christie Digital, Scalable Display Technology, Barco, Planar Systems, Eyevis, nVidia, Dimenco, with more speakers and sponsors to be announced soon.
The Megapixel Summit consists of three sessions, and you can register for one, two or all three:
Monday, Jan. 28, 10:00 am-1:00 pm — Megapixel Components – Technology, Products and Trends – Part 1
Monday, Jan. 28, 2:30 pm -5:30 pm — Megapixel Components – Technology, Products and Trends – Part 2
Tuesday, Jan 29, 10:00 am-1:00 pm — Megapixel Solutions – Case Studies and System Integration
Reuters is reporting that Panasonic is going to eliminate another 10,000 jobs by the end of Q1 2013. According to the Reuters story posted today, Panasonic's Chief Finance Officer Hideaki Kawai said that the 36,000 jobs they've eliminated so far just weren't enough. He told Reuters, "Our new boss has said businesses must achieve at least a 5 percent operating profit target within three years."
And, they can't do that without eliminating another 10,000 people.
Apparently, Panasonic needs a profit of $2.5 Billion by Q2 2014 (March 2014) and right now, they're forecast is to lose approximately $10 Billion in the current fiscal year, which ends March 2013.
The new F35 Panorama projector from projectiondesign has an exceptionally wide image aspect ratio of 21:9 or 2.37:1. In an office environment with an average ceiling height, this enables images as wide as 4 meters (13 feet) to be created without the need for edge-blending the output of two separate projectors or simultaneous side-by-side projection of images from two separate sources. Users can fill an entire screen from a single source, or, for example, set up a video conference call next to a computer presentation.
Based on projectiondesign’s F35 single-chip DLP platform, the F35 Panorama has a resolution of 2560×1080, which is 35 percent more horizontal pixels than 1080p HD, as well as a brightness spec of 7,000 ANSI lumens and an 8000:1 contrast ratio.
Inputs include two DVI, two HDMI, two VGA and one component video port. It also has RS232 or IP control and an assortment of lenses available, ranging from 0.75:1 to 6.5:1.
NEC Display has introduced the VE281 and VE281X mobile projectors, which are aimed at small meeting rooms, schools and conference room installs. Both projectors are specified at 2,800 lumens, offer auto power on and quick startup/shutdown, an Eco Mode, a carbon savings meter and extended filter life. They also have energy-saving features such as NEC's Intelligent Driving Scheme (IDS2) technology to extend the lamp life of the projector up to 6,000 hours in Eco Mode and 4,000 hours in normal use.
The VE281 is native SVGA (800×600) resolution and the VE281X is native XGA (1024×768) resolution, using a one-chip DLP engine with a BrilliantColor chip with a specified contrast ratio of 3,000:1. Inputs include HDMI and VGA (both ports automatically turn on the projector when they detect a signal). The VE281 and VE281X will be available in January 2013 with a list price of $369 and $449, respectively.
InFocus has introduced the IN1144 projector, which weighs less than 2 pounds and is roughly the size of a paperback book. The LED-lit projector claims a life of up to 30,000 hours and garners a brightness spec of 500 lumens. Using a native 1280×800 1-chip DLP engine, the IN1144 specifies a contrast ratio of 10,000:1 and has HDMI, VGA and USB inputs for content as well as an SD slot. Since it's LED-based, it only uses 85 watts and includes built-in 2-watt speakers.
Sharp just started shipping its new 90" HDTV in the form of the LC-90LE745U — the world’s largest LED TV. Specs include four HDMI 1.4 inputs, a VGA port, a component video port and a built in ATSC tuner. It's capable of 3D imaging, offers a refresh rate of 240Hz and has built-in Wi-Fi. The native 1920x1080p LCD has a full-array backlit LED with a specified contrast ratio of 8,000,000:1 and offers a 176-degree viewing angle.
Marketed as part of the AQUOS product line, it's a SmartTV with apps that include Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, HuluPlus and VUDU.
SANUS is now shipping the largest line of iPad mounts we've seen, including mounts for on the wall, under a cabinet, on any flat surface or on anything metal via a magnet.
They include four different models:
VTM1: For flat surface, desk, under cabinet or magnetic surface mounting: http://www.sanus.com/us/en/products/visionmount/ipad-mount/VTM1
VTM5: For desk, under cabinet or magnetic surface mounting: http://www.sanus.com/us/en/products/visionmount/ipad-mount/VTM5
VTM6: For on-wall or magnetic surface mounting: http://www.sanus.com/us/en/products/visionmount/ipad-mount/VTM6
VTM7: For magnetic surface mounting: http://www.sanus.com/us/en/products/visionmount/ipad-mount/VTM7
Almo Professional A/V, an audiovisual distributor, announced it will host “AV Snacks,” a new, interactive mini-webinar series created to provide relevant industry trends, application examples and more to busy AV professionals. The 15-minute snack-style webinars, which will be led by Almo Pro A/V vendor partners, are designed to give attendees a “taste” of a particular topic each week in a format that is lively and engaging. AV Snacks will take place every Friday at 2:00 p.m. E.T. starting Nov. 9.
Upcoming topics include a discussion with Atlas Sound about audio systems for bars and restaurants, NEC talking about increasing revenue with advertising in small business clients and ZeeVee's discussion of digital modulation and upgrading from analog to digital.
To read the complete press release online, click here.
USAV, an association of professional audio-visual (ProAV) integrators, has hired Adam Ochs to the company's Colorado-based team. He will serve as the operations manager for the organization. Adam has extensive experience in process management, data analysis, and financial management. He is a graduate of CU-Denver and a veteran of the U.S. Navy. He is tasked with streamlining processes and making USAV a more efficient and effective organization.
To read the complete press release online, click here.
Meyer Sound Promotes Two Employees, Adds One New One
Meyer Sound has announced two key promotions in the digital products team: Richard Bugg is now audio show control product manager and Jason Rauhoff takes over many of Bugg’s former responsibilities as the company’s new senior digital products support specialist. In addition, Cirque du Soleil veteran Robert Mele has joined the support staff as digital products field support specialist.
To read the complete press release online, click here.
FSR, a Passaic County-based manufacturer, has rallied behind fellow New Jerseyans in the wake of Sandy to provide relief for the superstorm’s victims. Accompanied by a team of FSR volunteers, company president, Jan Sandri arrived at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Highlands, NJ on Nov. 9 in vehicles packed with food, paper products, cleaning supplies, clothing and checks.
To read the complete press release online, click here.
Milestone employees participated in a blood drive on Oct. 31 in combination with headquarters neighbors Gassen Companies and Connexions Loyalty Travel Solutions. The drive had already been planned long before Hurricane Sandy became a reality, but the events on the East Coast gave the blood drive an extra sense of urgency and weight. Volunteers quickly filled the few empty donation spots still on the schedule.
To read the complete press release online, click here.
Savant Systems LLC has announced that Southeastern Sales Associates, Inc. (SESales) will represent the brand to the custom electronics channel in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee beginning immediately.
To read the complete press release online, click here.
For graduating students to get a foothold in the AV and systems integration industries, they need to be up to speed on the technologies that are most popularly used in the field. Recently, the Sheffield Institute for the Recording Arts (SIRA) teamed with Crestron to co-develop professional development curriculum for the graduating class at the vocational school in Maryland.
To read the complete press release online, click here.
For all you REGULAR readers of rAVe ProAV Edition out there, hopefully you enjoyed another opinion-packed issue!
For those of you NEW to rAVe, you just read how we are — we are 100 percent opinionated. We not only report the news and new product stories of the ProAV industry, but we stuff the articles full of our opinions. That may include (but is not limited to) whether or not the product is even worth looking at, challenging the manufacturers on their specifications, calling a marketing-spec bluff and suggesting ways integrators market their products better. But, one thing is for sure, we are NOT a trade publication that gets paid for running editorial or product stories. Traditional trade publications get paid to run product stories — that's why you see what you see in most of the pubs out there. We are different: we run what we want to run and NO ONE is going to pay us to write anything good (or bad).
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A little about me: I graduated from Journalism School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (where I am adjunct faculty). I've been in the AV-industry since 1987 where I started with Extron and eventually moved to AMX. So, I guess I am an industry veteran (although I don't think I am that old). I have been an opinionated columnist for a number of industry publications and in the late 1990s I started the widely read KNews eNewsletter (the first in the AV market) and also created the model for and was co-founder of AV Avenue, which is now known as InfoComm IQ. rAVe [Publications] has been around since 2003, when we launched our original newsletter, rAVe ProAV Edition.
Everything we publish is Opt-in — we spam NO ONE! rAVe ProAV Edition is our flagship ePublication with what we believe is a reach of virtually everyone in the ProAV market. rAVe HomeAV Edition, co-published with CEDIA and launched in February 2004, is, by far, the largest ePub in the HomeAV market. We added rAVe Rental [and Staging] in November 2007, rAVe ED [Education] in May 2008 and then rAVe DS [Digital Signage] in January 2009. We added rAVe GreenAV in August 2010 and rAVe HOW [House of Worship] in July 2012. You can subscribe to any of those publication or see ALL our archives by going to: https://www.ravepubs.com
Copyright 2012 – rAVe [Publications] – All rights reserved – All rights reserved. For reprint policies, contact rAVe [Publications], 210 Old Barn Ln. – Chapel Hill, NC 27517 – (919) 969-7501. Email: Sara@rAVePubs.com
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