Volume 13, Issue 14 — July 27, 2016
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Editorial Editorial Editorial
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Industry News Control & Signal Processing Cables, Furniture, Mounts, Racks, Screens and Accessories Projection
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In Praise Of Running Lines
By Lee Distad rAVe Columnist
It’s been a huge boon to AV that wireless solutions now exist that were little more than wishful thinking ten years ago.
Today I find myself looking at the specs of things like wireless HD video dongles and I think back to specific projects and site surveys in years past where I thought, “Man, this is going to hurt. I wish I had wireless for this!” Even so, as the number of wireless solutions has grown and their capabilities increased, their popularity has led to whole new issues.
As the saying goes, every solution has two problems.
As a consequence, there’s been a return to center, and while AV pros aren’t refusing to install wireless solutions, they still prefer running lines, with wireless as a distant second choice. The reason why is simple: saturated airwaves.
In urban areas, the density of Wi-Fi network devices competing for space is unreal. One project in particular that comes to mind was what was supposed to be an extremely simple setup of a pair of wireless music boxes in a downtown condominium. Literally dozens of other networks nearby made them less reliable that originally hoped for. It took three router upgrades to find one strong enough to cut through the chatter.
More than one AV pro has told me that they’ve sat down with clients and sold them out of the desire for wireless just by using the Wi-Fi finder utility on their laptop or smartphone to show them just how many rival networks are competing for bandwidth.
I’ve wryly observed a microcosm of the issue at every trade show I’ve been to. Vendor booths are often running their own Wi-Fi networks, competing with each other and the conference halls’ own networks.
It can be a mess.
I’ve likened the Wi-Fi arms race as the 21st century equivalent of the dorm floor stereo wars from our college days. Everyone’s neighbors are upgrading to bigger, faster, meaner, sometimes enterprise-grade routers for their homes in order to blast their network over the noise coming from every other house in their area.
When I’m with my kids in the middle of the playground in our neighborhood, easily 600 feet from the nearest house, my iPhone always picks up one network in particular, with full bars, every time.
I don’t know if “military grade” applies to Wi-Fi, but this guy has clearly declared war on his neighbors.
It’s that landscape that leads AV pros to focus on running lines. And that’s where the need to educate clients comes into play. Your clients think wireless will handle everything for them, but when it comes down to speed, reliability and latency, which is a big one for streaming video, not to mention security, wired remains a better option.
One AV pro once suggested to me that even in retrofit jobs, once you crunch the numbers on labor hours spent troubleshooting Wi-Fi dropouts before completion, and service calls after, it might have been cheaper and more profitable to have just pulled wire. That’s especially true if you need to specify enterprise-level Wi-Fi hardware — then there are little or no cost savings compared to running lines.
I would never be so audacious as to declare that Wi-Fi for AV will go the way of the dodo, just that like every other tool in the AV pros’ toolbox it has its place. All I’m saying is that where speed, bandwidth and security are critical, running lines still can’t be beat. Leave a Comment
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When Smart Things Aren’t That Smart
By Hope Roth True confession: I don’t like automated bathroom sinks very much. I know that sounds strange coming from someone who automates things for a living. But it’s the truth. Intellectually, I understand their utility. No water running all night. No touching taps that could be covered with all sorts of germs. But then I get into a public restroom, and I’m waving my hands around like an idiot because the sink won’t come on, and all I can think is, “oh man, this thing is the worst.”
We live in an era where everything from our thermostats to our washing machines wants to show us how smart it is. And, for the most part, this is a great thing. I love my smart house lock. I never have to bring my keys on long runs or business trips. I love my smart lights. I can turn all of them off by tapping a button on my night stand. I can yell at Alexa to turn them on when I walk into the house with my hands full. I’ve programmed my ceiling fans to turn on just before I get home on really hot days. The smart products in my house make everything easier.
But have you ever talked to someone who hates the idea of automating everything? They sound like me standing in front of a soap dispenser that won’t give up its contents. “I just don’t see the benefit. And that stuff never works right anyways.”
In order to get our clients to love our smarter systems, we need to do two things. First, we need to preserve the core functionality of whatever it is that we’re replacing. And second, we need to make it blatantly obvious what the advantages are in upgrading.
Preserving that core functionality might seem like a no-brainer, but it can be surprisingly difficult. Take the humble light switch. Its core functionality is making the lights go on and off when I want them to. No big deal, right? Read that again. “When I want them.” Physical control of a lighting load is fairly easy, but now your client has multiple keypads, a schedule, maybe a motion sensor or two (or fifty). With great power comes great responsibility (pun intended). Every additional point of control is a new opportunity for a light to go on or off when it’s not supposed to. You’ve got to be on top of your game.
Making the advantages of your newer, smarter system apparent can be tricky, but it’s also where you can have the most fun. Your client bought a fancy new system and now you get to make the cool stuff work. They should get what they paid for, after all. I’ve written about it here before, but it bears repeating. Sometimes it’s the smallest, simplest parts of a system that make a client the most happy. I’ve spent five minutes re-purposing a button on a touch panel to do something small but very customized. And that five minutes made the client happier than the 40 hours I’d previously spent programming up that job. The advantages don’t have to be big to be obvious. Although I sure do love programming up showcase LED timelines.
As for me, I just remind myself that not having to touch things in a room where other people poop is a good thing. A very good thing. And I sure do appreciate the automated sinks that always turn off and on when I want them to. Leave a Comment
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Why Pokémon GO Matters to the ProAV Market
By Gary Kayye rAVe Founder
In case you’ve been living under a rock, been attending too many boring AV-oriented sales presentations disguised as educational webinars OR are not connected to anyone on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or Instagram, there’s this new mobile app game called Pokémon GO that’s taken the world (and not just the tech world) by storm.
Pokémon GO is an incredible example of the gamification of augmented reality for the masses. Simply put, you discover and capture the Pokémon all around you — in the real world — using the game app and your phone’s camera (plus a cool integration of Google Maps). The more you find and capture, the more points you get.
The designers of the game — John Henke, CEO of Niantic Labs, along with Nintendo — even admitted that an impetus for making it was the exercise potential of kids. You see, you have to get up off the couch and find the Pokémon by actually walking around your house, neighborhood, town, etc. And, to earn eggs, you actually have to run (or at least walk) a mile, a 3K or even a 5K. It’s genius — and it’s working. Just go to your local mall, outdoor recreational area, park or town’s gathering area and you’ll actually see kids AND adults holding their phones up NOT to text, but to play this augmented reality game.
So, why should ProAV care?
This game is HUGE — you should NOT underestimate the eventual trickle-down effects.
Six years ago, I wrote a series on how the projector is starting down its death path and described how we would all, eventually, be carrying around Personal Information Displays (PIDs). So now it’s 2016 and we’re all carrying phones. Most of us attend meetings with tablets or laptops, too, but we all still have our phones.
So, the age of the PID is here. And, if you stop to think, you’d already realized this was upon us — it just wasn’t affecting you much yet. But it had already affected your kids. In fact, I will bet you that nearly every person reading this who has kids will agree that their kids watch WAY, WAY more TV on their PIDs (e.g., phone, laptop or tablet) than they do on the “enchanted box” known as the TV. It’s both time-shifting TV and place-shifting as now, even though you wouldn’t buy them a TV for their room, they are watching it — just not on a traditional TV. So the PID shift has already happened to virtually every one under the age of 25.
When will the rest of us? Well, that was the piece I hadn’t figured out. It’s been years since kids have shifted to the PID, but us old people still rely on the fixed-screen format of the TV. And, most older people playing video games play them on Xbox, Playstation, etc. — even though our kids are playing well over 85 percent of their games on an iPhone or Android device.
Then on July 6th, 2016, Nintendo’s gaming group released Pokémon GO and all of a sudden you have parents (regular adults) who are using their own PIDs to play a game. This is a first.
Sure, we’ve all had a quick FaceTime call via the PID and maybe a Skype call via the PID, but we haven’t replaced the desktop imaging device we use with a cell phone — even though the iPhone 6 Plus has more computing power than a desktop from three years ago.
We all also walk in to meetings with a PID — all the time. Yet we all still stare at the ProAV’s version of the enchanted box (aka projector or LED screen).
So now that we’ve seen the way (the way our kids already saw it three, four or five years ago) — and that it’s OK to use a PID for more than taking calls — how much more time before the giant wall-mounted screen gets displaced by the PID that’s already right at your fingertips all the time?
Sure, you think it doesn’t help any of us in ProAV to tell a client that he shouldn’t buy a projector or monitor and should just use his mobile phone instead. But you are wrong!
We are in the business of simplification of pushing content — not the just the business of displaying content.
Don’t get caught off-guard; this isn’t just a fad — Pokémon GO is the very beginning of something big. The very beginning — remember, it’s only been out nine days. Leave a Comment
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VIZIO Sold to Chinese-Based LeEcoA Chinese company called LeEco (sort of a Netflix of China), just agreed to buy VIZIO for a little over $2 Billion. This is HUGE news as VIZIO is currently the second largest TV manufacturer in the world, behind Samsung, and they are one of the only profitable TV manufacturers in the world. The combined company will be $4 Billion.
Citing the purchase, LeEco CEO Jia Yueting said, “We hope that we can use the ecosystem model and create a great integration between Vizio and LeEco and create new values for U.S. users.”
You can expect that this will help LeEco get their streaming video service in to the USA to compete with Netflix and you may even see Netflix disappear from VIZIO TVs.
VIZIO is a 13-year old company started by William Wang in his house.
Here’s the official release:
LeEco and VIZIO, Inc. announced today a definitive agreement under which LeEco would acquire VIZIO, Inc. for $2 billion USD. The VIZIO hardware and software businesses will be owned and operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of LeEco, while the VIZIO data business, Inscape, will spin out and operate as a separate, privately owned company.
Recently named one of Fast Company’s 2016 “Most Innovative Companies,” LeEco is a leading global company that provides breakthrough experiences through an open, integrated ecosystem enabled by its Internet and cloud platform. LeEco develops intelligent hardware that serves as the interface to connect individuals, interact with them and to enrich their lives through premium content and applications.
“LeEco believes in breakthrough technologies, a complete ecosystem and disruptive pricing. Acquiring VIZIO is an important step in our globalization strategy and building our North American presence,” said YT Jia, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, LeEco. “From its inception, VIZIO introduced a disruptive business model that changed the industry and aligns with our vision of breaking boundaries to deliver consumer-focused products, software and services.”
Based in Irvine, CA and founded in 2002, VIZIO is a leading consumer electronics brand in North America, with #1 unit share in Smart TVs1 and #1 unit share in Sound Bars2. The company is focused on delivering the ultimate home entertainment experience through its ecosystem of hardware, software and services. The acquisition benefits both companies with VIZIO offering LeEco a steady install base of users and a brand that is both popular and successfully distributed throughout major North American retail channels. LeEco provides VIZIO immediate global scale to bring its innovations to consumers worldwide. Like LeEco, VIZIO shares a similar vision of creating premium products with the latest innovations and making them accessible for everyone – from budget-minded students to custom home theater cinephiles – without sacrificing quality or performance.
“Fourteen years ago, I mortgaged my house to start VIZIO and since then, it has grown into one of the most well-known and respected CE brands in North America. As an entrepreneur, I couldn’t be more proud of what has been accomplished,” said William Wang, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, VIZIO. “As we enter a new chapter with LeEco, I’m humbled by the hard work and dedication of VIZIO shareholders and employees. Their unwavering faith in the brand and commitment to excellence is what made this venture possible. I’m excited to see how LeEco’s global reach and resources will elevate VIZIO as we continue to bring great technology, innovation and value to our consumers.”
The VIZIO executive management team will remain in place and will continue its operations as an independent subsidiary from its existing headquarters in Irvine, CA. The VIZIO brand and its portfolio of products will continue to be sold through its existing distribution channels and supported by the same North American-based, award-winning customer service. William Wang will transition to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Inscape, with focus on the continued expansion and growth of the brand’s data business.
As part of the definitive agreement, LeEco will acquire all of the VIZIO hardware and software operations, technology and intellectual property. The transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2016, and is subject to customary closing conditions. BofA Merrill Lynch acted as advisor to the special committee of the VIZIO board of directors, and Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal counsel for VIZIO on this transaction.
VIZIO is here. LeEco is here. Leave a Comment
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Atlona Ships Latest UHD HDMI to HDBaseT Distribution Amplifiers Atlona is now shipping three new products aimed at both residential and commercial markets, the AT-UHD-CAT-4 and AT-UHD-CAT-4ED HDMI to HDBaseT distribution amplifiers and AT-HDVS-150-RX HDBaseT receiver with built-in scaling.
The AT-UHD-CAT-4 and AT-UHD-CAT-4ED (extended distance) 4K/UHD HDMI to HDBaseT distribution amplifiers both models include Power over Internet (PoE) for powering remote receivers, pass-through HDMI input connections, four HDBaseT outputs, display control capability, 4K/UHD @ 60 Hz with 4:2:0 color subsampling, HDCP 2.2 compliance and EDID management.
Each AT-UHD-CAT-4 output transmits AV and control signals up to 230 ft. (70 m) @ 1080p and 130 ft. (40 m) @4K/UHD. The AT-UHD-CAT-4ED extends the distance of these signals to 328 feet (100 m). The AT-UHD-CAT-4 is compatible with the Atlona AT-UHD-EX-70C-RX receiver, while the AT-UHD-CAT-4ED pairs with the AT-UHD-EX-100CE-RX receiver.
The AT-UHD-CAT-4/4ED amplifiers control consumer and commercial displays via CEC, IR, or RS-232. They are also compatible with TCP/IP control for additional commercial content distribution applications. Both have 1U, half-rack width enclosures with external, international power supplies.
The Atlona AT-HDVS-150-RX HDBaseT scaler receiver handles AV signals (up to 1080p/60Hz or 1920×1200 video with embedded multi-channel audio) and two-way control signals via HDMI cables from distances of up to 328 feet (100 meters). The model also adds industry-standard Power over Ethernet (PoE) for added installation flexibility and full HDBaseT certification.
Here are the details. Leave a Comment
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RTI Ships KX10 In-Wall Touchpanel RTI today announced that its all-new KX10 in-wall touchpanel is now shipping. Claiming to be designed for simplicity of control and automation to A/V, environmental, and security systems, the KX10 is a 10.1-inch, 1280×800 WXGA-resolution LCD that’s programmable. Allowing for control via built-in IR and RS232 output it features built-in intercom support, a proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts screen brightness.
For integrators, built-in wireless Ethernet enables them to set up the KX10 in retrofit installations, while the wired 10/100 Base-T Ethernet provides the flexibility of Power-over-Ethernet Plus.
RTI’s KX10 in-wall touchpanel is now shipping. Here are the details. Leave a Comment
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tvONE Ships ONErack ONErack is a universal, powered mounting system that is designed to simplify rack specifying and installation of small devices. tvONE’s design converts randomly sized, externally powered devices (they say from any manufacturer) into slide-in modules that can be installed quickly. ONErack has both front and rear access, provides uniform cable management and ONErack allows for high density mounting in three different chassis sizes while providing seven different voltages (and cooling) all within the ONErack chassis.
The ONErack chassis is available in 4RU, 5RU and 6RU and can hold up to 16 mounting modules with products ranging up to a half rack size. Each mounting module can hold up to two voltage selectors, which provides selectable power @ 5v, 7.5v, 9v, 12v, 13.5, 18v, 24v up to 35 watts. A pass thru is available for custom power sources. It’s actually integrated with a 250-watt power supply that can be positionable anywhere in the chassis. The unit supplies power to each of the mounted modules by daisy-chaining, keeping the rack tidy and eliminating the need for external power supplies. Fan and service power outlets are located on the front of the power supply for easy access.
The reversible active fan cooling system keeps a steady flow of cool air over your devices, reducing the risk of over-heating at critical moments and helping to extend the life of your devices. The 6-watt fan cover has a 225 CFM maximum airflow with an adjustable speed from 100 percent down to 50 percent.
Here are the details. Leave a Comment
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BenQ Intros New HT6050 Home Theater Projector BenQ America today announced its new flagship home theater projector, the HT6050. The two-input HDMI projector is 1920×1080 resolution Colorific HT6050 leverages the Rec. 709 HDTV standard and has a 6x speed RGBRGB color wheel.
Along with HD cinematic color quality, the HT6050 uses BenQ’s CinemaMaster advanced audio and video processing suite to enhance video content with smoother motion. It claims a 2,000 ANSI lumens and a 5000:1 contrast ratio and has five optional zoom lenses from 0.77:1 to 5:1 with -20 to 60 percent vertical and ± 5 percent horizontal lens-shifting.
Here are all the specs. Leave a Comment
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BenQ Adds Bluetooth Speaker to i500 LED Mini Projector BenQ America just introduced the i500 projector, a short-throw LED projector that’s just 3.3 pounds and 3 inches tall (about the size of a tablet). The i500 can project an 80-inch image from 3 feet from the wall or screen. The i500 is a 500 lumen, single-chip DLP that’s native WXGA (1280×800) resolution and uses an LED light source rated for 20,000 hours without lamp replacement and is integrated with vertical keystone correction. The back of the projector is integrated with a pair of 5-Watt mesh-covered speakers that can, even when the projector is off, can double as a portable Bluetooth speaker system.
The i500 comes out-of-box-ready and pre-loaded with streaming services and apps such as YouTube, Spotify, Vimeo, Netflix, Hulu and many others.
The i500 includes a wireless LAN connection and it can play video or music content from a USB stick or display Excel, Word, or PowerPoint documents without a PC but inputs include HDMI, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, audio I/O as well as a mic in.
The BenQ i500 is now shipping and lists for $749. Here are all the specs. Leave a Comment
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New BenQ Entry-Level Projectors Aimed at Home and Small BusinessBenQ America today introduced new additions to its M5 Series – the MS527E, MX528E and MW529E projectors. All three are spec’d at 3,300 lumens, have two HDMI ports, and are also integrated with BenQ’s Colorific image technology and SmartEco technology. The MS527E is SVGA (800×600) resolution, the MX528E is XGA (1024×768) resolution and the MW529E is WXGA (1280×800) resolution.
The projectors feature BenQ’s SmartEco technology, which automatically adjusts lamp power to deliver bright, vibrant images with up to 10,000 hours of lamp life as well as energy savings of up to 70 percent without any compromise in picture quality. To further reduce power consumption, an “Eco Blank” mode allows users to blank out the screen whenever projection isn’t needed, while a “No Source Detected” mode automatically reduces power consumption to 30 percent when no source has been detected for more than three minutes. With the “Auto Power Off” function, the projectors automatically shut down when not in use for 30 minutes. When inactive, they keep power consumption to a minimum, <0.5-W standby power, for even more energy savings.
The BenQ M5 Series MS527E, MX528E and MW529E are available now at a retail price of $489, $529 and $749, respectively, and here are all the specs. Leave a Comment
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For all you REGULAR readers of rAVe HomeAV 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% opinionated. We not only report the news and new product stories of the high-end HomeAV 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).
Don’t like us, then go away — unsubscribe! Just use the link below.
To send me feedback, don’t reply to this newsletter – instead, write directly to me at gary@ravepubs.com or for editorial ideas: Editor-in-Chief Sara Abrons at sara@ravepubs.com
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.
rAVe HomeAV Edition, co-published with CEDIA, launched in February, 2004.
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Copyright 2016 – rAVe [Publications] – All rights reserved. For reprint policies, contact rAVe [Publications], 210 Old Barn Ln. – Chapel Hill, NC 27517 – 919/969-7501. Email: sara@ravepubs.com
rAVe HomeAV Edition contains the opinions of the author only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of other persons or companies or its sponsors. |
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