Volume 14, Issue 13 — July 18, 2017
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Editorial Editorial Editorial
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Industry News Projection Audio Control & Signal Processing
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Client Management Is Just the Beginning
By Lee Distad rAVe Columnist
At a typical AV company, the sales designers and sometimes the project managers are the front office people that the clients know and work with. They’re the ones that the clients ask for when they call, the ones they look to answer their questions, solve their problems and reassure them that everything is going according to plan.
Good front office personnel know that a cardinal part of their job is securing agreement from the client. Whether it’s getting to yes on a proposed project in the first place, or ensuring that the client has an informed understanding of the process down the road, client management is an art that the best AV pros practice every day.
Great AV pros also know that it’s equally crucial to secure agreement from your installers. There are critical parallels between talking to clients and talking to installers, and the need for designers and project managers to get both on side.
It’s often thought that the installers are the gee-whiz techie guys, and that may be true to a certain extent. However, on the jobsite, great installers are inherently conservative: They just want to complete their task list, have it all work and go home early. It’s not their job to interface with the customer or fix problems and they’re not necessarily well equipped for that. Installers don’t like surprises and they want the designs they’re given to install to work.
Designers and project managers have 100 percent certainty that the design is sound and, if it was outside your installer’s prior experience, you’ll demonstrate that and assure them that it isn’t going to give them problems.
As a veteran AV pro once told me, installers are supposed to do their job, not yours.
When I was a novice designer, until I had earned some respect, the senior installer would grill me mercilessly about a proposed install: connections, control, power, everything. If it was a retrofit job, I needed to be able to detail the layout and construction of the home, including details such as which way the joists ran. If I couldn’t answer every question in detail, there wouldn’t be an installation until I could. And heaven help the rookie designer who specifies untested or vaporware product into a project without first testing it in the shop. Torture-testing new gear on the bench in the office isn’t only crucial to gain an understanding of its strengths and weaknesses, it’s also necessary to provide the proof of concept to the installers that it’s going to work.
On one occasion the lead installer called me from a jobsite. “Lee,” he said, “I’m looking at these diagrams, and I don’t think it’s going to work.”
“Listen,” I replied, “I’ve tested and retested, and tested again. It will work.
“But,” he continued, “I’m looking at this, and it’s not going to work.”
“Trust me,” I responded, “I spent an entire day testing this on the bench. I spent hours on the phone with the vendor. My diagram is exact. Follow it from top to bottom, and it will work.”
“But…” I didn’t let him finish. “Listen. Follow the diagram exactly for every connection. If it doesn’t work, all the drinks tonight will be on me.”
Grudgingly satisfied, he went back to work. A couple of hours later, he called me to say “It all works. I’m sorry that I doubted you.”
The lesson there is to take the time to demonstrate your findings to your colleagues. If I’d gone through it with him in the office, he wouldn’t have doubted me. We all know that securing agreement from the client is an essential skill, but securing agreement from the rest of your team is just as fundamental. Leave a Comment
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What Do I Think of Legrand Buying Milestone AV?
By Gary Kayye rAVe Founder
Legrand announced the acquisition of Milestone AV early this morning but the rumors of a Milestone AV purchase had been flying for weeks. (Here’s a link to our breaking news story.) There was no question they were selling, but this is a merger of two giant, awesome companies. I can see nothing but fantastic things about this acquisition. Why?
First off, Milestone AV is well run. Scott Gill, the CEO of Milestone, is one of the smartest people I have ever met. And, he’s surrounded himself with a bunch of savvy and detail-oriented winners in Laurie Englert, Troy Peifer and Karen Smidt. And in case you haven’t noticed, they have the best system of integrated brands (behind the scenes with its ERP system) of any of the multi-brand companies. The company’s website, CMS and relationship-management systems are all connected — across brands — as is its order processing infrastructure. This was intentional. I remember the week Milestone started this project — I happened to be there at the headquarters in Minnestoa then helping start a social media marketing plan — and the plan was flawless. Even Legrand doesn’t have this, so in reality, Legrand is “buying-up.” Yes, all the brands that Milestone AV has — companies like Da-Lite, Vaddio, Sanus, Projecta and Chief — are great brands but the back-end systems that Milestone AV has set-up could very well be THE REASON that Legrand purchased them.
The announcement specifically mentioned that Legrand planned to put all the Milestone AV companies under the Middle Atlantic umbrella. As you may know, many of the Legrand brands are HomeAV-oriented while Milestone AV does well in excess of 80 percent of its business in the ProAV market, so the Middle Atlantic connection seems like a good decision.
Milestone AV employs nearly 400 people and the company’s annual sales are in the range of $460 million. The transaction is worth $950 million based on enterprise value.
Congrats to the people of Legrand as they acquired one of the best run companies in the AV market — let’s just hope they keep those four top-tier people I mentioned above. Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it employs one of the best salespeople in AV in Mark Coxon and one of the best content marketing people in AV too in Joel Hagen. Legrand needs to hold on to these two superstars as well.
Oh, and for all you cynics out there, NO Milestone AV is NOT currently a sponsor (and neither is Legrand) of rAVe. So, NO, I didn’t write this to brown-nose them. We don’t write puff pieces like that — we leave that up to all our competition as they regularly write puff pieces about their sponsors all the time. This piece is 100 percent my personal observation having worked with this team in various capacities (non-sponsor-related) over the past 10 years. Leave a Comment
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Proper Processes Produce Predictable Projects
By Lee Distad rAVe Columnist
Just the other day I was involved in a discussion with long-time AV industry people. One of the complaints leveled at the channel as a whole was that overall, the barriers to entry are low: At the most basic level, all anyone needs is a set of tools, a vehicle, and small lines of credit at a supplier or two and voila, an AV pro is born! You can usually spot them, because they keep using the word “integrator” to describe themselves.
However, there’s a meridian that separates AV pros into two distinct groups: those who can complete projects profitably, and those who can’t. That meridian is the ability to effectively manage projects through their phases.
That’s what really sets successful AV pros apart from their counterparts: Their work is efficient and orderly. At every junction of the project, it’s imperative to have a process for everything; and to use those processes to stay on track and, most importantly, on budget.
As an old boss of mine was fond of saying, “Plan your work, and work your plan.” He also was fond of saying “proper processes produce predictable projects.”
It’s his voice I hear in my head when I’m talking about or contemplating project management. Everything in a project falls into these neat little boxes:
Assessment and planning: Prior to creating a design is gathering information. The needs assessment discussions with the client is where the Who, What, Why and Where questions are asked, and those will lead to the answers about How.
Be thorough. Ask lots of questions, and, most important, listen to the answers. The planning and design stages are where it is least expensive to make changes, while they’re still on paper.
Design is many people’s favorite. I think it’s over-rated. Really, seasoned AV pros maintain detailed design templates of proven installations, all of which have been built to consistent standards.
If you know what you’re doing, few “custom installations” are truly custom, if for no other reason than reinventing the wheel on every project is expensive. Most of the time, templates should only require minor tailoring from one client to the next.
More often than not comes development and redesign: It’s entirely possible, probable, even, for you and your client to go through more than a single design iteration before securing agreement on the scope of the final project.
Initial testing: This is a phase that separates the true pros from the rest. Much of the testing work done prior to installation will be of the programming, as well as installing hardware in the racks, and testing the ensure that the physical connections between devices are good.
Installation is the phase everyone thinks of when they think of this business. And while vital, its success is largely dependent upon what your company does in the preceding phases.
In a perfect world, on-site testing wouldn’t need to occur. But we don’t live in a perfect world. Once the installation phase has been completed it’s time to retest.
There are always going to be a variance between “as-drawn” and “as-built” and you’ll need to find those variances and correct them. It’s inevitable, but if you stuck to your plans and processes phase will be much shorter than if you hadn’t.
Remember, plans are made ahead of time. If they’re made up after the fact, then they aren’t plans, they’re fixes. And as the saying goes “the first casualty of every battle is the plan.”
That said, the ability to be quick and clever when it comes to problem solving is great, but it’s even better to do your best to not have problems in the first place. Coming at each phase of the project with that in mind will save you time and money.
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Legrand Buys Milestone AV
Legrand (parent company for Middle Atlantic, Luxul, ON-Q and Vantage) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Milestone AV Technologies, the parent company of AV brands including Da-Lite, Vaddio, Sanus, Projecta and Chief, which makes projector mounts, projection screens, PTZ cameras, equipment racks and AV furniture for both the HomeAV and ProAV markets. The completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including termination or expiration of the applicable waiting period under the U.S. Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.
What does rAVe founder Gary Kayye think of this — and how much was Milestone AV purchased for? Go here and find out.
Here is the letter that Middle Atlantic President Mike Baker sent to its partners.
“Legrand is committed to serving the professionally installed AV industry which is an attractive growth area driven by the advancement and expansion of video applications,” said John Selldorff, president and CEO of Legrand, north and central America. “The combination of Milestone’s display mounting, projection screen and content capture technologies with Legrand’s strong offering in enclosures, power, furniture, connectivity and cable management, will greatly enhance Legrand’s position in the industry – in both the commercial and consumer segments – and make us a more significant AV infrastructure supplier to our customers and channel partners.”
Once the transaction closes, the plan is for Milestone and Legrand’s Middle Atlantic business to come together under the AV Division of Legrand. Both the Milestone and Middle Atlantic product lines will continue to remain in the market place, establishing an offering that can be expanded to serve AV customers globally.
“Legrand and Milestone are recognized for solving customer challenges with innovative products and delivering exceptional customer experiences,” said Scott Gill, CEO of Milestone. “Bringing together Milestone and Middle Atlantic under Legrand will allow us to offer an expanded range of highly complementary AV brands to our customers while leveraging combined best practices to deliver continued innovation.”
Milestone AV is here. and Legrand is here. Leave a Comment
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ISE Adds NEC and Barco Execs from EMEA to Its Board Integrated Systems Events, the producers of the Integrated Systems Europe trade exhibition, has announced that Stefanie Corinth, senior VP marketing and business development NEC Display Solutions Europe and Piet Candeel, senior VP EMEA, BARCO, have joined the ISE Board of Directors as of July 1, 2017.
They will replace outgoing ISE board members Wolfgang Lenz from Comm-Tech and Ollie French from Future Automation.
Corinth has 20 years of experience in leading marketing, sales and business development teams across EMEA. Candeel has extensive expertise in operating across EMEA in a 19-year BARCO career that includes senior positions in marketing and sales management.
The ISE Board of Directors comprises nine members:
- David Labuskes, executive director and CEO, InfoComm International (ISE chair)
- Tabatha O’Connor, acting president/CEO, CEDIA (ISE secretary treasurer)
- Terry Friesenborg, chief global officer, InfoComm International
- Wendy Griffiths, vice president global development, CEDIA EMEA
- Dennis Erskine, president, Erskine Group
- Tony Warner, president, Phase Shift Consulting LLC
- Tobias Lang, CEO, LANG AG
- Stefanie Corinth, senior VP marketing and business development NEC Display Solutions Europe
- Piet Candeel, senior VP EMEA, BARCO
The Integrated Systems Europe exhibition is produced annually by Integrated Systems Events. The event is jointly owned by InfoComm International and CEDIA.
The next Integrated Systems Europe will take place at the Amsterdam RAI on 6-9 February 2018. Leave a Comment
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Optoma’s New IntelliGO-S1 Android-Based Mobile Video Projector Is 720pOptoma has launched the IntelliGO-S1 — a projector that includes the Android OS with Aptoide Open Source App store features more than 700,000 apps, including Amazon, HBO GO, Hulu, Netflix, Pandora and Spotify, all downloadable to the projector’s 8 GB memory. A built-in media player also enables easy playback via USB drive or Micro SD ports and 2D to 3D content conversion. For those who prefer an integrated entertainment experience, the integrated Wi-Fi enables screen mirroring with Android and iOS devices such as tablets and phones and Bluetooth 4.0 allows seamless connection to speakers, headphones, mouse and keyboards.
At just one pound, the Optoma IntelliGO-S1 compact is spec’d at 500 lumens, a 15,000:1 contrast ratio and a list price of just $429.
Other Optoma IntelliGO-S1 specifications:
- Resolution: 1280×800
- Displayable Colors: 16 million
- Speaker: Built-in 2 watts
- Weight 1.01 pounds
- Throw ratio: 1.2:1
- Light Source: RGB LED, 20,000 hours
- Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11n 2.4Ghz/5Ghz, Bluetooth 4.0
- I/O: HDMI, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, Micro SD, Audio Out, AV Port
Here are all the specs. Leave a Comment
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BenQ Adds New Flagship HT9050 Native 4K UHD LED-Based Projector BenQ America today introduced a new flagship home cinema projector: the HT9050. The native 3840×2160 4K UHD projector uses the Philips ColorSpark HLD LEDs and BenQ has integrated their CinematicColor technology to enable the projector to produce the DCI-P3 color space. Defined by the digital film industry, the DCI-P3 color gamut encompasses a significantly larger portion of the visible color spectrum, proving far more colors than Rec. 709 and sRGB.
The Philips ColorSpark HLD LED technology combines green light four times as bright as conventional green LEDs from its high-lumen-density phosphor module with high-brightness red and blue LEDs. With a 20,000-hour, mercury-free and maintenance-free lamp life (and instant on/off response), the HT9050 is spec’d at 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and is spec’d at 2200 ANSI lumens.
BenQ’s CinemaMaster image processing technology is ISFccc certified and the HT9050 natively supports 2.35:1 anamorphic aspect ratio. Inputs include two HDMI ports (HDMI 1: HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2; HDMI 2: HDMI 1.4a and HDCP 1.4), one VGA port and both IR and serial control.
Here are all the detailed specs. Leave a Comment
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Crestron Expands Partnership with SonosCrestron announced today the expansion of their dealer offering to include Sonos, the leading wireless home sound system. Crestron Technology Professionals (CTPs) in the United States are now able to purchase Sonos products direct from Crestron as part of their usual ordering process. The full range of Sonos products are available with Crestron’s industry-leading shipping options.
The technology collaboration between the two companies means the Sonos app can be integrated with Crestron home automation systems. In addition to lights, shades, thermostats, theater systems, security and much more, homeowners can control Sonos products direct from Crestron touch screens, remotes, and keypads. They can view all of their Sonos favorites, play/pause the music, adjust the volume, view now playing information with artwork, and add or remove zones as they move about the house. Sonos music can be integrated into personalized Crestron scenes, such as “Welcome Home,” whereby a single tap of a touch screen, keypad, or personal device disarms the security system, turns on the kitchen and family room lights, adjusts the temperature to 72 degrees, and starts playing great tunes.
Here are all the details. Leave a Comment
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Mackie Launches Redesigned MR Series Studio MonitorsMackie today announced a complete refresh of its affordable powered studio monitors, the MR Series Powered Studio Monitors. Designed for home studios, content creators and multimedia, the MR Series is available in the 5-inch MR524, 6.5-inch MR624 and the 8-inch MR824 plus the 10-inch MRS10 companion powered subwoofer.
Equipped with Acoustic Space Control and HF filters, MR monitors can be easily optimized for your environment to ensure a flat response. There are three different acoustic space settings that adjust for monitor placements close to walls, in corners, etc. Plus, the high-frequency EQ control allows for further adjustment to ensure an accurate response for your room. Included with each monitor is an acoustic isolation pad that decouples the monitor from the desk or stand for increased performance and accuracy.
The Mackie MR Series includes the 5-inch MR524, 6.5-inch MR624, 8-inch MR824 and the 10-inch MRS10, and are available worldwide for $209.99, $279.99, $349.99 and $559.99 respectively. Here are the detailed specs. Leave a Comment
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Stealth Unveils Invisible Speaker for High-End ApplicationsStealth Acoustics will debut a new 8” three-way “totally invisible” architectural speaker, the LRx83 at CEDIA 2017.
Producing what they describe as a deep, warm and natural bass response down to 40Hz, with a smooth midrange and solid upper frequency, the LRx83 is balanced and the highest quality invisible speaker ever created by Stealth. It incorporates a 30mm midrange device, a 25mm tweeter and an 8” high-power cone woofer. Stealth says the LRx38 is also straightforward to install, featuring the same dimensions as Stealth’s LR8g and so fits neatly into any LR8 back box accessory.
Stealth describes the LRx83’s sound quality in the mid and high regions as smooth and ‘silky’ with the solid bass extension providing a rich deepness to rival more expensive, visible architectural speakers. The peak power handling of over 300 watt allows the device to become more than simply a background music speaker. Constant voltage options are available.
This LRx83 addition to the range spearheads a new series of LRx derived products from Stealth. With additional models forthcoming on the LRx roadmap, the new line is now helped with the updated LRG-B30g dual 8” invisible subwoofer which boasts improved materials, stability and performance. This increases sub-bass extension down to 35Hz when coupled with the LRx83.
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Savant Adds Amazon Alexa SkillSavant has announced today the release of the Savant smart home skill for Amazon Alexa. Savant was one of the first to use voice control as part of the connected home by introducing the Savant Pro Remote, enabling homeowners to activate a Savant Scene, choose a favorite channel or select a source within their entertainment system. Now they’ve added Alexa integration.
Savant says that setup is intuitive — the user can create a Savant Scene, enable the Savant Skill in the Alexa app, and link their account. and Alexa will discover it as a new Amazon Smart Home Skill that can be easily accessed via voice command. Interfacing with Savant’s scene engine that captures personalized automation events, consumers can initiate, schedule, edit or delete a Savant Scene while retaining seamless Alexa functionality. Savant’s Amazon Alexa interface is based upon cloud-to-cloud communication between the two services.
Go here for more details. Leave a Comment
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AVProConnect Claims 18Gbps 4×4 Matrix Switch for 4KThe new AVProConnect AC-MX44-AUHD is spec’d as an 18Gbps 4K60 4:4:4 4×4 matrix switch that features Toslink audio output support up to Dolby 7.1, DTS and LPCM and on-board audio delay control, for lip-synching TV video. This switch claims to equalize and amplify the output to ensure the HDMI signal can be transmitted through long HDMI cables without loss of quality. Built-in 1080p to 4K and 4K to 1080p scaling on each output allows for EDID management. Other features are:
- HDMI 2.0(a/b)
- Full HDR support (HDR 10 and 12-Bit color)
- Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HLG support
- HDCP 2.2 (and all earlier versions supported)
- IR, RS232 and LAN control options
- Digital Toslink out (7CH PCM, DD, DD+, DTS, DTS-MA)
- Balanced analog out (2CH PCM)
- Audio delay for digital and analog out
- Support for Crestron, C4, RTI, ELAN and more
Here are the detailed specs. Leave a Comment
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Atlona to Expand OmniStream AV-over-IP Capabilities Atlona has announced a firmware update to its OmniStream AV-over-IP platform that will add 4K and HDR compatibility, video wall processing, HDCP 2.2 compliance and AES67 audio over IP interoperability.
Topping the list of new features is the addition of encoding and decoding of UHD @ 60 Hz 4:4:4 (8-bit color) chroma sub-sampling. This feature will be available as an optional licensed upgrade for the OmniStream 111 (AT-OMNI-111) single-channel encoder, but will be standard with the OmniStream 112 (AT-OMNI-112) dual-channel encoder as well as the OmniStream single and dual-channel decoders (AT-OMNI-121 and AT-OMNI-122).
The firmware upgrade also adds support for HDR formats, including HDR10. In particular, the OmniStream platform will now handle 4K @ 60 Hz with 4:2:0 chroma subsampling, 10-bit color, and HDR, making it compatible with Ultra HD Blu-ray, streaming media players and other emerging consumer video sources that deliver HDR content.
The upcoming OmniStream firmware update will also allow encoded video to be delivered to an array of video walldisplays, regardless of size. Additionally, the newly expanded video wall processing capabilities include bezel compensation and image rotation, as well as frame-accurate synchronization between decoders.
The AES67 standard enables audio over IP streaming interoperability between OmniStream and a wide range of AES67-enabled professional audio products from other manufacturers.
Here are the details. Leave a Comment
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Altinex Debuts HM200-100 Sports Bar Video Distribution SystemAltinex has introduced the HM200-100 Sports Bar Video Distribution System. With support for 12 inputs, 48 outputs and four audio zones right out of the box, Altinex says the HM200-100 provides all the infrastructure to implement a large-scale sports bar AV system.
The Altinex HM200-100 provides 12 video inputs for satellite receivers and 48 video outputs for displays; along with four audio outputs that can be routed to any zone. The system can be expanded to 20 inputs, 120 outputs and eight zones. Each video output can be extended to 100 meters (328 feet).
The HM200-100 comes pre-configured with all inputs and outputs pre-defined. All IP addresses are assigned to work with 1GBaseT and 10GBaseT routers and the HM200-100 optionally includes a 48-port router that is expandable to 64 and 96 ports. In addition to a hardwired router, a wireless access point can be setup to control the system through a web interface.
The Altinex HM200-100 Sports Bar Video Distribution System is shipping, lists for $29,950. Here are the details. 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 2017 – 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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