Introduction: rAVe Exclusive Scoop, New rAVe Logo, infoComm Reminder
Editorial: The Final Sayye by Gary Kayye And Then There Were Two — Plasma versus LCD
Special Announcement to European rAVe Readers
A Gary Kayye's rAVe Exclusive Scoop
News: 1. TFCinfo Releases US Plasma Report
2. ALTINEX Announces Configurable VGA-based Audio Matrix Switcher
3. ClearOne Makes Permanent Management, Services Sales Changes
4. NEC Tiles New 42" Plasmas Together to Garner 84" Display
5. Silicon Image Debuts Next-Generation Family of PanelLink DVI Receiver Chips For the PC/Display Market
6. AudiaFLEX From BIAMP
Feature: Selling AV Systems to Airlines and Insurance Companies
Introduction So, how do you like our logo? I'm proud of it as it's different than anything Kayye Consulting has done for any of our clients and certainly different than our own corporate logo. It kind of reminds me of the logo I created for AV Avenue (now part of InfoComm IQ). So the logo is fun, but what I'm really excited about in this, our 5th issue of Gary Kayye's rAVe, is a product scoop from NEC. At infoComm they will be introducing probably the biggest mechanical breakthrough in projector design in a decade – a "lens-less" projector with a super-short throw distance. You'll get the whole story below, but I am sure this will garner some attention at the upcoming infoComm show in June in Orlando. Speaking of infoComm, have you made your reservation yet? If not, go to: http://infocomm03.expoexchange.com/ and do it now! The seminars are filling, the rooms are almost fully booked and flights will be scarce if you don't do it quickly. Remember this year's show is Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (different than most other show dates), June 3-5. And, if you plan to attend the annual Projection Summit, take note that this year's event is actually before the show even opens, June 1-2. Get the full Summit schedule at: http://www.insightmedia.info/conference.html Finally, thank you to all the readers and AV Insiders. This has been a great experience and I appreciate all the supportive e-mails and calls, as well as the suggestions. By the way, for those of you not lucky enough to attend infoComm this year, we will be doing Live From infoComm issues from the show floor, but you have to be signed up by May 15th to receive them. So, if you or anyone you know is not going to infoComm and you want the early scoop on the new products, please tell them to subscribe at http://www.kayye.com .
Editorial — The Final Sayye by Gary Kayye And Then There Were Two – Plasma versus LCD Gary Kayye CTS Five years ago, Mitsubishi shocked the world during NAB when it announced that it was out of the CRT manufacturing business. Mitsubishi said that it wanted to transition all consumer and professional screens over 20" from CRT to plasma – dubbed the 'screen of the future'. Flat, at only four inches deep, and using some of the same performance properties as CRT with a phosphor-based color system, the plasma was off and running, with an advanced technology that left bulky presentation CRT monitors an artifact of display history. By 2000, the plasma was the direct-view monitor of choice for virtually every ProAV display application over 27". But, like the CRT, plasma still has that nagging burn-in issue – static images displayed for long periods of time are burned into the phosphor elements inside the plasma. Despite burn-in potential, the advantages of the thin, flat display outweighed the disadvantages, as plasma displays became practical in applications where they had never been considered before. Not only are they being used in conference rooms and boardrooms, you now find them in airports, retail stores, kiosks, lobbies and even in fast food restaurants. Plasma has truly helped create the new cottage industry of dynamic signage, where content is changed to suit the audience's (or advertiser's) preferences for information at any given time. Fast forward to 2003. Now, here comes LCD – Liquid Crystal Displays. Once relegated to digital watch displays, the new trend appears to be flat-screen LCD technology in everything from PDA (personal digital assistants) to back-seat entertainment center displays in cars to the ultimate in flat-screen, light-weight TVs. This time, however, Sharp and Samsung seem to be leading the pack with a host of large-format LCD screens. 37", 40" and soon 46" & 50/54" LCD screens will boast the same ergonomic and aesthetic characteristics of plasma, but without that nagging burn-in. Although vast improvements in plasma technology have made burn-in less of an issue, it is still inherent to the technology when displaying still images, text or graphics for long periods of time. Liquid Crystal Display technology in large format, flat-panel displays works virtually identical to those in laptop screens where a back-light passes white light through red, green or blue LCD windows. Put hundreds of thousands or even millions of these little windows together and you have a large-format 40" display. But, LCD can weigh 50-75% less than plasma. And of course the power supply, in some cases, and electronics may be housed in a separate box that's either racked or set on a shelf. In fact, at January's CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas as well as the recent NSCA show in Dallas, a host of manufacturers were demonstrating LCD's that were upwards of 40" diagonally that could be lifted and moved by one person under one arm. So, now there are two technologies vying for the attention of millions, if not billions (eventually), of buyers of flat-screen, large format televisions and presentation monitors. The consumer market with its sheer size and volume will eventually decide the winner of that technology battle, but in the mean time, the ProAV market's early adopters are leading the technology adoption curve. And so far, plasma has a huge advantage. Not only is plasma five years ahead of the curve of LCD, but factories are cranking them out by the tens of thousands. In the ProAV market however, size matters and with sizes up to 63", plasma has a huge lead. In addition, unlike the consumer market where price seems to lead performance, the fact that plasma incorporates a technology that is superior to LCD in display of motion images like video and HDTV (as phosphor imaging has a better ability to process motion than the current generation of LCD imaging products) gives plasma a bigger lead. But, how long will that last? Some manufacturers, such as Samsung, are not hedging their bets either way, and currently produce both plasma and LCD displays. In fact, Samsung boasts being the only manufacturer having the largest displays in both categories (63" plasma and an over-50" LCD). And, I've seen a couple of manufacturer's road maps that include both larger Plasmas (yes, larger than 63" – coming Q4, 2003) and larger LCD's. In fact, Samsung showed both 46" and 54" LCD's at CES. Ironically, LCD may be the better technology for many of the current applications in the ProAV market. Here's why. Although consumers use video most of the time, many ProAV installs don't require this. Most large screen imaging applications in the ProAV market incorporate a lot of fixed computer display applications (i.e. signage, logos, PowerPoint presentations, museum displays, etc.). In fact, some studies cite that static image display applications where computer data is the primary source (such as PowerPoint, Macromedia and even Microsoft products such as Internet Explorer and Excel – images that don't have a lot of motion) are already over 80% of the applications for ProAV install-projectors mounted in the ceiling. So, doesn't it stand to reason that many applications where plasmas are being used now in boardrooms, conference rooms and training rooms would follow similar stats? In fact, one study introduced at last year's infoComm show showed that video was used less than 8% in the average boardroom, conference room and training room installations they had polled. Public displays, which use flat screens for advertising or informational signage, take the static image display requirement to a new level, where images are left on the screen 24/7. Thus, LCD imaging might be the perfect solution for those applications – no burn-in. But, some of the new plasma technology getting ready to debut may combat that with 35,000-40,000 hour life plasma panels. But, the real power in plasma and LCD is in the consumer world where every person who owns a TV will have to buy a new one some time over the next 10 years to accommodate the transition over to digital television. In the USA, the transition is already occurring with a final DTV-only date of 1 January 2007 looming over the horizon. And, as both these new flat-screen technologies primarily use 16:9 widescreen aspect ratios, there is no question that one of them will dominate the consumer TV space, but with ProAV, I'm betting there will probably be applications for both for a long time to come. Reprinted with permission of Sound & Communications magazine Back to top
Special Announcement to European rAVe Readers Kayye Consulting is interested in licensing Gary Kayye's rAVe eNewsletter to a partner in Europe. Much like the license we currently have with INSAsia (our Asian partner and sponsor for rAVe in Asia and the Pacific Rim), we would like to partner with either an established AV magazine or AV-affiliate organization to provide rAVe content, articles, features and product reviews to our European readers. We already have an established database of thousands of readers but we believe expertise embedded in Europe will help us build a better eNewsletter publication covering the ProAV and AV markets. If you are interested in partnering in the European version of rAVe, please e-mail Gary Kayye at gkayye@kayye.com or call him at 919-868-3358. We are already in negotiations for a Latin American and an Australian/NZ issue, but we have not found the right kind of partner in Europe yet.
A Gary Kayye's rAVe Exclusive Scoop: NEC to Introduce 14-pound Install (lens-less) Projector that Makes 100" Image From Only 2' (yes, feet) Away! NEC is about to set a new standard for install projectors. The new WT600, to debut at infoComm, is the industry's first "lens-less" digital projector and it's designed for short (and, I mean short) throw distance applications. Believe it or not, to make a 60" diagonal image, the projector only has to be placed a little more than 9" (25cm) away from the screen – and, best of all, at up to a 70-degree off-set. Using an XGA (1024 x 768) DLP engine at its heart, the WT600 will be an install projector for the virtually impossible install. Imagine the possibilities?!?. A 60" SmartBoard with a projector mounted on a shelf right over the top of the screen less than a foot away from the screen – and all on wheels. Imagine a rear-screen room that only needs to be 2 feet deep to garner a 100" diagonal image – without using mirrors! And, imagine a projector that can actually be mounted to the bottom-front of a conference room table and projecting on a huge screen without any wiring to a rack or through the floor – except for power, of course. The WT600 was hidden in the NEC booth at NAB and didn't really get much attention, but we noticed and we brought reps from other manufacturers to see it – they were ALL impressed to say the least. This may very well be the most creative application-based projector to date. Expected to be at least 1200 ANSI lumens and have a contrast ration near 2000:1, the WT600 will include DVI, video, s-video and VGA (15-pin) ports in addition to being networkable. Make sure you see this at infoComm! If you want to see what the Japanese are preliminarily releasing on the WT600, go to: http://www.nec-pj.com/products/wt/index.html
News Gary Kayye's rAVe will be reporting LIVE from infoComm. Manufacturers, be sure to send your news announcements and images the minute you have them ready to rAVe Editor-in-Chief Denise Harrison — dharrison@kayye.com In addition, there are limited advertising/sponsorship opportunities to anyone interested in advertising in Gary Kayye's rAVe, infoComm edition. Write to advertising@kayye.com for more information.
1. TFCinfo Releases US Plasma Report Sony, Pioneer and Panasonic were the top plasma sellers in the fourth quarter of 2002, according to a new report by TFCinfo. The report gives Sony a 23.5% market share, Pioneer at 18.9% and Panasonic at 12.9%. And, the exciting news for me was TFCinfo's claim that the plasma market grew a whopping 25% in Q4 2002 over the previous quarter and 2003 is expected to see 87% global growth! Pioneer, Panasonic and Hitachi led the business market in the fourth quarter – in that order. That's a bit of a shuffle from the third quarter, in which TFCinfo reported that NEC led the US business plasma market with Panasonic second. If you're an NEC dealer, you know the reason – it's hard to be a leader when you can't ship! The report (4Q2002 Quarterly US Plasma Market Analysis Report) is 150+ pages and includes a special report on the future worldwide plasma supply and demand balance. The special report in the next 1Q2003 Plasma Market Analysis Report will be an exploration of the impact of large LCDTV on the plasma demand. Click here for TFCinfo news http://www.tfcinfo.com/news.cfm
2. ALTINEX Announces Configurable VGA-based Audio Matrix Switcher ALTINEX's MT4400MX is a user-configurable, 15-pin computer video and audio matrix switcher available in 2×6, 3×5, 4×4, 5×3 or 6×2 I/O configurations and includes an 8×4 stereo balanced audio matrix switch. Housed in a 1/2 rack wide and 2U high metal enclosure, it's rack- or table-mountable, and is based on the ALTINEX MultiTasker 4-slot card cage design. Included with a programmable front panel as well as Crestron and AMX compatible RS-232 control ports, Altinex uses a simple control instruction set programming logic. The default configuration is for a 4×4 VGA-video and audio matrix, but this can be modified to any of the possible configurations before shipment and later an installer. The MT4400MX claims to have over 250 MHz of video bandwidth and balanced audio inputs and outputs. Click here for more information: http://www.altinex.com
3. ClearOne Makes Permanent Management, Services Sales Changes ClearOne, which placed its CEO and CFO on leave in January due to SEC investigations, announced a new CEO and COO. Mike Keough, the new CEO, joined ClearOne in November 2002 as chief strategy officer and products business unit leader. He has more than 25 years of sales, sales management, and executive management experience with companies such as IBM, AT&T, Megahertz, U.S. Robotics, and Textron. Greg Rand, the new president and COO, joined ClearOne in August 2002 after working in management positions at Delta Airlines. George Claffey, who was appointed interim CFO in February, continues in that role. The last news regarding the SEC investigation was good news for ClearOne. On March 14, The U.S. District Court for the District of Utah denied the SEC's motion for preliminary injunction, concluding that "there is not a substantial and reasonable likelihood of future violations. The SEC also sought the appointment of a special monitor to oversee ClearOne's operations. The court denied that request as well." There was a hearing with Nasdaq on April 3 when ClearOne appealed the proposed delisting of ClearOne's stock from the market. According to a company spokesperson, they're still waiting the results. In other ClearOne news, the company plans to go 100% reseller on services rather than selling them direct. In a nod to understanding the value proposition of the ProAV dealer channel, ClearOne, which used to sell U.S. design, integration and training directly to the customer, is handing that business over to its dealers, telecommunications service providers, and integrators. This gives its resellers a lot more revenue opportunity by offering programming, on-site engineering, system design, installation, project management and training, says the company. It also removes competition between ClearOne and its resellers. ClearOne says it has already stopped bidding on new projects but continues to work on existing projects. Now, how about eliminating the telecommunications providers from that list? I understand the legacy of having Telecom companies serve VTC and Audio conference applications, but are they really doing as good a job as they need to or as ClearOne needs them to? I doubt it. Go ProAV!
4. NEC Tiles New 42" Plasmas Together to Garner 84" Display In yet another step towards integration and showing an obvious understanding in the art of selling systems (as opposed to simply selling boxes), NEC's come up with an 84" plasma display using four matrixed 42" PlasmaSyncs and a quad wall mount. It has built-in stereo and even a built-in timer so that it can run itself. Native resolution is 1706 x 960. You can run one large image on the four screens (obviously with a frame between each of the screens) or run four separate sources. Of course, this has been done before by retail, command and control integration firms, but now NEC's integrated and simplified the control, implementation and setup of such an application – opening it up to new markets. Integrating a single RS232 port to control all aspects of the 4-screen array, NEC allows for not only on-site, but also remote operation and diagnostics individually or as a group.. As with most plasmas, the new 84" array can be included with an anti-glare screen (in the 84VP4D) for high ambient light conditions (i.e. retail shops, airports) and an anti-reflective screen (in the 84VP4). Click here for more information: http://www.necvisualsystems.com/applicationFiles/service/appl_prDetail.cfm?PR_id=73 The 84" is comprised of four of NEC's new 42VP4 plasma displays ("fan-less"), also available individually. These new 42" panels are priced at $5,995 – comparable to Sony's KE-42Ts2 priced at $6,999 and Panasonic's starting at $4,999. The new NEC PlasmaSync 42VP4 has the anti-glare screen and the 42VP4D has the anti-reflective screen (in the 42VP4) Click here for more information: http://www.necvisualsystems.com/applicationFiles/service/appl_prDetail.cfm?PR_id=72
5. Silicon Image Debuts Next-Generation Family of PanelLink DVI Receiver Chips For the PC/Display Market Last week, Silicon Image, developer of DVI technology, announced a new family of PanelLink DVI receivers for higher performance in digital displays and long-distance cable support. If you've been watching the computer-video industry for the past two years, there's been a transition taking place from analog (i.e. VGA, XGA, etc.) to digital signal outputs on computers. Up until last month that conversion had been slow in that only about 15% of all computers were DVI compliant – with Apple leading the way with over 78% of their line integrated with DVI connectivity. But, with the flat-panel desktop monitor market transitioning in 2003 from CRT's to LCD's, this will be accelerated. So, we will be following that conversion more closely since this will affect all aspects of ProAV as we convert from routing signals the old analog-way to the new digital-based DVI format. The new SiI 1161, SiI 1153, SiI 1151 and SiI 1143 receivers are based on an innovative and scalable new, Phase Lock Loop (PLL) architecture that enables interoperability with a broader range of DVI transmitters as well as robust, unprecedented performance over long cable lengths, says the company. They have an increased tolerance for lower-quality DVI signals with large amounts of jitter and noise, which are common in applications with low- quality and/or long DVI cables, or low-quality graphics sources. For more information, click here: http://www.siliconimage.com/press/04_08_03.asp Editor's Disclosure: The editors of Gary Kayye's rAVe own stock in Silicon Image
6. AudiaFLEX From BIAMP At last month's NSCA show, BIAMP showed why they are one of the leaders in ProAV audio by introducing the newest generation of Audia, AudiaFLEX. But, infoComm promises to be more exciting (especially for AV integration firms that appreciate audio quality) as AudiaFLEX will get even more muscle with the introduction of an Acoustic Echo Cancellation/Noise Suppression input card. The new AEC/NS card permits cost-effective, flexible addition of from 2 to 24 channels of echo cancellation to AudiaFLEX, as needed. By using the IP2 input cards and P2 output cards, before the introduction of the AEC2 card, AudiaFLEX could be configured with 157 different, unique combinations. With the addition of AEC2 cards, the number of unique customized configurations available has grown to 807. AudiaFLEX and the new AEC2 card can be seen at BIAMP's booth, #943, at InfoComm in Orlando in June, or by visiting http://www.biamp.com Back to top
Click above to visit our sponsor
Feature Article Selling AV Systems to Airlines and Insurance Companies By Gary Kayye, CTS It's simple, really. I often speak to dealer sales and system sales people who seem to have a hard time with the concept of selling systems to airlines and insurance companies. I'm not exactly sure why, but they seem to have a hard time grasping the concept of variance pricing based on need and use. It's not a difficult subject. In fact, you don't even need a degree in professional sales skills, college or anything else for that matter. But, it might help for you to see it in writing. So, I recommend that you read this once, grasp the concept, print this article out and pass it around the sales department so everyone finally gets this once and for all. Then file it on a shelf somewhere or make it readily available in the case where you need to read any part of this to a client that either works at an airline or an insurance company. Oh, and sell, sell, sell. Selling to an Airline First, figure out the final cost of a complete system — you know, a fixed price of some sort. For example, $50,000. In your contract you must list the final price of the system and explain the terms of that price. In selling to an airline, this price is, as you know, final and good for 24-hours. If they don't buy the system from you within 24-hours, it simply has to be recalculated. That's all. But, keep in mind that this price also assumes that they are willing to have it installed on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday and realize that there cannot be any sign-off until after the following Saturday. It could be at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, or anytime thereafter, but definitely needs to be after Saturday. If, however, they can't do this, then the price simply reverts back to the original price of $118,234. In this case, they can have it installed any day they want and you will even serve them lunch every day you are out there installing it. Oh, remember that the $50,000 price means that anyone who uses the system has to sit on the left or right side of the room because if another one of your clients who paid the $118,234 comes in to use the room, they get the seats closest to the center aisle. In addition, it is extremely important that you not forget the curtain that needs to hang between the front row and the rest of the room. The people who invariably sit in the front row will not like or appreciate the idea that the people sitting behind them can see the back of their heads. Finally, make room for a briefcase, claim check area and, of course, a LOST briefcase claim check area too. Selling to Insurance Companies OK, this one is a little more difficult than selling to airlines, but not much. First, figure out the final cost of a complete system — you know, a fixed price of some sort. Let's use $50,000 again. Unlike the airline sale, in the insurance sale, this price is guaranteed for one year. But, it assumes that they will never actually use the room for ANYHING more than they specifically stated before you gave them a quote. If they do, in fact, plan on using the room for something different (i.e. to connect an iMAC, watch the Super Bowl, etc.) than what was originally stated, you simply need to raise the quote to $87,114. In addition, if they plan on using it for that "other, non-specified application" more than once, the price needs to be readjusted each time they plan on using it. So, make sure you give them your toll-free, 800 number and six-digit extension number to call you. Oh, and remember, you need to assign them an ID number so in case they call you, you'll know who they are. And, your remote North Dakota-based warranty service department will have an easier time identifying them and their gear. And, names don't count as ID numbers. Back to top
Click above to visit our sponsor
If you're a dealer and would like to send out a customized newsletter to your customers (and want to do it spending only ten minutes a month!), ask us about it by writing to dharrison@kayye.com
Special Announcement: We've Moved!!! I am excited to say that Kayye Consulting, Inc. has moved. We're still in Chapel Hill, NC, but we've moved to a larger facility that includes a product development lab, a videoconferencing suite and a training room. Later this month, we will announce an expanded training schedule that will include a new set of courses to be taught here in Chapel Hill and sponsored by Sanyo, Sound & Communications Magazine, Biamp, Crestron and Da-Lite. So, stay tuned. Please note our new address (phone and fax remain the same): 400 Meadowmont Village Circle
Suite 425
Chapel Hill, NC 27517 Same Phone: 919.969.7501
Same Fax: 919.969.7561 For more information or directions to our office go to: http://www.kayye.com/aboutus/contactus.asp
Well, that's it for the (already) fifth edition of rAVe! Thank you for spending time with me as we muse the industry's happenings. To continue getting my newsletter, or to sign up a friend, click the link below. To send me feedback and news tips, don't reply to this newsletter – instead, write to me at gkayye@kayye.com. A little about me: Gary Kayye, CTS, founder of Kayye Consulting. Gary Kayye, an audiovisual veteran and columnist, began the widely-read KNews, a premier industry newsletter, in the late 1990s, and created the model for and was co-founder of AV Avenue – which later became InfoComm IQ. Kayye Consulting is a company that is committed to furthering the interests and success of dealers, manufacturers, and other companies within the professional audiovisual industry. To read more about my background, our staff, and what we do, go to http://www.kayye.com Back to top
Gary Kayye's rAVe contains the opinions of the author only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of other persons or companies or its sponsors. |