rAVe ProAV Edition Volume 2, Issue 16 (08/30/2004)

Introduction Epson's Breakout Projector, Hall of Famer Alan Brawn

News:

Feature Article Why You Will Need DVI By Alex Gibson

Feature Article

Feature Article Gary Kayye's rAVe AV Hall of Fame Featuring Alan C. Brawn Nearly A Quarter of a Century in the Pro AV Industry — My Recollections

Kayye Consulting's AVJob Resume Posting Service

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Introduction

Welcome to another issue of rAVe!

Just when you think there isn't much new in projection, Epson comes out with a killer product in the way of an 802.11g wireless with 2500 ANSI lumens. Not only that, but they're offering it for just $2,899. Wow.

Who cares, right? Well, not so fast! Although the ProAV market hasn't adopted networked projectors at the rate the CE (consumer electronics) market has, EPSON is jumping ahead of the curve. When the CE companies began entering the market, I warned traditional ProAV projector manufacturers about competition in terms of price. But I didn't necessarily think they'd leap our market in terms of technological developments, too.

This is a big deal and you will see a quick adoption of 802.11g by virtually every projector manufacturer in the coming months. And remember, 802.11g is enough bandwidth to do wireless video, eventually.

Speaking of leaders, this issue, we have an article about Alan Brawn. He's one of the good guys, and one who has seen this industry first hand as it evolved over the years. He's currently with Samsung, but he's spent his career on both the dealer and manufacturer sides and has won awards for his educational contributions to ICIA. Enjoy!

Gary Kayye, CTS

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Editorial
The Final Sayye by Gary Kayye
When a Warranty isn't Really a Warranty: The ProAV Anomaly
By Gary Kayye, CTS

I spent the past three years visiting more than 230 dealers in the USA, Canada, Europe and Asia. The purpose of my tour was to hopefully help the ProAV dealer with the convergence in technology and the changes in distribution that are on the horizon from many of the leading manufacturers. Both these changes in technology and in distribution will, forever, affect the typical profit model for most ProAV dealers.

And, as dealers begin to transition from a model where most of their revenue and profits come from product sales to one where most of it will come from services like design/engineering, integration of systems and service contracts, it's probably a good time to discuss an issue that is not only an anomaly in our market, but one that actually makes it virtually impossible in some cases to even sell a profitable service contract to an installation that needs one.

What's the issue/anomaly? Simply put, it's over-bloated, confusing and just plain stupid long warranties from manufacturers.

When was the last time you bought something that came with a 5-year warranty? Or, how about even a 2-year warranty? Not too often. OK, maybe a car, but at least that thing has wheels to drive it to the service department – a projector can't de-install itself with a ladder, pack itself in a box, ship itself to the manufacturer and then re-hang itself in the room when it breaks down.

OK, I know that it's the thought that counts and projector manufacturers must think that what they are doing by offering these long warranties is appreciated – and I am sure it is – by the traveling presenter. Those projectors are basically treated like virtually any other accessory to the PC and can simply be packed up and shipped in for repair on a moment's notice. But when a projector that's hung in the ceiling of a $100,000 boardroom fails, it costs someone, somewhere. some money.

Enter the service contract. Good AV Dealer tells Happy Customer that they can provide a proactive service contract on Cool Installation for a mere $400 per month. This $400 per month guarantees that should the install break at any time, Good AV Dealer Guy will come out there and fix it within 48-hours. No problem. And Good Dealer will also go one step further and provide Happy Customer with four preventative maintenance visits a year to make sure that Cool Installation never even gets to the point of breaking down. Wow.

But then Happy Customer frowns and says, "But my products all came with a three and a five year warranty." So, Good Dealer, being the good dealer that he is, explains that although the product is under warranty, that warranty doesn't cover the price to de-install it, ship it and re-install it when it comes back. And their system will be down while that is happening. But, Frowning Customer then says, "I thought my warranty covered anything – my car warranty does." Yes, but a car can't drive itself to the dealer service shop and then return home on its own. Someone has to be inconvenienced in that situation and in every case; it's the car owner – not the dealer. Right? Think about it. The dealer service guys sit in the service department waiting for a car, driven by a person, who drives up and asks for repair. Then they repair it and the car owner somehow magically shows up to pick up the car when it's done. No thought or concern goes into the time away from work for the car owner, the inconvenience of getting to work or getting back to the dealer to pick up said car.

But, in the anomaly known as the ProAV market, our products have ridiculously long warranties included. A PC, one year parts, 90-days labor. A projector 3-years on both. A TV, 90-days parts and labor, a matrix switcher, 3- to 5-years. Ever take a matrix switcher out of a rack? Who is burdened with that service? The dealer. He's expected to warranty it and service it. OK, sure, the dealer gets that service for free, from the manufacturer, as it's included in the warranty, but almost no one reimburses for labor and time taken to troubleshoot, de-install, ship, re-install and re-program the system to get it up and operating.

Realize that this is a revenue stream for the ProAV dealer. It's a service that is selling the customer peace-of-mind and an assurance that it won't break down and, if it does, it will be fixed.

As I said earlier, I see the value of a long warranty for traveling presenter type products, and am proud to be part of an industry that offers a warranty like no other in ANY technology segment, but that is also a hindrance for anything that's installed.

Don't believe me? Call ANY, I mean ANY, systems integration company in the ProAV market and ask them what they think of these long warranties on systems products and how well it helps them to sell service contracts.

I think the manufacturers of systems products should rethink their warranty policies and either cover the real costs of what it takes a dealer to support a broken switcher, DA, projector or system in a rack or, do what every other manufacturer in every other industry has done, and shorten the warranties. Just my opinion. Oh, and the opinion of about 200 or so other ProAV dealers.

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News:

Have a news tip? Send them to rAVe Editor-in-Chief Denise Harrison — dharrison@kayye.com

Projection

Epson Raises the Performance Bar on Sub-4-Pound Portables

This is incredible – 802.11g AND true 2500 ANSI lumens in less than a 4-pound projector. Epson introduced two new LCD projectors, one of them the PowerLite 745c with internal WiFi 802.11g — frame rates up to two to five times faster than 802.11b. The projector is specified at 2500 ANSI lumens, XGA resolution a 3-LCD design and weighs 3.9 pounds. Epson says it is the only projector compatible with Apple's Keynote software and offers LEAP-authentication and WEP/WPA for secure, encrypted wireless transmissions.

It can also be used without a PC, using the PCMCIA and USB slots.

Epson also introduced the PowerLite 740c with the same basic specs but without the WiFi. Both projectors power up in seven seconds and power down in 20.

The EPSON PowerLite 745c and 740c carry estimated street prices of $2,899 and $2,699 and will be available in September via ProAV dealers.

For more information on Epson projectors, go to http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/ProductCategory.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=-8178

JVC Announces XGA Digital Presenter

JVC has a new XGA digital presenter with something called a "clear character" mode, which allows the presenter to bump up the contrast for making text more clear – always a problem with document cameras.

The AV-P960 is a high res camera on a moveable, extendable free stop arm mounted over a stage with two lights. It connects to any high res projector and can be operated from a PC via USB, so the presenter can display PowerPoint slides.

The AV-P960 can also display video and can show action, such as writing text or rotating a 3D object, at the rate of 20 fps. The camera can capture images into its own memory or onto an SD memory card. Images can be magnified up to 48 times when the 12x optical zoom is used in combination with the 4x digital zoom.

The AV-P960 can also store up to three different images in its built-in memory and display them simultaneously side-by-side with another image that is captured in real time.

For more information, go to http://pro.jvc.com/prof/Attributes/press_res.jsp?model_id=MDL101264&feature_id=08
 

Displays

TEi Upgrades AxisTV

Tech Electronics is shipping a new version of its AxisTV product, a network based visual messaging creation, management and display system. The new 5.3.1 version includes four new features.

1. Free Form adds drag and drop functionality through a Web browser, allowing content creators to independently position and format multiple text and graphic elements from anywhere they can access a Web browser.

2. New adapters from similar applications from CEO Software (Scheduler Plus) and Newmarket International (Delphi) allow real-time extraction of room and event data for display.

3. AxisTV 5.3.1 supports external graphics links so that users can point to different and changing images on the LAN or Web.

4. New security features include password and intrusion control.

All new orders ship with version 5.3.1 and upgrade pricing is available to current AxisTV users. (The upgrade is available at no cost to SMA and warranted users.) Interested persons should contact TEi for additional information.

For more information, go to http://www.techelec.com/news/press/082304_axis531.htm

Three New Professional Plasmas From JVC

JVC has three new professional plasma displays including two 42" and a New 50" model.

The GD-V422PCE 42" displays more than 1.07 billion colors, says the company, and is specified at 4000:1 contrast ratio for dark areas, 160:1 for bright areas. Signal processing includes scaling, de-interlacing and a 2:3 pull-down menu to select video sources for HDTV and NTSC / PAL video monitoring and XGA display. The GD-V422PCE supports 720 50/60p, 1080 50/60i, 1080 24p and 1080 24pSF. It includes an 8W x 8W audio amplifier output.

The GM-V42E is a 42" specified at 3000:1 contrast ratio and brightness of 1000cd/m2. This model comes with an on/off timer to prevent burn-in. It is S-VGA and XGA compatible and can display HD. It comes with 2W x 2W speakers.

The GM-X50EA is the 50" plasma. It is specified at 2000:1 contrast ratio and brightness of 400cd/m2 or 1000cd/m2 panel brightness. The GM-X50EA is designed with a digital enhancement circuitry that adds edges to the image by adjusting the sharpness control.

For more information, go to http://pro.jvc.com/prof/main.jsp

Sony, Luxeon Create LED-Backlit LCD TVs

These look awesome. In a move to solve the colorimetry problem with LCD displays as well as light drop-off, Sony's 40" and 46" QUALIA 005 TVs include a new technology – an LED backlight that enhances the color performance of the TVs. According to Luxeon, the technology expands the gamut of reproducible hues by up to 45 percent. In fact, the company says the display delivers a color gamut that is 105% of the NTSC color space, compared to conventional technologies that reproduce 65-75% of the NTSC color space. The color is more lifelike and with improved RGB and Adobe RGB color performance, on-screen representation better matches printed output.

The LED output can also be controlled according to application. White-point, color and brightness can be optimized for movies, electronic games, photo images and home video, for example.

Can we expect to see this technology in professional LCDs soon?

For more information, go to http://www.lumileds.com/televisions

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Integrator Solutions

A rAVe Exclusive: Sneak Peek at D-Tools New System Integrator 4

D-Tools will be announcing a new version of its System Integrator software. SI 4 is just the fourth new version since the product was introduced in 1998.

The software manages design, engineering, documentation and estimating, and uses one portable project file so that everybody using the software is working from the same project data. SI uses Microsoft Visio for producing line diagrams, elevations, floor plans and schematic drawings with full interfacing capability with AutoCAD.

D-Tools will be releasing System Integrator 4 (SI 4), at the CEDIA EXPO (booth # 429). The company expects this version to provide users with a major increase in efficiency, while building a solid backbone for future releases. In a sneak peak to rAVe, company product designers shared some of the new features that will be introduced in SI 4:

• An all new navigator interface.
• Expanded reporting capabilities, including proposals with product jpegs embedded.
• At the Professional Edition level, users will be able to create their own custom reports using Microsoft Word.
• The ability to insert a completely pre-assembled system package (with appropriate drawings) into a proposal.
• A new detail shape that shows pin out on a connector.
• System Integrator's proprietary AutoCAD export, CADTools, will now be available on every drawing enabled module.
• The incorporation of Microsoft Visio 2003, includes an easy-to-use HTML Export Wizard.

SI 4 product packages will retail between $999 – $3,999 and are also available for purchase by software assurance which includes a down payment, small monthly payments and automatic upgrades to the software.

For more information, go to http://www.d-tools.com or call (925) 681-2326 x 501.

Extron Introduces AVT 100 TV and Cable Tuner

Extron announced a cable and TV tuner with RS-232 control targeting boardrooms, conference rooms, and classrooms as well as large-area RF distribution systems in stadiums, arenas, and campus CCTV systems.

Users can select channels from a three-digit alphanumeric LED located on the front panel and control can be done via RS-232 and extended range IR.

The AVT 100 can be set for full or restricted user channel access. Configuration settings for channel presets can be exported to a file for quick installation of additional units. Outputs include composite video, and balanced or unbalanced stereo audio and the AVT 100 is available in NTSC and PAL.

For the spec sheet, go to http://www.extron.com/download/files/brochure/avt100_ebro.pdf

Premier Cuts Pricing

Premier Mounts reduced the company's universal LCD mounts

New pricing includes:

• Model PRF – a flat mount that allows users to mount an LCD panel less than one inch from the wall. Original Price: $70.00. New Price $49.99.
• Model PRT – a tilt mount with +/-180 degrees tilt depending on the monitor and 360 degrees rotation. Original Price: $70.00. New Price $59.99.
• Model PRP – a tilt/pivot mount with +/- 90 degrees tilt, 180 degrees pivot and 360 degrees rotation. Original Price: $80.00. New Price $69.99.
• Model UCME – a light-duty swing-out arm allows users to extend an LCD more than 12 inches from the wall. Original Price: $159.00. New Price: $99.99.
• Model SOA – a medium-duty swing-out arm that allows users to pull a display up to 16 inches out from the wall. Original Price: $239.00. New Price: $129.99.
• Model SOAD – a heavy-duty swing-out arm that allows users to pull a display up to 20 inches away from the wall. Original Price: $340.00. New Price: $229.99.
• Model PRC – an adjustable-height suspension adapter that allows drop distance adjustment between 24 and 46 inches. Original Price: $265.00. New Price: $199.99

Premier is also including a new cable management system with all of its universal LCD mounts, which conceals the cables.

For more information, go to http://www.premiermounts.com/news.asp_Q_NewsItemID_E_168

Industry News

Gateway Pushing, Again, for ProAV Dealers

Gateway announced that the company has expanded its ProNet channel program to accommodate dealers who work with small and mid-sized businesses as well as the larger suppliers. Gateway describes its program as a program that "brings together IT value-added resellers (VARs) and professional audio-video (pro-AV) VARs to integrate Gateway's growing front- and back-office business product lines for customers. Gateway is dedicated to helping resellers build complete Gateway business solutions for their customers — from four-way servers to ultra-thin plasma TVs."

The Associate Level membership is for dealers buying less than $50,000 of Gateway hardware and services per quarter. It provides discounts, credit terms and online quoting tool as well as training, tech support and listing on the Gateway website.

The Member Level is for those buying $50,000 to $250,000 per quarter. They get bigger discounts, an inside rep and marketing support.

The Premier Member Level is for those averaging $250,000 per quarter. They get further discounts, an inside account manager and field rep for sales assistance.

For more information, go to http://www.gateway.com/about/news_info/press_release.shtml

InFocus Taps Clarity for DLP Display Production

InFocus has contracted Clarity to build a new generation of co-branded displays based on the DLP engine developed by InFocus. The engine is currently used in the ScreenPlay televisions from InFocus and the Bengal thin rear-projection system for digital signage.

Clarity will build the new TD-61 61-inch displays and displays carrying both brands are expected to begin shipping in the latter half of 2004.

For more information, go to http://www.clarityvisual.com/news/pressroom/0408/0824_InFocusDisplays.asp

AMX CEO Bob Carroll Honored as Corporate CEO of the Year

AMX's CEO, Bob Carroll, was named Corporate CEO of the Year" by the Metroplex Technology Business Council, a prominent technology organization if the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Carroll was presented with the award during the MTBC's fourth annual 2004 Tech Titans Awards gala held on Friday, August 20 at the Charles W. Eisemann Center in Richardson, Texas.

Carroll has served as AMX's Chairman, President and CEO since November 2001.

AMX recently reported its eleventh straight quarter of profitability, 32 percent revenue growth and a 260 percent increase in earnings per share from the year ago quarter, a record earnings quarter for the company. And for the first time in over a decade, the company ended its fiscal year 2004 debt free.

More details are at http://www.amx.com/nr-press-releases.asp?release=2004-08-23

As we all know, technology expands at a tremendous rate and has been doing so for the last 50 years. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the digital world of the audio/visual industry. On the cutting-edge of digital connectivity are DVI and its sleeker, more advanced companion HDMI. Currently, there are a few applications using DVI and even fewer using HDMI. However, within the next two years, many applications used today will not only use DVI and HDMI but will be required to use such technology.

HDTV seems to be the latest craze in the home theatre market right now. People are buying bigger and better displays to view their favorite programs in high definition, along with digital HD ready set-top boxes and satellite receivers to receive the programming itself. Much of this technology does not come cheap and it is not uncommon for someone to spend thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars, to equip their homes with this technology.

For the last few years, the major output connection used by HDTV display manufacturers has been component video (YUV or YCbCr). Component video is high quality, and many DVD players use it for their "progressive scan" method of delivering the highest quality picture available. Generally, component video supports all analog resolutions along with all three HD (480p, 720p, 1080i) output resolutions. With this in mind, HD display manufacturers currently build their displays with component video inputs for the best possible picture quality.

As with almost everything in life, television is regulated by the government. The FCC regulates all broadcasts, including HDTV. In October 2003, the FCC released an update to their HDTV standards paper released in 1997. The paper further defined details on their ideas for the future of HDTV in the United States. Through their writings, they make a few key points about the future of HDTV and bring up many important issues. Among these is the fact that the FCC is planning to mandate that all set-top boxes for DTV be equipped with either DVI or HDMI by July 1, 2005, and that all HD-TVs be equipped with the same technology by the middle of 2006. The idea is for the FCC to mandate an entirely digital system. So, as directed by the US government, we are in the process of a phase-out of the older analog OTA (over the air) antenna system currently in use by households and cable companies in the US. Herein lies the problem.

As we have discussed, many people have already invested a lot of time and money in upgrading their entertainment systems to high definition. Along with phasing out the OTA system, the FCC has been pressured by the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) and other media organizations to downgrade the content input via component video in order to better protect the content (i.e. illegal copying). Using an analog-based component video setup, it is possible to copy and reproduce the broadcasted signals leading to infringements on copyrights and the security of the content. These media organizations greatly support the FCC's mandating of DVI and HDMI since this content can be easily protected using a standard created by Intel called High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection better known as HDCP.

This content protection is absolutely pointless if legacy systems using component video outputs can still be used. With component video, as stated above, it is possible to easily copy and reproduce the content. In order to discourage people from using the component video for the broadcasted cable and satellite content, the FCC plans to downgrade (commonly called "down-converting") the resolution from the highest possible (1080i) to the lowest possible (480p). For some, this act would completely defeat the purpose of having the high definition display and set-top box in the first place. In so doing, the component connections used by many high definition displays will be obsolete for viewing the HDTV programming broadcasted by the cable and satellite companies rendering the legacy HDTV systems that these individuals spent so much time, money and effort putting together useless. For many, this is protection for the future as the new digital-based systems provide for not only a better quality viewing experience (as DVI and HDMI provide digital – to- digital viewing systems) but also protection from illegal copying and distribution of content.

This is a classic case of government regulation versus private enterprise where there are many entities working for their own interests. At the center, the FCC is the most powerful and eventually has the final say on HD television standards. And, working with them to promote the concept of content protection and digital connectivity ideas is the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) representing Hollywood. Content providers are seeking to offer their clients the best possible product with the highest possible quality. Therefore, the cable and satellite companies are looking to use DVI and HDMI with their systems as these connections are the best money can buy, and further because they are mandated to use them on their set-top boxes by the middle of 2005. On the other side of things, consumer groups are totally against these mandates as they would lead to many of the high-priced electronics sold now being obsolete in less than three years.

So, it appears that the FCC/Hollywood team is winning the battle and that digital-only transmission and display systems encrypted with copy protection are a fact of the future. As a current user of HDTV or a potential future customer of HDTV, you need to future-proof your HD investment and make sure everything you buy includes DVI and/or HDMI capabilities. But, don't stop there. Remember, for your investment to work, forever, you need everything to be HDCP enabled as well – TV's, DVD players, set-top boxes and even cables need to be capable of passing HDCP content. It is better to be safe than sorry, and you would hate to end up with an obsolete system two years down the road because of the FCC's mandate becoming law.

If you have any questions about digital connectivity or about how to ensure that your system stays top-notch for the longest possible amount of time, feel free to contact DVI Gear http://www.dvigear.com for answers. We are your digital connectivity experts.

Feature Article
Gary Kayye's rAVe AV Hall of Fame

Featuring Alan C. Brawn

Nearly A Quarter of a Century in the Pro AV Industry — My Recollections

Alan Brawn started life in Wood River, Illinois: Population 11,000. The small town, 25 miles east of St. Louis, offered a classic 1950’s style upbringing, says Brawn, with three oil refineries employing most of the adults and sports occupying the time of much of the youth.

“I grew up loving sports and in my early teens I lied about my age and worked at Alton Dragway, a famous drag strip in the Midwest,” Brawn says. “As a youth, I got to skinny dip with the likes of ‘Big Daddy’ Don Garlits and Don ‘the Snake’ Prudome at the end of a race weekend.”

After high school, he began extensive college studies that would result in three master’s degrees. His interest in oration, communication and presentation were the backbones of his studies, but the interest almost lead him down a very different path from the one he took.

“I wanted to become an attorney in the early days, but my mother pointed out that they spent most of their time doing research,” says Brawn. “So my second love was teaching and I pursued that path. I had competed in public speaking during my high school years and was fortunate enough to compete at the state championships in Illinois, so the natural courses for me became all of the public speaking courses.

“I then fell in love with theater and concentrated on acting, directing, and technical theater,” he says.

Brawn earned Master’s Degrees in Communications, Theater, and Media Marketing from Illinois College in Jacksonville and Southern Illinois University, where he managed the Theater Scene Shop and was a graduate teaching assistant.

During grad school, Brawn worked his way through college as an auto mechanic. And with the theater background he now had, he worked throughout the Midwest as a stagehand for acts such as Harry Chapin, Moody Blues, Chicago, and a number of other groups. One of his steady gigs was as a hand for the Mississippi River Festival productions of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The technical theater courses were excellent training for Brawn’s later involvement in ProAV.

“To achieve degrees in technical theater you must have advanced courses in architecture, construction, electronics, audio, and lighting. Armed with years of experience in these areas, they formed the perfect foundation for many years later joining the professional audio visual industry.”

Alan Brawn is currently the National Product Marketing Manager for Samsung Electronics America’s Pro AV Group.

Now, here, in his own words, is the evolution of the ProAV world as seen through his eyes.

After spending the decade of the 70s and the early 80s teaching communications and theater and then a nine-stint in the world of photography, I literally stumbled into the Pro AV industry.

Next oor to the photographic accessory company my partner and I owned was an audio visual company called Communitronics Corporation. The owner, Bob Anderson.and I become friends and we would get together after work and discuss each other's businesses One evening after a particularly bad sales month on the photo accessories side of things.I told Bob I needed to do something else with my life. He seemed amused and said "I wondered how long it would take you to realize that 50% ownership of nothing is nothing!" The next evening he told me he wanted me to come and run his audio visual company.

After the shock,and knowing that my knowledge of the audio visual industry was nil, I accepted with a great deal of anxiety but understood that something was really better than nothing.

What characterized my first two years in the business was approaching the learning curve at the entry level and attempting with all my power to come up-to-speed in knowledge in the shortest period of time possible while at the same time managing a flourishing company.

This journey began with a trip to NAB with my chief engineer at the time, Kevin Morrow, who is now VP of Technology for ParkerVision. Kevin and I were standing next to some very professional broadcast engineers from Chicago and the group was discussing component video. I knew nothing about video let alone component video but I wanted to take part in the discussion and since I had taught audio at the university level, I blurted out a reference to different components in a system like a tuner and an amplifier.

Kevin looked at me in shock and grabbed my arm and led me away. He said and I quote, "If you ever open your mouth and embarrass me and Communitronics again by not knowing what you are talking about, I will quit!"

After turning several shades of red and knowing I had made the worst mistake imaginable, I decided that I would seek the knowledge I obviously lacked and someday make Kevin and my new colleagues in the industry proud of me.

In the early 1980s I didn't know where to find audio visual courses, and the World Wide Web that we take for granted today was a decade away, so the path to knowledge was not obvious.

Undaunted (joke) by the lack of formal courses I approached the need for information in the only way I could. Communitronics was one of the leading audio visual companies in the Midwest at the time. We carried more than 500 lines of products including major lines like Barco, Sony, NEC, Mitsubishi, Crestron, and Stewart Filmscreen to name a few. As the sales and technical people from each manufacturer would come to make their calls I would invite them to dinner on "The Hill" in St Louis and after a great Italian meal we would "retire" to my office where I had built a fully functional bar with very comfortable chairs. We would spend from two to four hours each night going over all the things I did not know about their products and surrounding technologies.

This process lasted two years in full force. This process when coupled with involvement in advanced integration projects of our company resulted in a fast track of learning via my own informal audio visual university.

Along with my "informal" but intensive training I would be remiss not to mention many industry legends that have been a big part of my professional development.

During my seven years running a dealership, I was fortunate enough to sit on several national dealer advisory panels and attended numerous national sales meetings with companies like Barco, JVC, NEC, and Mitsubishi Professional. Please remember, this was the era of the regional dealerships and friendships across regional boundaries were the norm since we did not compete with each other.

Along with the rest of the AV universe, I was befriended by Mackey Barron and we have remained close friends. When I left the dealer world and joined Hughes-JVC, Mackey was the first one to take on our new and unproven projector line. I think he still has arrows in the back from those days. Sonny Davis and Ed Matthews of Technical Industries and later MCSi were friends from the start. Sonny and I to this day go off and talk sometimes for hours about our vision of the industry. He is proof that learning and the imparting of knowledge never stops. Joe Stoebner of AVI Systems is another person I respect and he taught me by example the proper way to run a professional organization in the days when we were all basic mom and pop operations.

Another good friend Mike Clark formerly of EIS and MCSI (and now at Avidex) has been one of my closest friends and we have grown and shared together over the years. We met on a dealer trip to Belgium for Barco where we bought lace together in Bruges for our wives after playing hooky from on a meeting at the Barco factory.

Others who have been part of my development are Jack Culp, Chris Miller formerly of Fairview AFX, Bob Walsh formerly of Midwest, Wade Harb of Westech and others too numerous to mention, but all a part of who I am professionally today.

Equally important to the relationships I have enjoyed with fellow dealers are those with manufacturers and their representatives.

In the early days, George Feldstein of Crestron had a 10×10 both at InfoComm and he, along with his wife and daughter and with a lone volunteer (me), would set it all up and tear it all down. Our "party" at the end of the show was a cooler full of soft drinks and a slice of cold pizza. George taught me everything I know about remote controls in the process.

Andrew Edwards was not always the head of an influential company called Extron. He started out in the proverbial garage and he worked his way to the top and brought people like me along with him. He would come to my office with prototypes that had wires hanging out of them and we would test them, and in some cases, install them at a customer's site because they solved a problem that nobody else could solve.

The best independent rep I ever worked with was Chris Calbi and his company RCS. He would call on me and we would work all day, eat on the Hill, and retire to Bob Anderson's hot tub and discuss solving all the audio visual world's problems. By the way, we are still trying after 23 years!

The best manufacturer's rep I had the pleasure to work with was Dave Maniscalco. He worked at Barco, Ampro, Hughes-JVC, and is now at Samsung. This is proof we change cards but not industry. Our "deal" back in the Barco days was that he had to buy me lunch every time I placed an order. We became the second or third largest Barco dealer in the country and Dave was in my office two days a week so I gave him his own office to work from.

I cannot fail to mention Don Stewart of Stewart Filmscreen. One time, I needed some help. I had never heard of Stewart but one of my colleagues said to call Don. I did and he not only solved my immediate problem but became a good friend and over the years has taught me more about the differences in screen technologies than I ever thought possible.

From a career point of view, I have been fortunate as well. After seven years managing a regional integration company I finally was able to take on the challenge of working for a manufacturer.

Frank Genovese, formerly of Barco and the most proficient deal maker I have ever known, introduced me to Hughes Aircraft. I joined a team of engineers that had developed a new technology that came to be known as Image Light Amplifier or ILA for short.

Jack Faiman who is now a VP with JVC Professional was influential in hiring me and I got to work with Bill Bleha, the "father" of the ILA, and Rod Sterling, one of the most competent engineers I have ever worked with. In the early days Rod and I would spend half the day sorting "good" ILAs for delivery to our customers and I would spend the rest of my day trying to convince people like Mackey Barron, Sonny Davis, and Mike Clark to buy them. During those early years at HJT we showed up at InfoComm with our team all dressed in tuxedos, and we had the first full theater with all the bells and whistles at the show. Jack, Bill, Rod, and I also had the experience of helping develop the first electronic cinema projector and showed the first demonstrations in conjunction with Miramax Films.

This period of over 11 years taught me true product engineering and things like quality control, just in time delivery, and, of course, field service headaches. The joint venture process with Hughes Aircraft and JVC was an education in itself. Jack Faiman speaks fluent Japanese and he coached me and taught me the value of understanding the other side of any situation in spite of language differences. The new company, Hughes-JVC, was to some extent "oil and water" with neither really understanding the other.
In the later days of Hughes-JVC, I became the Director of Marketing and traveled all over the world working with our distributors and dealers. Interestingly enough one of my tasks was to call on Samsung in Korea, who was our ILA projector distributor in the mid 1990s. This was during the "Asian flu" financial crisis in Korea and this was yet another "growth opportunity" for a guy from a small town near St. Louis, Missouri.

During my final days at Hughes-JVC, we developed the technology that today rivals any display technology in the world. The D-ILA or direct drive digital image light amplifier was productized over in Korea from some initial work at Hughes' Malibu Research Labs. It is fundamentally LCOS technology and is only now beginning to come into its own in competition with Texas Instruments DLP displays.

I left JVC for what I hoped was the opportunity of a lifetime as VP of Educational and Business Development for MCSi.

My good friends Mike Clark and Mike Richardson sponsored me and Mike Trebilcock, the current president of MCPC, hired me. The job was a dream for a former college professor and seeker/purveyor of knowledge. My task was to develop a full curriculum of training courses for the over 2,000 employees of the company. After years of teaching communications, theater and marketing, and nearly 20 years of studying and experiencing the audio visual industry and teaching seminars at InfoComm, SID, SBE, and other venues, I was ready to apply that knowledge and experience in a more formalized manner.

I designed what came to be known as MCSi University and developed a full set of courses for sales, technical, operations, and management personnel. As we all know, the company failed but all of the courses live on in one form or another to this date.

After having the proverbial "horse shot out from under" us, I landed at Samsung's Information Technology Division with the initial responsibility to help them enter the Pro AV channel with their large flat panel displays. Having done this once before in the "old" Hughes-JVC days, and having worked with Samsung during the really tough times of the mid 90s, I felt uniquely qualified to begin this journey. The good news was that the methodologies, and even most of the people, remain the same. But the bad news is that the market and challenges are changing in front of our very eyes.

In the beginning there were no laptops or personal computers and the internet was only a dream. Pro AV dealerships across the country were regionalized and there was little if any competition across regional boundaries. The products we represented were good, better, and best products in nearly every category contrasted to near universal parity today. In the early days it was a kinder and gentler time and today, a time of challenges and hurdles with a need to differentiate oneself. These new challenges and the need to shift our paradigms require us to have industry organizations like the ICIA to support us.

I have been fortunate over the years to work with people like Randy Lemke and Terry Friesenborg along with their teams and all the volunteers at ICIA. It is their dedication and focus that serves us all. For the last five years of its existence, I was the chairman of the executive committee of the InfoComm Shootout and worked closely with Steve Somers of Extron, who was the chairman of the full committee. Steve is the consummate professional, and in my opinion the glue that held the Shootout together for so many years. I continue to teach courses each year at InfoComm and am on the Adjunct Faculty of that organization. In each seminar I teach I say "knowledge is strength" and this is true today more than ever. All I can say is that I am still learning and sharing and most of all, enjoying the ride.

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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.

Gary Kayye's rAVe was launched in February 2003. The new rAVe Home Edition co-sponsored by CEDIA launches in February, 2004.

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