Volume 12, Issue 11 — June 9, 2015
|
Editorial Editorial
Editorial
Editorial
|
|
Cables, Furniture, Mounts, Racks, Screens and Accessories Audio Control & Signal Processing
|
|
|
Is Apple HomeKit Only a Category Killer?
By Gary Kayye rAVe Founder
We’re likely less than a month away from a plethora of Apple HomeKit product announcements as Apple is likely to tie in its home control of nearly everything to a brand-new Apple TV.
Although Apple is usually hush-hush on new product pushes, this time, with HomeKit, they’ve been talking about their position and plans, telling App developers that HomeKit is a framework in iOS 8 for communicating with and controlling connected accessories in a user’s home. You can enable users to discover HomeKit accessories in their home and configure them, or you can create actions to control those devices. Users can group actions together and trigger them using Siri.
So, basically, using an iPhone (or more likely an AppleTV enabled with Siri), you’ll be able to connect products together and control them with voice-commands. So, when you say, “Turn on Netflix,” it will turn on your TV, switch the TV to the AppleTV set-top box input and open the Netflix app automatically. And, by the way, according to one HomeKit developer, that command can include macros to close the shades, turn off lights and even adjust the audio volume to different pre-set levels depending on what time a day it is.
If this is true, will total home control be too far behind?
What’s interesting here, and will be interesting to watch, is that Apple’s products sometimes kill the obvious (e.g., the iPhone killed Blackberry and the flip phone), but they also tend to have a deadening affect on the less obvious — for example, who buys a map now? And, who would bother to buy a small digital camera? In 2007, when the iPhone was launched, no one thought the digital camera market would collapse less than four years later.
So, HomeKit will side-swipe what other markets? We know it’ll have a devastating effect on the home automation market all around — and, an immediate death-hook on the universal remote control market — but what else will it kill without us thinking about it?
That, to me, is something I’m watching for. Your thoughts? Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top |
Click above to learn more
|
|
OLED! LED! Plasma(RIP)! On Display Technologies
By Leonard Suskin Pixel and Ink-Stained Wretch
Editor’s note: This blog was written as an introduction to display technologies for non-industry insiders. Everyone can use a refresher though, so we’re reprinting here anyway.
OLED! LED! Plasma(RIP)! There are, today, quite a few technologies for video displays. What does it mean? What’s best? Today we’ll talk about video displays. This is an AV post, but if you’re a “regular” user and curious about some of the buzzwords stick around.
Last week I stopped by at the Sapphire Marketing Roadshow as it traveled to my city of New York. Sapphire, as my AV friends know, is the rep firm for Crestron, Digital Projection, Vaddio, RPVisual, and Silicon Core. The latter was the brand I was most interested in seeing face-to-face. They might not be a household name outside the AV industry, but they have the most eye-catching product at this show: direct-view LED displays.
Plasma and LCD
Display technology has gotten confusing since the days when televisions were big and the only choice was a CRT screen. I’ll assume you know that a video image is made up of tiny dots called pixels, and that a high-definition image measures 1920 pixels across by 1080 down. A “4K – UHD” display doubles each dimension, to 3840×2160 (the purists in the industry don’t consider this “true” 4K as the horizontal pixel count is less than 4000 pixels. Aspect ratios are another topic). Today’s question is what those pixels are, and how we light them up.
You can, without being too far wrong, think of a plasma display as an array of very tiny fluorescent lights (this is a metaphor. You’ll remember that I like metaphors). Each element contains a phosphor which, when hit by an electron will admit a certain wavelength of light. Red, green, and blue phosphors will be combined to create the full range of color; when they’re lit they’re on, and when they’re off they’re off – more on this tautology later. Plasma is considered an emissive display technology because each elements emits light.
An LCD tv works differently. An LCD screen is a sort of glass sandwhich; the “bread” is a polarizing filter on the inside (facing the light source) and the liquid crystal on the outside (facing the viewer). In between are colored filters which give us our red, green, and blue pixels. An electrical charge applied to the liquid-crystal element would twist the crystal to align its polarization with the inner layer, letting light through. LCD displays are transmissive in that each element allows light to be transmitted from a white source.
Which is better? This is a question I’ve heard a great many times before the slow death of plasma. For viewing experience, emissive technologies are better. Remember when I said that an element that was “off” is off? That means that “black” on a plasma display is truly black — no light. “Black” on an LCD will always have some leakage; it’s a darkish-grey masquerading as black.
So why did plasma die? Plasma displays are very heavy. They use a great deal of energy. And they are susceptible to “burn in”. Phosphors degrade as they emit light. This not only means that the entire image dims over time, but that displaying a static image may degrade one group of elements more than the rest, leaving a persistent “ghost image” on the display.
Did I hear someone ask, “What about my LED TV”? LED TVs (not OLED or direct-view LED walls which we’ll talk about later) are a special case of LCD display. Remember that “light source” I was talking about earlier? In older models that was a compact fluorescent bulb. IN newer ones, it’s white LEDs, placed either at the perimeter of the viewing area (edge-lit) or behind it (back-lit). Back-lighting creates a brighter, more evenly lit image, while edge-lighting allows flat panels to be made almost absurdly thin.
OLED
Organic light-emitting diodes (or OLED) is an emissive technology, involving organic molecules which behave as LEDs. As with a plasma display, each color is directly emitted. Also as is the case with plasma, these elements will degrade with use. Your ten year old television? That would be functioning at less than half the brightness as when it was new if it used OLED. It’s a great technology (in my opinion) for cell-phones. By the time your phone display has noticeably degraded you’re very likely to have replaced it with a newer model for other reasons (processor speed, screen size, amount of memory, etc). You’re even more likely to have dropped it and shattered the screen in the first place.
Direct-view LED
This brings us back to the Silicon Core display at the Sapphire roadshow; Silicon Core is one of several manufacturers of large-format emissive displays which use individual LEDs for each pixel. The challenge with those has always been “pixel pitch” or the distance between elements. Older LED displays, with a pixel-pitch over 2mm, are only well-suited for applications in which the viewer is very far away; closer, one sees “dots.” We now can pack them in much closer; Silicon Core’s “Lavender” display has a pixel pitch of 1.2mm. It’s one of the prettiest displays I’ve seen, with two clear drawbacks:
First, there’s cost. Not only are they expensive to purchase, they are expensive and difficult to mount. A large LED display of this type is made of many smaller (about a foot and a half square) blocks, each of which needs to be placed within a very tight tolerance to give a seamless-looking image. Because maintenance and connectivity is at the rear, this often involves a complicated “scissors” type mount with moving parts allowing for some kind of front-access.
Secondly, there’s a manufacturer-specific issue with Silicon Core: It’s current “top of the line” model is called Lavender. Previous models, with larger pixel pitches, include Magnolia, Peony, Orchid, Sunflower, and Tulip. I’m afraid that before too long they’ll run out of recognizable and pleasant flower-names, and we’ll be stuck with “Stinkweed” or “Corpse Plant.” Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top |
|
When Will the 8K Display Market Start?
By Yoonsung Chung DisplaySearch
UHD (4K) resolution is becoming mainstream in the high-end TV market. UHD TV panel shipments reached only 63K in 2012, but jumped to 19M in 2014. IHS forecasts 4K TV panel penetration will double in 2015, reaching 15%. Penetration is forecast to increase to over 30 percent in 2018.
But as usual, resolution continues to be pushed even higher. So the next question is, when will 8K displays start to penetrate the market?
Japan and Korea are the most advanced countries in 4K broadcasting, but even they have only pilot broadcasting and limited 4K for satellite and cable, not for terrestrial broadcasting. Yet, the industry continues to push forward with the resolution trend even when the eco-system is not prepared.
Once a resolution is introduced to the market, it continues to grow for around six years. Then, a new, higher resolution replaces it. For example, HD resolution grew from 2000 to 2006 and then began to disappear as FHD resolution was introduced. FHD resolution then increased up to 2012, along with the digital transition worldwide. But FHD started to decline with the rise of UHD resolution.
Therefore, it seems possible that 8K display penetration could start around 2018. In fact, Japan is considering 8K broadcasting in the 2018-2020 timeframe. From an industry perspective, 2018 is a reasonable year to introduce 8K displays. 4K penetration is expected to reach over 30 percent penetration and become mature around then. So, 2018 could be the year that industry players need another driver, like 8K, to stimulate the market. If so, leading makers may ramp up their 8K display business in 2015-2016 to take the initiative.
However, there are several key issues in producing 8K displays. First is the resolution itself. 8K needs four times more data processing and pixels in the display. This means that high speed electron mobility backplane technology is required. Another issue is transmittance. It is believed that 8K displays cause poor transmittance compared with typical panels, creating lower brightness, higher costs, and greater power consumption. Finding ways to overcome these issues will be a big challenge for panel makers. It is likely that they will develop more advanced sub-pixel rendering technology for 8K displays.
Korean makers might be more aggressive in 8K since Taiwanese and Chinese makers took the initiative with UHD in its early stages. Korean makers do not want that to happen again with 8K. Therefore, they may begin 8K display mass production in 2016. Japanese and Chinese panel makers are also preparing for the 8K display era. Competition is not visible now, but it will be soon. Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top |
Click above to learn more
|
|
Review: Sengled Boost Wi-Fi LED Bulb
By Lee Distad rAVe Columnist
A few weeks back, I wrote an overview of Sengled’s new Boost, a combination LED bulb and Wi-Fi extender. At the time the product was just announced, and wasn’t yet available. Once it became available, Sengled was kind enough to furnish me with a unit in order to do an actual product review.
To recap, Sengled’s raison d’être for the Boost is to be a problem solving widget for areas in the house that suffer from weak Wi-Fi, which can impact everything from the speed at which video streams (or doesn’t, as the case may be) to your tablet to teeth grinding lag while trying to play videogames, to how well automation products function.
Wi-Fi extenders aren’t a new product category by any means, but considering how most of them aren’t very aesthetic looking, Sengled’s solution is to hide it out of sight: Make it in the form factor of an LED bulb and hide it in a lamp.
As it happens, I had exactly the right scenario at home with which to test the Sengled Boost. My side of the bed in the master bedroom is, geographically, the furthest point in the house from the Wi-Fi router (a Linksys E3000, in case you were wondering) in the basement where the cable Internet comes into the house.
Measuring the Wi-Fi bandwidth in the house was done with the Ookla Speedtest app on my iPhone.
Leave aside for a moment your urge to mock us poor Canadians for what our service providers laughably call “broadband” in our country and heed the measurements I came up with. Down in the basement, standing right beside the router downloads clocked at 20.09 Mbps. Upstairs on the main floor, standing over top of where the router is located below, downloads were 15.36 Mbps. Then, at the other end of the house, on my side of the room they clocked a sad 7.61 Mbps. Clearly, I can’t work under these conditions.
The Boost’s manual is brief, and to the point. Installation is simple (how many AV pros does it take to screw in a light bulb?). Initial connection to the mobile app is by accessing the Boost’s own Wi-Fi network, then selecting your network and giving the Boost the password. The app allows control of multiple Wi-Fi-enabled Sengled bulbs, controlled either individually or all at once with a master on-off button.
On the lighting control side, every time you open the app on a mobile device it takes a few moments to search the network for bulbs, so from a user-experience perspective I don’t know if anyone would want to equip their entire house with Wi-Fi-controlled LED bulbs, and have to pull out their phone every time they walk into a room and want to turn on the lights, but that’s probably a specious argument.
The other complaint, if it can be called one, is the potential for user error. Since the Boost is screwed into the socket of a lamp, there’s the potential for users to forget and throw the switch on the lamp. Obviously, cutting the power to the Boost means that it won’t work.
To my credit, only once did I stand there like an idiot for more than five minutes trying to get my phone’s Sengled app to connect to the Boost, and getting repeated, “No bulbs found, retry?” messages before I thought, “Hey, maybe I should check the switch to see if it’s powered on.”
Other than that, the interface between app and bulb was mostly seamless. There was one instance where the app couldn’t find the bulb, and I had to swipe out the app and re-open it, after which it paired properly. Not a flawless track record, but still good.
But what about the Wi-Fi extending capabilities? That’s what the review is about after all.
After setting up the Boost, the Ookla app clocked the Wi-Fi in the master bedroom at 15.07 Mbps, double what it was without a booster, more than doubling the signal strength to bring it in line with the rest of the house, finally allowing me to stream Netflix on my side of the bed without endless buffering.
I’d rate the Sengled Boost as definitely a useful widget. It does what it’s supposed to do, and operates unobtrusively. That makes it a worthwhile problem solver to use when you need one. Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top |
|
SurgeX Adds Axess Manager Platform For Remote Mobile Power Monitoring and ManagementESP/SurgeX announced this month the Axess Manager Platform, a mobile power monitoring and management system that pairs with every IP enabled device on a network, including SurgeX Axess, Axess Elite and Axess Ready products, to create a smart and accessible energy management system available. SurgeX is also announcing shipping of its Axess Elite for international markets, with support for 16 amp CEE7/7 and 10 amp AS3112 electrical standards. The new solutions will be unveiled at InfoComm 2015 in booth 2153.
The enhanced platform from SurgeX includes Axess Manager and Axess Manager Mobile, new desktop and mobile apps designed to let users monitor power conditions and control power functions across multiple installations from a single location. These apps make it easy to identify power-related issues quickly and allow for simple navigation and management of existing installs, especially as new devices and systems are being added to the network.
SurgeX designed the mobile and desktop apps with admin tools that make it easy to manage device and user permissions without the need for separate licenses or paperwork. A single admin username and password is all that’s required to add or access any device on the network and activating or deactivating a user requires just a simple mouse click. If there is an issue or unauthorized actions taken through the app, the platform provides PDF or Excel reports documenting all system and user activity to quickly pinpoint the problem. Dealers can also customize the graphic user interface with their own logo and branding. The apps are available for free and work with iOS, Android and Windows desktop operating systems.
The Axess Manager Platform saves money by allowing integrators to hard reboot locked up equipment remotely, or to create a trigger to do it automatically, reducing one of the most common service call requests. Custom settings, scheduling and on/off controls can be configured on individual outlets and custom sequences can be created across the entire network with e-mail notifications sent about different issues, based on user-defined conditions. The system also collects temperature, voltage and current draw measurements and provides a detailed report of energy consumption by each connected device.
SurgeX will demo the Axess Manager Platform in booth 2153 at InfoComm 2015.
To download the Axess Manager Platform, go here. Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top |
Click above to learn more
|
|
Bryston Unveils Integrated Audio Device Available for BDP-2 Music PlayerBryston has announced the introduction of a proprietary Integrated Audio Device (IAD) for the BDP-2 Music Player. The new IAD delivers improved specifications and replaces the current two-piece third-party sound card and SPDIF interface module (AES/BNC) utilized in the BDP-2. All new BDP-2 players are currently shipping with the new IAD installed, and legacy BDP-2 consumers have an option to retrofit to the new device for an MSRP of $500. IAD upgrades will be managed at the Bryston factory until dealers and international distributors have been trained to properly install the new module.
Another significant benefit of the Bryston IAD has been the capacity to free BDP-2 production from the constraints of third-party supplied devices. Premium quality sound cards are challenging to source, and the IAD alleviates these supply chain concerns completely. The IAD will reduce backorders on the BDP-2, which has been an issue as sales have outpaced manufacturing since the introduction of the hand-assembled Bryston music players.
Here are all the specs. Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top |
Soundcast Purchased by Private Equity Firm, Will be Managed By The OAC GroupSoundcast, manufacturer of wireless music systems announced this month the sale of the company to a private equity investment firm, Hancock Park Associates (HPA). The firm also appointed consulting company The OAC Group to manage Soundcast, making them responsible for marketing and sales strategy, new product development, engineering, customer service/support systems and finances.
The OAC Group has previously worked with other CE brands such as Russound, DTS, Atlantic Technology, SnapAV, NEST, Konica, SpeakerCraft, Harman/Kardon, A-BUS and others.
The Soundcast executive leadership team is to be led by Oscar Ciornei as president/CEO and visionary, Leonard Santos as chief operating officer and Bob Dulsky as chief financial officer. The business offices, accounting and warehousing will remain in San Diego, Calif.
The new owner, Hancock Park Associates (HPA) was founded in 1986. HPA seeks companies with lengthy operating histories in mature industries gravitating toward specialty retailing and niche manufacturing where the firm has significant experience and success. They are long-term investors focused on building a long-term value and growing businesses. Retail brands grown under the HPA portfolio include Charming Charlie, Leslie Pools & Spas, Gordon Biersch Restaurants and Brown Jordan Furniture.
Soundcast is here. Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top |
Click above to learn more
|
James Loudspeaker Intros Slim Profile Aluminum SLT3 SoundBar SeriesJames Loudspeaker has added a new series of slim, 3″-profile, full-range SoundBars called the SLT3 Series. Intended for vertical applications on either side of a TV, the compact 3.15-inch wide/4.75-inch deep form factor (height measurement customized for each TV) uses four proprietary 3.5-inch aluminum woofers.
The James Loudspeaker SLT3CS sound bar pair provides audio for video content with balance and spoken dialogue appears to be coming from he center of the screen. And each sound bar is custom sized and finished to match any TV. The SLT3CS can be used as a basic audio upgrade for any TV, or as the Left/Center/Right channels of a complete surround system.
The SLT3CS was initially developed to accommodate applications requiring a slender profile. James engineers, seeking to generate high output and extended low frequencies from a small form factor, employed an advanced band pass enclosure housing four 3.5-inch woofers per sound bar as well as a pair of 2-inch aluminum mid-range drivers and a ¾-inch aluminum tweeter to create three-way, full-range clarity. Frequency response of the SLT3CS is 70Hz to 22kHz.
The James Loudspeaker SLT3CS Centergy SoundBar pair is available now and lists for $4,000. In addition to the vertically configured SLT3CS, the SLT3 Series features three additional SoundBar models to accommodate both vertical and horizontal mounting applications; the SLT3LCR (featuring drivers for left-center-right, $2,800 each) or SLT3LR (featuring drivers for stereo, $2,500 each) or SLT3C (featuring drivers for center only, $2,200 each).
Here are the details. Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top |
Meridian Releases Compact DSP320 Install Loudspeaker Meridian’s new range of compact in-wall and in-ceiling loudspeakers is dubbed the DSP320. Like Meridian’s current DSP520, the company claim the DSP320 has been introduced specifically to deliver wide dispersion for maximum listening area, with minimum unwanted diffraction thanks to careful baffle and grille design. The on-board DSP provides thermal and dynamic bass protection and includes their EBA technology (Enhanced Bass Alignment).
Features include:
- Compact 300 millimeters (12 inches) square design only 100mm (4in) deep
- Back-box and frame system allows simple and easy installation, with the flexibility to ensure precise positioning
- Two-channel, high power amplifier with linear power supply, DSP crossover, setup controls, IR sensor
- Fire-rated rough-in box with AC connection and mounting hardware
- Damped, high-rigidity aluminum acoustic enclosure with internal mineral-filled mid-range enclosure
- High rigidity aluminum baffle with Bass/Wide Range drive units and high contact magnetic grille clamping
- White scrim under plated steel, paintable, matte white grille
- DSP-based design “delivers superior performance to conventional designs” – equivalent to an enclosure of eight times the physical volume
- Features “Racetrack” oval bass driver, and the same 85mm wide-range driver as the DSP520, for full-frequency response
- All aspects of the design including baffle and grille have been developed for maximum dispersion and listening area plus minimum unwanted diffraction
The Meridian DSP320s are $2,500 each and the back-box and frame system are $400 each. All the complete specs are here. Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top |
|
Extron Introduces New IN1608 Versions with HDBaseT Compatibility Extron’s new IN1608 HDBT is a new version of the IN1608 product family featuring an HDBaseT-compatible output for connectivity with HDBaseT-enabled displays. This twisted pair output can be used to send digital video and embedded audio, plus bidirectional RS232 and IR signals up to 330 feet (100 meters) over shielded CATx cable. The IN1608 is a highly versatile scaling presentation switcher that delivers all of the technologically advanced capabilities you need to design and integrate a complete AV system in one box. This includes an HDCP-compliant, multi-format video switcher, an advanced scaling engine, integrated DTP signal extension, an available high performance mono or stereo amplifier and an available built-in IPCP Pro 350 control processor for complete AV system control.
The IN1608 provides the convenience of supporting local and remote displays. The two DTP twisted pair inputs are compatible with a wide range of DTP 230 and DTP 330 Series transmitters for extending audio, video, and control signals up to 330 feet (100 meters) over a shielded CATx cable. The IN1608 can also remotely power each of the DTP transmitters over the same CATx cable, streamlining system design and installation. In addition, the IN1608 features an advanced scaling engine that can scale HDMI, RGB, component and standard definition video signals to a common high resolution output. It provides high performance de-interlacing of all interlaced signals up to 1080i, and Deep Color processing to deliver optimal image quality. With Extron exclusive EDID Minder, Key Minder and SpeedSwitch, integrators can easily connect sources and displays with plug-and-play simplicity, automatic device negotiation and nearly instantaneous switching.
The IN1608 can serve as the central component for audio system integration. It includes eight-input audio switching, two mic/line inputs, HDMI audio embedding and de-embedding, and several audio processing features for mixing, ducking, tone adjustments, and more. IN1608 SA models feature a two-channel 50-watt Class D stereo power amplifier, while IN1608 MA models include a 100 watt Class D mono power amplifier.
Here are all the detailed product options and specs. Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top |
Key Digital Intros 4K Distribution Amp With EDIDKey Digital’s newest is the KD-HD1x4ProK — a one-input, four-output HDMI distribution amplifier that’s spec’d to handle 4K resolution signals (4096×2160/60/30/24 or 3840×2160/60/30/24). The 3D-ready KD-HD1x4ProK can de-embed audio from the HDMI input and send it to external digital or analog audio outputs and manages TMDS re-clocking / signal re-generation, HDCP authentication to source and display and EDID Control handshake. It’s also specified at up to 12 bits/color.
The KD-HD1x4ProK has front panel LEDs and RS-232 control. Here are all the specs. Leave a Comment
Share Article
Back to Top |
|
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.
To read more about my background, our team, and what we do, go to https://www.ravepubs.com Back to Top |
Copyright 2015 – 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. |
|
|
|