Volume 19, Issue 16 — April 28, 2021

rAVe ProAV Edition — Volume 19, Issue 16

April 28, 2021 | Volume: 19 | Issue: 16

ICYMI: Today was rAVe [TV], the completely unscripted TV show Gary and I came up with to talk about the goings-on in the industry that he and I care about.

Well, today, I brought up a topic near and dear to my heart: the misogyny that has yet to be wholly ousted from AV. I’m not going to lie to you; the industry has changed tremendously since I joined in 2016. But if we think there is no more room for change, we’re kidding ourselves. As Hope Roth eloquently writes in this tweet thread, women have to work twice as hard in AV to be taken half as seriously. This weighs on me as I feel the pressure of passing the CTS test on my first try, just in case it’s blamed on me being a girl if I don’t make the cut. It shouldn’t have to be like this. I’m tired of it being like this. So — to all my #AVtweeps, let’s think about things we can do to make our industry better instead of making it worse.

This is a jam-packed issue, and I hope you enjoy everything we’ve gathered. You can find everything (columns, product releases, industry updates, etc.) Gary and I discussed during today’s rAVe [TV] and so much more!

Later gators.

— Steph Beckett

COLUMNS

+ Is OLED About to Trump LCD? [Gary Kayye]

I am likely about to buy my first OLED in a matter of weeks. My decision won’t be which LG to buy, though even Samsung is about to launch OLED. What? Yep, you read that right. This month, Samsung allegedly agreed to buy something like 5 million OLED panels from LG over the next 18 months. That will yield three to four times as many displays, too. If the deal holds true, you can expect to see Samsung commercial and residential OLED by the end of the summer.

+ The Return of the Roadie and the Roar of the Industry [Daniel Shatzkes]

Many “roadies” (which can encompass stagehands, audio, video and lighting technicians, riggers, travel crews and many others) have had to find jobs in other industries to make ends meet. Often these new jobs have been stable, nine-to-five jobs with benefits and come with more time at home and with family. Basically — the exact opposite of a roadie’s life working gigs and tours out on the road. Many of these former stagehands have come to enjoy the predictability and stability of their new jobs and have hung up their concert T-shirts for good.

+ The VR Perception Hurdle [Mark Coxon]

Resolutions are increasing, color gamut is widening and contrast is deepening to make today’s displays potentially more realistic than ever, but there still may be a problem. What is that? Our brains are extremely adept at pattern recognition, which means that pixel structure is a problem.

+ The Evolution of Videoconferencing [Michael Katz]

Many years ago, I worked for a facilities-based CLEC selling POTS (plain old telephone services), DSL, T1 (1.5 Mbps), bonded T1 lines (3 Mbps), phone systems and VoIP (voice-over-IP) solutions. This experience helped me to really understand the business criticality of quality-of-service internet bandwidth and continues to help me to this day.

+ Which Key Verticals Will Drive Recovery for the Commercial Audio Market? [James Kirby]

Despite declines over the past year, the installed audio markets have provided a strong base of demand for many manufacturers and continue to show the fastest levels of recovery. This is especially the case for commercial audio, which is home to PA/VA, background music and conferencing applications.