Volume 2, Issue 10 — October 25, 2016
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Why & When to Hire a Third-Party AV Consultant
By Victoria Ferrari Account Executive, Synergy CT
Sometimes, choosing a technology partner feels like going on a blind date. You may have some idea of what they’re all about, you might even meet once or twice and get to know them a little more, but in the end, it’s scary. How do you really know they are the right match for you, your company, and your buying process?
This phenomenon of anxiety around technology purchasing didn’t come from nowhere. The shaky economic environment and rapid changes to corporate structures over last few decades have had a major impact on the process of choosing technology partners.
Technology Purchasing: A Brief History
In the ’80s, corporate buying was often thought of as simply an advanced administrative task. Not so today. These days, companies rely on powerful purchasing methodologies and sophisticated supply chain management models. When a company makes a major technology purchase, it’s not unusual for the entire team to have a hand in the decision.
What brought this change about? It’s hard to say for sure, but perhaps the most important factor was the 2008 recession, which put a pause on much of corporate spending. Of course, the recession doesn’t account for all of the changes we see. Another important element is the simple fact that technology products, and even technology services, have become increasingly commoditized.
As more people look to spend less money on the technology they depend on, AV and IT vendors have had to step up their game to communicate their value to clients who might not understand just why cheaper isn’t always better.
The Value Question
Integrators will find this story familiar: You hold some promising meetings with a potential client, talk to key decision makers, and, let’s face it, get prematurely excited — only to later find yourself haggling at the last minute with the person in charge of sending the PO.
Customers are pushing integrators to sharpen our pencils at every bend, and we’re getting down to the eraser. As technology becomes cheaper and AV continues to converge with IT, clients have started to challenge the value of bringing on AV specialists. They’ve begun to question the role of integrators and even look to fill the role internally.
So what’s the real value of an AV integrator?
Why We Don’t Sell Steak — or Sizzle
There’s an old marketing expression you might have heard of: “Sell the sizzle, not the steak.” Well, that plan might work if you’re a butcher, but it’s terrible advice for a restaurant. People can buy the steak and make it sizzle themselves, just as a company might buy AV technology and (maybe) set it up themselves.
And yet, people still pay for restaurants, and they regularly shell out small fortunes for Michelin-star dining. And believe me, it isn’t about steak or even “sizzle.”
People pay top dollar for the unique expertise and craftsmanship it takes to deliver total excellence at every stage of a meal. They pay for the integrity and service of the entire staff, the careful selection and preparation of prime ingredients, the chef’s trained palate and custom creations, and the sommelier’s knowledge in selecting the perfect wine to go with the meal.
All those little touches of expertise add up to something more valuable than “sizzle.” Together, they form an exceptional, unforgettable service experience that you can’t create for yourself at home. Fast food restaurants sell the sizzle, but successful restaurateurs don’t even try. Instead, they sell themselves and the unique dining experiences they are able to cultivate thanks to years of dedication to their craft.
Technology is the steak — the commodity — and integrators need to see themselves as the chefs. We can’t expect to impress clients by talking about product features, prices, and benefits that they can easily find for themselves with a Google search. We can’t settle for selling the sizzle.
AV integrators need to prove our true value. Even more than solving challenges for our clients, the greatest value we can offer is the agility, integrity, and expertise it takes to work quickly and effectively under pressure to deliver comprehensive technology solutions that foster exceptional collaboration experiences. As of now, you still can’t order that off of Amazon.
People will always need AV specialists, just as we will always need restaurants. But it’s important to get what you pay for. There’s nothing worse than finding out the hard way that an integrator who talks the talk doesn’t necessarily walk the walk. Before making any major technology decision, you have to take the extra time to make sure you hire the right team for the job.
The Role of the AV Consultant
What happens when your project is so large, so complex, that a single AV team isn’t enough? Well, just as there’s often more than one chef in the kitchen, some projects depend on the combined expertise of multiple AV specialists to deliver exceptional results.
Enter the AV consultant.
There’s been a rise in third-party consultants across all industries in the last several years, and such consultants have operated in the AV industry for a while now. Manufacturers have long exalted the role of independent consultants, and for good reason.
The typical AV consultant isn’t simply well-versed in one aspect of AV (e.g., systems integration). Rather, they have a wide range of expertise in many areas that have a major impact on AV integration. Thanks to the depth and variety of their expertise, a good AV consultant can be an extremely valuable partner for larger, more complicated projects.
That’s not to say AV integrators necessarily lack this level of expertise. But many times, AV consultants are the ones initially hired to bring an AV project together — at the very least, on paper. Consultants have a pivotal role in paving the way for the AV integrator who will follow through on their designs.
The Case for AV Consultants
Third-party AV consultants aren’t always necessary. Many times, an experienced integrator can do as good of a job if they’re brought in early on. But in some cases, a third party consultant is essential to the success of your project. As integrators, we’ve seen firsthand how important consultants can be.
No matter the size of your project, it’s important to have some sort of AV specialist involved as soon as possible to ensure AV design isn’t forgotten. This is especially true in the early stages of larger projects and new construction.
In addition to designing AV systems, consultants must plan for the infrastructure to support those systems. They provide plans, make budgets, draw designs, create specifications for bidding, select contractors and even act as “quarterback” for the AV deployment. The larger the project, the more complex and intricate those details become.
Take planning for AV cabling and interconnections as an example. Consultants translate the AV plans into sets of construction drawings that clearly show:
- The size and locations of floor boxes
- Conduit size, locations, and destinations
- AC power requirements — including BTU calculations for proper HVAC sizing by the engineers
The fact is, audio visual design gets complicated quickly. The complexity only grows when designing an interconnected and fully automated building. A good AV consultant knows how to manage that complexity and ensure your project goes as smoothly as possible.
All too often, AV is one of the last considerations during construction — even though it’s the first thing end-users will interact with when they move in. By bringing in an AV partner early on, you can avoid the frustration of retrofitting systems into an existing structure that wasn’t designed with AV in mind.
Here are three of the most common scenarios that call for an AV consultant:
Large, Complex Installations Across All Trades
If you require AV systems for an entire building, you need an AV specialist with expertise in more than just AV integration. You’ll want someone familiar with all aspects of construction — including mechanical, electrical, and plumbing, not to mention AV design and acoustical engineering. Many AV consultants started out in those other trades before gaining additional experience in AV, so they’re uniquely qualified to help you plan out AV for large construction projects.
When choosing an AV consultant, it’s important to look for a nationally accredited firm. Don’t be afraid to ask consultants to provide references, and check that they have the proper certifications (AIA, CTS, and AQAV, to name a few).
Starting Without an AV Partner
If you don’t have a regular AV integrator, it’s a good idea to hire a consultant to create an initial design that integrators will bid on. Sometimes the consultant chooses to make bids invitation only, meaning only they decide who can bid on their design. This can be a great way to see who can give you the best pricing in town and narrow down your choices to potentially more competent integrators.
If you do have a regular AV partner, then you should ask them to recommend a consultant. Remember, the best AV consultants are not necessarily the largest. And since your AV integrator will likely work closely with the design consultant, it’s a good idea to get an integrator’s perspective before making your decision.
Using an Internal Installation Team
It’s common for house of worship and higher education clients to have experienced staff and/or volunteers who can install AV. In that case, you may you have a general idea of what you want, and already have the people to install it. You may even have onsite AV technology managers and technicians with the skill to read and understand drawings.
Still, an experienced AV consultant brings the creativity and practical industry knowledge you’ll need to translate your goals into actual solutions. They can be an indispensable guide for your team — helping you find the best gear for your goals and budget, as well as providing you with a full document set of installation drawings and a complete bill of materials.
AV Isn’t an Afterthought
The fact is, you could wait to worry about AV. Even for a new construction, you might be able to get away without an AV specialist, at least for a while. Of course, you could wait to think about HVAC, electrical or plumbing, too.
Call me biased, but I think it’s just as important to bring in an AV specialist early on as it is to bring in architects, electricians, or plumbers. Treating AV as an afterthought is a sure-fire way to end up frustrated later on.
The fact is, AV and communications technologies have become even more mission-critical in today’s global economy. More people than ever rely on the ability to work remotely, collaborate over long distances, and share content from all types of devices. Too many companies leave AV on the back burner, only to later wish they’d brought in an AV partner early on.
In fact, the surest sign that you need an AV consultant is having the assumption that AV is easy or will take care of itself. If you want to end up with dependable technology that you’ll actually enjoy using, you need the expertise and services of a specialist who can make it happen.
So don’t settle for just any old AV consultant. Look for a partner who gets AV done right. You and your team will be glad you did!
This column was reprinted with permission and originally appeared here. Leave a Comment
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AV on the Links
By Scott Tiner rAVe Columnist
Up here in Maine, fall has set in and the golf season is quickly fading away. Southern areas of the country have a few more months of play, but our time is just about done. Luckily, I get to play to the very end of the season. A couple of weeks ago that included a golf tournament at Val Halla Golf Course in Cumberland, Maine. I play a lot of golf, but most of it is at my home course. So, seeing the technology in place at another course was very interesting, and exciting. For many of the readers, who play golf, what I am about to write about will be no surprise, but I encourage you to think about the business reasons for deploying the technology.
At Val Halla, every golf cart has a built in screen, underneath the roof of the golf cart. This amazing screen has several uses. The first and most obvious use is for GPS of the course. The screen shows you where you are on the course and the various distances (distance to green, distance to hazards, etc.). For the golfer, this is critical information and it is very convenient to have it right in front of you, rather than having to take out some other piece of tech to get this information.
Business value: Provides value to the customer, draws them back to the course.
A second use of the screens is for advertising. On the day that I played, it was a fund raiser for the local Chamber of Commerce. A local company, Jones-Rich-Hutchins were the sponsors for the day. Every third hole or so, the screen would show their logo, website and telephone number. Compare this repeated advertising with the typical sign at most tournaments. Most tournaments have a sign about the size of a political sign, on the first hole that announces their main sponsor. This is clearly a step up in getting people to sponsor such fundraising events.
Business value: Customers are more likely to be willing to sponsor an event. Coordinators of the event will be more willing to use your golf course for this reason.
Reason 2.5 is advertising again, but a bit of a different way. Obviously, every day there is not a tournament. But there are people playing golf every day, and companies that want to advertise to them. An obvious first potential advertiser would be any local golf shops. This could include the local pro shop, online sites or larger corporations that are golf shops. Like any digital signage, the advertisements can be targeted towards certain customers depending on the time of day, or day of week. Is it women’s twilight league night? Then you would advertise specifically to women. A weekday, mid day? You would likely advertise to people who are retired and able to play golf at that time.
Business value: The golf course can recoup some of the expense of installing these monitors, but selling advertisements. Because the screens are touch screens, they can also get metrics on how many people reacted to their advertisement in some way.
A final, but far last, use of the technology is to order food and communicate with the club house. It is very common at golf courses to have traditional signage on the ninth hole, that has information on ordering food for the back nine. These instructions include a small menu and a number to order. The hope is to keep the speed of play going. At Val Halla you can order this food over the screen. A full menu is listed, and you can choose what you want by using the touch interface. Additionally, the GPS in the monitor senses where you are on the course and shows you the menu when you get closer to the clubhouse. Presumably, it could also determine how busy the golf course is, and how busy the restaurant is, and show you the menu earlier or later depending on those factors. Finally, the communication with the club house allows you to request items you may have not thought of. Did you leave without enough tees for the day? Have you had a bad day and are running out of golf balls? Press a button on the touch screen and you can send a message to the clubhouse for them to send it out.
Business value: The clubhouse gets to sell more of its inventory, and the customer gets immediate service when needed.
The point of this month’s column is not just to point out some cool technology on the course. Rather, it is a continuing reminder that if you want to grow your business you need to think about creating value for your customers and for your customer’s customers. Leave a Comment
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New Prysm “Guest Mode” Expands Prysm Visual Workplace Prysm announced Guest Mode, a new feature within the Prysm Application Suite that enables Prysm customers to add outside participants, such as potential customers, partners or contractors, to a Prysm Visual Workplace meeting, contributing to a more collaborative relationship that can immediately improve partnership productivity and lead to additional revenue potential.
Prysm Visual Workplace offers unique features such as access through a web browser, no download required, and a secure cloud-based portal that offers real time collaboration across any device or location. It also offers persistent work spaces, enabling meeting participants to continue a previous meeting exactly where they left off, including immediate access to contents from the previous meeting.
With the Guest Mode feature, each licensed Prysm user can provide access to any third-party participant, inside or outside the host’s organization. Once inside, guests can collaborate in real time with the other meeting participants to share and edit content and brainstorm ideas for a rich collaboration experience in meetings.
With Guest Mode, hosts can:
- Invite non-licensed users outside the company to participate in a Prysm session
- Maintain content control, deciding when guests can access the project and what they can see
- Pick up where they last left off, finding comments and annotations exactly as they left them, due to workspaces and content being persistently stored in the cloud
Guests can:
- Log in with an access code or accept an email invite
- Access projects remotely when hosts are concurrently accessing the same project
- Actively participate in collaboration sessions or meetings by adding or manipulating content
Guest Mode enhances Prysm Visual Workplace by including anyone a team wishes to collaborate with, any time from any location. Guest Mode will be available this month.
In addition to Guest Mode, Prysm will demonstrate the full capabilities of Prysm Visual Workplace to show how unifying content and applications with cloud-based workspaces helps distributed teams brainstorm, create and solve problems in real time to accelerate the decisions that matter.
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SurgeX Adds Power Solutions for Digital Signage for Chief Chief is now offering three new SurgeX solutions designed to safeguard digital displays. SurgeX FlatPak and MultiPak solutions are the premier power protection choice to safeguard digital displays and projectors from the dangers associated with electrical transients. Their multi-stage technology is superior to the single-stage MOV circuitry found in conventional surge protectors and is instrumental in reducing downtime.
These digital signage products are an expansion of the current SurgeX offerings available from Chief, including a line of co-developed infrastructure products that combine innovative storage options with premium, non-sacrificial surge protection and noise filtration. One-SKU ordering simplifies specification. Chief also has Revit models for all powered solutions for ceiling and in-wall storage. Find them online at milestone.com and on Autodesk SEEK.
The exclusive line of products was developed by Chief in collaboration with AMETEK Electronic Systems Protection, the owner of SurgeX.
Products now powered with non-sacrificial surge protection:
- Stand-Alone Wall Outlet
- In-Wall Storage Boxes with up to six receptacles
- Plenum Ceiling Storage Boxes
- Suspended Ceiling Kits
- Suspended Ceiling Projector Mount System
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Kramer Launches Short-Range Wireless System for HDMI in KW-14The Kramer KW-14 is a pre-associated (pre-programmed to match) HDMI transmitter/receiver pair for short-range wireless AV distribution for presentation and multimedia environments such as meeting rooms, event spaces and classrooms. The KW-14T and KW-14R are a high-definition, wireless, HDMI transmitter/receiver pair for indoor use. Up to four KW-14R receivers can receive from one KW-14T transmitter and up to three KW-14T transmitters can be paired with one KW-14R receiver.
They both are spec’d to have a max. data rate of 6.75Gbps (2.25Gbps per graphic channel), Deep Color up to 12-bit and use AES-128 bit encryption. Up to four receivers can receive HDMI signals from one transmitter simultaneously; up to three transmitters associated with one receiver at any given time and they work short-range (30 meters/100 feet including through walls and furniture). Other features include EDID adjustment capabilities, IR remote control and are HDCP compliant.
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wePresent Releases New Firmware To Support Apple iOS 10 and SierrawePresent announced today a firmware upgrade to their wireless presentation devices which will allows support of Apple iOS 10, optimizes them for macOS Sierra, and provides a number of device-side optimizations and behind-the-scenes changes meant to improve the wePresent user experience for everyone. The new firmware is available immediately from the wePresent website, or by upgrading your wePresent hardware via the web administration console.
The new firmware is available for both wePresent’s WiPG-1600 and as well as the flagship model, the WiPG-2000. This update also adds the ability for wePresent units to support the upcoming PresentSense accessory, which allows devices to quickly connect to wePresent hardware in the immediate vicinity. PresentSense is scheduled for release in Q4 of 2016, and is aimed at further easing the use of wePresent hardware in environments where several of the wireless collaboration units are present.
wePresent, a Barco-owned company, is here. Leave a Comment
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Extron Room Scheduling Now Integrates with Microsoft Office 365 Extron just announced the their Room Agent version 1.2 software turns TouchLink Pro touchpanels into full-featured booking appliances that conveniently display a room’s meeting information and availability. With Room Agent, the touchpanels require no programming, as they simply become a client of Microsoft Exchange. In addition to supporting Microsoft Exchange, the latest version of Room Agent software enables integration with Office 365 for additional scheduling convenience. With Room Agent, booking a room from the touchpanel is as easy as tapping the “Reserve” button. The customizable touchpanel interface also provides at-a-glance room availability and a timeline view of the room’s status for the rest of the day. In addition to the customizable touchpanel interface, bright LEDs within the bezel provide at-a-glance room availability status even from down the hall.
Room Agent makes setting up TouchLink Pro touchpanels a snap. Simply connect the touchpanel to your computer, open the software, fill in the required fields that compose the user interface, and you’re done. Customization options allow fields to be shown or hidden, depending on user preference. Multiple mounting options are available, including on-wall, in-wall, as well as secure mounting to almost any flat surface, including glass or granite.
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Sennheiser Expands SpeechLine Digital Wireless Product Line Sennheiser is expanding its SpeechLine Digital Wireless system with new products including two fully wireless Tablestand units, a Qi-based wireless charging solution and a new network enabled charging unit.
SL Tablestand 153-S DW and SL Tablestand 133-S DW: Sennheiser has created two new wireless base units featuring wireless charging by induction, the SL Tablestand 153-S DW and SL Tablestand 133-S DW. Being independent from any cables, they offer a highly flexible solution for users. Both utilize the most commonly used Qi wireless charging standard.
The SL Tablestand 153-S DW is the perfect solution for ad hoc press conferences or podium discussions in any location. It is compatible with Sennheiser’s MEG 14‑40‑L II B gooseneck microphone, connecting via its XLR-5 socket. The unit provides battery life indication via dedicated battery status LEDs.
Offering compatibility with all Sennheiser XLR-3 gooseneck microphones, the SL DW Wireless Tablestand 133-S DW is optimized for podium discussions, speeches and lectures. It comes with a rechargeable battery pack with up to 10 hours of operating time.
Both new Tablestands can either be charged wirelessly with Sennheiser new CHG QI 2 wireless charging base or via USB. They can also be monitored and controlled with Sennheiser’s Control Cockpit.
The new wireless tablestands are available in a set: The SpeechLine Digital Wireless Tablestand Set SL TS 133 GN SET DW including the SL Tablestand 133-S DW, the MEG 14-40 B gooseneck microphone and the SL Rack Receiver DW. The Wireless Tablestand Set SL TS 153 GN-L SET includes the SL Tablestand 153-DW, the MEG 14-40-L-II B gooseneck microphone and the SL Rack Receiver DW.
CHG QI 2: The new CHG QI 2 is a convenient wireless charging solution that uses the wireless Qi Charging standard to provide convenient wireless charging for two mobile devices. It can be used both with the SL Tablestand 133-S DW and with the SL Tablestand 153-S DW.
CHG 4N: Also added to the SpeechLine Digital Wireless family is the CHG 4N, a network enabled charger featuring four individual charging bays. These can either be used for the SL Bodypack DW or the SL Handheld DW. Each bay has four dedicated LEDs to indicate the corresponding battery status of the mobile device.
Its network interface provides IPv4 and IPv6 compatibility for seamless integration. As with the new Tablestands, Sennheiser Control Cockpit makes it easy to remotely monitor and control the CHG 4N’s settings and status information.
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PixelFLEX Launches TrueFLEX PixelFLEX’s new TrueFLEX LED video tile is designed for non-traditional LED applications as it has the ability to curve in any direction and attach to virtually any surface. Available in 2.5mm, 3.0mm, 4.0mm, 6mm and 10mm indoor pitch options, the fanless design allows for a no-noise solution that can operate in any indoor space, and its slim and lightweight construction provides a low-profile installation that needs very little space for wiring and mounting. With its single module replacement for easy onsite service, TrueFLEX uses magnetic modules and set screw ports to attach to virtually any surface, and the external sending and receiving control, paired with quality connectors, guarantee safe and reliable module connections.
Here are some details on the technology. Leave a Comment
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NEC Display Launches New LED LineupNEC Display Solutions launched a new series of LED displays that offer 1.2mm to 6mm pixel pitch for indoor applications and 5.8mm to 12.0mm pixel pitch for outdoor applications, perfect for nearly any viewing distance and maximum flexibility. Featuring 24-bit color processing enabling a greater color gradient for smooth, clear images and an increased lifespan to 100,000 hours for maximum value, the LED displays offer the ultimate viewing experience.
The front facing LED panels are easily upgradeable and designed for easy color calibration to ensure color uniformity, even if a panel is replaced. The LED panels can also be arranged in a curved concave/convex configuration and feature a high refresh rate to prevent flickering, making the direct view LED displays perfect for cutting-edge digital signage applications in retail, broadcast, control centers, transportation and more.
In addition, the enhanced line of LED displays is equipped with controllers that can manage a 16-million pixels per controller. All displays are front- and rear-serviceable to reduce install and service costs, leading to an overall lower cost of ownership over competitors. The new LED displays also include an expanded warranty to three years of protection.
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Christie Signals Further Push in to Digital Signage MarketThe Digital Place Based Advertising Association (DPAA) announced today that Allure and its Christie Experiential Network (CEN) have joined its rapidly growing association. A division of Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc., CEN provides leading digital projection and display technologies, including 3D visualization, digital signage, video walls and more. Actively deploying a network of digital signs in cinema lobbies throughout the country, targeting national, regional and local advertisers, CEN’s immersive experiential format is transforming consumer experience and brand engagement.
“Christie is leading the industry with a range of spectacular digital displays that really grab consumers’ attention, making content and messaging even more impactful,” said Barry Frey, president and CEO, DPAA. “We welcome the Christie Experiential Network to our membership ranks and look forward to helping them build lasting relationships.”
Kevin Romano, EVP of Global Media for CEN, said, “Barry and his team at DPAA are doing great work in advancing the profile and status of the digital place-based media industry. We are proud to become part of this association as we advance the industry to new heights together.”
Membership in DPAA encompasses numerous benefits, including admission to quarterly “mini summit” meetings with ad industry and DPB leaders; access to an extensive database of research, best practices and case studies; tools for planning, training and forecasting; social media amplification as well as publication discounts. Additionally, there are opportunities to participate in media partnerships as well as the DPAA-Nielsen Service Bureau and DPAA-Nielsen Digital Diploma Series Training Program; insights on software and hardware solutions; further integration into the advertising ecosystem as part of the video everywhere conversation and marketing campaign, and more.
The DPAA’s annual Video Everywhere Summit will be held October 27 in New York. The Summit will bring together 700 delegates representing brands, agencies, digital place-based networks, ad tech, research firms and others for a full day of presentations, panels, case studies, networking events and experiential exhibits. The Video Everywhere Summit is the only event of its kind, dedicated to multi-screen viewing and the video neutral planning mantra that has taken hold at many clients and agencies.
You can learn all about the Allure/Christie Digital Network here. Leave a Comment
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Sharp Debuts New Displays Sharp today announces its next generation of professional-grade LCD monitors for its PN-R series. Available in 42″ Class (41.9″ diagonal), 49″ Class (48.5″ diagonal) and 55″ Class (54.6″ diagonal) models, they are all commercial-grade displays for digital signage and ProAV.
The new PN-R556/R496/R426 professional LCD monitors offer a slimmer, sleeker, design with a bezel of only 7.8 millimeters on all four sides. This is 50 percent slimmer than its predecessor and the thinnest Sharp has introduced in this size format.
The PN-R series are the first to incorporate the new Mini Open Pluggable Specification (Mini OPS) design, which Sharp brings to market in collaboration with Intel. This enables simplified digital signage development and deployment, low power, reliability and a validated compact, fan-less design.
In addition, the PN-R series accommodates an optional HDBaseT 2.0-compliant receiver board that supports various types of media and control signals. Installing an HDBaseT Receiver Board (PN-ZB03H) allows the monitor to receive HDMI video, audio signals, and control signals sent up to 328 feet via a single LAN cable. This brings convenient connectivity with fewer cables, reducing both the time and cost of installation.
To allow for even greater amounts of flexibility and collaboration, an optional wireless board (PN-ZB03W) allows up to 10 devices — including Mac or Windows computers and users can display the content of one device on the whole screen, or from up to four devices in a 2×2 split screen.
The PN-R496 display will be available to ship in October 2016. The PN-R556 display is scheduled to ship in November and the PN-R426 display in January 2017.
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NanoLumens Debuts Front-Installable, Front-Serviceable 1.25MM Pixel Pitch LED Display NanoLumens today announced the market introduction of the world’s first 100-percent front-installable and front serviceable 1.25MM Pixel Pitch LED display, featuring new “touch-free” technology that was developed specifically for a United States military command and control center.
Designed to be easily installed in any display environment without requiring changes to an existing location or infrastructure, the new NanoLumens 1.25MM pixel pitch display features precise alignment technology and an updated system layout that supports an exact 1920 RBG pixel wide by 1080 RGB pixel tall, final display of any resolution in 384×360 increments. The display allows for “direct to wall mounting” at a depth of less than 4 inches and comes with a decorative back for optional hanging applications.
Easily front serviceable thanks to NanoLumens’ magnetic Nixel attachment methods and perpendicular removal, the display also incorporates NanoLumens’ new NanoZ technology that assures exact alignment in the Z axis for all Nixels.
In addition, the display boasts the industry’s highest advertised brightness of 950 cd/m2 and features power supplies that are 100% embedded from the line input, meaning there are no external power supplies, no added conversion loss and no additional fans. The new 1.25MM display is available now.
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NEC Display Solutions Announces Collaboration with Raspberry Pi NEC Display Solutions Europe today announced that it will be sharing an open platform modular approach with Raspberry Pi, enabling a seamless integration of Raspberry Pi’s devices with NEC’s displays.
Originally developed to promote the teaching of basic computer science in schools and developing countries, the original Raspberry Pi delivered good performance at a very low cost. However, the latest Raspberry Pi 3 compute module boasts significant performance and networking capabilities, making it the perfect for NEC’s display.
With a quad-core 1.2GHz processor, the board is no longer just a basic computer for coding but a reliable intelligent device with unlimited possibilities. In addition to the standard Raspberry Pi 3 compute module, NEC will also offer a customized model to meet the specific performance demands of the display industry.
Being an incremental part of NEC’s Open Modular Intelligence (OMI) platform, the Raspberry Pi 3 embeds with NEC’s new range of P and V Series large format displays. The new displays allow easy access to embedded intelligence smartly connected to Internet of Things (IoT) for digital signage as well as presentation use.
NEC’s new series of intelligent large format displays with Raspberry Pi connectivity will be launched from January 2017 onwards. Here are the details. Leave a Comment
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Barco Intros weConnect Aimed at Colleges and UniversitiesBarco today launched something I saw at InfoComm, but they waited until today to debut — it’s called weConnect. This collaborative learning solution (aimed exclusively at higher education) gives both teachers and students all the connectivity, interactivity and information exchange tools they need to enable educational institutions to evolve from a teacher-centric to a student-centric experience and make education more engaging. It’s like a group collaboration system. It’s like a Barco ClickShare on higher-education steroids.
Lectures at many colleges are transitioning from a uni-directional information dump (from the instructor) to an active, interactive exchange among all participants — students and teachers, alike. And while students and teachers want to bring any personal device (BYOD) into the room and tap into the campus Wi-Fi network to share information and interact more actively, students can also be located anywhere (e.g., in a remote classroom or at home), so the same features need to deliver an on-campus experience to everybody involved. Designed for students who have grown up with mobile technology (aka Millennials), weConnect — Barco’s collaborative learning solution for higher education — provides teachers with a new palette of tools for making their preferred teaching methods state-of-the-art.
weConnect allows users to participate in a lecture from and with their own devices − not only to share screen content, but to collaborate and interact as well. They can do this in traditional classrooms, active learning spaces (environments that allow groups of students to work together), libraries and other locations on the campus. For example: students can interact with the teacher using their tablets or smartphones; the teacher can issue a poll or a quiz to solicit feedback; remote students can pose a silent question, which other students participate in, etc.
Consisting of just a couple of building blocks, Barco’s weConnect is a cloud-based system and all users gain access to the classroom system through a web-based cloud app. The app gives teachers full moderation control of the content shared within the classroom, and students get a close-up view of what is being shown on the classroom displays. Barco’s wireless presentation and display nodes portfolio enables students and teachers to share their information on the central screen or the pod display without any hassle. And both teachers and students experience the flexibility and intuitiveness of the software via the simple browser interface.
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Diversified Launches Visual Huddle Cloud-Based Collaboration ServiceDiversified’s cloud-based conferencing solution, Visual Huddle, is the re-launch of their TI-VMRplus service. They are offering three different licensing models:
- My Meeting Video
- Content sharing
- Integrated directories
Visual Huddle provides video, voice and recording capabilities on a secure, redundant and high capacity private global network enabling connectivity to over 12,000 cities across more than 190 countries. The platform supports existing room based endpoints (such as Polycom and Cisco) and is compatible with all major collaborative platforms like Skype for Business, Jabber, Polycom Real Presence and WebRTC. This interoperability ensures participants can join a meeting from different kinds of networks, systems and standards, including from their phone.
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NEC Targets Health-Conscious with TCO Certified Desktop DisplaysNEC Display Solutions today launched the MultiSync EA245WMi and EX241UN, a series of 24-inch ultra-narrow bezel desktop displays suitable for use in environments such as corporate office and finance trading floors. NEC says these are designed with attention to healthcare in mind. Thanks to the built-in ‘Low Blue Light Plus’ technology, users’ eyes are protected against cataracts and macular degeneration, which can occur due to the long-term use of the displays.
The EA245WMi and EX241UN desktop models are designed to fulfill the industry’s environmental and social responsibility targets and have both earned the latest TCO Certified Displays 7. Environmentally designed with minimal hazardous material content, NEC’s TCO-certified displays offer third parties verified option for suppliers looking to meet growing demand for more sustainable technologies.
The both have three and four-sided ultra-narrow bezels that reduce the display footprint to a minimum without compromising on the screen size. Additionally, the desktop displays offer ergonomic features such as full height adjustability as well as swivel, tilt and pivot functionality. The human and ambient light sensors within the displays auto-adjust to minimize unnecessary power consumption.
The NEC MultiSync EA245WMi three-sided ultra-thin bezel desktop display will be available from October 2016 and the NEC MultiSync EX241UN four-sided ultra-thin bezel desktop display will be available from November 2016. Here are all the specs. Leave a Comment
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For all you REGULAR readers of rAVe AVBuyers.Club 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 percent opinionated. We not only report the news and new product stories of the ProAV and HomeAV industries, 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 or say anything good (or bad).
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 ProAV Edition is our flagship newsletter with what we believe is a reach of virtually everyone in the ProAV market. rAVe HomeAV Edition, co-published with CEDIA and launched in February 2004, is, by far, the largest ePub in the HomeAV market. We added rAVe Rental [and Staging] in November 2007, rAVe ED [Education] in May 2008 and then rAVe DS [Digital Signage] in January 2009. We added rAVe GHGav [Green, Healthcare & Government AV] in August 2010 and rAVe HOW [House of Worship] in July 2012. rAVe Radio, our podcast network, was launched in 2012. AVBuyers.Club, our first publications targeted at end users, launched in May 2015. You can subscribe to any of those publication or see ALL our archives by going to: https://www.ravepubs.com
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rAVe contains the opinions of the author only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of other persons or companies or its sponsors. |
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