Volume 4, Issue 4 — April 26, 2018

I love new technology and I love all the cool things our industry is doing. HD was a huge, huge deal for us — like, even bigger than VGA on the original IBM PS/2 computer! But, 4K blows HD away. These days, I rarely go watch a movie in a theater that doesn’t have a 4K projector — I go out of my way to drive by two non-4K theaters to go to my local 4K-DCI one as often as possible. I have always thought it was cool that I get to see all the new tech before everyone else sees it — stuff my friends think is cool now (like digital signage and facial recognition), I saw at an InfoComm show or at a Digital Signage Expo a half-dozen years ago or more.

I find myself pondering the future of AV a lot. And, as you likely know, not only have I written about it many times in the past, but I’ve also been invited to speak at countless tech trade shows and special events about the Future of AV technology how how it may or may not affect us all. There seems to always be a technological evolution (e.g., HD to 4K) or sometimes a revolution (e.g., AV-over-IP) that makes for a perfect keynote subject for the attendees. In most cases, it’s easy to see how a new product or technological advancement will change things.

But it dawned on me today that the future of our very own AV market may not be in the hands of any new product, new technology or even an AV company at all. In fact, there’s likely one AV guy (or girl) out there, today, that controls the future of AV for all of us, but doesn’t even know it, yet.

I’m talking about Jeff Bezos’ personal AV technician. Yes, that Jeff Bezos — the one who started Amazon.

Follow my logic.

The Amazon Alexa is AMAZING. Probably the most amazing thing since Apple’s iPhone. And, maybe even more so. The iPhone was revolutionary as it was a handheld phone, an email client, notes taker, voice recorder, calendar, to-do list, wrist watch and flashlight — all in one. It replaced like 10 things I was using every single day. And I didn’t even mention the camera!

About a year ago, I reluctantly bought an Amazon Dot. I had been holding out for the Apple version as I was convinced it would be better. In hindsight, I’m glad I went ahead and purchased the Alexa-enabled Dot as, now that the Apple version, called HomePod, is out I can safely say that it sucks when compared to the Dot. Sure, it sounds better, but that’s not what I primarily use it for so I don’t care. Alexa’s voice-recognition software runs circles around the 2012-era Siri. Someone buying the HomePod for Alexa-like functionality must be experiencing what it was like to use the iPhone’s built-in Maps function instead of Google Maps back in 2010.

Anyway, stick with me here.

Alexa seamlessly and simply connects to nearly everything you want to connect it to. And, it’s updated weekly — yes, weekly — with behind-the-scenes Friday-afternoon firmware and software upgrades. So, just when you think Alexa doesn’t do something you want it to do, she can — you just have to wait until an upcoming Friday — as someone will add that functionality. And, at any time, you can add Alexa SKILLS to yours and have third-party control of your Lutron lighting system, your shades and blinds, your HVAC, your TV, your DVR, your CableTV box, your SONOS, your home security system, your cameras and even your washer and dryer (yes, I have that functionality — even though I can’t find a use for it yet). It can even call people, play any radio station in the world, play movie previews, play Jeopardy!, play Sirius/XM radio — I mean, it can do nearly anything. It’s squarely aimed at the average consumer or home application — all to simplify your life.

\But it could EASILY be upgraded to control everything. I mean everything. Projectors, digital signage networks, AV-over-IP systems, scalers, switchers, audio systems, commercial-grade lighting systems, rooms, buildings, etc. — you get the idea. In fact, a number of integrators, including AVI Systems and Whitlock, have custom Alexa Skills that add connectivity and voice-control of meeting rooms to Alexa. But, for now, that’s not Amazon’s target market — not by a long-shot. In fact, all these higher-end, commercial-like capabilities for Alexa have been, so far, developed by third-party companies like integrators or the manufacturers of the gear itself. None are core functionalities of Alexa. Yet.

But what if was? What if Amazon decided to add commercial lighting control, room control, AV control and remote control of everything-AV to the Alexa — as an out-of-the-box function? A scary thought, huh?

Well, that’s not likely to happen — except for one tiny possibility. What if Jeff Bezos experienced what we all experience in his daily professional life?

What if every time he wanted to make a video call, he had to get to the room 15 minutes before the meeting even started to make sure the system worked? What if he pressed START on his conference room touch panel and nothing happened? What if he switched inputs on his monitor and it skipped the input he wanted all the time? And, what if he tried to connect his laptop to the AV system and it sometimes it didn’t work?

As long as his personal AV tech keeps making his rooms work before Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, gets there — so he never has to make anything AV work on his own, we are safe — our industry survives just as it always has. But, if he ever experiences what it’s like to really have an AV room that sometimes just doesn’t work right, he could very well yell down the hall, “Get the Alexa Team in here right now and let’s make all this shit work with a Dot!!”

At that moment, the future of AV may very well change forever.

It’s not too lake to take advantage of this incredible community service offered to the AV world entrepreneur. Get your startup recognized all over the press and have a line of prospects waiting to see your stuff. OK, I was channeling Dale Carnegie for a moment there, but you get the picture. AVIXA and the InfoComm trade show want to give your startup a chance to get noticed for cheap. If you know an AV-related startup, then send them this link and when they are super successful, they will owe you many beers.

Find out about registering your startup here.

Yes, Plantronics is taking control of Polycom — a history-making videoconferencing company that all but invented the space — for what amounts to $2.0 billion in enterprise value, but the financial breakdown of the deal is this:

• Plantronics assumes about $690 Million of Polycom debt.
• They pay about $948 in cash and 6.4 million Plantronics shares (that’s valued at $362 Million the moment the deal was announced yesterday).
• Polycom shareholders end up owning about 16 percent of Plantronics

The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies, is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, and is expected to close by the end of the third calendar quarter of 2018. Polycom is privately held and for CY2017, Polycom had GAAP revenue of $1.1 billion, Non-GAAP gross margin of 56.6 percent, Non-GAAP operating income of $183.1 million and Non-GAAP operating margin of 16.0 percent.

But, who wins and who loses in this deal?

Well, to be frank, this could be one of those win-win deals in a few different ways. First off, Plantronics has been begging to be noticed in the commercial AV space ever since debuting its Habitat Soundscaping sound-masking environment last year. It’s garnered a lot of popular press and some nods from the integration community (and they’ve paid for a few awards) but it hasn’t yet taken hold in a big way. The system is truly unique and one of the most creative products we’ve seen in years. It should sell but it’s a bit complicated to pitch as it’s not simply sound masking.

Simultaneously, companies like Zoom and products like Skype for Business have been eating Polycom’s lunch when it comes to conferencing and collaboration. To combat this, Polycom even partnered with Zoom back in 2017 but in reality, most people use Zoom as a stand-alone product/service. Zoom is currently valued (remember, it’s private) in excess of $2 Billion by many financial analysts. Zoom has publicly stated it’s in 90 percent of the top-200 US-based universities and that more than 50 percent of the Fortune 50 companies primarily use Zoom.

So, this is the perfect time for Plantronics to buy Polycom. Plantronics needs distribution in the commercial AV market and Polycom needs both a tech and financial boost if it wants to eventually compete with the likes of Skype, Zoom and even Cisco’s Spark platform. Plus, as an added bonus, Plantronics has key contacts inside the IT world of the Fortune 1000 via nearly unanimous adoption of its phone headset market — it has well in excess of a 90 percent market share there. Polycom could benefit selling its hardware-based systems into that already-developed market owned by Plantronics.

In the public statement yesterday after the acquisition announcement, Plantronics said that Polycom “brings a global leadership position in voice and video collaboration, accelerating Plantronics vision of delivering new communications and collaboration experiences.” This is absolutely true. Polycom has some of the best people in AV and its brand is like the “Kleenex” of the VTC market.

This will help Plantronics ease Habitat Soundscaping in to the ProAV market — or, at the very least, get noticed.

Polycom is a provider of communications and collaboration technologies. Polycom is privately held and has been an innovator in personal collaboration, group collaboration, and services (including customer care, managed and professional services, and cloud services for interoperability, management, and analytics). For CY2017, Polycom had GAAP revenue of $1.1 billion, Non-GAAP gross margin of 56.6 percent, Non-GAAP operating income of $183.1 million and Non-GAAP operating margin of 16.0 percent. Significantly Enhances Plantronics Long-Term Shareholder Value

The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Non-GAAP EPS. Plantronics targets achieving annual run-rate cost synergies of $75 million within 12 months of transaction close.

Plantronics intends to fund the cash portion of the consideration with cash on hand and approximately $1.375 billion in new, fully-committed debt financing. Wells Fargo Bank and affiliates have committed to provide the debt financing for the transaction, subject to customary conditions. Plantronics expects to pay down a significant portion of the debt within the next several years with cash on the balance sheet and through cash generation.

Plantronics is here and Polycom is here.

You can’t enter a product in them.

You can’t ask us to nominate you.

And, you can’t get an award by advertising or sponsoring us or paying for it. And, there are NO Awards entry fees!

We sent reporters to EVERY booth/stand at DSE 2018 and we selected the TOP products in every possible product category for our 2018 Best of DSE Awards. No other publication — or entity for that matter — goes to very booth at the DSE show and sees every new product demo’d or launched at DSE in Las Vegas annually — so these are THE BEST of THE BEST.

So, if you are wondering which products were the best at DSE and outperformed the others in their respective categories, this is it: the 2018 Best of DSE Awards. And if you are a manufacturer who won an award, be proud! You were hand-selected by our editors and reporters after evaluating every new product shown at DSE in your product category. We didn’t just pick these “on the show floor” during the show or by using spec-sheets distributed prior to the show — we picked these by actually looking at each and every product and comparing them to the competition.

• Best New Technology: LG Color Transparent LED
• Best New Product Overall: Epson LightScene
• Best New Touch Technology: LG TC3D Series with 40 Points of Touch
• Best New Media Player: Bitvu Spark
• Best New Collaboration Board: Samsung Flip
• Best New Digital Signage Panel (tie): Planar Simplicity Series 4K AND E-Ink Advanced Color ePaper Display
• Best New Digital Signage Projector: NEC P502HL-2
• Best Prototype Digital Signage Product: Global Display 98″ 4K Lite Plus Outdoor Display with Optical Branding
• Best Transparent Signage Display: Hurray Transparent LED
• Best New Indoor LED Display: Christie APEX 0.9mm LEDs
• Best New Outdoor LED Display: ABSEN Xv Series
• Best Digital Signage Software Product: Adomni
• Best Digital Signage Hardware Product: AV Link MirageView
• Best Room Sign: Visix RoomBoard
• Best New Small Digital Sign: E Ink ePaper Signs
• Best New Mirror Touch Digital Signage Display: Panasonic AF1 Series
• Best New Digital Signage Mount: Chief TiLED Series
• Best New Digital Signage Table: ABCOM MMT AVR Edge 4K Touch Table
• Best New Interactive Digital Signage Product: Elo Touch 9×1 Interactive Video Wall
• Best New Video Wall Product: ClearOne VIEW Pro
• Best New Kiosk (tie): Peerless-AV Smart City Kiosk AND Touch Innovations XG Transparent Kiosk
• Best New Portable Kiosk: LG-MRI BoldVu
• Best Booth: NEC
• Best Demo: Tanvas’ Touchscreen With Interactive Ad
• Most Fun Demo: Gable’s Magic Wall
• Best New Product You Probably Didn’t See (tie): Paintpam S-Paint AND ABCOM Swedx Signo
• Best New Digital Signage Application: 22Miles Wayfinding Augmented Reality Wayfinding App
• Best New Digital Signage Mobile App: Carousel tvOS App for Apple TV

AVI Systems announced today the official opening of its Atlanta, Georgia office. This marks the fourth major city that AVI has expanded into in the last 12 months, joining Chicago, Illinois (through the acquisition of Magenium), San Francisco, California and Houston, Tex.

The strategic intent of the expansion is, in part, client-driven. Several of AVI’s enterprise clients are either based in or expanding to the region. There are currently 18 Fortune 500 companies and 33 Fortune 1000 companies in Georgia alone.

“It’s a vibrant technical community that attracts future-forward companies and talent alike. That combination was extremely compelling as we continue to expand geography in the service of our enterprise clients,” said Jeff Stoebner, president and CEO of AVI Systems. “It has been our ambition for several years to extend our presence to the East and Southeast.”

“This is more than a destination service office,” said Don Mastro, Vice President of Sales at AVI Systems. “Our clients have wanted a full-service systems integration operation in the Southeast. With purpose, we will continue our expansion march to areas that present significant growth horizons.”

The operation will be led by industry veteran Rick Landry who brings 25 years of success in the region. Prior to joining AVI Systems, Landry was a senior project consultant for Waveguide. Before that, he spent 23 years with AVI-SPL, most recently as a Regional Vice President in Atlanta. He was responsible for leading systems integration sales and operations organization for the region, which included Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Alyson Horn has also joined AVI’s team as regional sales manager bringing over 15 years of regional experience. Previously, Horn served as a regional director at Whitlock, a video collaboration company, in Dallas, Tex. She also held several roles at AVI-SPL where she was most recently a regional sales manager in Florida.

AVI Systems is here.

Our MX POD is designed for collaboration and open-plan office organizations. Designed to allow for AV integrators to add both AV and collaborative gear, it’s supposed to create a huddle space out of any space in an office. It’s self-contained, round and includes a table with a connection panel and it can accommodate a display from 32’” to 40’”. Axeos also says, mechanically, it’s acoustic correction design absorbs noise and contributes to the comfort and the concentration of attendees. The off-the-shelf design seats four. The total height is 1500 millimeters, total diameter is 2220 mm, seat height is 450 mm and it uses a standard table height of 740 mm.

Here are all the detailed mechanical specs.

Epson has announced its new PowerLite L-Series for corporate, signage, education and houses of worship. The new Epson PowerLite L615U, L610U, L510U, L400U, L610W, L500W and L610 use an integrated laser light source, include up to 6,000 lumens of color and white brightness with resolutions up to WUXGA (1920×1200) and have enhanced wireless technology to connect to multiple devices.

Epson’s new PowerLite laser projectors are spec’d to offer maintenance-free operation with up to 20,000 hours using a laser light source. Weighing between 17 and 19 pounds, PowerLite L-Series features are designed to be portable or for installation. The new PowerLite L-Series also supports advanced wired and wireless solutions, including HDMI and HDBaseT. To support BYOD classrooms, the projectors provide enhanced wireless display technology, allowing teachers to connect the projector to up to 50 Chromebooks, PCs and Mac computers, and iOS and Android devices. Educators can also simultaneously display up to four screens with the Epson iProjection4 wireless display solution. The PowerLite L610U and L615U models offer wireless screen mirroring from a smartphone or streaming device with Miracast.

The projectors include the following features:

• Solid-State Laser Light Source and Electrostatic Air Filter
• Versatile Connectivity and Control – Supports a full range of inputs, including HDBaseT 3G-SDI; compatiblilty with Crestron RoomView, AMX, Extron XTP, Control4 and Art-Net for easy integration 
• Full 360-degree installation flexibility, including Portrait Mode, Instant Off power, quieter performance and high contrast ratios

Here are all the tech specs.

Cattura’s multi-source and multi-room recorder gathers content from all relevant content sources and then records or streams to applications like Kaltura, Opencast, Panopto, YouTube and more. When paired with RoboSHOT cameras and the AV Bridge MATRIX PRO presentation switcher, end users can create live audio and video captures of classroom interactions. When a PC is connected to the AV Bridge MATRIX PRO with USB, end users can bring remote classrooms into the learning environment using soft conferencing programs like Skype, Google Hangouts or Zoom.

The classroom recording studio is well-suited for applications including mobile lecture capture for higher education, recording large corporate events and house of worship venues.

The recording studio solution combines a Vaddio AV Bridge MATRIX PRO switcher, Cattura CaptureCast, Vaddio RoboSHOT PTZ cameras, Middle Atlantic RFR series mobile rack and Shure wireless microphones that can be used in a host of applications including live production, automated presentation and unified conferencing and collaboration.

The AV Bridge MATRIX PRO combines audio and video mixing functionality into a single appliance. It provides a way to add multiple cameras, microphones and other AV devices to a classroom. It then manages the complex process of mixing, switching and controlling those devices into a single USB or HDMI stream.

Here are the details.

At only 32dB at normal mode, its low fan noise makes DU6693Z one of the quietest 7,000 ANSI lumen projectors. Vivitek says it’s using a new advanced thermal management technology to improve the projector’s cooling efficiency. Like most Vivitek projectors, the DU6693Z has a sealed optical engine that is air-tight, so no tiny dust particles cannot get into the optical engine part, and thus not able to interfere with the DMD chip.

All the detailed specs are here.

Delivering laser diodes for up to 6750 ISO lumens of light output with 20,000 hours of operation, both projectors are equipped with Christie RealBlack technology to produce 4,000,000:1 full on/off contrast ratio in a whisper-quiet (36dBA) solution.

Compatible with all GS Series lenses – including a new Ultra Short Throw – both 1DLP projectors are capable of 24/7 operation and ship in April 2018 with a three-year parts and labor warranty. Here are more detailed specs.

List price is USD$250. Here are all the specs.

The new modular design uses a durable front screen — made of a specialty coated polycarbonate layer – that is rolled into a cylinder for easy transport. This allows integrators to negotiate tight corners and enter through standard doors and passenger elevators during set-up — something that is nearly impossible for traditional large-format displays.

The LPD 6K display is available with Prysm’s visual collaboration platform known as the Prysm Application Suite. The Prysm Application Suite consolidates applications, content, video conferencing and the web into a touch-interactive workspace. This combination is known as the LPD 6K Series and is made up of the following components:

• 190-inch or 135-inch LPD-powered single panel large-format display and Prysm collaboration appliance
• 90-day Prysm software trial license (optional)

The LPD 6K Series is currently in general availability and shipping to partners and customers. All the specs are here.

With two models available in a spotlight form factor — LightScene EV-100 in white and LightScene EV-105 in black — the laser projectors blend in discreetly and offers an array of configuration, mounting and programming options. Specs include:

• 3LCD laser technology — Epson laser technology is spec’d up to 20,000 hours in a sealed optical engine
• Built-in content management — Includes templates, effects, color filters and customizable options
• Scalable — Daisy-chain multiple LightScene projectors and utilize Edge Blending technology
• Easily programmable — Playlist and playback functions allow for content management for single or multiple LightScene projectors
• Flexible positioning — Includes vertical and horizontal rotation with 360-degree mounting on tracks, floors, walls or ceilings; 1.58x powered optical zoom and powered focus allows for installation in both large and small spaces
• Connectivity includes HDMI, RJ-45, wired and wireless LAN and SD card slot for direct content storage
• Up to 2,000 lumens of color brightness and 2,000 lumens of white brightness

The Pivot Jr. features a backpack and cup holder that provides storage and more work room. The height of the Pivot Jr. can adjust from 27-42 inches making this small footprint the perfect piece of furniture for any student’s or teacher’s height. Available with either casters or glides, mobility in any area with this product will never be a problem.

The Pivot Jr. is made of a scratch-resistant powder coat and high pressure laminate worksurface. In addition, the worksurface is available in a variety of Spectrum’s full expression colors including dry-erase. With the Pivot Jr’s height adjustable features and effortless mobility, this product will be a great fit for collaboration in the classroom.

Here are the details.

In this year’s installment Epson is a clear winner in the eyes of experienced projector end users and purchasers. Not only has Epson remained solid in their brand awareness and their image, but they are even continuing to improve upon many of their dominating scores. Other brands such as Sony, NEC, BenQ, Optoma, Panasonic, Hitachi and InFocus are noted for their strength and improvements in other key areas and market segments.

Awareness, Image and Intent are three main elements of brand strength that continuously need to be monitored. In this research, TFCinfo shows how individual brands perform on each of these important measures and in comparison to other brands. This allows readers to form a complete picture of where their brand is and where their brand needs to go to stay competitive.

Epson, Sony, NEC, BenQ and InFocus are the top five most recognized (aided awareness) projector brands in the industry overall. Epson has solidified their position and has a solid lead of at least 10 percent above the next highest ranked brand in every segment surveyed. While other brands may not have ranked among the top five overall, they post some of the strongest improvements and ranked among the top five in certain market segments. BenQ and Optoma are important to note on this measure as these brands have each increased their awareness as a projector brand greatly over the past few years. Optoma places among the top five for aided brand awareness among those in SMB and SOHU, while BenQ places among the top five among those in education, government and large corporations. Unaided free recall is another measurement this research analyzes and is extremely important to monitor to ensure that your brand comes to mind to be included in the important pre-purchase research.

Awareness for some brands, while still considered low in comparison to their position in total projector sales and current market share, have continued to show great improvement.

A clear picture is forming with regard to some of the most important projector purchasing factors and the brands that are being associated with them.  Some of the most important factors to look at when purchasing a projector are overall image quality, reliability/build quality and price. Experienced projector users and purchasers name Epson, Sony, Panasonic, NEC and Hitachi as the top brands they associate most with having an excellent image quality.

These same brands are also named as brands that represent projectors that offer superior reliability and build quality.  Respondents name BenQ, InFocus, Optoma, Dell, and Epson as the brands that offer the best price (value), while on the polar end Epson, Panasonic, Sony, NEC and Hitachi are named as offering a better investment (higher price/higher quality). This leaves Epson in a phenomenal position as end users are viewing the brand as both a great value and a high quality investment.

“Measuring brand strength and tracking your position in relation to your competitors is crucial in today’s projector market. Understanding customer perceptions, preferences and the factors that are driving their purchase decisions is critical to the brand management process and therefore to the growth and profitability of your brand,” states Tanya Lippke, TFCinfo director of survey market research. “These customer perceptions can have significant influence in their purchase decisions.”

Epson, Sony, NEC, BenQ, and Optoma are the top five brands being considered for purchase most overall, although some of these brands are being pushed by their dominance in particular market segments. Panasonic, InFocus, Viewsonic, Hitachi and Eiki hold their own on this measure posting some important consideration gains in certain market segments this year.

While Hitachi may not be one of the most considered brands for purchase, Hitachi has posted an increase in purchase consideration each year for the past six years now, and is high relative to their overall brand awareness.  BenQ and Optoma are also brands where their momentum cannot be ignored.  Both brands have done a great job with their awareness and image in this category and it shows. This yearly tracking study reveals that BenQ and Optoma have improved their numbers, gaining more than 25 percent in consideration each since 2013.

“Many brands post great scores this year, even some of the lesser known brands,” states Tanya Lippke, “In order for brands to turn this consideration into an actual purchase, consumers must have a clear understanding as to what your brand offers in correlation to the purchasing factors that are most important to them. This report reveals what messages the major brands are delivering and how these perceptions are affecting them in the market-place.”

Many brands were researched in-depth and each show significant strengths and weaknesses in certain areas. Brands that are analyzed in depth in this report include: BenQ, Dell, Dukane, Eiki, Epson, Hitachi, InFocus, NEC, Optoma, Panasonic, Runco, Sony and Viewsonic.

Here are the details.

In addition, new features like AES-256 security protocol compatibility, a software interface that is not only faster to download for their Launcher buttons to connect but also a better UX and a configurable sleep-mode timer.

Other features include something the company calls AirNote (UI flow includes on-off control, current user display, user designation, etc.), Full on-screen mirroring in iOS or Android, slideshows can now be used in full-screen mode and no WiFi password is required.

Go here or search for Vivitek in the Chrome Web Store App Store, or Google Play Store and get the update for free.

Signagelive’s Widget Development Framework enabled Flexitive to optimize and export their animations so that they work offline on Signagelive supported players and SoC Displays from the major hardware vendors. This feature is critical to ensuring Flexitive content continues playing in the event of a loss of Internet connectivity.

Signagelive is here and Flexitive is here.

Panasonic and TrueConf have teamed up on a family of video conferencing offerings. TrueConf Server is officially compatible with the Panasonic KX-HDV430 SIP deskphone and Panasonic’s KX-VC-series, including the KX-VC1000, KX-VC1300, KX-VC1600 and KX -VC2000. 

This integration will expand video conferencing capabilities as people using Panasonic deskphones and high-definition video conferencing systems can join conferences running on TrueConf Server using SIP-server internal assignment (IP-PBX). The integration was performed through TrueConf’s gateway, which is commonly used to connect external subscribers to video conferencing endpoints.

One of the key elements of the integration is Panasonic KX-VC1000 — KX-VC2000 systems. The systems provide Full HD video quality at 60 FPS and have built-in MCU. Depending on their needs, users can choose any of the following KX-VC-series models: KX-VC1000 for point-to-point video calls, KX-VC1300 for four connections, KX-VC1600 for 10 connections and KX-VC2000 for 24 connections. KX-HDV430 is the first Panasonic corporate deskphone with support for up to 16 SIP lines.

TrueConf and Panasonic experts believe that the integration can be used for various corporate needs. The integration eliminates the video communication barrier between TrueConf and Panasonic users and opens up new opportunities for collaborative use of their video conferencing solutions.

Here are more details.

Marshall Electronics just debuted a new high-definition PTZ camera, the Marshall CV620-WH2/BK2. Built on a 2-megapixel, 1/2.8-inch sensor, the Marshall CV620 delivers 1920×1080 video and can be controlled remotely via RS232 over Ethernet cable or RS422 over twisted pair. It uses common protocols to make it compatible with most integrated control systems. 

The Marshall CV620 has multiple outputs including HD-SDI (3G) and HDMI (DVI) and many broadcast adjustable settings, such as white balance, exposure, iris, gamma, black level and more for tremendous flexibility of use. The pan-tilt range spans 340° horizontally and 120° vertically. It offers simultaneous 4D control for pan, tilt, zoom and focus. 

The Marshall CV620 can be set to resolutions of 1920x1080i, 1920x1080p and 1280x720p, with adjustable high-speed frame rates of 60, 59.94, 50, 30, 29.97 and 25 frames per second. The high definition PTZ camera, available in black (BK2) or white (WH2) color options, is mountable via table, wall or ceiling and includes flappable images. 

The Marshall CV620-WH2/BK2 is here.

AdLogic from Reflect Systems is a new ad-trafficking platform that allows for campaign management with an ad scheduling and delivery — and it now runs on BrightSign media players.

Using AdLogic, clients can set objectives based on target metrics such as frequency of plays and audience impressions for a particular advertisement. The algorithmic engine at the center of AdLogic balances ad playback to ensure clients achieve particular goals. AdLogic ad deployments on BrightSign media players mean content managers no longer have to worry about a given advertisement’s delivery. Content is displayed automatically based on a store’s location, time of day or even the types of visitors a location generally gets.

With this combination of technologies, digital signage networks can now deliver advertising based on impressions, frequency, and intended audiences. Packaged with an easy-to-interpret, easy-to-use report with verified playback data, AdLogic running on BrightSign media players is an extremely powerful platform.

Reflect Systems is here and BrightSign is here.

Optoma today at DSE 2018 debuted the ZH420UST 1080p HD laser projector — an ultra short throw projector with built-in edge blending and warping. They are aiming it at digital signage applications where you need projection in a large format. And since it’s laser, it can be mounted in any configuration.

The ZH420UST is a single-chip DLP projector that’s spec’d at 4,000 ANSI lumens, a 100,000:1 contrast and 0.25:1 throw ratio so it can project a 100-inch image from just 13 inches away. Inputs include HDBaseT and two HDMI. It’s available in two colors — ZH420UST-B (black) and ZH420UST-W (white) and will list for $2,799.

Here are the detailed specs.