Yes, it’s only 55″ but, don’t discount it as a potential game-changer in our market. Every single PR firm in the commercial AV market has used the term “game-changer” or “disruptive” to describe a client’s new product or service. But most of the time, that’s just hype or hyperbole. However, even though Google (and their […]
First off, for the sake of the 8,000 or so employees of Harman, I HOPE this is a good deal. The history of mergers and buyouts in AV isn’t good. Sure, there have been some that have done well (aka Milestone), but most big one’s have failed miserably (aka: InFocus buying Proxima and the first […]
One of the best niches in AV today is digital signage. It’s also the most profitable segment of the AV market right now. However, it’s so IT-focused that the average AV dealer is scared to jump in. Thus, we (the AV’ers) are doing less than 25 percent of all digital signage systems in the planet. […]
Although there are other ambient light rejection screens out there, the dnp brand and line, by our analysis, seems to be the dominating screen for that application — with over 68 percent of the installs. This carries over to both rear-screens and front-screens. dnp arguably invented that category of screen technology. So, how does an […]
In case you haven’t been paying attention, your kids are watching nearly all their entertainment (TV, movies, sports, etc.) on their phones. Oh, and by the way, they’re also using their phones for Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram, too. So? Well, that number is moving up — up in age. Five years ago, the average 25-year […]
Short answer is — NO. Long answer is — YES. But, Amazon’s Alexa is certainly the most over-hyped thing in the market right now — thanks to the recent CEDIA show and the fact that other publications seem to have very little to talk about. What is Alexa? Alexa is the voice service that powers […]
A disclaimer: I have been the keynote speaker for the Almo Pro A/V E4 events for the past six years. So, consider that. But also think about this: Of the 39 different vendors/manufacturers at the Almo E4 AV Tour in Boston and Atlanta, I spoke to 26 of them. And of the 26, 22 of […]
I wanted to share with you a couple of great books I recently read that I thought you might like. If you know me, you know that I read about social media marketing and new media technology all the time — whether it be books, magazines of a dozen or so websites that I frequent […]
Since the acquisition of AMX by HARMAN, many of us in the HomeAV and ProAV markets have been wondering what happened to AMX. And, it’s not just that they’ve shrunk their once giant booths to tent-sized displays housed inside the larger HARMAN family. In fact, during that same period of time, Extron stopped exhibiting at […]
A recent Deloitte Consumer Review survey in the UK found that there was nearly zero growth between 2014 and 2015 in consumer purchasing of connected home products. The finding cited that, “UK consumers are aware of the potential benefits of the Internet of Things (IoT) but perceived high prices and skepticism about the technology are […]
CEDIA CEO Vin Bruno recently told a group of residential integrators that his organization wants to help the AV integration community transition away from using the term “integrator” and move towards using the term “technologist.” While I applaud CEDIA for proactively moving towards helping the integration community as a whole — something they clearly haven’t […]
Among the plethora of deceptive (intentional or not) 4K specs being thrown into the market, there is one that should be obvious to all of you out there in AV-land, but may not be — so here you go. There are all sorts of 4K resolution displays appearing in the marketplace, finally! After a year […]
We’ve been blown away at how much engagement we have with our readers via the various social media outlets we have. We get hundreds of messages from you EVERY DAY – even on weekends! And, before Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, we barely ever heard from you! And, it’s even more interesting at how segmented […]
In case you’ve been living under a rock, been attending too many boring AV-oriented sales presentations disguised as educational webinars OR are not connected to anyone on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or Instagram, there’s this new mobile app game called Pokémon GO that’s taken the world (and not just the tech world) by storm. Pokémon GO […]
I am not sure there is a better example for how to design and market products right now in the ProAV market than how Milestone AV Technologies – parent company for Chief Manufacturing, Da-Lite, Vaddio, Sanus and Projecta — is doing it. I won’t bore you by going through each and every product case over […]
I had a chance to sit down with both Chief Marketing Officer Brady Bruce and CEO Mark Housley of InFocus at InfoComm this year. This is the first time both of them have done an interview tougher since InFocus acquired Jupiter Systems last year. We talked about their merger, the fact that they’re opening a […]
Milestone is doing something that EVERY manufacturer in the ProAV market should be doing — asking their customers how they can redesign their products to make them better. Simply genius! InfoComm 2016 represented the first U.S. show where Milestone combined both Chief and Da-Lite in to one booth and it included flying 6 Christie Projectors […]
In addition to talking about the new gear from Visix at InfoComm, Sean Matthews, Visix’ President, took me on a booth tour! Visix launched paper-white ePaper signs that are batter operated (and color), room signs that can use Android tablets, an augmented reality mapping program that’s super-impressive and a hand-held digital signage player. If you […]
If you were at InfoComm you not only heard about Sony’s giant 32’x9’ video wall using a brand-new display technology called Crystal-LED, you went and looked at it. It was THE display technology and device that garnered the most attention at InfoComm 2016. And, not because it is new — it’s stunning. They call it […]
Sony’s Product Marketing Manager Sander Phipps took the time to give me a complete tour of their InfoComm 2016 booth. The booth’s Crystal-LED may have garnered the most attention from attendees, but the booth was packed with new short-throw options, a complete all-in-one UCC solution, 4K laser-phosphor projectors and BRAVIA displays that include built-in digital […]
I had a chance to shoot two videos at dnp’s booth at InfoComm 2016 — one with dnp’s Johnny Jensen, Senior Product Manager, and the other with their Senior Sales Consultant, Sally Bermudez. They demo’d a new retractable short-throw packaged solution for their LaserPanel solutions that include a laserPanel screen, a show-throw projector, all the […]
I caught up with Crestron’s Steve Samson and we talked about how they see (and want) technology in every space — actually their show theme this year. Although we see a constriction of the amount of gear in the average system, Samson sees that all off-set with an explosion of the number of total systems […]
I had a chance to sit down with both Chief Marketing Officer Brady Bruce and CEO Mark Housley of InFocus at InfoComm. This is the first time both of them have done an interview tougher since InFocus acquired Jupiter Systems last year. We talked about their merger, the fact that they’re opening a new experience […]
Honestly, this may have been one of the harder videos to shoot today as their booth was packed the entire time we tried to record it — so, Prysm is hot at InfoComm 2016! I was joined by Prysm’s Paige O’Neill, Chief Marketing Officer, who took me through a booth tour and explained all the […]
Both Executive VP,Sam Taylor and VP of Marketing Melody Craigmyle joined me this morning for a candid talk about the ProAV market. There’s no doubt that the projector market’s been hit with declining sales (and margins) in the meeting room sized spaces – thanks to flat-panels- but both are bullish on all the new technologies […]
Early this morning, I was given an exclusive booth tour of the entire BOSE Professional display at InfoComm. David Prince, Manager of Field Engineering at BOSE, actually took the time to describe the philosophy behind each of the product’s development and applications. The ends with the reveal of their all-new DeltaQ line Loudspeakers aimed at […]
This is a great interview with Dave Labuskes, InfoComm’s Executive Director, who is candid about what both InfoComm and their members need to do to thrive in the future. InfoComm set certification records in 2016 as well as educational records and will certainly set an attendance record. So, what does Dave think InfoComm will be […]
Chief Marketing Manager Karen Smidt and Product Manager Kathryn Gaskell joined me for a video interview today at InfoComm 2016 to launch their new Fusion Modular Mounts. This system doesn’t seem revolutionary, but it is. Chief has always had a plethora of standard configurations for video walls and menu-board mounts, for example, but now you […]
Rafik Anadol did an amazing job designing digital art using projection at the Epson Booth here at InfoComm 2016. His creative use of laser-based projection, image mapping and color is used to project digital art on top of printed art to create a moving canvas of image. In addition, he also built an Infinity Room […]
Clint Hoffman and I have known each other for over 25 years and I have a lot of mutual respect for him. Kramer used InfoComm 2016 to launch a new totally cloud-based control system and it’s a bold move as the rest of the market is hardware-based. Is it before its time? Will the AV […]
I love talking to Jeevan Vivegananthan, Christie’s Senior Director of Product Management, Displays & Processing, as it’s clear he loves AV technology – and so do I. But, there’s no question that the best booth at InfoComm 2016 is Christie’s as they constructed a hockey arena onto show floor and integrated with all sorts of […]
Anchor Audio’s VP of Sales, Alex Jacobs debuted a wireless version of their Liberty battery-operated powered speaker — called Liberty Air. It’s aimed at the educational and live events market and it’s water resistant, and has a 5-6 hour battery. Oh, and you can daisy-chain up to 10 of them together! Check out my video […]
