IBC 2013, AMSTERDAM – (13^th September 2013) – The days of passing cables and adapters across meeting room tables, installing additional software, rebooting laptops, and apologising for delayed or bungled presentations have ended with the launch of Christie® Brio, a new meeting presentation and content sharing solution that takes the hassle out of single and multi-site workplace meetings.

Developed by Christie, a world leader in display and visualisation solutions, Brio enables multiple attendees at meetings to run audio and video presentations from their own devices, without scrambling for matching display cables and adapters, plugging in dongles or installing and configuring new software to get it working.

“As we thought about what we wanted in a meeting technology, there were three things that were very clear,” said Kathryn Cress, vice president, global and corporate marketing, Christie. “One, it had to be easily accessible, with no special training or driver software that users had to install. Two, it had to tear down the existing communication barriers so that sharing information became effortless. And three, it had to allow users to share multiple types of content. The ultimate goal in developing Brio was to ensure that all participants could share whatever they needed to―to ultimately be able to share more.”

Straightforward to install and use, Brio uses wired or wireless connections to automatically share multiple presentations showing simultaneously on either one or two meeting room screens. Whether participants use PCs or Macs, iPads or Android tablets, or smartphones, presentations can be added to a meeting as a thought occurs, with their information showing on that meeting room display in seconds.

Brio is being unveiled in Europe for the first time this week on Christie’s stand at IBC2013 (Hall 9, Stand C17) at the RAI in Amsterdam. It starts shipping in the autumn.

Share and collaborate like never before

Using a single, low-cost hardware Brio node, any meeting room can automatically add up to five presentations to that room’s displays. Once the content is processed by the node it can also be made available to other Brio nodes via a shared network. In this way a variety of information – including PowerPoint and keynote presentations, audio, digital whiteboards, and videoconferencing sessions – can be pushed to any display attached to the Brio node, and shared with all the displays in the same meeting.

Brio nodes can be connected via a network to multiple worksites on a corporate campus, or across the country. All Brio nodes added to a meeting will see the same presentations, and any Brio node user can add a presentation to the meeting. Brio makes interactive content sharing across multiple rooms and offices straightforward, seamless and immediate, plus the cost of Brio nodes is low enough to equip even remote users in home offices.

Brio also takes full advantage of interactive whiteboard technology. Users in multiple locations can work together on notes and sketches. Any Brio node connected to a meeting allows users anywhere to contribute to that whiteboard session.

“We’ve all been in meetings that were slowed down or fell apart because of the many hassles that come up when multiple people with their own laptops and software try to get presentations successfully running on meeting room screens. I’ve seen cheers break out when it all actually works,” said Christian Merrill, Christie Brio product manager.

“Brio changes that, and makes it easy for multiple persons to run presentations at meetings – even across several corporate sites on a network and since Brio is all network-driven, it does not require users to install any new software or use a USB device to make it all work,” added Merrill.  “The moment you introduce new software inside a corporate network, you can have issues with approved software and administration rights. Visitors who need to run a presentation might even be unable to download the needed software, and many people with company issued laptops don’t have admin permissions to add new software.  With Brio, if you can get on the network, you are good to go for making and contributing to presentations.”

Automated Setup

Connecting laptops to a Brio node automatically adds them to all displays connected in the meeting, and the platform intelligently displays material in the correct aspect ratio. For multi-site meetings participants use an intuitive network interface to login and set up that is as simple as making a phone call.

Brio also fully supports smart devices like tablets running Windows 8, Apple iOS and Android. Both the node control and presentation connection work the same for tablets and smartphones as they do for PCs and Macs.

Versatile Playback Capabilities allow participants to share more

Christie Brio nodes fit in standard 19-inch IT racks or can sit on their own, packaged to look good on meeting room credenzas. The system supports dual-link and single-link DVI, DisplayPort and HDMI. Brio can handle a maximum of five sources.

Brio’s playback quality is exceptional, with the option of running uncompressed 1080p video sources. That means video plays as it was intended, with no dropped frames.

Brio removes another meeting room pain point – running audio from tiny laptop speakers and hoping all the meeting participants can hear it. With Brio, audio input is streamed through the wireless protocol or connected to Brio with standard jacks. The combined audio output is then connected to the meeting room sound system, and meeting participants still maintain individual control of their presentation’s audio volume. Audio is also shared with attached Brio nodes.

Pro-AV, corporate, meeting facility and education professionals can view the power and potential of Brio at Christie’s stand at IBC2013 – Hall 9, Stand C17.