AMX and Logitech Create Integration Driver for Google Meet Hardware
AMX and Logitech have collaborated to create an integration driver for Google Meet hardware. The integration provides “critical room device control pages within the Google Meet application, allowing systems integrators to create custom user interface pages in conjunction with Logitech hardware.” The Logitech portfolio offers a variety of solutions to provide user experiences for all […]
AMX Now Shipping Varia Persona-Defined Touch Panels
AMX is now shipping all of its Varia Touch Panels. The panels are persona-defined — Varia personas are pre-loaded apps that define the entire panel experience. Personas include Web Kiosk, Zoom Rooms Controller, AMX Book Room Scheduling and AMX G5 Control. Varia panels come with wall, glass and VESA-mount capabilities, as well as optional tabletop […]
AMX Releases VARIA Series of Touch Panels
AMX hadn’t disappeared but, many of the #AVtweeps on social media have been wondering if the company was committed to the control system market any longer — since nearly everything it has focused on since the Samsung acquisition of Harman has been either UCC-related or AV-over-IP based. But, Tuesday, AMX said — emphatically — that […]
2019: The Year of AV-Over-IP — But Don’t Believe the Hype!
There’s no doubt in my mind that 2019 will be the year we look back on that the industry transitioned from signal routing and distribution via HDMI and so-called “digital-media” to AV-over-IP. Certainly not the entire industry — just most of it. But buyer, specifier, installer and designer beware. Not all AV-over-IP is the same, […]
Alexa, Manage My Church AV System
“Alexa, turn on the church audiovisual system.” Clever voice-activated connectivity? Maybe. But practical? Not really. “Alexa, show me the upcoming maintenance on all of my audiovisual components, listing them in descending order by date.” Clever? Maybe. But practical? Absolutely. In the house of worship market, convenience isn’t a key driver for upgrades or new purchases. […]
Harman Is Finally Showing Us the Synergy Between Brands with New AMX Incite
The AMX Incite is a family of three different 8×1 (with three outputs all with the same content) 4K 3840×2160 resolution presentation switcher aimed at classrooms and meeting rooms and combines AMX switching, scaling and control, BSS digital signal processing, dbx Advanced Feedback Suppression and amplification by Crown DriveCore — all in one 1U rack unit. Each in the series has eight inputs (four HDMI, […]
AMX Debuts N2400 Series AV-Over-IP GbE Networks
At ISE, AMX launched something similar to what Crestron launched yesterday — the N2400 Series video encoders and decoders, which send 4K video Gigabit Ethernet networks. Spec’d with support for 4K video at 60Hz and 4:4:4 (8-bit color) the N2400 uses JPEG 2000 encoding to deliver content at native frame rate and color space over Gigabit Ethernet with two frames of latency. With support […]
AMX Says Their Rapid Project Maker v3.0 Simplifies AV Configuration
HARMAN Pro today announced AMX Rapid Project Maker v3.0 has new features including a redesigned HTML5 interface and a new enhanced and intuitive touch panel UI, RPM v3.0. AMX Rapid Project Maker configuration software is designed to simplify the deployment of AV room systems for thousands of customers worldwide. As the Industry’s first cloud-based configuration tool for simplified configuration […]
AMX Debuts Enova DGX Audio Switching Boards With Dante Networked Audio Technology
HARMAN Professional Solutions’ AMX today introduced Enova DGX Audio Switching Boards with Dante integration that deliver Dante networked audio feeds to and from Enova DGX 100 Series Digital Media Switchers. The new Dante board kits expand Enova DGX enclosures with up to 16 channels of networked audio, enabling flexible audio switching between traditional AV solutions […]
AMX Debuts N7142 AV-Over-IP Presentation Switcher
HARMAN Pro today unveiled the AMX N7142 Presentation Switcher, an all-in-one presentation switcher that incorporates low-latency Networked AV video distribution. It’s aimed at classrooms and conference rooms. The N7142 Presentation Switcher distributes up to 4K UHD (3840×2160) content from 4K sources (4K @60Hz 4:2:0) HDMI 2.0 and two VGA inputs that can be independently switched […]
HARMAN Professional Adds AES67 Support Across Audio and Video Product Lines
HARMAN Professional Solutions today announced support of AES67 across networked audio and video product families. AES67 is a standard to enable high-performance audio-over-IP streaming interoperability between various IP-based audio networks. New Soundweb London BLU-806DA, BLU-326DA and BLU-DA devices will support both Dante and AES67 natively and will replace the BLU-806, BLU-326 and BLU-DAN devices respectively. […]
HARMAN Pro’s AMX Intros Acendo Core Room Collaboration System
HARMAN Professional Solutions today introduced the AMX Acendo Core presentation solution for huddle spaces and small meeting environments. One unique feature is that Acendo Core features direct integration with Microsoft Exchange scheduling, Skype for Business integration, native document viewers and email document sharing. Built-in document viewers and rendering allow users to present content without bringing […]
Harman Debuts Six New Products In December
Here are the six newest Harman family of products launched in December: Crown DriveCore Install DA Series Amplifiers: A new line of amplifiers that feature Dante networked audio transport. In addition to being able to send and receive Dante audio, the DCi-DA Series includes many of the same features as the DCi-Network Series, such […]
AMX Ships HPX-MSP-10 10-Module Connection Port with 10.1″ Panel
AMX is now shipping its HPX-MSP-10, a 10-module connection port with 10.1” Color LCD Touchpanel. The HPX-MSP-10 includes a Modero S Series Touch Panel built into the cover. When closed, the unit sits flush with the table top and when open, the unit provides easy access to the HydraPort modules and a full-featured Modero S […]
My Second Thoughts About the $8B Samsung Is Spending to Buy Harman
So, it’s been almost a week and, since then, I’ve reached out to a number of former Harman execs, insiders at Harman and industry gurus that know much more than me about mergers and acquisitions — all in pursuit of finding out what Samsung is going to do with the various Harman brands. Here’s what […]
Samsung buys Harman for… 8 BILLION Dollars!
The biggest news of the year as far as AV acquisitions go is definitely the purchase of Harman by Samsung. In the commercial AV space, there aren’t many deals that start with a “B” as in billion, let alone $8 billion. Harman does over $7 billion in annual revenue and is also sitting on a […]
The BIG Samsung Acquisition
Monday morning we woke up to some major news in the AV industry. Samsung had purchased Harman. When I say we, I mean us AV PEOPLE. To the rest of the world, Samsung (a South Korean chaebol) purchased a “U.S. automotive technology manufacturer,” as reported by the Wall Street Journal. Many of us in the AV […]
My First Thoughts on the Samsung/Harman Deal
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 […]
Former AMX CEO Rashid Skaf Joins Investment Firm Highlander Partners
Highlander Partners, L.P., a Dallas-based investment firm managing more than $1.2 billion of private capital that focuses on making direct private equity investments in middle market companies has announced the addition of Rashid Skaf to its private equity team. As senior advisor, Skaf will focus his time on sourcing and evaluating investment opportunities in the […]
AMX by HARMAN Debuts Low-Bandwidth/Compressed 4K Over IP
HARMAN’s AMX just launched the N2300 Series of 4K lower-bandwidth video over IP solutions. With a bandwidth of less than 200 megabits per second, users can distribute 4K video over existing Gigabit Ethernet networks with what AMX says is only a latency of only one frame. The N2300 Series includes support for HDMI 2.0 and […]
AMX Lowers Price of the Enova DGX 100 But, Instead of Writing that Story, I Wrote This One: Where in the Heck is AMX?
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 […]
Innovative AV Integration Solutions Models: Part 1 – IoT in Control and Automation
Gamechanging – when one refers to the term, mistakenly in most instances, they are referring many times to a product (or “the box”) rather than a solution. I had such an instance in a meeting with representatives of a major industry company who were telling me about all the great capabilities of their new corporate […]
The Ongoing “New” Prospects for Security in AV
How the “New” industry security discussion really began Back in mid-January of this year, the AV world was rocked by a story that truly caught fire within hours after it was first reported. I watched it filter through the industry – the articles and podcasts – however I waited for the right moment to post […]
AV/IT? IT/AV? Just Where Are We These Days?
As I ponder each day’s occurrences in the audio visual industry, the one thing that has come to mind lately with all of the articles and blogs I read, as well as podcasts that I listen to, is whether the industry really has an understanding of where it actually is in terms of that so-called […]
So You Want to Talk Security…
Headline: Channel Partners – 3/10/16: Network Security Incidents High Among World’s Largest Companies Story: A new survey of IT and security professionals reveals that 72 percent of organizations have experienced five or more network security incidents in the past 12 months. Regardless of region or technology, IT and security administrators revealed that their networks have significant blind […]
Collaboration Overload in the Business World? Some Perspectives For the AV Industry
Collaboration. Every day we hear about new ways to work as a team, new technology products that help to do it, devices introduced into the mix and much more. However may we be overlooking something important when discussing it in general conversation – that being the human element? I would like to begin by giving credit […]
Who Owns the Code?
Let me start by saying that I know this blog is going to draw criticism from both sides. This is a long standing argument in the AV community, one that has yet to be universally agreed upon, and I’m certain this piece will NOT change that fact. There will still be people who fall on […]
AMX Debuts New NMX-WP-N3510 Windowing Processor
AMX’s new SVSI NMX-WP-N3510 is an H.264 multi-channel windowing processor that works with the N3000 Series family of video over IP encoders and decoders. This rack-mount appliance accepts up to nine video streams as inputs from SVSI N3000 Series H.264 Encoders (or other third-party main- or high-profile H.264 streams) and outputs one windowed HD video […]
HARMAN Pro Claims Lossless 4K Ultra HD Video Over Standard Ethernet at ISE 2016
HARMAN Pro is using ISE 2016 in Amsterdam to launch the NMX-ENC-N2151 4K Encoder and NMX-DEC-N2251 4K Decoder that AMX says provides the same scalable solution as the rest of the AMX SVSI N2000 series but at resolutions up to 4096×2160. AMX says that JPEG 2000 compression allows Ultra HD media to be switched and […]
ISE 2016: HARMAN Pro to Debut 4K Ultra HD Video Over Standard Ethernet
HARMAN Professional Solutions will exhibit at ISE 2016 and all attendees to “learn about the advantages of using AMX SVSI for the compression of 4K video, and to see for themselves an amazing real-time, side-by-side comparison of AMX Visually Lossless compression technology in action.” “Without a doubt, the widespread deployment of Ultra HD 4K video […]
Networked AV Security and My Thoughts on the “AMX Backdoor” Story
Recently there have been a few people who would have you believe that “Networked AV is the single biggest threat to cyber security today.” Are the people who are saying this seriously stating that Networked AV poses a bigger threat to cybersecurity than social engineering or the other countless cyber security issues that end users […]
That AMX Backdoor
The AV industry received some unsettling news last week regarding a potential security vulnerability in Harman’s control processors. It was a rare moment when we as a group were all in the news, though not in a good way. For those who’ve not seen it by now, Ars Technica reported that AMX (now Harman) Netlinx […]