Is My Favorite ISE Product Good or Bad for ProAV?

You’ll read a lot about ISE over the next few months. It was the biggest ProAV and HomeAV show ever. Over 73,400 people attended in Amsterdam and it is NO LONGER A EUROPEAN SHOW. ISE is truly an international show. And, you’ll read about all the 4K stuff, all the new software codecs, all the new wireless stuff, all the […]

Is My Favorite ISE Product Good or Bad for ProAV?

My ISE Interview with Mike Blackman on the Last Day of the Show

I caught up with Mike Blackman, ISE’s Managing Director, during the final hours of the show to find out his observations of the show — a show that ended up breaking the world’s largest AV trade show attendance record by more than 8,000. Over 73,500 people came to ISE in Amsterdam and Friday was still […]

My ISE Interview with Mike Blackman on the Last Day of the Show

Thank God No One Is Using the Stupid, Hackneyed Term IoT at ISE

In 2016 some industry self-appointed pundits in the AV-industry were overusing the trite term known as the “Internet of Things” (aka IoT) way, way too much last year. I keep seeing content marketing and blogs using the term — as if we are really part of it. We aren’t. Thank God we are in 2017 […]

Thank God No One Is Using the Stupid, Hackneyed Term IoT at ISE

Wondering How Big the Display Market Is? Well, Here’s One Indicator: Barco Releases Financials

  Barco announced results for the six and twelve month periods ended 31 December 2016.Fiscal year 2016 financial highlights: Incoming orders at 1.09 Billion Euro  (+ 3.6%) Sales at 1102.3 million Euro (+ 7.0%) Gross profit margin at 34.4% (+ 1.6 ppts) EBITDA of 88.0 million Euro (+ 13.9 million euro) or 8.0% of sales (+ 0.8 ppts) EBIT1 of 36.6 […]

Wondering How Big the Display Market Is? Well, Here’s One Indicator: Barco Releases Financials

Barco Intends to Protect Their ClickShare Intellectual Property, No Matter What

One of the big stories from Day 1 of ISE here in Amsterdam was certainly the fact that a court officer from Belgium traveled down to the Amsterdam RAI convention center, entered the KanexPro booth and removed all of their MyTurn Collaboration Systems that were being launched into the market. It was the result of a judge’s order that […]

Barco Intends to Protect Their ClickShare Intellectual Property, No Matter What

My Epson Interview at ISE

Epson came to ISE this year (a year after launching themselves into the staging market) with a new series of 7500-12,000 Lumen 4K capable projectors as well as a new series of business projectors. Today I caught up with Epson’s Richard Miller and Neil Colquhoun and asked them about how their first year in the Staging […]

My Epson Interview at ISE

Why the CEDIA Sale Might Work

There has been a ton of talk through the social media channels (yes, on Twitter, it’s mostly the same 20 people who always talk about the same things to each other, but on Facebook and LinkedIn there are some really progressive discussions) about the CEDIA sale to Emerald Expositions — a giant trade show company. […]

Why the CEDIA Sale Might Work

NSCA Has Unethical Awards Program Too

I am shocked that NSCA (and its board) is promoting a completely unethical “pay-for-play” awards program. Yes, you read that right! To enter their Excellence in Product Innovation Awards you have to pay an entry fee — and not just a reasonable $10 or $20 “administration” fee, but, in fact, the fees $299 or $499 […]

NSCA Has Unethical Awards Program Too

2017 Will Be the Year of The… My Predictions for the Upcoming Year in AV Technology

After years of a terrible world economy and very little innovation, 2016 was a boon for new technology — especially in the world of AV. And, some of it crossed both high-end residential as well as commercial. Let’s take a look at a little of what was 2016 and then I’ll tell you want to […]

2017 Will Be the Year of The… My Predictions for the Upcoming Year in AV Technology

Gary Brings Back His Future Predictions Column

For more than 10 years, rAVe founder Gary Kayye wrote a annual AV predictions article for Sound & Communications magazine called Kayye’s Krystal Ball. It was their most popular annual column and we fielded hundreds of comments on it annually. Now it’s back! For Australia-based INTEGRATE, in association with InfoComm and CEDIA, Gary has written […]

Gary Brings Back His Future Predictions Column

This is Gary’s Office

We here at rAVe love Gary. He loves to teach us stuff (mostly geeky stuff, however), allows us to wear what we want in the office, buys us Star Wars tickets and, well, he’s our boss! We kind of have to love him. But, we aren’t always sure what he does so we had a […]

This is Gary’s Office

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 […]

My Second Thoughts About the $8B Samsung Is Spending to Buy Harman

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 […]

My First Thoughts on the Samsung/Harman Deal

Want to Start an AV Company? Go to Hell (or Heaven)

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. […]

Want to Start an AV Company? Go to Hell (or Heaven)

Gary Kayye’s 4K Keynote: The 1080p Video Stream Version – Worth 1.5 InfoComm CTS RU Credits, too!

In early 2016, rAVe founder, Gary Kayye, started delivering his most popular Keynote in the history of our company: 4K – No Myths, No Exaggerations, Just the Facts. Maybe it was simply a right place/right time kind of thing but, it has turned out to be the most popular keynote he’s ever done in the seven […]

Gary Kayye’s 4K Keynote: The 1080p Video Stream Version – Worth 1.5 InfoComm CTS RU Credits, too!

Almo Pro A/V’s E4 AV Tour Heads to Dallas Next Week

Almo Professional A/V is concluding its 2016 E4 AV Tour in Dallas, Texas on October 18. The final event of the year arrives chock-full of InfoComm CTS-accredited courses and workshops, highlighted by a keynote address about 4K, which will be available for live viewing on Facebook. According to Melody Craigmyle, vice president of marketing for […]

Almo Pro A/V’s E4 AV Tour Heads to Dallas Next Week

Is Amazon Alexa Good for AV?

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 […]

Is Amazon Alexa Good for AV?

Almo’s E4 AV Tour is Still Blowing Away Every Other Distributor Event

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 […]

Almo’s E4 AV Tour is Still Blowing Away Every Other Distributor Event

Two Great Books I Recently Read

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 […]

Two Great Books I Recently Read

My Integrate 2016 Wrap-up Interview with Soren Norgaard

Soren is all smiles as I caught up with him just as the three-day Integrate 2016 show ended and it was clear that this year’s event likely broke all records and expectations for measured success. On Day 1, the set an attendance record, on Day 2 Integrate saw the worldwide launch of LG’s new two-sided […]

My Integrate 2016 Wrap-up Interview with Soren Norgaard

Beware: 4K Capable and 4K Native Resolution Aren’t the Same Thing

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 […]

Beware: 4K Capable and 4K Native Resolution Aren’t the Same Thing

rAVe Founder Gary Kayye to Keynote Integrate 2016 Show in Australia

The 2016 version of Integrate, Australia’s version of the ISE show — combining both ProAV and HomeAV into one event — will feature the debut of Gary Kayye’s latest keynote — The Future of AV: It’s Revolutionary, sponsored by Crestron. The show is held 23-25 August, 2016 at the Sydney Showgrounds, Olympic Park, Sydney Australia. […]

rAVe Founder Gary Kayye to Keynote Integrate 2016 Show in Australia

InfoComm 2016 — Life from the Podcast Desk

The world from the podcast station in Vegas from June 8th through the 10th was filled with #AVselfies, magical Tascam gear, and interviews galore. My partner in crime, Johnny Mota, and I set up rAVe Pubs RADIO desk successfully in the Kramer booth with the help from our friends Eric Larsen of Tascam and our rAVe […]

InfoComm 2016 — Life from the Podcast Desk

My InfoComm 2016 Video Interview at InFocus

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 […]

My InfoComm 2016 Video Interview at InFocus

My Video Interview with Milestone’s Senior Marketing Manager, Melissa Rone

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 […]

My Video Interview with Milestone’s Senior Marketing Manager, Melissa Rone

My Annual Video Interview (& Booth Tour) with Visix’ Sean Matthews

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 […]

My Annual Video Interview (& Booth Tour) with Visix’ Sean Matthews

Want to Understand How Sony’s InfoComm Attendee-Wowing Crystal LED (CLEDIS) Video Wall Technology Works?

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 […]

Want to Understand How Sony’s InfoComm Attendee-Wowing Crystal LED (CLEDIS) Video Wall Technology Works?

My Tour of the Sony Booth at InfoComm 2016

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 […]

My Tour of the Sony Booth at InfoComm 2016

My Two InfoComm 2016 Video Interviews with dnp

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 […]

My Two InfoComm 2016 Video Interviews with dnp

My InfoComm 2016 Video Interview with Crestron

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 […]

My InfoComm 2016 Video Interview with Crestron

My InfoComm 2016 Video Interview at InFocus

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 […]

My InfoComm 2016 Video Interview at InFocus

LG’s InfoComm Launches

LG Electronics expanded digital signage portfolio, including a vast line-up of signage solutions from 10-inch to 98-inch displays to fit virtually any commercial installation, is front and center at the InfoComm 2016 trade show (Booth #C8308) in Las Vegas this week. Debuting this year is LG’s commercial OLED high-end display collection – including the Dual-View […]

LG’s InfoComm Launches