AV issue 27

issue #27 $6.95

BRISTLING WITH AV: DENTAL ASSOC. HI-TECH TRAINING HIGHER LEARNING: UNI OF SYDNEY’S COLLABORATION STUDIO AND THE WINNER IS… 2012 AVIAs ROUNDUP

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Centraverse Installed Sound Microphones - Commshield® RF Filtering Technology to guard against unwanted RF Interference from portable wireless devices like cell phone Shure Centraverse™ (CV) Installed Sound Microphones deliver high quality, reliable audio no matter what the application is. From meeting rooms to houses of worship, podiums to desktops, CV - ”Plug n’ Play” for easy setup and installation microphones come complete with all you need to ensure a quick and efficient sound solution with: - Mute Switch with LED / Top Light Ring Indication - Commshield® RF Filtering Technology to guard against unwanted on gooseneck microphones for perfect audio control RF Interference from portable wireless devices like cell phone - Standard and Desktop Base* Gooseneck Options - ”Plug n’ Play” for easy setup and installation with attached inline pre-amplifier (*XLRSwitch Desktop base available as optional accessory) - Mute with LED / Top Light Ring Indication on gooseneck microphones for perfect audio control CV microphones are available in Australia now. more atand www.jands.com.au -Learn Standard Desktop Base* Gooseneck Options

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06

Editorial No matter who you are or what you do in the AV industry, you have a relationship with a product distributor. Whether it’s to source a spare part for the gear that got damaged, get some technical support for an unusual application, or an explanation of an arcane annotation on some infrequently-used documentation, or simply to find out why your order still hasn’t got off the wharf, distributors play a critical part in our lives. Sometimes the distributor is also the manufacturer, other times they’re also your reseller or dealer, although frequently they’re just some invisible organisation that magics the products and information that you need into the hands of your local integrator, reseller, AV department or supply office.

Manufacturer’s look for something special when they enter into distribution agreements; some seek marketing ability; some look at the number of boots on the ground across the vast geographic spread of our market; others are concerned with the pre-sales technical support on offer; some look at product support in the form of stock levels, spare parts inventory held; while others consider the level of staff product training.

Meeting manufacturers’ expectations, which may be based on what is possible in the more populous yet more compact markets of North America or Europe, can be very

difficult, so it’s not even slightly surprising when manufacturers change their Australian/ New Zealand distribution arrangements.

The deep financial pockets of Hills Industries and its willingness to play the long game in the AV industry has led to some significant shifts in the local landscape as its Sound Vision & Lighting division (SVL) has recently gone around hoovering up distribution arrangements for significant product ranges, by both direct negotiation and acquisition.

Such movements produce a snowball effect: as the distributor grows in both geographic presence and depth of staff capabilities to meet its new commitments, it coincidentally becomes more attractive to other manufacturers. Undoubtedly, this phenomenon was part of the strategic thinking on the Hills Industries board when it chose to give SVL the backing to head down its current path.

To the rest of the industry these moves have produced responses ranging from outright intimidation to rethinking their place in the market and how they can survive the gathering storm. A case in point is mid-sized distributor, Image Design Technology, whose founder and managing director, Gerry Wilkins, saw the SVL snowball picking up speed and decided to launch an IDT snowball by seeking out a fairy

godmother of his own to underwrite IDT for further expansion. Wilkins approach was to head off to the UK and offer a majority stake in IDT to the privately-owned Midwich Group.

Made up of nine separate businesses with an annual turnover in excess of UKP£200m, and already having specialist companies operating in the French and Irish markets, Midwich seems well-placed to provide both financial backing and a host of European connections to add momentum to IDT’s snowball.

If you’ve been reading the news in the pages of this magazine and in your email inbox via our Newswire mailouts, you could hardly have missed that there are many other changes going on in the distribution end of our industry. Madison Technologies, long a serious player as both manufacturer and distributor in the electronics industry, is expanding its business further into the AV and network spaces in addition to its recent acquisition of test and measurement specialists Test Equipment Solutions. Add to this such momentous moves as veteran audio company Production Audio Services changing its name to include the word Video (I wonder if they’ve told Colin yet!) and you can see that things in Distributorland – the happiest kingdom of them all – are starting to get really interesting.

Keep watching this space. 

we are family

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pro.sony.com.au

Crew Derek is an audiovisual consultant with AVDEC, specialising in tertiary education projects.

Starting in broadcast TV and radio at the ABC, he bounced between event AV and video production before settling for 12 years at the University of Queensland. He is past president of the Association of Educational Technology Managers and has been a regular judge of the AVIA awards. He now divides his time between consulting, writing and the occasional video production assignment.

Advertising Office: (02) 9986 1188 PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086

Editorial Office: (03) 5331 4949 PO Box 295, Ballarat, VIC 3353

Editor: Andy Ciddor (andy@av.net.au) Publication Director: Stewart Woodhill (stewart@av.net.au)

After spending five years desiging and installing sound, communication and network systems in the Big House, Cameron has now been released out into the Real World.

Prior to the ‘House, Cameron worked as a freelance theatre technician on commercial shows.. A staunch believer in technology and combined networking, he now wanders the country in search of venues in need of communications assistance.

Editorial Director: Christopher Holder (chris@av.net.au) Publisher: Philip Spencer (philip@av.net.au) Art Director: Dominic Carey (dominic@alchemedia.com.au) Graphic Design: Leigh Ericksen (leigh@alchemedia.com.au) News Editor: Graeme Hague (news@av.net.au) Accounts: Jen Temm (jen@alchemedia.com.au) Circulation Manager: Mim Mulcahy (subscriptions@av.net.au)

Paul Barrett started Pdb3 after spending eight years traveling the globe as special projects manager for The P.A. People. Paul is a communications specialist with nearly 20 years of experience in systems consulting, design, implementation and installation for large-scale, prominent global events, including numerous Olympic Games ceremonies. He has a unique engineering background and is often classified as an outof-the-box thinker and an elite engineer in the frontiers of communication.

alchemedia publishing pty ltd (ABN: 34 074 431 628) PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 info@alchemedia.com.au All material in this magazine is copyright Š 2012 Alchemedia Publishing Pty Ltd. The title AV is a registered Trademark.

Apart from any fair dealing permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. The publishers believe all information supplied in this magazine to be correct at the time of publication. They are not in a position to make a guarantee to this effect and accept no liability in the event of any information proving inaccurate. After investigation and to the best of our knowledge and belief, prices, addresses and phone numbers were up to date at the time of publication. It is not possible for the publishers to ensure that advertisements appearing in this publication comply with the Trade Practices Act, 1974. The responsibility is on the person, company or advertising agency submitting or directing the advertisement for publication. The publishers cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions, although every endeavour has been made to ensure complete accuracy. 20/9/12

Paul is a freelance lighting designer based in Sydney.

Struggling to find work in his homeland, Paul spends much of the year in far flung places in perpetual search for the perfect breakfast and good coffee.

With a love of lights, gadgets and a good story, Paul makes an admirable effort to bring to AV reviews of products and events from around our small and wondrous globe.

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Issue 27 REGULARS NEWS AV industrynews.

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INFOCOMM ASSOCATION NEWS News and important dates for the Oceania region.

56

TERMINATION State of the Union.

58 FEATURES

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AV INDUSTRY AWARDS The winners and finalists in the 2012 AVIAs.

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IDEAS ABOVE THE STATION Acoustic Directions works out why previous PA systems missed the bus.

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GLOBAL MARKET SURVEY 2012 InfoComm’s latest global survey offers some intersting market insights.

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STARRY STARRY SCREENS Vincent van Gogh on the big screen – in fact, dozens of big screens.

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KNOWING THE DRILL The NSW branch of the Australian Dental Association takes its dental training AV very seriously.

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RAISING THE OLYMPIC HOSTING BAR The Nine Network’s Olympic set sets new records for sports hosting.

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AV & IT – THE ULTIMATE COLLABORATION The University of Sydney’s genrebusting collaborative learning studio.

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TUTORIALS

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COLOUR BRIGHTNESS IN PROJECTORS Is the new colour brightness standard meaningful for comparing projectors?

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CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? Trunked Systems – the fourth and final part of our communications series.

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RESCUING PRESENTERS The fraught business of getting images from the laptop to the screen.

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REVIEWS GREEN-GO DIGITAL INTERCOMM Talkback and cueing over the LAN.

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NEWS

ARKAOS STAGE SERVER

MARTIN XD SERIES

LIGHTING FOR DUMMIES

ArKaos’s new Stage Server is an affordable, easy-touse media server for creating and controlling video content. It operates using MediaMaster Express in ‘Simple Mode’ and offers LED mapping over Ethernet and two full HD outputs which, combined with the ArKaos graphics engine, produce smooth visuals.

These can be easily triggered using just a few DMX channels on your lighting desk or notes on a MIDI controller. The ArKaos Stage Server also ships with a vast library of high quality digital media from the world’s best visual content providers. The ArKaos Stage Server hardware can be extended to support a large range of live video inputs and be expanded to run with MediaMaster PRO by means of a software upgrade. Also released by ArKaos is the latest version of ArKaos MediaMaster 3.0 with the new Video Mapper extension.

ULA: 1300 852476 or www.ula.com.au

Martin Audio has introduced the high-output XD Series. The two models in the XD Series, the XD12 and XD15, have been designed principally for live sound, theatre/fixed install and high power stage monitoring.

Both the XD12 and XD15 combine a full, rich sound and an accurate 80° x 50° dispersion pattern in a compact, multi-angle enclosure suited to a wide range of uses from distributed sound reinforcement and portable AV events, to dancefloor and stage monitor use. Each multi-angle enclosure can be used in either horizontal or vertical orientation, with rotation of the high frequency horn accomplished by removing the screw-free, protective grille. Comprehensive brackets support a wide variety of mounting options including surface, ceiling and pole mount. Integral M8 inserts for eyebolt suspension are in place if you need them.

Passive crossover or bi-amp mode are possible via a simple switch.

Technical Audio Group: (02) 9519 0900 or info@tag.com.au

Jands has created a console designed specifically for LED fixtures. The Stage CL provides 12 direct fixture control channels, a simple storage process and a touchscreen interface, all packaged in compact chassis. As well as providing the features to get the most out of what LED lights offer, the Stage CL is designed for the novice user – based on the potentially dicey logic that venues which use LED fixtures probably won’t have dedicated lighting operators. Stage CL’s 12 ‘channels’ has a Saturation encoder and a Hue encoder that you can adjust to set the colour you want — as you turn the dials, an LED on the channel shows the colour you’re creating. You can group any number of channels together and use just one set of controls to set the colour for all of them. If you somehow manage to create a scene worth keeping (we’re talking novices, right?) to record you just press the Record button, then press where you want to save it . Couldn’t be easier.

Jands: (02) 9582 0909 or info@jands.com.au

NEWS IN BRIEF:

Sydney-based production company Cairellie has been steadily building its portfolio and inventory over the last 10 years and are now the proud owners of not only a Digico SD7, but also an SD8, three SD Racks and Waves Soundgrid. Despite being extremely happy with his new Digico gear, Stephen Knight has to drop in the Cone of Silence when it comes to telling us where it’s been used lately, saying only that “they’ve been used on a number of high profile events and have performed flawlessly”.

Group Technologies: (03) 9354 9133 www.grouptechnologies.com.au

For over a decade the Navigate Group has aligned five individual state-based professional audiovisual businesses to provide Australia with streamlined audiovisual and videoconferencing technology and solutions. Bringing them all together under one virtual roof, the group and its five members has re-branded itself as Pro AV Solutions, a national organisation with local, on-theground staff across Australia. All combined, Pro AV Solutions now comprises over 180 professionals working together as a single company.

Pro AV Solution: (02) 8978 1700 or www.proAVsolutions.com.au

Rosco has formed a joint venture partnership with The Black Tank, an advanced engineering group located north of Boston to design, develop and distribute LED lighting fixtures to the entertainment and architecture markets. The immediate result of this partnership is Rosco’s new line of wash lights based on Black Tank’s Brickblaster fixtures.

Three luminaires are available including the Miro Cube 4C, the Miro Cube WNC and Miro Cube UV, as well as a range of mounting accessories that have been released to compliment the fixtures.

Rosco Australia: (02) 9906 6262 or roscoaus@rosco.com.au

Madison Technologies has announced it has entered into a new distribution agreement to deliver the Icron Technologies range of patented ExtremeUSB and KVM extension products to the Australian market. Icron’s patented ExtremeUSB technology transparently extends or bridges USB 1.1 and 2.0 connections beyond the standard five metre limit of USB cables. This enables USB devices to be deployed at up to 40km away from a host computer over Cat 5 cables, or multi-mode and single-mode fibre.

Madison Technologies: 1800 669 999 or www.madisontech.com.au

Philips Entertainment has debuted its professional lighting brand, Showline with a range of LED fixtures including the SL BAR 640 and 660, as well as the SL BAR 520 and the SL PAR 150. Showline will join lighting brands Vari-Lite, Selecon and Strand Lighting in the Philips Entertainment stable. All Showline luminaires feature built-in effects, 8- and 16-bit control modes, a reduced channel HSI mode as well as a strobe channel. They come with standard mounting brackets for floor or pipe mount and a secure lock off.

LATEST CAMCORDER FROM PANASONIC Panasonic Australia will shortly release the AGAC90EN AVCCAM memory card camera recorder. The AG-AC90EN camcorder is suitable for professional applications from news gathering to production. Its zoom lens extends from 29.8 mm (35mm equivalent) wide angle to 12x optical zoom with a high speed of F1.5 brightness. High sensitivity BSI (backside illumination) 3MOS full-HD image sensors and a high S/N ratio are all tuned for professional use. Offering increased shooting flexibility the AG-AC90EN camcorder records in both PS mode, for full-HD 1080/50p progressive image production, and in professional PH mode. It will also capture 3-megapixel resolution still images while recording video. Other operating features include Triple Manual Rings (focus, zoom and iris) that are designed to give the versatility and feel of interchangeable lenses. XLR microphone/audio inputs and remote terminals provide professional connections. The AG-AC90EN AVCCAM camcorder will be priced in Australia at $2444.

Panasonic: 132 600 or www.panasonic.com.au

Audica MICROseries - Style and Flexibility Audica Professional combines leading-edge design and acoustic engineering in flexible audio solutions for commercial background music, corporate AV and audio communications.

Production Audio Services is no longer, but don’t panic, there’s no suggestion that PAS is going down the corporate gurgler.

It’s been decided that a simple identity change is needed to reflect that a number of PAS suppliers are migrating into visual and networking product solutions. So after a quick whiteboard brainstorming session they’ve come up with a new moniker, Production Audio Video Technology (or PAVT for short). There’s a new logo and new company letterhead but little else will change; certainly not the professional service and friendly faces that have been on the scene for nearly 30 years.

Production Audio Video Technology: (03) 9264 8000 or www.productionaudio.com.au

Barco LiveDots, a Barco company, has unveiled a ‘budget-friendly’ family of LED displays. The new V-series consists of two models, the V6 – a 6mm indoor SMD LED display and the V10 – a 10mm outdoor SMD LED display. Barco now has four different LED platforms. The X-series is the premium product line, the C-series is called a midrange offering for rental and temporary placements, the T-series is better suited to 24/7 operation and permanent installations, and finally the new V-series comes in as its most cost-effective LED display.

Barco: (03) 9646 5833 or sales.au@barco.com

Applications include retail outlets, restaurants, hotel public areas and guest rooms, meeting rooms, museums and visitor centres.

“I thought the audio industry had already given us every option, until I saw and heard Audica Professional- MICROseries sets new standards for aesthetics and audio quality for background music” Kai Böckmann, Trius GmbH & Co. KG, Germany

Call 1300 13 44 00 or visit www.audioproducts.com.au

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NEWS

AVOLITES SAPPHIRE SHINE

OB VAN-IN-A-BOX

BLACKMAGIC PREPARED TO SHOOT

Avolites Media launched the Sapphire Media console at PLASA 2012. Claiming the Sapphire Media marks an industry first, it’s designed and manufactured in the UK and offers video operators and designers an intuitive, hands on, live show control surface that facilitates a seamless blend of visual elements. The control surface connects directly to Avolites Media’s flagship product, the Ai Media server, the highlight of which are two widescreen touch surfaces for easy access to the user interface and Salvation Engine control. Four switchable and assignable touch preview monitors are also available to the system operator and can be mapped to any inputs, outputs or video layers.

In addition, the Sapphire Media offers 15 motorised faders for live control, mappable to content triggers, effects or parameters, a T-Bar for traditional vision mixing, and direct access buttons, pre-assigned to popular features and functions. All controls are user configurable, delivering fully customised functionality.

ULA: 1300 852476 or www.ula.com.au

Newtek has unveiled TriCaster 40, the company’s latest product in its TriCaster family of live production systems. TriCaster 40 is aimed at broadcasters and producers who need full-resolution, HD, multi-camera live production and streaming capabilities at a costeffective price. With the number of new outlets that are creating and delivering video content on the rise – from cable channels to major internet companies.

TriCaster 40 offers a high level of production quality in a turnkey, desktop video production studio that makes it possible for anyone to create live television for delivery to broadcast, web and projectors. It simplifies live multi-camera video broadcast and streaming by eliminating complicated setup and cabling between production components, while integrating video production in one compact, professional solution. You can use multiple cameras, video inputs, stored clips, graphics, laptops, iOS devices and more to create and deliver television programming in real time at the native resolution of your video sources. Price: $5654.

Adimex: (02) 9431 6060 or www.adminex.com.au

Blackmagic Design has announced that ARRI, the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of professional motion picture equipment, has introduced Ready to Shoot Kits for Blackmagic Cinema Camera. Kits from the ARRI Pro Camera Accessories (PCA) line are built for a wide variety of users, situations and environments. All Blackmagic Cinema Camera kits include ARRI’s Mini Base Plate MBP-3 and Camera Cage System, offering a nonobstructive solution for the mounting of accessories through industry standard interfaces, as well as a Universal Cable Safe System CCS-1, which protects internal electronics when using HDMI, USB or audio cables. The ARRI PCA set for the Blackmagic Cinema Camera comes in several different configurations. The basic setup adds an aluminium left side Support Arm CSL-1, providing support for handles and accessories, while still allowing for the use of handgrip and controls.

The top of the line professional configuration comes with a Hot Shoe Bracket CHS-1 to prevent camera body flex.

New Magic Australia: (03) 9722 9700 or www.newmagic.com.au

NEWS IN BRIEF:

Sony has released Sound Forge Pro Mac 1.0 software — developed from the ground up on a clean slate for OSX. Sound Forge has built a solid reputation more as an editing program with restoration tools and mastering plug-ins. For Sound Forge Pro Mac you get a suite of plug-ins – the Mastering Effects Bundle by iZotope. It includes EQ, Multiband Compressor, Exciter, Imager, Limiter and Reverb. Also exclusive for this release are some Izotope restoration tools. Price: $399.

New Magic Australia: (03) 9722 9700 or www.newmagic.com.au

The Allen & Heath ICE-16 is a 16-channel standalone audio recorder – without an internal hard drive. Instead, it has both Firewire and USB ports to record directly to an external drive in real time. Simply arm the amount of tracks you want to record, for example 12, and the ICE 16 will create 12 separate files on your recording medium. The concept is for engineers to record live shows without having to fuss around with a laptop and DAW application, although the ICE-16 also comes with standard ASIO drivers.

TAG: (02) 9519 0900 or info@tag.com.au

The holy grail of screen media metrics is having an automatic measure of how many eyeballs look at a certain message. What’s more, if you could tell me the age and sex of those eyeballs… well, then, where do I sign! NEC may well have the answer. NEC’s FieldAnalyst detects facial images and classifies their age and gender into groups in real-time.

FieldAnalyst provides these customer attributes by using CCTV cameras. The system collects and processes this information for marketing analysis or real-time effective advertising using digital signage.

NEC: www.nec.com.au

Sony is spreading the 4K gospel into areas such as live production.

For example, Sony’s NXL-IP55 IP-Enabled HD Live Production System enables broadcasters to incorporate an IP network into their standard HD-SDI infrastructure, benefiting from the high picture quality with very low latency. The NXL-IP55 can transmits broadcast quality video, audio and control signals with latency of less than half a frame over a single LAN connection. This is perfect for live event productions, reducing integration and operational costs.

Sony Australia: (02) 9887 6666 or pro.sony.com.au

Madison Technologies’ AV division has recently signed on to distribute Phoenix Audio Technologies. The Phoenix range of audio conferencing equipment complements Madison’s existing range of conferencing equipment, microphones and technologies. The Phoenix Audio range is designed to turn any office, boardroom or meeting room into a high quality audio conferencing facility. It includes: Audio Conferencing Microphones, Speakerphones, Audio Mixers, Software and Accessories Madison Technologies: 1800 007 780 or www.madisontech.com.au

ALLEN & HEATH XB-10 Allen & Heath’s XB-10 is an ultra-compact broadcast mixer based on the larger XB-14. The XB-10 has three mic/line and three stereo inputs and is equipped with a similar range of features as the XB-14. Specifically designed for broadcasters, including a telephone communication channel, microphone channel on -switch sensing, stereo channel start/cue outputs for CD deck transport control, and automatic muting of speaker outputs. The XB-10 also has a built-in full duplex USB soundcard, which has several routing options for recording and broadcast purposes. Each microphone channel has its own CompACT (Adaptive Compression Technology) compressor and a variable limiter is provided on the main output. The preamps are similar in design to the Mix Wizard range, which use low noise discrete transistor circuitry to achieve high gain and good linearity. Finally, the XB-10 features a responsive three-band, swept mid frequency MusiQ EQ with optimised slope.

Technical Audio Group: (02) 9519 0900 or iw@tag.com.au

THE CONFERENCE PHONE,

EVOLVED Revolabs has redefined the traditional design of conference phones. FLX is comprised of several distinct components giving you unprecedented freedom with respect to placement and accessibility of the speaker, microphones and dial pad. FLX is wireless and simple to set up making it the perfect choice for any mid to small sized conference room.

LED-Signs’ Transparent Bezel series of multi panel LCD displays has an intelligent bezel that delivers a seamless, high definition, videowall. This world-first technology has been refined over the last 12 months and is currently in its third generation. The transparent bezel on the panel is actually an intelligent LED display integrated into the frame. It contains an ultra-fine pitch LED display with an intelligent control system that takes the normal bezel correction features of a standard panel and drives an LED circuit.

The result is the elimination of the black borders normally associated with multipanel displays.

LED Signs: www.led-signs.com.au

Adelaide-based Computer Site Solutions has entered into a distribution partnership with Wireless Sensors to sell its range of wireless environmental monitoring technology, designed for commercial and industrial electronics installations.

They claim the technology will optimise the efficiency of data centres and equipment rooms by reducing costs and providing access to data that will help reduce their environmental impact. The product range includes the SensiNet Rack Sentry which uses a solid state sensor configured to allow sensors to be daisy-chained between racks using standard UTP (Cat5e/6) cables.

Computer Site Solutions: www.computersite.com.au

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Stylish design

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Wireless freedom

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Bluetooth integration

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Superior audio quality

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Simple set-up (with video tutorial)

For more information Call 1300 13 44 00 or visit www.audioproducts.com.au

Scan the QR Code to watch the FLX video

018

NEWS

BETHANY COLLEGE PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE Osmond Electronics recently completed the installation of a complete entertainment sound system into the new performing arts centre at Bethany College in suburban Adelaide.

The venue has been designed as a performing arts complex with the capacity to handle everything from contemporary worship on Sundays, to school and community music and theatre productions.

It comprises a main performance space which includes a balcony that can then be subdivided into a separate lecture space.

The auditorium itself is equipped with a Digico SD9 digital audio console that drives a Netmax N8000 matrix controller that incorporates DSP control for the PA. The main audio system comprises of an Electro-Voice EVA system with a combination of 90° long throw and 120° short throw cabinets. The main speaker system is driven by Dynacord Power H amplifiers. In order to control the low frequency in the room Osmond Electronics opted for a cardioid sub array by mounting an Electro-Voice XCS 312 cabinet behind each of the mid high hangs.

A front fill send allows for two portable Electro-Voice ZXA1 powered cabinets to be located immediately in front of the stage to cover the front rows and to help lower the audio image.

The over-balcony cabinets are ElectroVoice EVF 1122 cabinets chosen for the cosmetic and sonic similarity to the EVA with both being part of the Electro-Voice Innovations speaker range. The overbalcony system is controlled via the N8000 touch panel to allow for it to be used as a delayed feed from the main system or to be isolated and controlled independently.

The balcony area is fitted with a retractable isolation panel system to allow for it to be closed off and utilised as an independent lecture theatre. This then has its own localised control consisting of a Bosch rackmount mixer with an ElectroVoice wireless microphone system for a lecturer. Effectively it’s a dual mode setup, whereby the lecturer doesn’t need to fire up the Digico console to speak into a lav. College staff can come in and access the Netmax touch panel and, via the staff access code, power the system with all control routed to the side of stage mixer. For general school assemblies and public meetings a microphone and simple playback can be activated without the need to deal with the complexity of a large mixing console.

The venue also incorporates a stage foldback system consisting of ElectroVoice TX 1122 FM wedges being driven from Electro-Voice CP2200 power amplifiers providing four sends of monitors. The system also incorporates Electro-Voice PL series vocal and instrument microphones which are used in conjunction with eight channels of REV wireless microphone systems, combining both hand-held and beltpack transmitters.

The venue is fitted with Electro-Voice EVID ceiling speakers in both the foyer and classroom/rehearsal space area with these drivers being driven by Bosch mixer amplifiers to allow for central paging and localised paging in all areas.

Osmond Electronics: (08) 8410 1111 or osmond electronics.com.au Bosch Communications: (02) 9683 4752 or boschcommunications.com.au

State of the Arts: The balcony of the performing arts centre auditorium (top) doubles as a lecture theatre thanks to an operable wall and an independentaly controllable PA. The main left/right hangs feature EVA short and long throw cabinets.

PLASA NOD FOR INNOVATION

The PLASA Awards for Innovation were recently presented at the PLASA Show in London. Some 47 products were judged by an independent panel of experts who toured the show floor to view each presentation. Eight Awards for Innovation were handed out including a Gold Award for Innovation, plus an extra Award for Sustainability.

The winners were Stageco for the Arena Lift, a mobile system of

four computer-controlled hydraulic lifters, that are placed under the corners of a square truss and simultaneously lift the truss the height of one ground support tower section at a time so new sections can be safely added underneath.

Digital & Future Technologies’ Super2fer is a system for transmitting video, audio, DMX or Ethernet up to 500 metres using existing mains power cabling.

The Pixel Tablet developed by Tait Technologies is a hand-held ‘paddle’ with nine LED pixels distributed to an audience or installed in place. Large-scale pixel mapping creates the kinds of enormous digital panoramas we saw during the Olympic opening ceremony – where 70,500 Pixel Tablets were installed.

Avolites was given a gong for the Sapphire Media Infinity Video Control System (see the news

item on page 16).

Robe’s Robin DLF Wash is an LED wash light that performs like a traditional Fresnel including internal barn doors.

Harman International was awarded for the JBL VTX V25; JBL’s line array with D2 DualDiaphragm Driver Technology which got the nod for its innovative engineering.

Martin Professional’s MAC Viper Profile won recognition mostly for

doing good things better. Power consumption is significantly lower, yet output is around 55% higher, plus it has a long feature list.

The final PLASA Award for Innovation was the Gold Award Status. It went to CAST Group’s BlackTrax, a hardware motion tracking system for people and objects that operates in realtime.

The separate Award for Sustainability went to ETC for the Source Four LED fixture.

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NEWS

BEST GOVERNMENT OR COMMERCIAL INSTALLATION OVER $500,000 OTHER FINALISTS Entrant: All AV Project: Commonwealth Bank of Australia sites in Sydney The Commonwealth Bank implemented comprehensive AV solutions spread over 11 buildings and six different locations.

The project was five years in the making, incorporating 162 spaces and more than 20,000 man hours. All AV implemented its own data network in every single building, which operates separately and in parallel to the bank’s network – a massive undertaking. The network talks back from each location over the internet to a single RMS server at Sydney Olympic Park, monitoring over 200 AMX controllers, each of which may have dozens of associated devices such as displays and projectors.

CELEBRATING THE INDUSTRY’S BEST The 2012 AVIAs were another celebration of the best in this region’s commercial AV sector. And, again, the awards were announced at the Integrate exhibition before a room full of 100-plus industry professionals keen to see who had won the gongs.

The AVIAs are distinguished by the hard work and professionalism of our judging panel. So a public thanks goes to Matthew Loupis and Paul Van der Ent (representing InfoComm), Terry Coe and Jason Wheatley (AETM), and Joseph Mecurio and Marcus Pugh (ALIA). Thanks for your sterling efforts this year gents. Chairing the panel was AV Editor, Andy Ciddor, and many thanks to you Andy for continuing to champion these awards which have quickly gained a reputation, not just here but internationally, as the premier accolade for commercial AV in this region.

Without further ado, let’s celebrate the work of the winners and finalists of the 2012 AVIAs. – Christopher Holder, Ed. Director.

Entrant: Rutledge Engineering Project: Rio Tinto Regional Centre, Brisbane Rutledge Engineering has created a state-of-the-art, fullyintegrated workspace for Rio Tinto. Cutting-edge technology was a key requirement for this new location. Rio Tinto required a state-of-the-art digital signage solution and saw one of the first and certainly most significant applications of the new AMX Inspired XPert signage solution. The scope of the work also includes a broadcast system where company announcements can be viewed from anywhere in the world via video conference.

Entrant: IBS AV Project: New Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne IBS AV integrated digital AV technologies into over 200 rooms, operating theatres, learning spaces, auditoriums, laboratories, gardens, presentation areas, marine tanks and starlight express entertainment areas. By necessity, IBS AV came in on the project part way through the process, adapting an existing analogue design and providing a solution that uses digital AV switching and transmission technology. The scale of this job was immense – at one point IBS AV delivered 109 complex racks over a period of 12 weeks. There again, not every job is opened by Her Majesty the Queen!

Rio Tinto Centre

Commonwealth Bank

Rio Tinto Centre

Royal Children's Hospital

NEWS

BEST GOVERNMENT OR COMMERCIAL INSTALLATION OVER $500,000 WINNER Entrant: Liquid Automation.

Project: Super yacht, Vertigo.

Vertigo is one of the largest and most technically advanced sailing yachts ever built, with an AV solution to match. The owner wanted AMX touch panels, but Liquid Automation needed the HDCP capabilities of Crestron Digital Media, so a hybrid system was crafted, reliably using an AMX front-end running on a Crestron backbone. HD Video distribution is done over five Digital Media matrices utilising fibre, eliminating any issues with interference commonly found on vessels. Vertigo incorporates a network monitoring appliance. This monitors AV, control and networking devices on the IP network, and reports back to a monitor on the wall of the on-shore office of Liquid Automation in Auckland, giving an up-to-date health status.

Judges’ Remarks: Apart from being insanely jealous, the Judges were amazed by the sheer quantity and quality of the AV in this 220-foot yacht. The control solution, the system monitoring, the nightclub-sized PA, the flexibility and ease of use of the systems, the integration of the navigation with the AV setup‌ Liquid Automation has designed and integrated a system that provides worldwide bragging rights for this seagoing billionaire owner.

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BEST USE OF AV IN EDUCATION WINNER Entrants: Sydney University AV Services, WSP Group, Fredon Industries, AT Controls, and Advanced Control & Acoustic Project: University of Sydney, Learning Studio The Uni of Sydney AV Services conceived a new system that allows for highly flexible collaborative spaces for better group-based learning. Students can work together at their Pod screen, share laptop screens and be sent detailed images direct to their screen thanks to an Extron and Adder-Link video distribution and matrix system. Every Pod can be selected as a source or an end point. The system converges IP and AV technologies that represent a new direction for the industry. It’s a complex system that’s easy to use. See our extended feature on the Learning Studio later this issue.

Judges’ Remarks: The judges were impressed with the Learning Studio’s advanced and innovative use of AV tools for collaborative learning – built from the ground up to deliver the educational functionality needed in a highly flexible format.

OTHER FINALISTS Entrant: KLM Group Project: Australian National University’s Science Teaching Complex KLM’s design and installation for the AV in this newly built Science Teaching Complex consisted of two theatres; a 150-seat and a 50-seat theatre and six teaching labs. ANU required a flexible and collective teaching environment that enabled lecturers to effectively teach to a large number of students. After discussions, the analogue switching and distribution systems in the two theatres were replaced with a Crestron Digital Media solution. ANU now has a stateof-the-art educational facility with a concept that provides interaction and flexibility throughout.

Entrant: VisionX Audio Visual Project: University Of Canberra Inspire Centre The University Of Canberra Inspire is a centre for excellence and enterprise, where University & Industry professionals collaborate on delivering design and technological innovation. VisionX delivered system solutions that included 4 x 8G linked Crestron Digital Media lecture/presentation spaces with streaming and HD presentation capture, a Podcast Centre, 220-inch video wall with ‘Hiperwall’ content-wall management and a Samsung SUR40 Microsoft Multi-Touch Table.

BEST GOVERNMENT OR COMMERCIAL INSTALLATION UNDER $500,000 WINNER Entrant: Sound & Video Contracting Project: St Mary’s Cathedral, North Sydney S&VC was asked to provide a sound solution that was: 1.

Aesthetically in keeping with the heritage nature of the church. 2. Provide perfect speech intelligibility as well as music quality to every seat in the church. 3. Be foolproof and simple to operate for clergy and non-technical staff.

4. Provide high gain before feedback for softly spoken people. 5. To reduce echoes and reflections in a church with a reverb time of 4.0 secs. And finally, 6. to provide a system that sounds perfect, from day one to beyond day 4000. As for Points 1. through 5.? Mission accomplished.

And Point 6 is looking good as well. See our short feature on St. Mary’s in Issue 26.

Judges’ Remarks: The judges tribute to the fine work done by Paul Moss from S&VC for the complex installation, as well as David Gilfillan and Glenn Leembruggen for the electro acoustic modelling. S&VC employed a state of the art Martin Audio OmniLine system comprising 72 elements, 12 x 10-inch sub bass speakers and 36 channels of amplification. St Mary’s demonstrates what can be achieved in acoustically difficult spaces with the right expertise employing the right equipment.

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• 8 Ω or 100V line models • Multiple high power output: 2 x 250W, 4 x 250W or 4 x 500W • Independent power supply for each amplifier channel • High-efficiency (up to 85%) • Compact dimensions OTHER FINALISTS Entrant: ImpactAV Project: Merewether Surfhouse The Merewether Surfhouse audio visual design/ installation overcomes major obstacles of low ceiling height and very high ambient light to give the client a stylish and flexible audio visual system. ImpactAV teamed up with DNP distributor Screen Technics to design flip-down ceiling-mounted screen lifters – a first in Australia. The lifters cleverly swing down the DNP 100-inch Supernova One front projection screens.

Entrant: Alder Consulting Project: Metcash Distribution Centre, Western Sydney The Metcash distribution centre spans an area of six football fields and is enormously power hungry. Alder Consulting used Crestron Fusion as a base to control over 250 on-site devices. Alder Consulting discovered that the security system could be linked to the building management system, and the advanced Mobotix cameras could provide real-time and accurate movement locations. It meant that lighting control now directly correlates with employee and forklift movement, saving even more cash for Metcash. Read more about the Metcash story in our extended feature in Issue 26.

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NEWS

BEST EXHIBITION OR DISPLAY FOR UNDER $500,000 WINNER Entrant: Datascene Project: Kaldor Gallery at the Art Gallery of New South Wales Datascene’s innovative control system automates all the audiovisual devices in the new Kaldor Gallery. This space specialises in displaying modern public art and Datascene’s elegant solution supports the needs of contemporary multimedia artists while still meeting the tight budgetary constraints of the gallery. The Extron control system integrates 24 audio and 24 video discrete exhibits, all configurable by the gallery staff and all for $16,000. Datascene’s solution places sophisticated control in the hands of those who most need it, but previously couldn’t afford it. See our one-page feature in Issue 26 for more.

Judges’ Remarks: Datascene showed an ability to turn the complex into the simple. Datascene has taken five Extron IP Link control processors overseeing 24 projectors, 24 flat panel displays 14 DVD players and 24 channels of audio, and created a simple-to-use control system for gallery operators.

BEST EXHIBITION OR DISPLAY OVER $500,000 OTHER FINALISTS Entrant: The Pod Multimedia Project: Darwin Battlefront Table at the the Defence of Darwin Experience The Pod Multimedia uses existing interactive technologies to design a wholly original exhibit. Using the latest in Flash programming and motion graphics, as many as four visitors at a time can engage with the table and experience these events of World War II through the eyes of real life characters of the time.

Entrant: Aegres Project: Tunnel Installation at the Museum for Old & New Art Artist, Chris Townend, had a vision of unique music being composed by people’s weight and movement through a tunnel. Not a simple undertaking, but Aegres turned the vision into a reality. The floor, like a multi-cellular weigh bridge, connects to 48 microprocessors, which converts visitors’ mass into MIDI data, sending music to special tweeter units in the tunnel via 26 amplifiers.

You’ll find the full MONA feature in Issue 24.

WINNER Entrant: Aegres Project: Museum for Old & New Art (MONA) MONA is the borderline crazy, yet always challenging artistic playground of professional gambler and multimillionaire, David Walsh. It’s a very large and sophisticated underground multi level gallery, that includes a large array multimedia, mixed media, and AV works of all descriptions. Aegres has devised a system that monitors and controls every aspect of the gallery and exhibits. Read the full story in Issue 24.

Judges’ Remarks: Aegres delivered a completely integrated technology installation that allows MONA to control, monitor and manage all the technology and AV installations within the museum from one central location. Many of the individual installations utilise incredible innovation in their own right – for example, the custom-made underwater LCD monitors, the previously mentioned Tunnel installation, and the custom-written Gallery Control System – but as a whole, the entire building represents a very significant AV innovation.

NEWS

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OTHER FINALISTS Entrant: Mental Media Project: Big Harry’s Place – The BHP Experience, Newcastle Mental Media succeeded in creating the illusion of a steel mill within a museum. The show is about theatre.

It uses new technologies to create the theatre in a traditional sense – smoke and mirrors but done with video projectors; a holographic screen, 5.1 surround sound; LEDs; modern lighting; mechanical effects and lots of smoke. Big Harry’s Place has been an enormous success. Read more in our feature in Issue 24.

Entrant: Art Processors Project: The ‘O’ Device The mobile application, ‘The O’, has allowed visitors of MONA to move around the space and enjoy the art completely unhindered by wall labels and texts. Using a real-time location system, 1340 iPod Touches, an iOS mobile application, enterprise-grade controllerless WiFi, custom content management, spatial mapping and more, Art Processors has helped deliver a gallery experience unlike any other in the world. ‘The O’ has now been spun off as an independent product and marketed internationally. ‘The O’ is covered in greater length in our MONA feature of Issue 24.

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NEWS

Ideas Above The Station The cavernous country trains concourse at Central Station in Sydney has been a PA graveyard for years. Many have tried… all have failed. The space has an RT60 time of 5.5 seconds in the midband and nothing has been even remotely intelligible. Look up into the rafters and you’ll ID a veritable museum of prior attempts: some lonely JBL Eons, a TOA line array, something from Bose, some venerable Soundspheres.

In 2011 Glenn Leembruggen, principal of Acoustic Directions, was commissioned to tame the untameable.

With terrazzo floors, sandstone and plate glass walls and a 25m-high arched steel roof, the words ‘acoustically hostile’ do not even begin to explain the challenge. Some thought was given to acoustically treating the inside of the roof, but this proved to be financially untenable. David Connor and David Gilfillan, who are part of the Acoustic Directions’ team, then trialled software with a number of different steerable line array solutions. They ultimately concluded that a Martin Audio Omniline system with ASP processing would produce the best quality and best clarity speech. Using a special version of the Martin Audio Display software (that computed a FIR filtering regime addressing every element in the array with its own processed channel), Acoustic Directions was able to simultaneously optimise the direct field over the listening area, keep the sound off reflective rear walls, and minimise reverberant sound power. The result is remarkably high intelligibility and natural tonality throughout the concourse, even when as many as 3000 passengers are milling about during peak traffic periods.

With the amps being up to 200m away from the speakers, a 100 Volt amplifier system was required, and Acoustic Directions worked with Harbuch Electronics to develop a 100V loudspeaker transformer that was ultra-flat and with only 10 degrees of phase shift at 20kHz. The FIR filters that beam control the array are implemented in Nion processors with the loudspeakers being driven by eight-channel 2.4kW Biamp Fusion amplifiers. Acoustic Directions’ extensive commissioning process confirmed that all the signals were being correctly delivered to the loudspeakers, and optimised the frequency responses over the listening area using timewindowed impulse responses.

The project caught the eye of this year’s AVIA judges, with Acoustic Directions earning a Judges’ Commendation in a specially created category. The judges were particularly impressed by Acoustic Directions’ meticulous approach to the modelling, installation and commissioning of the system.

And now for the first time, amplified speech can easily be understood in any part of the concourse. Music and prerecorded messages sound natural and clear. Such is the even frequency response that live hand-held wireless microphones can freely roam the space without fear of feedback. In fact, special events, promotions and live music events are now being held within the space using the house system! A real win for serious science and engineering. – CH.

AVIA JUDGES’ SPECIAL COMMENDATION Entrant: Acoustic Directions Project: Central Station Country Concourse A special judges’ commendation goes to Acoustic Directions for its engineering work on the acoustic modelling of the Country Concourse at Central Station Sydney.

Announcements have never been intelligible in this acoustically hostile space, and the roof is littered with the PA speakers of previous attempts. Acoustic Directions worked with Martin Audio in the UK to develop a ground breaking acoustic and DSP engineering solution to the seemingly insoluble.

12 arrays of 10 Martin Audio Omniline elements cover the full length of the concourse. Each element is individually addressed by its own amp channel and processing.

Acoustic Directions: (02) 9568 4684 or www.acousticdirections.com TAG (Martin Audio): (02) 9519 0900 or info@tag.com.au and www.omniline-ma.com Audio Products Group (Biamp): 1300 134400 or www.audioproducts.com.au Harbuch Electronics: (02) 9476 5854 or www.harbuch.com.au

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NEWS

2012 Global Market Definition & Strategy Study conferencing is another hot category, growing 24% (year on year) in the past three years to be a US$66m industry across Australasia, with growth set to continue on that trajectory in the next period.

The MDSS identifies some key challenges.

‘Commoditisation’ is the main one. “Adoption of consumer-grade products is a trend that is having a major impact on pro-AV. This is not a new trend but one that is definitely having an impact. The commoditisation of AV is hurting vendors, and matters will likely worsen. The result is rapidly thinning margins and the growing perception that consumer-grade products are sufficient for pro-AV.” I’m sure many readers will be nodding their heads reading this. Furthermore: “There is a growing perception in the region that pro-AV systems are easy to implement, resulting in companies with engineering or IT backgrounds trying to implement pro-AV solutions. Poor implementations occur, and this deterioration in the quality of AV installations is hurting the market.”

I guess some of this falls into the ‘tell us something we don’t know’ category, but the MDSS report rewards the time spent with it, confirming your suspicions, pricking the bubble of certain preconceptions and providing an insight into the region beyond our shores.

The MDSS is available for sale from InfoComm International. 

Asia-Pacific: Regions The pro-AV market in Australasia was $1.08 billion in 2009, and is expected to reach $1.6 billion in 2012.

Australasia: Pro-AV Market (2009 – 2015)

$3,000 $2,500 644

$2,000 US$ Millions

The latest InfoComm International Global Market Definition & Strategy Study (MDSS) has recently been released. Much like the original MDSS in 2009, it’s an invaluable document for assessing the market – globally, regionally and nationally – and for gazing into the commercial AV crystal ball.

First up, the good news: The global pro AV market is growing at a remarkable rate and is set to continue to grow at an extremely healthy rate (~13 percent) in the 2012-15 period. So, be encouraged, you’ve backed the right horse, and you’re in the strong industry. In 2009 the pro AV market was worth US$56.4b, projected to be a US$78b market by year’s end, and is now predicted to grow to around US$115b by the end of 2015.

InfoComm again commissioned Acclaro Growth Partners to conduct the survey. And according to InfoComm’s Duffy Wilbert, who oversaw the process, this MDSS is even better than the last. It’s more accurate and has had more of a buy-in from the industry – after all, the figures are only as good the time and attention given to the survey. Speaking of which, Acclaro tackled the market from two directions: using manufacturers’ global sales stats as one indication and then on the micro level, interviewing resellers and individuals on a sub-regional basis. On this basis the MDSS more effectively reveals market trends, issues, drivers etc.

Specifically for Australia, there is an Asia Pacific MDSS, which will be of particular interest to AV readers. The survey highlights the growth in services (expected to represent 27 percent of the Australasian market by 2015), and identifies the government stimulus packages and schools program as giving the Aussie market real assistance in the three-year period.

Of note is the rampant growth in AV Acquisition & Delivery Equipment, which is set to overtake projectors as the second biggest AV equipment category (after Displays). The growth is being fuelled by the expansion of the media production and broadcast industry. Similarly, audio and video

$1,500 $1,000 $500

400 250

1,773 1,206

832

$0

2009

2012* Products

* projected

Services are growing faster than products.

Compared to the rest of the Asia-Pacific region, the pro-AV market in Australasia is more developed. Services represented about 23 percent of the pro-AV market in 2009 and are expected to represent about 27 percent of the market by 2015.

Australia accounts for about 90 percent of the pro-AV market in the Australasia region.

Australia’s economy, as well as the pro-AV market, has been helped significantly over the past three years by government spending that has stimulated the economy.

2015*

Total CAGR 2009 – 2012: 14% 2012 – 2015: 15% 2009 – 2015: 14%

Services © InfoComm International 2012. All rights reserved.

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There is a growing perception in the region that pro-AV systems are easy to implement

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FEATURE

Screen Print ‘Van Gogh Alive’ brings Impressionism to the big screen(s), thanks to some powerful AV.

Van Gogh’s classic work has recently made a larger than life appearance using enormous shimmering projections in Linköping, Sweden.

Conceived and executed by Australian-based Grande Exhibitions, Van Gogh Alive – The Experience sees some of the painter’s most famous works displayed on huge screens as part of a uniquely engaging, and very nearly tactile, multimedia show.

This ground-breaking travelling exhibition seeks to redefine audience appreciation of fine art, and by all accounts is succeeding. It’s being hailed variously as an inspiring, educational and emotionally powerful experience.

Swedish show control developer and manufacturer, Dataton supplied its Watchout system as the image-control backbone for the Van Gogh show. Using innovative multimedia technology, the stunning new show is now touring the world syncing music, video and photography in a way that immerses the audience in a sensory experience of the art.

Images of the artist’s paintings are inter-cut with full-motion video and photographs of some of the locations that inspired him between the years 1880 and 1890, and there are more than 3000 images in all.

HE SHOOTS HE SCORES

The show is synchronised to a powerful classical score, and the whole automated production is triggered and controlled by Watchout. “Grande Exhibitions had used Watchout before on other projects so it was the natural choice for Van Gogh Alive,” remarks Dean Stevenson of Interactive Controls, Dataton’s partner in Australia and New Zealand.

“When Van Gogh Alive made its debut

we built and supplied a 30-output system to drive content to all of the projectors. As well as ensuring that all the media are in sync, Watchout also allows Grande to automate the processing so that a group of projectors can go from showing individual images to a single one and then back again. This is essential for a show like Van Gogh Alive where the element of surprise is key – you never know what you’re going to be looking at next, or where it will be!”

Rather than blending images together, the design of Van Gogh Alive places screens a short distance apart from each other, with some screens at right angles and others in parallel. This encourages visitors to move around and between the screens during the show, exploring nooks and crannies, viewing

favourite pictures from a new perspective, and immersing themselves in the vibrant colours of Van Gogh’s paintings.

“The idea of immersing the audience in art is key to Van Gogh Alive,” Stevenson continues.

“You see projected images everywhere – not just in front of you and behind you but also above you, on the ceiling, and even on the floor beneath your feet. So the show really uses Watchout’s image-processing capabilities to the full.”

SCALED TO SUIT

Another key attribute of Van Gogh Alive is that the show can be scaled to suit each installation. Having had its world première at the ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Sands in Singapore last year, the show is now on at the

FEATURE

“you never know what you’re going to be looking at next, or where it will be!”

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FEATURE

Antrepo 3 complex in Istanbul, Turkey, and at the Arizona Science Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

“For the Phoenix installation Interactive Controls built and supplied a new system that has 10 multi-output computers running the show, each with its own licence of Watchout Version 5,” says Stevenson. “As Van Gogh Alive tours the world Grande will be able to tailor the system and use different configurations, depending on the screens at each host venue.”

Version 5's multiple output capability has allowed the system to move from its original complement of 30 individual machines (one computer per display) running version 4, to a setup where 10 multi-output machines drive up to six outputs per computer.

LEAVING AN IMPRESSION

Don’t cancel your trip to Paris’s Musée d’Orsay just yet, but Van Gogh Alive shows how fine art and science can work in harmony to provide a thoroughly new appreciation of an artist’s work, allowing the work to be viewed in ways which simply would not have been possible only a few years ago. 

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FEATURE

Knowing The Drill The NSW branch of the Australian Dental Association is really sinking its professional development teeth into AV. Text:/ Andy Ciddor

It’s reassuring to know that Australian dentists are now required to regularly brush up on their skills to stay registered, just like a CTS, CCNA or a chartered engineer. However, years before it became mandatory, the NSW branch of the Australian Dental Association (ADA NSW), always a strong advocate of continuing professional development, had set up the Centre for Professional Development (CPD) for its members. It’s the peak training body and provider of continuing professional development to several thousand NSW dentists and ancillary dental staff such as hygienists and assistants.

Each year, over 4000 people receive training that ranges from hands-on courses run in its clinical training centre, to dental events run offsite using teaching material produced in house.

The AV department, a separate business unit that works under the name Best Practice Productions (BPP), is an integral part of all CPD activities, even having an event management unit which manages the logistics for in-house events as well as managing all off-site events which include some big conferences and conventions each year.

THE WHOLE TOOTH

However, the mainstay of CPD’s activities are the hands-on clinical courses run in the dedicated clinical training centre where there are 20 clinical training workstations, each equipped with the full range of facilities such as drills, suction, air and water, found in a contemporary dental surgery.

At the front of this room is one of Panasonic’s 103-inch HD plasma panels to allow the trainees to see the instructor demonstrating in the nearby surgery facility.

“I’d thought I had dealt with some pretty demanding presenters in my previous career in corporate AV production,” admits Brett Tyler, BPP’s Production Manager, “but I have come to understand that the medical industry demands the highest standards for detail and colour accuracy. A big part of the AV system in the clinical training centre is the 103-inch Panasonic plasma. The colour correctness and the brightness we were able to achieve in that room and still be able to have light for people to work is the key to its success. Certainly there are projectors out there that would meet the requirements for resolution and contrast ratio, but only if the

room was completely dark. It’s not a theatre; it’s a clinical training centre, so delivering the image quality required – with high ambient lighting is an important part of getting the AV right.”

In addition to the clinical training centre, there is a 100-seat lecture room equipped with a 130-inch projection screen and PA system, and there are four surgeries in the facility, each with a different focus. One is media focussed, fitted out with HD cameras, while the other three are equipped with specialised equipment such as highresolution microscopes and panoramic X-ray machines, which feed vision into the central Black Magic Smart Videohub 16 x 16 matrix.

BRACING FOR CHANGE

Tyler has spent the last couple of years designing and implementing a full HD digital system for the media surgery to replace the standard definition system that had been expanding and acquiring upgrades for the last decade. Despite the dental instructors’ insatiable appetite for higher-detailed and more accurately coloured images, the main reason for the upgrade was the long-term ability to sustain the required levels of high availability on a system employing devices where parts availability and maintenance services were on the wane.

He explains the new setup: “The fitout is currently five full HD cameras. We’re using industrial box cameras, fitted with what are essentially ENG lenses to get the servo zoom and focus, together with AMX PTZ (pan/tilt/ zoom) heads. We’re able get the combination of zoom, low-light performance and depth of field necessary to capture the required detail. The human mouth is a very, very specific production environment. It’s got any number of challenges, not least of which is that the clinician usually likes to lean their head in – quite rightly with what they’re trying to do – and drill or suture or cut or whatever, and that will often put their head between the camera and the action. The ideal camera shot can be obstructed by the dental instruments, suction, the clinician’s hands, the dental assistant’s hands and of course – the patients lips.

“We have very specific requirements for how close the camera can be for the comfort of the patient and for infection control. We have to keep

the cameras outside of the infection zone, which is approximately 800mm from the patient’s mouth, otherwise we’d need to clean the lenses with stuff you just wouldn’t put on lenses. That, coupled with the fact that we’ve got to be out of the way of the clinician. But then there’s the zoom requirement for getting in to capture the required detail. We lose at least a stop or two of light with the lens doublers, which makes the balance of getting enough depth of field very difficult.

“The broader trend in the market is to go for larger sensors, with their shallow depth of field, to get that filmic look. So there are some challenges in replacing the standard definition cameras that have been functioning here for seven or eight years which had much smaller chips. We were quite lucky that the light sensitivity has improved so much over the last eight years of sensor technology that we didn’t really lose any depth of field, but we’ve managed to gain resolution.

“Another factor which complicates matters is that when it’s a surgical procedure we have surgical operatory lights and we can just flood the whole mouth with plenty of light and it becomes quite easy, because we get a lot of depth of field. But more than half of the restorative procedures that are taught in dentistry today use materials that are hardened by light. So it’s just not an option to flood the mouth with that much light. We have to deal with a very fine balance to get the necessary level of detail.”

FILLING IN THE PAST

In designing the HD replacement system Tyler had the advantage of being able to learn some very valuable lessons by looking at the collection of abandoned equipment that had been tried in the past. “The HD system was designed inhouse at a point where I’d been working with the company for nearly two years,” explains Tyler.

“It took that long for me to get my head around the previous system, which was the result of a long process of trial and error over about eight years. It was a mix of standards and formats going back to S-Video. I saw the remnants of things that had been tried and thought to myself, ‘You know what? As an integrator I would have tried that too.’ Ultimately what we were left with was the stuff that worked and that was quite helpful to me in the process of designing a new

FEATURE

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The human mouth is a very, very specific production environment

Another day on the job for Sim Man as he prepares to undergo yet another dental surgical procedure under the watchful eyes of five HD cameras. Studio Commercial Photography

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FEATURE

Photographer: Dr Peter Sheridan The clinical training room has 20 fully-equipped dental surgical workstations and a 103-inch plasma panel to see the actions of the instructor in the nearby media surgery.

The instructor can take questions and answers via a ceiling-mounted PTZ camera.

system, because I knew what things not to try. It was technical evolution in the Darwinian sense: only the ideas that worked, survived; and I was lucky to have that as a basis on which to design the new system.

“The majority of heavy lifting in terms of getting the right picture in front of our participants and trainees was done by the lenses and solving that very fine, multi-variable equation of how do we get close enough, zoomed-in enough and then minimise the vibration from people walking on the floor had already been done. It’s so zoomed in on that level, that flies mating on the wall would shake the image.”

PANASONIC PARTNER

By the time Tyler had added some additional capabilities to those offered by the previous system, he realised that what he had on his hands was going to be quite a complex design. To simplify the integration and commissioning process, they decided to source as many components as possible from a single manufacturer. Having had a really good experience with Panasonic during the process of installing and integrating the 103inch plasma screen into the existing system, and after looking at Panasonic’s wide spread of products across a range of markets, including such things as security cameras and controllers, prosumer equipment, professional AV and all the way up to the high-end of broadcast, Tyler decided to give them a try.

Key Project Partners Panasonic Australia (Pre-sales Design & Engineering Support): www.panasonic.com.au Lemac (Supply & Engineering Support): www.lemac.com.au AT Controls (AMX Programmers): www.atcontrols.com.au ConferencePoint.com.au (Installers): www.conferencepoint.com.au

“We made an approach to Panasonic, saying this is who we are and what we’re doing.

This is the system we’re replacing, and we’ve already done most of the design work, so what we’re looking for is a partner who will give us tech support and pre-sales support by vetting the design and saying, ‘Yes we can ensure our products will work in a particular way.’ And that’s precisely what happened, so we proceeded with an agreement with Panasonic through its distributor Lemac.

“After their site visits, Lemac and Panasonic were so impressed with what we were trying to do, they jointly decided to form a partnership where they were able to provide the support that we required in exchange for us becoming a reference site. They felt it was unique, and something they wanted to have in their portfolio of cases. From there the process was basically a phased procurement of gear so that we could test and confirm individual components of the broader system.”

OPEN UP & SAY A-HA

Using this approach the BPP team took on the systems integration, only calling in AT Controls to program the AMX control system that automates the operation of the PTZ and camera systems. Tyler again: “AT Controls had some really clever coding and logic solutions to what were ultimately realworld physics and engineering problems. I think

the best control system programmers are those who understand the human operator as well as they understand their code; knowing which human errors are the most likely, before the human does, and coding accordingly. We’ve got a very polished, truly integrated result now, and a big part of that success is the AMX programming.

“We’re really pleased with both the hardware and the image results we’re seeing, but I’m also very pleased we got a very workable result, to the point where despite our system being more complex than the one we replaced, yet we’ve actually been able to down-skill the operator.

This gives us the flexibility to have more people trained to operate the system. That alone has commercial value to our business.”

CAPTURE & DISTRIBUTION

In addition to the upgrading of image acquisition quality, great strides have also been made in the areas of audio capture and distribution and image recording distribution and workflow. All images are scaled to 1080i at the edges of the network allowing the 16 x 16 video matrix to route any image to any place including the Black Magic Design Hyperdeck Studio recorders. This allows iso (clean feed) recordings to be made from every camera during a surgical session in addition to the switched mixer output, and, coupled with the recent addition of the Pro Res (HQ) codec support to the Hyperdeck, simplifies post production workflow into the Final Cut Pro

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FEATURE

Studio Commercial Photography Photographer: Jimmi Fenton Above: Practising new surgical techniques on dental teaching simulators. Top left: SimMan's day at the dentist is recorded for posterity in HD using industrial cameras with ENG zoom lenses on AMX PTZ mounts. Left: Surgery studio control room with PTZ touchpanel controller next to the vision mixer.

Equipment List

Studio Commercial Photography

pipeline. The scalers also enable the BPP team to easily capture such elements as laptop slideshows from lecturers who may be presenting to small groups in minor presentation spaces.

AURALLY ORAL

The initial design approach for a sound system offering similar flexibility and capabilities as the video system was to use a similar architecture and employ a DSP-based matrix system with some echo-cancelling and digital delay capacity.

However, after some discussions with the more audio-oriented members of the BPP team, a Roland M-300 desk digital desk with digital snakes and a selection of REAC I/O modules was selected. This provides an automation interface to the AMX system, together with simple and flexible placement of inputs and outputs in each of the surgery and presentation spaces along with sophisticated record and playback capabilities. With a further level of programming the M-300 was also persuaded to provide an IFB (interruptible fold back – i.e. production comms) system to the clinicians/presenters, camera operators and other production and floor crew.

In production, the entire surgery/studio presentation system is driven by the ‘director’

from a seven-inch AMX touch panel which allows the operation of the camera PTZ systems and triggers the vision mixer and audio mixer. There are ceiling-mounted PTZ cameras in the surgery studio and presentation spaces to allow the trainer to be seen by and communicate with the course participants, and there are microphones at both ends of the network to allow for presenters and participants to engage in Q&A sessions.

BEST PRACTICE

In addition to the full post production facilities for packaging of all kinds of sessions for delayed presentation and delivery of pre-recorded materials, the network tails for the CPD have been beefed up to a respectable symmetrical 20Mbps for future live streaming and remote presentation sessions.

After years of providing a service to those of its members that wanted to participate in continuing professional development, the NSW ADA through its CPD is gearing up for a surge in demand for their services as dentists throughout the country are now seeking such training. It looks like it’s going to get even busier for the folk at Best Practice Productions. 

CAMERAS 2 x Panasonic AW- HE870, with Fujinon Lenses mounted on AMX PTE-300 PTZ heads 3 x Panasonic AW-HE120 PTZ 1 x Panasonic AG-HPX-250 CAMERA CONTROL AMX NXP-PLV PRODUCTION SWITCHER Panasonic AV-HS410 VIDEO MATRIX SWITCHER Black Magic Design - Smart Videohub CAPTURE 4 x Black Magic Design Hyperdeck Studio.

2 x Black Magic Design Analogue to HD-SDI audio embedders SIGNAL PROCESSING 3 x Kramer Electronics VP-729 presentation scaler/ switches DISPLAYS 1 x 103-inch Panasonic plasma TH-103PF12W 2 x 42-inch HD Panasonic 1 x 130-inch 16:9 projector and screen AUDIO EQUIPMENT Roland M-300 digital mixing console VIDEO CONFERENCING Panasonic HDVC High Definition codec (3D capable).

AUTOMATION & CONTROL 1 x AMX NI-3000 processor 1 x AMX NI-4000 processor 2 x AMX NI-700 2 x AMX ATV-PC2 Dual Power Controllers CAMERA MOUNTS Manfrotto ‘Skytrack’ ceiling mount system

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1 The 24.4.2 provides ten aux mixes; the 16.4.2 give you six. 2 Requires a laptop with wireless, running Virtual StudioLive, and connected to the StudioLive via FireWire. ©2011 PreSonus Audio Electronics, all rights reserved. StudioLive is a trademark of PreSonus Audio Electronics. Studio One is a trademark of PreSonus Software, Ltd. iPad is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. Freecall 1800 441 440

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FEATURE

Providing a backing for the hosting desk, at 2944 x 512 pixels of 3.75mm pitch Unilumin LED, the screen wraps over 11m around the London studio.

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FEATURE

On Your Marks, Get Set… The Nine Network’s Olympics set sets new records for sports hosting Text & Images:/ Paul Collison

The Olympics are the pinnacle of so many elite events other than Olympic sport. There are the glamorous ceremonies, massive corporate pavilions and events, city-wide architectural installations, arts festivals, and, of course, the most complicated and cutting-edge television broadcast of hundreds of sports events over a period of four to five weeks. Newcomer to Olympic sports, Australia’s Nine Network, was in the thick of it in London leaping on to a new trend in television news set design.

Of course I’m talking about the set of ‘London Live’, the centrepiece of the Nine Network’s 2012 Olympic Games Coverage.

This was the hub of the 17-day coverage and a place where athletes would be interviewed both pre and post competition and presenters would throw from one sport to the next for almost 15 hours of live television every day.

The set was the brainchild of Alex Rolls, creative director for Nine’s Wide World of Sports. Well aware of the trend in European shows over the last few years to utilise largescreen support, Rolls wanted a set and within it a visual surface that could interact with the presenters as well as form a panoramic backdrop and ultimately, form the basis of the flagship set. Rolls turned to Stuart Anderson, Senior Lighting Director at TCN9 in Sydney, and in turn, video company Big Picture to help realise the dream. That dream, of course, entailed a really big screen!

LED BY TODAY

There is a precedent to the big screen concept a little closer to home. The Today Show set at

the TCN9 studios in Sydney has a 3.75mm pitch Unilumin LED screen. This screen has played an important role on the morning shows at Nine in 2012. At a 3.7mm pitch, the screen is the tightest LED pitch currently available. However, the first question always has to be ‘LED or projection?’.

Just because LED was the solution in the Sydney studio, would it also be in London? The benefits of LED are widely known: it’s brighter than projection and less susceptible to washout from stray light sources; LED has better contrast and has the advantage of being a predominantly black surface. Projection, on the other hand, can provide much higher resolutions and looks cleaner, avoiding issues like moiré. The main problem with projection, however, is the throw distance from projector to projection surface.

The studio in London was tiny, as so many studios are. Rear projection was not an option as there was less than a metre at some points behind the surface, while front projection was problematic as it tends to interfere with hosting positions, particularly in small studios. LED was most certainly the only option for this project and given its success in the TCN studios in Sydney, the Unilumin screen was the logical choice.

Once the product had been chosen, a few of the practical realities had to be overcome.

Most LED screens are designed to be flown, not ground supported, but with a nominal load capacity in the studio roof that could barely hang a lighting system, the screen had to be ground supported. Mark Dyson, a name synonymous with set design in Australia, had the unenviable task of creating a set to encompass the expanse of the screen. Also enter Phil Pierdis

from Big Picture and Stuart Anderson from Nine who were heavily involved in the design of the screen structure. Taking their experience from the installation in the Sydney studio, Anderson and Pieridis went about developing a design that would not only support the screen, but also allow for an almost 75° curve at the left end (something, it should be pointed out, this particular screen was not designed to do).

This task was particularly difficult given the fine pitch. Having only 3.7mm to play with between LEDs meant that particular care had to be taken to maintain the appropriate spacing between panels. Too wide a gap produces a dark line in the image, while too narrow a gap results in a hot spot. Anderson and Pieridis came up with a ground support solution that allowed for the curve and provided the ability to vary the gaps between the panels using nylon wedges.

DOUBLE-DIGIT HI DEF

The final screen design had a resolution of 2944 x 512, and with an almost 6:1 aspect ratio it certainly was panoramic, but it posed more than a few problems. With such a massive resolution for a single display, an elegant control solution was required. The fact the screen well exceeded the standard 1920 x 1080 bounds of HD meant that simply routing an HD signal and upscaling it would defeat the purpose of such a high resolution screen. The solution was to use two HD outputs side-by-side on the screen. That way, every pixel would have its own information and the integrity of the screen resolution would be retained. This meant a content map had to be constructed for the custom content. The

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FEATURE

HD SDI Feed 1 Thru 4 SDI- Monitor

HD-SDI Rack room to Control

Black Magic SDI Monitor

SDI Recorder Widget Designer - PC

HyperDeck Studio

MultiView Preview

Media Manager Control

Fibre Feed from Rack room to Control

Media Manager

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Black Magic SDI Monitor

Artnet Network Switch

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Cat5e/6 Rack room to Control

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Main Left Main Right

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Multi-View

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DVI Split

B'Up Left B'Up Right

Black Magic SDI Monitor

Black Magic SDI Monitor

AviTech Multiview AviTech Multiview

Kramer DVI Splitter

Kramer DVI Splitter

Kramer DVI Splitter

Kramer DVI Splitter

Kramer DVI Splitter

Kramer DVI Splitter

Black Magic SDI Monitor

Rear

Front

SDI- Monitor

LED Screen Processor Big Picture

DVI Split

DVI Split

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Black Magic SDI Monitor

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Fibre Feed from Rack room to Control

LED Screen

LED Screen

Rack 2

first inclination was to design in a 2944 x 512 workspace in Adobe After Effects and then break the final content in to two HD feeds for left and right. From there, the two clips would be joined by a replay system.

The problem with this particular solution is that for every complete image on the screen, two separate files were required. Ultimately, it made more sense to place the left hand side of the image at the top of an HD frame and the right side of the image at the bottom. Therefore when searching for content, only one file was required.

This made managing the content workflow much easier without compromising the final product.

Choosing a control solution was a more difficult task as there were several aspects of the system that needed consideration. Firstly there was the need to replay custom content to the screen. This custom content included branding of individual sports and generic show branding.

These graphics would range from custom content designed specifically for this screen, to standard 16:9 frames that would need to be manipulated to work on the surface. There was also the requirement to route up to four feeds of live vision to the screen at any one time, although

today that can be achieved using almost any media server technology. So which one?

STAYING IN CONTROL

The Today Show screen in Sydney is driven by the vision mixer in the control room which works quite well in those circumstances, as the content there is scaled to suit the screen. In the London studio however, the idea was to take full advantage of every pixel, and given that vision switchers generally can’t deal with panning and scanning of multiple images to a single display, it was realised pretty quickly that this would be a job for what is known in the live production industry as a media server.

The Pandoras Box system from Coolux was eventually specified, as in addition to meeting all of the requirements, its capacity to sync multiple sources across a network in real time, and manage content swiftly and easily, made it a standout choice. The addition of a four-way HD-SDI input card meant that four discrete sources could simultaneously be routed to various parts of the screen. So prior to a cross to swimming, a live wide shot of the Aquatic Centre could occupy the left side and the live host on the other. Pandoras Box

can also be controlled via DMX as well as its own interface, which is an advantage. This meant that for the late shifts, a single operator could control vision and lighting, while leaving control in the hands of a dedicated operator during the busier times. Ultimately, three MA2 OnPC2 Command Wings ran the studio lighting and media servers for the broadcast.

THE POWER & THE PASSION

Given the very limited mains power available in the studio, most of which had already been consumed by the LED screen, Anderson had trouble finding enough power for a lighting system. Fortunately, the lighting supplier, Panalux UK, was keen to try out a new product they were working on. They were testing out existing 500W and 1kW tungsten Fresnel fixtures that had been retrofitted with an LED source. Inside they bore scant resemblance to a standard Fresnel fixture. The reflector and lamp were replace by an LED array aimed directly along the optical axis of the lens. By using ‘warm white 3200’ LED modules, the light output was so similar to that of a tungsten source that it often had to be pointed out to people that the

FEATURE

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Screen image feed schematic (left). The area enclosed by the dotted line is what you see in the control room image above.

sources were actually LED and not tungsten. To the naked eye in the studio, one would assume they were traditional fittings – except for the DMX cable that came out of the back.

These fixtures provided a couple of important benefits. Firstly, they alleviated the power problem, as the LED modules required nearly 70% less power to run. Secondly, it eliminated the traditional colour temperature shift during dimming, as LED sources have little colour drift across the dimming cycle. This was even more important given the screen surface behind the presenters maintained a steady colour temperature. Often one can compensate for colour shift by rebalancing the cameras slightly from time to time, however it was no longer even a matter for discussion. Lastly, it also meant the studio didn’t get overly hot with dozens of tungsten light sources burring away. It is interesting to think that almost every light source in the studio, screen included, was an LED. The minor exception was a few energy-efficient fluorescent soft lights. To think that only a few years age LED wasn’t considered a serious light source and would never have been considered for a project such as this.

FEEDING FRENZY

Managing the live feeds to the screens and the general broadcast was no mean feat. At any one time there could be up to 40 different feeds of live sport coming into the studio from the Olympic Broadcasting Service (OBS). OBS is an organisation tasked with the responsibility of covering every sport and sending audio and vision to the various studios for each country at the International Broadcast Centre (IBC). OBS is made up of industry professionals from around the world. It’s not unusual to see the same faces from the past who may have worked on previous Olympics projects. In fact, there are people who have done as many as a dozen Games (including the ‘Winters’) and who are still going strong.

Of course, these sports need to be recorded so they can be replayed for highlights packages or play-on/play-off packages. The industry standard EVS system is a multi-user access system that provides for instant replays and time shifting of content. The EVS team could pull up a highlight from the 100m freestyle final at a moment’s notice and fire it down the line to the input of Pandoras Box. This could be routed to the screen in the studio as a background before

being taken full screen for a playoff. EVS could also send still images and slow motion highlights down for backgrounds during quick throws to upcoming sport. Often what was coming from where would be decided literally a second prior to a break ending or coming out of a sport cross.

The ability of the EVS system and its operators to quickly supply the appropriate footage meant that the screen content was always fresh, and most importantly, relevant.

PERSONAL BEST

By the closing ceremony, the team in Nine’s London studio had been a part of almost 250 hours of live television in less than three weeks – by any measure, that is a lot of television. The studio team in London played a huge role in that success and may claim to have set a new standard in Australian special event television. 

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FEATURE

The PNR learning studio at the University of Sydney is an object lesson in connectability for collaborative teaching and learning. Based around a central lecturer's desk and 24 independently-configurable collaboration pods, the space can be configured in a multitude of arrangements to suit a wide variety of teaching situations.

AV Meets IT in the Ultimate Collaboration This AVIA-winning learning centre at the University of Sydney doesn’t just ‘cross the line’ between AV and IT – it erases the line completely!

Text:/ Derek Powell

Jason Wheatley is widely regarded as one of the most creative people working in AV in Australia. So it was probably no surprise to find that he was a driving force behind this year’s winner of the AV Industry Award for Best Application of AV in Education. Jason has a challenging role as the head of audiovisual at the University of Sydney, overseeing audiovisual fitouts in hundreds of spaces ranging from small tutorial rooms to cavernous auditoria in buildings encompassing every architectural style from high-rise to the some of the most historic in the country.

The learning studio in the Peter Nichol Russell Building (PNR for short) features cutting-edge video using IP technology to provide the facilities needed for ‘collaborative learning’, which is very much an entrenched 21st century trend in education. Yet it is situated in a physical space designed for last century’s teaching practices.

“Originally, the studio was built as two engineering drawing offices,” Jason notes, “with drafting boards and high stools.” However the switch from pencil and paper to PC-based CAD drafting saw the space

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Photographer: Tim Harland

languish somewhat. With the drawing boards removed, the rooms did duty as tutorial and lecture rooms, but the potential of the soaring ceilings and cavernous interior had not gone unnoticed. “I’d spotted these rooms as that rarest of beasts,” he confessed, “a combination of high ceilings and flat floor is like gold at this university – or any uni for that matter.”

So back in 2010 when the Director of eLearning and Learning Spaces, Associate Professor Rob Ellis, came looking for a place to establish a collaborative learning centre, the PNR building was first on Jason’s list. The project was to be co-funded by the University and the Federal Government through its Teaching and Learning Capital Fund (TLC). “Dr. Ellis has an amazing ability to come up with the money needed for these kinds of projects,” Jason confided. Indeed the pair have collaborated on many projects that are transforming teaching spaces at the University of Sydney. But their partnership would be only the first of many

creative associations on this ambitious project.

The successful realisation of this project would require collaborations both within and outside the University, and indeed even across the gaping divide between the AV and IT worlds.

Collaborative learning spaces are always a challenge for an AV designer. However, the concept that Jason developed based on Dr. Ellis’s academic brief was not one that could be easily met using traditional techniques. Spatially it evolved as almost ‘theatre in the round’ – perhaps betraying Jason’s own theatrical background. There were to be 24 group tables or ‘pods’ gathered around a central teaching position. From there, an academic could address the whole room or split the class into various different collaborative configurations.

It was important the space could be split into thirds, with eight pods working with a single tutor, or into 12 pairs of pods or into 24 independent student groups, offering different options for the instructor.

Three central projection screens could operate together or separately, and each pod monitor could receive input from the teacher or become a source to be transmitted to any, or all, of the other groups.

RELYING ON IP

With the initial brief sorted Jason started assembling a team to help make sense of this ambitious requirement. Experts from the WSP Group (formerly known as Lincolne Scott) were brought in as AV consultants to develop the brief into a detailed design, and produce the necessary schematics and floor plans. Normally, a traditional AV approach would be to start with a massive matrix switcher and build out from there, but after conducting some workshops with academic staff, the consultants realised this project was going to need something different.

Accordingly, WSP began researching IP-based video delivery.

WSP’s design solution was to use pure IP

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FEATURE

Image courtesy Fredon Left: The Lecturer's AMX touchpanel provides a familiar interface to control the linking of pods and the routing of sources to screens and speakers.

Right: The students in a pod can collaborate within the pod, with other pods, or across the connected internet, using the built-in desktop PC or via any of their personal electronic devices.

transport for all the PC sources using the AdderLink Infinity codecs with a transmitter and receiver at each pod. This isn’t just video over dedicated Cat5e/6 UTP cables. The Adder product takes the DVI output from the computer, encodes it as packets and puts it directly on the standard university network, so that theoretically video (and audio) can go anywhere and everywhere the network goes.

Infinity is also multicast capable, allowing more flexible delivery while minimising network bandwidth. There are no video connections or HDMI extenders running to or from the pod, just four standard university network outlets to the PC, the monitor and AdderLink Tx and Rx boxes.

It is usually at around about this time that a project like this would come to a grinding halt, as the IT boffins who run the network lower the boom. Helping to avoid that roadblock was the university’s technical manager of audio visual services, Paul Menon; an IP and network expert. “This was very much a collaborative effort,” he commented. “It could not be done in isolation from the rest of the uni’s IT department. So effectively we conducted a oneyear trial in our workshops and labs to make sure we understood the magnitude of demand on the network.”

An AdderLink Infinity Manager controls the

transmission of video traffic within the room, effectively replacing the functions of a 48 x 48 matrix switcher and the network design means the IP video streams can be linked to any room in the building without further cabling.

However, since the total of the video streams within the rooms can reach 20Gbps, this traffic is stopped at the building boundary to avoid bandwidth issues across the campus.

Jason now had the flexibility he needed in routing, so he turned his attention to the design of the pods themselves. He adapted a successful design from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) transforming its ‘MOO COWs’ (Mobile Computer On Wheels) into a relocatable collaboration unit for each pod.

“The Association of Education Technology Managers (AETM) has been a fantastic resource for sharing information,” Jason observed. “Through various AETM conference presentations over the years, I was familiar with the work on collaborative learning done at QUT and, earlier at UQ, and could further develop this project from the basic pod concepts and collaboration units that had gone before.”

IN POD WE TRUST

Jason’s pods, however, needed to go much further than their predecessors and for help with this he turned to the technology company

Advanced Control and Acoustics (ACA), founded by former USyd staffers Jonathan McFarlane and Stephen von Takach. Jason’s vision was for students to be able to work collectively using the pod computer, or by sharing any of their own devices via the pod screen or by starting a remote collaboration session with other students wherever they might be. Oh, and control had to be intuitive so students didn’t need special instruction on how to work it all.

That’s some vision, but it was fully realised using ACA Control, a proprietary HTML5 IP control system; along with some clever programming. Essentially, each pod has an iPad built in below the main screen which acts as a control interface for the pod. When a group of students are working together at a pod, they are offered a variety of choices via icons on the iPad screen. With one touch, they can use the built-in PC, which can be commanded using the wireless keyboard or the touchscreen overlay on the 46inch pod monitor. Another icon allows sharing using any of their own wireless devices to the screen by means of the cloud-based app join.me.

Using IP control via a server in the university’s data centre, ACA has programmed the pod PC to respond to iPad commands and launch the browser-based join.me software. A third icon launches an Adobe Connect session so that

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FEATURE

Photo: Tim Harland

MORE INFORMATION Adder & AdderLink Infinity: www.adder.com Adobe Connect: www.adobe.com/products/adobeconnect.html Advanced Control & Acoustics: www.advancedcontrol.com.au AETM: www.aetm.org AT Controls (Programming): www.atcontrols.com.au Fredon (System Integration): www.fredon.com.au join.me (Screen Sharing): www.join.me WSP (AV Consultants): www.wspgroup.com

students in the learning centre can videoconference and share PC screens with other students remotely. Other choices on the iPad screen command the monitor via its network interface to switch inputs so students can plug in a laptop to the screen. But wait, there’s more…

LOOK AT ME

When an academic takes the helm at one of the lecterns, they only need to use a familiar AMX touchscreen to bring all the pods to attention and display the central PC or document camera sources. The AMX was programmed by Keith Austen at AT Controls so that it takes control of the pods, interacting seamlessly with both the ACA Control system and the AdderLink Manager via IP. Via the AMX screen, an academic can preview video from any pod and present it to the overhead projection screens or to every pod screen.

Lest we forget, the significant roster of monitors (each in a custom mount integrating a PC and iPad), three projectors and screens, ceiling mounted document cameras, control systems and audio were all flawlessly installed by integrators Fredon Industries.

“We’ve stepped over the line between IT and AV,” Jason says modestly. I’ll say he has! The University of Sydney PNR Learning Studio has full two-way video between any and all of the 24 pods (and potentially other rooms as well) across the standard university network. It mixes and matches browser-based IP control of standard AV hardware like monitors, with traditional AMX control; it allows AV control systems to launch software packages; and implements cloud-based sharing of practically any student smart phone, tablet, laptop or other BYO device.

It’s a wonder they only won one award! 

The lecturer's overhead document camera is being displayed on both pod and overhead screens. The pod's 46-inch screen unit includes a PC, a full-screen touch overlay and an iPad interface to configure the pod's connectivity.

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REVIEW

Green-Go Digital Intercom Talkback and cueing over Ethernet Text:/ Paul Barrett

The Green-GO system may be less than a year old, but as it’s designed and manufactured in Holland by DMX specialists ELC Lighting, and its prototype has already won innovation awards at the 2011 PLASA and LDI shows, my expectations as I unboxed the system were high.

Green-GO is a digital communications system based on Ethernet, making use of regular Cat5/6 UTP cable and network switches capable of providing Power over Ethernet (PoE). But the most surprising part is this system has no central matrix or controller.

I had been told the system would work on a regular office network straight out of the box, provided your office network provides PoE, which is becoming more common with the wide adoption of Voice Over IP (VoIP) phones. So grabbing two of the GBP2 two-channel beltpacks and headsets with standard four-pin XLR cables, I plugged a Cat5 cable to each and around four seconds later was presented with ‘All’ as one of my two channel options on each pack. So far, so good.

Before I could say anything, my 14-year-old assistant had the microphone on and was talking to me: clearly the controls are obvious.

The audio quality is wonderful with its 16kHz sample rate and 16-bit dynamic range, but more impressive is the low, 12ms latency, equal to around only four metres of sound travel through air. This is a real winner, as many digital communications systems have latency more than double that, which becomes a real issue when users are within hearing distance of each other.

Adding the MCD8 eight-channel desk to the system is just as easy, with the channels auto-populated with the labels All, Sound, Light, Stage, etc. This unit has a local speaker and a gooseneck microphone option, as well as general purpose inputs and outputs (GPI/O), and external audio input and output. A nice touch is the second network port for connecting other network devices such as a laptop, to look after system configuration. Not that you need a laptop to get basic functionality, as the default configuration contains 60 user profiles with names like Stage Manager and Camera 1 as well as groups such as Lights and Sound.

One of the functions that separates Green-GO from traditional partyline systems is the ability to create pointto-point or one-to-one conversations in addition to the

traditional talk groups. This gives the system functionality similar to that of a gout-wire matrix system, especially when combined with the soon-to-be-released two-wire (think: traditional partyline) and four-wire analogue interface units.

These units should allow Green-GO to be integrated with any existing communications system – especially useful if you can’t afford to upgrade your entire facility in one hit.

DID I MENTION IT’S ALSO A CUE-LIGHT SYSTEM?

The desktop multichannel desks can also double as a cuelight controller for any other unit, or group of units, on the network. Simply select Cue and the User or Group you wish to place on standby and the display button on the associated beltpacks will flash orange, awaiting acknowledgement.

Once acknowledged, the display changes to Red for Standby. It then changes to Green for Go when the cue button is pressed (hence the name). There is also a dedicated wall-mount cue-light-only station, the GWP. This cue-light function alone may be enough for many theatres or rental companies to make the jump; as dedicated cue-light systems can be quite costly and are frequently under-utilised.

Of course if you wish to configure custom users or groups you will need to get out the laptop (Mac or Windows), plug into the network, check your network settings are set to DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) and load up the free configuration software. All the Green-GO devices on the network will soon be discovered and listed in the Devices window. Green-GO claim that as many as 3750 devices may co-exist on one network, and with that many units, the search function will be very handy.

From this screen you can upload the current configuration from any device on the network, that’s right, as there is no central controller, every device on the network contains a copy of the configuration. Alternatively, you could start with a blank slate and create your own. When assigning channels to each user you can select from up to 250 Groups for partyline conversations or any individual device to create a direct point-to-point conversation. The software is incredibly easy to use and barely requires a manual – simple and to the point.

You may have noticed that even though this is an Ethernetbased device, at no point have I had to deal with a single

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REVIEW

IP address, as Green-GO does not require an assigned IP address for normal operation. This has the dual benefit of making it super easy to deploy and avoids the possibility of an address conflict should you be sharing the network with other devices.

On the matter of sharing networks, not surprisingly, Green-GO was designed from the onset to coexist with lighting and audio products, but do not try to share an Ethersound network. Network traffic is claimed to be 340 kilobits per second for each active microphone or other audio input. That’s less then 0.4% of the capacity of a standard 100 megabits per second network, so unless you have a large system with everybody talking at once, it’s unlikely to be a bandwidth hog. One important point, however, is it will not work over a wireless connection. This will certainly be down to a latency issue, something common to many audio over Ethernet solutions.

SO WHAT DO I THINK?

Of course Ethernet is not the magic bullet for all situations. If your existing network does not provide PoE then additional power injectors will be required. The lack of loop-thru on the

beltpacks will disappoint some users, as will the Cat5/6 cable length limit of 100m (from network switch to device). Using Ethernet in larger venues will require either fibre optic runs or additional PoE switches such as the GreenGO GGS5 5-port PoE switch.

While Green-GO has not (yet anyway) got the full complement of interfaces or the depth of configuration required for something of the scale of an Olympic opening ceremony, it is a fantastically simple system for anyone who already has an Ethernet network, or for users who want more functionality than a regular beltpack system (think cue-lights) without the expense of a central matrix/controller. Add to that a product line that will soon include desktop stations with up to 32 channels, wallmount stations and analogue interfaces, and I doubt it will be long before we see Green-GO units on networks around the country. 

Green-Go grahpical configuration software

GBP2 Beltpack: $1495 (inc GST) MCD8 8-channel controller: $4275 (inc GST) Hills SVL: (02) 9647 1411 or www.hillssvl.com.au Green-GO: www.greengocom.com

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052

TUTORIAL

Colour Brightness The Emperor’s new measure of projector brightness Text:/ Andy Ciddor

I have long been of the opinion that spec sheets derive their name from the term ‘speculative fiction’ rather than more widely-held belief that they actually contain ‘specifications’. When the spec sheet for battery-powered desktop loudspeakers claims they produce ‘100W PMPO’ and the spec sheet for the reverse-cycle air conditioner in the hallway outside my office claims it produces ‘3.75kW’ of heat while amazingly drawing only 8A (ie. 2kW of power) from the grid, you couldn’t possibly think otherwise. With video projectors now likely to be found in most offices, classrooms and many homes, I suppose we should have known it was time for something new to be added to projector spec sheets to further confuse the purchasing public. Be on the lookout for ‘colour brightness’, the new output measurement based on the work of Karl Lang at Lumita.

Lang, who was trying to find a better method to assess both brightness and colour output, developed his new measure of colour-related brightness for LCD projectors beginning in about 2005. He began promoting the method in 2007, when it was picked up by the 3LCD consortium, a group of LCD projection panel OEMs and projector makers which have banded together to promote products based on LCD technology. The 3LCD group financed Lang’s company Lumita to develop the measurement process and document it in a book entitled International Display Measurement Standard. The next move was to offer this standard to any body that would listen, in the hope that it would be picked up and made a legitimate standard, by a group that didn’t have any money to fund the development of a standard of its own. It found such a body in the Society for Information Display (SID), who anointed this a standard earlier this year.

While this may sound a little Machiavellian (which it most probably is), this tactic is a well-established aspect of the free enterprise version of standards development, and can be found in the standards employed for everything from connectors and cables to wireless protocols,

data communications protocols and file formats. If the world adopts your in-house developed product as a standard, then you’ve clearly got the inside running for getting compliant products to market.

In the case of the 3LCD consortium, the reason for promulgating this new brightness measurement was that it rather favours projectors with separate red, green and blue components, such as those with three LCD panels or three DLP micromirror chips, over any design using a single DLP chip and a colour wheel. Because the test involves measuring the projector’s output in the three primary colours of red, green and blue, the bias appears to be even more pronounced when the single DLP projector’s colour wheel has extra colour segments for enhanced pastels or extended colour gamut, two areas where LCD projectors are often considered lacking.

At the consumer, education and office end of the projector market there are very few three-DLP projectors around, so the comparison at any price point in this market will be three LCD panels versus DLP and colour wheel every time: with entirely predictable results.

Ever since the SID announced last May that they were adopting the 3LCDpromoted standard, there have been league tables published by LCD projector manufacturers indicating that ANSI lumens output are exactly equal to colour brightness for 3LCD projectors but that all DLP and wheel projectors are only between 25% and 30% as bright in the colour brightness test.

If you take the trouble to read the entire test methodology from Lumita (I can assure you that it is a detailed and meticulous document) every step of the test procedure is very accurately documented, and every instruction makes perfect sense.

Any test performed following the described procedure will get accurately-repeatable results.

It’s just a pity the design of the test make the results meaningful for only one of the types of projector it’s being used by commercial interests to compare. 

Zone 1

Zone 2

Zone 3

Zone 4

Zone 5

Zone 6

Zone 7

Zone 8

Zone 9

Figure A.7 - 9 point measurement grid for illuminance testing.

Red

Blue

Green

Green

Red

Blue

Blue

Green

Red

Blue

Green

Red

Red

Blue

Green

Green

Red

Blue

Green

Red

Blue

Blue

Green

Red

Red

Blue

Green

Test Pattern A.4

Test Pattern A.5

Test Pattern A.6

Every section of the LCD colour-brightness test details procedures that will guarantee accurate and repeatable results, as can be seen by the measuring technique illustrated above. Here the photometer is placed at nine specified points to measure the output from three primary-colour grid patterns, then averaged to reduce error.

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054

TUTORIAL

Can You Hear Me Now? Part 4 – Trunked Communications Text:/ Cameron O’Neil

In the three previous articles in this series we’ve pretty much covered the gamut of communications technologies available to the world of live events. But what about those times when you have to link multiple sites together?

Take the situation of a major-company AGM where they are working across two sites; one in Sydney and one in Melbourne.

Each site will have its own production crew with its own communications needs; however you’ll also need to communicate between the two sites in in real time. As the complexity goes up, so do the requirements. Suddenly the video conferencing techs want to have a back-channel to make sure that they have their gear together.

The company representatives will want to keep in touch privately, and worst of all, there’s no mobile phone coverage in the Sydney venue, so phones are out of the question.

Phoning Home

Trunking is a term used in many different forms of telecommunications to indicate longer-haul operations, but in the events and broadcasting world, it refers to linking systems with multiple connections to provide communications between locations. These could include situations such as linking between studio locations, an OB truck and their network master control room, or a multi-venue event like Tropfest, a Papal visit or a sporting carnival like an Olympics or a Commonwealth games.

Originally, this was achieved via standard telco lines known as Order Wires, which a broadcaster or production company would order (alongside the higher bandwidth Program

Wire) from a telco specifically for an event.

These would usually end up on a standard 4-wire analogue port on a bigger matrix system, giving the system little intelligence. That said, until recently they have been the most costeffective method of expanding the reach of a comms system. They are still quite prevalent in larger TV productions, especially those that have to reach out to regional areas. You’ll also see mobile phones strapped up in most news crew’s runabout trucks; used as a backup to the main communications line (usually contained within the truck’s satellite or terrestrial video link system).

When telephone network gateways improved, most communications systems switched to ISDN (128kbps) digital telephony lines instead of standard analogue (56kbps) Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) lines. The higher bandwidth of these lines and the ability to use high efficiency codecs resulted in a much higher audio quality. Some comms systems allow control data to be passed through the codec as well, allowing you to place a fullyfunctional matrix key station in your remote location. Suddenly, instead of calling out to everyone on your comms matrix, you are able to control your communication channels. In effect, we’ve moved the remote station from being a partyline station to a fully-capable matrix key station.

Since high-speed internet has become widespread and reliable, IP-based codecs have been replacing ISDN lines. Just like an ISDN line, this can be used as a standard audio transport line, or as a matrix extension. With

the emergence of IP protocols such as IPSec (IP Security) and Dynamic Multipoint VPN, communications engineers are able to make virtual private networks anywhere, simply by putting one of their routers somewhere in the network. These protocols allow a matrix to talk directly to a key panel, no matter what path the internet takes between the two points. Some companies have even started experimenting with AVB-based transport methods, promising ultra-low-latency IP-based communications.

Bridging the Gap

Whilst trunklines are an easy way to extend the reach of a communications network beyond that of standard fibre extenders, they don’t achieve our goal of linking sites together with full functionality. To do this we require two things; a bunch of trunk lines and a data connection.

Almost all modern communications networks allow for multiple matrix frames to be connected locally, usually over coax or fibre. These local connections allow for more key panels and interfaces to be connected with full functionality although the links are usually limited to about 10-20 km.

Beyond that we need to ‘trunk’ the two networks together. Most matrix systems allow this to happen, but with varying degrees of functionality. No matter the system, the principles are the same.

The trunked systems must have data links to identify and route the traffic coming over on the audio lines. This enables the users to see what looks like a single seamless system.

TUTORIAL

Want AVB?

The Future of High Performance Audio It is clear that audio systems in the future will rely upon the now ubiquitous networking technologies that have developed over the last 25 years. Network infrastructure and The other component is the audio paths which may be analogue PSTN, ISDN or audio over IP, all of which are acceptable on most systems. Since the audio signals are intelligently switched and routed over the trunk link, you don’t actually need as many paths as you would if you individually connected each station to a remote matrix.

There are even interface devices that will allow experienced operators to trunk between two matrices of different makes; for example a Riedel Artist matrix can be trunked to an RTS/Telex Adam matrix via an intelligent interface box.

Final Checks

Over this series of articles I hope I’ve given you some insight into the world of communications. While to some it may not seem as glamorous as projection or lighting, it is one of the cornerstones of production.

Hopefully I’ve shown that there are newer and easier ways to get everyone talking, particularly in the wireless space. With a matrix system you can filter conversations so that only interested parties are taking part in them, and with radios and trunked systems you can extend the reach of your production anywhere in the world.

Every production needs great comms, whether it’s two guys at front of house and a stage manager backstage, or a complex event like the Sydney New Year’s Eve fireworks, with hundreds of people communicating over umpteen trunk lines and multiple matrix frames. While the technology in the other events and production disciplines is progressing rapidly, so too is communications technology.

In short, there’s no reason that the answer to the question I hear daily; “Can you hear me now?” shouldn’t be a resounding “Yes!” 

innovation has enabled audio systems to become easier to install, more flexible, and more reliable. Harman is working with several organisations including the IEEE and the AVnu Alliance to ensure these future systems will be built on a solid technological foundation. That foundation is a new IEEE Ethernet standard called Ethernet AVB. However, networked audio alone is not enough; additional flexibility often increases complexity, and that added complexity can make systems harder to use. Harman understands that relying on old methods of computer-controlled audio artificially limits what is possible with Ethernet AVB, so they invented an entirely new way to control audio on the computer. System Architect 2 incorporates user defined knowledge from the physical world to control the virtual audio world. This is the future of high performance audio.

Contact Jands for more information on your networking requirements.

Distributed by

www.jands.com.au

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NEWS

InfoComm News

News from the Oceania Region NEW WAYS TO LEARN. NEW WAYS TO SAVE InfoComm is changing the way we deliver member benefits in 2013. With a simplified membership structure, select online classes available to members at no charge, and discounted in-person training, the decision to join has never been easier.

In the new year, four online classes will be available to members at no charge. These include Quick Start, Essentials of the AV Industry, the AV Technologist Test, and a new CTS Prep Online course. Companies and organisations with corporate memberships will be able to train an unlimited number of personnel through these programs at no additional charge. Individual members can train one person.

In addition, members will be eligible to receive discounted classroom training and certification, free InfoComm standards, and select market research, along with free access to roundtables and trade shows around the world.

It is our hope that by lowering most members’ dues, narrowing down memberships to two categories (corporate and individual), and making corporate benefits available on an unlimited basis, more professionals will be able to take advantage of InfoComm training, certification and networking opportunities.

For more information, please contact Jonathan Seller at +61 (0) 2 8206 0979 or at oceania@infocomm.org.

SYDNEY & CANBERRA ROUNDTABLES Join InfoComm International and fellow professionals in the audiovisual industry for the Sydney and Canberra Roundtables!

The Sydney Roundtable is scheduled for 30 October 2012 and the Canberra Roundtable is slated for 20 November 2012.

These Regional Roundtables will feature a forum for fresh ideas, with featured discussions on today’s AV trends and topics, as well as open discussion of local issues pertaining to individual businesses.

These roundtables also provide a chance to connect with peers through networking opportunities, and a chance to connect with InfoComm’s association representatives. For registration and information on InfoComm’s Regional Roundtables, visit www.infocomm. org/roundtables.

USE YOUR EDUBUCKS! As a result of the above membership changes, the EduBucks program will expire on 31 December 2012. All InfoComm members are encouraged to use their EduBucks before the end of the year. EduBucks can be used for online courses and education opportunities through InfoComm University. For more information on online courses and services associated with EduBucks, contact Jonathan Seller.

AV-IQ OCEANIA DEBUTED AT INTEGRATE AV-iQ (powered by InfoComm International) launched AV-iQ Oceania, the largest repository for pro-AV resources in Australia, at Integrate 2012, Aug. 21-23, in Sydney, Australia.

AV-iQ Oceania makes it easy to find audiovisual equipment in product catalogs with a brand-new product comparison tool and BIM library; search for service providers in your area with the AV Services Directory and the upcoming Unified Communications

OCEANIA REGIONAL WEBINAR: RUNNING A BETTER BUSINESS Learn about the features and benefits of the Corelytics Dashboard, a financial service available to InfoComm International members to help them become more financially savvy and more successful.

Join Cheryl Regan, InfoComm International Director of Member Services, and Frank Coker, MBA, CMC, Corelytics CEO, on September 19, 2012 from 1-2 p.m. AEST for this informative webinar. For additional information and to register, please visit infocomm.org/webinars.

directory; and review projects from the case studies library. Additionally you have access to exclusive data with My AV-iQ. For more information please visit av-iq.com.au.

QUALITY COUNTS InfoComm is committed to the notion of industry quality. We strongly believe that in order for the AV industry to thrive, we must be dedicated to providing AV users with exceptional experiences. To that end, InfoComm has been pursuing its own twopronged approach to the promotion of industry excellence.

One has been taking the AV Systems Verification checklist and adding it to highest levels of InfoComm’s Certified AudioVisual Solutions Provider Program, also known as CAVSP. This checklist is intended to provide owners, consultants and integrators with a comprehensive and singular source of tests to determine if the audiovisual system achieves the client’s goals or objectives and that the system performs in accordance with the best practices of the industry.

By providing this list to the audiovisual industry, InfoComm is establishing a set of commissioning guidelines to help industry professionals and their clients communicate effectively about their expectations for system performance.

But InfoComm believes that what constitutes industry quality needs to be established in an inclusive and transparent way, and then verified by an outside group.

Therefore, InfoComm has convened a Standards Task Group to create, in accordance with ANSI guidelines and procedures, a revised and updated version of this AV Systems Verification Checklist that will function as an InfoComm standard.

Once completed, InfoComm will submit the adopted standard to ANSI for consideration.

If you would like to get involved in this effort please contact standards@infocomm.org.

All The AV Industry Employment News Delivered to your IN box with AV Newswire Any time you want it at www.av.net.au

TUTORIAL

057

Rescuing Presenters Getting the presentation from your laptop to the screen This content is excerpted from the InfoComm University class Principles of AV Technology Support Online. For more information on InfoComm University offerings, please visit infocomm.org/education.

There are few situations more stressful than when a speaker attempts to deliver a presentation, and the projector won’t properly display content.

In this tutorial you will learn how to toggle the computer display output and to change the screen’s resolution. These challenges are so pervasive, InfoComm University includes them in its ‘Top Ten Requests for AV Support’.

TOGGLE THE COMPUTER DISPLAY OUTPUT

There are many reasons a computer image fails to display through a projector. The computer and projector don’t always recognise each other, or they aren’t set up to work together. The first thing you should always try when faced with this problem is to restart the computer. Begin by connecting all the cables, turn on the peripheral components and projector, then turn on the computer.

If restarting does not produce an image, try toggling the display using the function keys on the laptop. Each laptop’s manufacturer programs a different set of keys used to toggle the display.

However, the toggling process is basically the same among all brands.

Go to the Settings tab in the Display Properties dialogue box (right click on the desktop and select Properties). It may look similar to this:

If it looks more like this

then you have dual display. Look in the operator’s manual for specific instructions.

If it looks like the second example, hold down the key marked Fn, also known as the function key.

While holding down the function key Fn, press one of the numbered ‘F’ keys located at the top of the keyboard. Since the number following the ‘F’ varies from laptop to laptop you need to identify the appropriate ‘F’ key on the laptop you are working with. Look for subscript or an icon which may be on top of the key or on the side of the key. The subscript may read ‘Display’, ‘LCD’ or it could be labelled with an icon that looks like a box, or a number of other possible labels which refer to a monitor.

Once you have identified this key hold down the Fn key while pressing the F key you just identified (this process is known as ‘toggling the display’). This may cause the image to flicker momentarily. Doing this will tell the computer to display the data to a device other than the local monitor (or inbuilt screen for a laptop).

Typically, striking the Fn and F key the first time will result in the image appearing on both the display device (projector or another monitor) and the local monitor.

Striking the keys a second time will result in the image displaying only the display device.

Striking the keys a third time will display the image on the local monitor only.

If you are displaying high bandwidth data or video files and you have tried toggling the image but the video in the media player window won’t appear on both the projector and local monitor, then press the combination of keys until only the connected display device displays an image and not the local monitor. This will allow the video to be displayed only to the audience.

Depending on the computer manufacturer, the order of these display choices varies.

Be patient when toggling displays. Wait four to five seconds for the image to display after each time you press the keys.

If the computer will not display the image after it has been toggled, the computer’s

resolution may need to be changed.

CHANGING COMPUTER RESOLUTION

There are a variety of ways to change a computer’s resolution, and the steps you take will vary depending on the version of Windows or the model of Macintosh.

Open the computer’s Display Properties. This can be found in the Control Panel in Windows, or by a right-click on the desktop display and choosing the ‘Properties’ option.

Once in Display Settings, look for a menu option marked Settings, Image Resolution or Screen Area.

Select the resolution that is optimum for the display device you are using. (Reference the manufacturer’s specifications for this data.)

MENTOR'S NOTE

XGA resolution is one of the more commonly used resolutions. It refers to a specific resolution of 1024 pixels horizontally across the screen and 768 pixels running vertically down the screen.

Resolution measures the quality of a displayed image’s detail. The higher the resolution, the more detailed the image, and the more information can be displayed on the screen. If the image appears to be cut off and blocky, then increase the resolution of the computer. If the image won’t show up at all, or appears to be too small, decrease the resolution of the computer.

When closing Windows, be sure to select the ‘OK’ button on every window.

Older versions of Windows may direct you to restart your computer at this point.

058

Termination State Of The Union Text:/ Graeme Hague

You may have noticed it’s an election year in the US. Voting isn’t compulsory, but many of the people who do cast their ballot take it very seriously indeed. The flag-waving, the banners, the car antennae pennants… you’d think it was the football grand final to end all grand finals, not a mere selection process for presidential candidates.

The respective conventions for the Republican and Democratic parties are huge events with huge production and they both hit a few glitches this year. The Republicans had to cancel Day 1 because of a pesky hurricane lurking off the Florida coast. Fortunately it didn’t cause too many problems, since apparently nobody really important was scheduled to speak – it seems the opening day of Republican conventions is the political equivalent of the crowd warm-up session or a kind of technical rehearsal featuring a bunch on nobodies.

So the production crews got a bonus day off and didn’t have to suffer through the support acts. Brilliant.

A week later and just up the road in Charlotte, North Carolina, the President or the United States, Barack Obama, made what must have been one of the most difficult decisions of his political career.

Bomb Iraq? Invade Mexico? No, nothing so trivial.

He decided to move the Democratic convention from an outdoor arena to a smaller, indoor venue, again because the weather was looking a bit dodgy (storms this time, not even a proper hurricane).

I’m in no position to judge the Prez occasionally invading naughty Middle East countries, toppling despots and playing chicken with the entire Chinese Navy, but this is totally irresponsible. It must have meant an enormous logistical exercise. Has

he got any idea of the trouble everyone had gone to in preparing the original venue?

The countless PA systems, lighting rigs and staging, not to mention OB setups for every television channel in the US (okay, maybe not The Simpsons Channel). President of the United States or not, you can’t just squint at some threatening clouds at the eleventh hour, wave a presidential stick and say, ‘Looks like rain. The missus has just had her hair done. We’d better move inside.’

There are consequences to consider.

This happened to me once – slightly different circumstances, of course and the US President wasn’t involved, but you’ll relate.

GOD ARREST YE MERRY GENTLEMEN

I was the backstage boss of a performing arts centre. On a day when we were closed and all happily at home, next to us at an outdoor sound shell the city was holding an afternoon of Christmas Carols. Unexpected summer storms were threatening a washout.

The guy who organised the show was also a local councillor up for re-election and chairman of the board of directors for our PAC. Sensing an opportunity he put his hand up and announced to the crowd that he’ll arrange for the PAC to be opened up and the show would go on. Free of charge, on the house. He also figured that since it was Christmas and a Sunday the staff and crew would be expected to freely donate their time. Odd logic, at best.

So I got the call. Being an experienced professional and taking the situation immediately in my stride, my response was, ‘You want to (expletive deleted) what? Are you insane?’

To be fair, there was a kind of nasty, pay dispute happening at the time and no one was feeling particularly charitable, Christmas or

not. After some earnest discussion we came to a reasonable compromise. We got him the keys to the building, someone would show him the switch for the fluorescent work lights and we gave him strict instructions to make sure he locked the bloody door on his way out.

This power-mad fool had no concept of what it might take to call in a competent and willing crew (hell, even finding them was an issue) and put together a safe production, all at the drop of a miter, by technicians prepared to work for nothing on a Sunday.

BREAK WITH CONVENTION

Similarly, Barack Obama plainly didn’t talk to the right people to understand exactly what he was asking for. He would have been surrounded by shiny suits all acquiescing to his every demand. Instead, he should have sought out someone wearing a lot of scruffy black with a utility belt filled with torches and tools, preferably with the toe of one sandshoe worn through – the sign of true experience. Asking if the convention venue could be moved would have resulted in a meeting being called, possibly even a serious fag-break-next-to-the-truck kind of meeting with a lot of muttering, shaking of heads and discreet texting to mates. The answer, not surprisingly, would have been “no”.

The responsible answer.

In other words, if Barack Obama had held the Democratic Convention in regional Australia, say Dubbo or Adelaide, then tried to shift the venue at the last minute to somewhere smaller, simply because the weather was looking a bit iffy, he would have gotten a quick reality check. Told to toughen up, princess and given an umbrella.

After all, who the hell does he think he is? 

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