AV Issue 41

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OUR PICK OF THE CURRENT CROP OF MOVING LIGHTS

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INFOCOMM’S ASIA-PAC AV MARKET & STRATEGY STUDY CLEARONE BEAMFORMER: CONFERENCING MIC ARRAY DANTE, Q-SYS, CISCO: ADELAIDE OVAL’S $2.5M INTEGRATED AV NETWORK

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www.jands.com.au

26 – 28 August 2014 Sydney Showground

Olympic Park

Stand B18

06

Editorial Stats, Damn Stats… & Lies I’ve long considered statistics to be one of the most dangerous weapons that could be put in the hands of the untrustworthy or the ignorant.

Indeed when it comes to the abuse of statics, it’s often impossible to distinguish between them.

A relatively simple weapon like a semiautomated assault rifle is just about impossible for most people to get their hands on, and even if they do, most of the community can immediately recognise the danger, and either stay well out of the way, and/or call someone who can deal with any possible threat.

To get hold of such a weapon legitimately, requires jumping through a few hoops designed to prevent such a dangerous device from falling into the hands of those already known to be untrustworthy, although it doesn’t require you to prove that you know how to use it safely. And should a crazy or malevolent person manage to get their hands on such a weapon and a big box of ammunition, they could kill a few dozen innocent people and ruin the lives of their families and community. Which clearly can’t be such a big deal if so many civilised communities are prepared to allow this happen on a regular basis.

There are no such safeguards on the use of statistics. Nobody needs any kind of licence or any training in their use before getting up in public and declaring all kinds of nonsense, or even enacting laws based upon the imperfect understanding of some numbers that may not even be real, much less meaningful.

I’m often paralysed with fear when I hear discussions based on the total misunderstanding

of the term average, which is just the mean of a set of numbers (ie. the arithmetic sum of those numbers divided by how many numbers there are in the set).

Okay, sometimes I will describe myself as feeling “pretty average”, but it’s not meant in any statistically meaningful way. However, I’m beginning to think that this meaning of average may be the only one understood by some in our community. How else could a state/ territory minister for education stand in front of the media with a straight face and declare it shameful that his state was below average in its NAPLAN (national student testing) scores and then demand that more Commonwealth money was needed to ensure that all states were above average (think about that for a second before rolling on the floor in paroxysms of laughter)?

Some of you (he wasn’t from my state) must have voted for this man who is charged with the education of tens of thousands of (mostly innocent) school children, and in budgetary control of billions of our tax dollars.

But politicians are babes in the wood when it comes to statistical misunderstandings and deliberate distortions. To do it properly you have to be trained in public relations or marketing.

How else could you relentlessly keep announcing the death of the desktop computer, followed shortly after by the announcement that the laptop computer was also near death? As usual, the statistics in these cases were accurate, but completely (and quite possibly deliberately) misinterpreted to prove that tablet computers

were what you should be spending money on instead of outmoded desktop/laptop systems. The quoted statistics in both cases were for sales of new computers, not for the numbers of computers in use in the community, which continue to grow, but just a little more slowly.

The reality is that desktop and laptop systems are reaching market maturity – almost everyone who needs a computer has one – while last year’s models continue to be far more powerful than just about anyone needs to run their software or play their games. If it wasn’t for the fashionconscious gamers and Mac owners, the number of new purchases would be even lower.

The ultimate irony in this situation are the recently-released statistics indicating that there is now a decline in the market for new tablet computers. It is a little surprising that this market has reached maturity so rapidly, but it is hard to keep pushing up the pixel density of the display once it’s substantially exceeded the limits of human visual acuity.

One set of statistics that have been treated with great care and interpreted carefully are those collected and interpreted by Acclaro Growth Partners for InfoComm’s regular Global Market Definition and Segmentation Study. In this issue we have a preview of the interesting stories being told in the Asia Pacific report from this survey. It’s well worth the read.  Andy Ciddor, Editor: andy@avapac.net

The Asia Pacific Region's News, Jobs, Projects & More Any time you want it at www.avapac.net

Lenses and accessories shown are not included

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The Blackmagic Studio Camera is the world’s most advanced broadcast camera for live, multi camera production! It features an incredibly tough, lightweight machined magnesium design with a massive 10” viewfinder, 4 hour battery, talkback, tally indicators, phantom powered microphone ports and built in optical fiber and SDI connections. That’s a fully self contained, broadcast grade, live camera solution!

Full Size HD Viewfinder The Blackmagic Studio Camera includes the world’s largest viewfinder built in! The massive 10” high resolution screen has a super wide viewing angle and extremely high brightness so you can see your images with amazing detail even in bright daylight! This professional grade viewfinder makes it easy to frame, focus, change iris settings and make subtle adjustments with full confidence even when you’re live on air!

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www.blackmagicdesign.com/au

Talkback and Tally The Blackmagic Studio Camera features built in talkback using general aviation headsets, so you get better noise cancelling and comfort at a much lower cost! You also get built-in tally lights that illuminate automatically when your camera is live so your cast and crew can easily see which cameras are on air! Talkback and tally signals are embedded in the return video connection to the camera, so you don’t have to run separate cables!

Micro Four Thirds Lens Mount The active Micro Four Thirds lens mount is compatible with an incredibly wide range of lenses and adapters. You can use your existing photo lenses for smaller setups and fixed camera use, or connect incredible broadcast ENG lenses via a B4 lens adapter. You can even use third party adapters for high end feature film PL mount lenses, so it’s easy to customize your camera to suit any sized production!

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Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K

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Crew AV’s newly appointed news and website editor, Jen has worked as a journalist and editor for 27 years since attaining her degree in Communications with Distinction. She is a long-standing contributor to AV and its sister publications at Alchemedia Publishing, with additional stints as the company’s chief financial officer and researcher.

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@avapac.net) Publication Director: Stewart Woodhill (stewart@avapac.net) Editorial Director: Christopher Holder (chris@avapac.net) Publisher: Philip Spencer (philip@avapac.net) Art Director: Daniel Howard (daniel@avapac.net)

Marcus Pugh has worked in the entertainment industry for over 15 years. He has lit everything from TV to tours, corporate to circus, galleries to garages, and yet he’s still smiling and always up for a joke. Marcus now spends much of his time looking after a large client base for Melbourne lighting company Resolution X. He is currently a committee member of the Australian Lighting Industry Association, a member of the AVIAs judging panel, and has a continuing passion for lighting in all fields.

News & Online Editor: Jen Temm (jen@avapac.net) Additional Design: Dominic Carey (dominic@avapac.net) Accounts: Jaedd Asthana (jaedd@alchemedia.com.au) Circulation Manager: Mim Mulcahy (subscriptions@avapac.net) Cover Photograph: Nine Inch Nails Tension tour © 2013 Todd Kaplan

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 © 2014 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. 12/8/2014

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 twelve 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.

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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See us at Integrate - Stand B6 Distributed and Supported by www.PAVT.com.au sales@productionaudio.com.au 03 9264 6000

Issue 41 REGULARS NEWS AV Industry and product news highlights from the AV website.

12

INFOCOMM ASSOCIATION NEWS News and announcements for the region.

48

TERMINATION Film takes a stocktake.

50

FEATURES

30

ADELAIDE OVAL REBORN This $500m overhaul provides a showcase of cutting-edge AV.

20

APAC: RISING STAR OF PRO AV Preview of InfoComm’s 2014 AsiaPacific AV Market & Strategy Study.

26

FACILITATING COLLABORATION IN EDUCATION University of Technology Sydney grows its own technology solutions.

30

CONFLICT RESOLUTION Australian War Memorial’s new Afghan exhibition.

34

TUTORIALS

20

26

34

44

40

I'D SELL MY SOUL FOR TOTAL CONTROL The latest on the 30-year wait for a better lighting control protocol.

38

INFOCOMM TUTORIAL Types of control signals.

49

REVIEWS MOVING RIGHT ALONG A product roundup of the new crop of moving lights.

40

CLEARONE BEAMFORMER ClearOne’s conferencing mic array.

44

014

NEWS

Highlights from AV News Online

GOTTA WEAR SHADES

DAZZLING DISPLAYS

TWICE AS NICE

At the forefront of the 4K launches at InfoComm this year was Digital Projection’s Insight 4K Laser projector, delivering 12,000 lumens of solid state illumination – no consummables required – and 20,000 hours of lamp life. A single unit is able to project large, detailed images where previously edge blending two or more projectors would have been necessary. It can operate in portrait or landscape mode without any modifications, and offers full 4K 3D with dual HDMI and DVI inputs and advanced functionality including Adjustable Dark Time and Sync Offset for optimisation of ghosting and smooth grey scale for active glasses and polarisers. Engineered with a lightweight and rugged all-metal chassis, the Insight Laser 4K is less than half the size and weight of existing 4K projectors and will be shipping in the last quarter of the year with a full range of 4K lenses available to support different installation requirements. Applications include professional entertainment, worship and large-screen applications where image detail, stability and uniformity are critical.

Amber Technology: 1800 251 367 or www.ambertech.com.au Digital Projection: www.digitalprojectionco.uk

In-store advertising has gained a new weapon in the battle for consumers with MirrorBox, a projection mapped point-of-sale unit that projects high resolution images onto products and displays to boost their instore impact, and is fully visible in daylight. It’s the first product from DisplayMapper, a division of Londonbased projection specialist Projection Artworks, and the first of a new generation of low-cost 3D projection displays according to the company. “There’s nothing you would normally associate with a projector install – no keyboard, no monitors, no cable runs. It’s all selfcontained, controlled by an app and very easy to use,” says managing director Tom Burch. MirrorBox uses DisplayMapper’s custom cloud-based software, controlled and updated from a central network, allowing clients to develop and automatically deliver content to hundreds of MirrorBoxes, all controlled centrally. The in-store equipment is low-cost, industry standard and easy to use and maintain. MirrorBox can be hired for individual campaigns or purchased, and custom units can be created by third parties and fitted with DisplayMapper’s technology and content distribution system.

DisplayMapper: www.displaymapper.com

Chief has released new Fusion carts designed to handle extra large and dual display configurations. “We saw a need for greater stability to support the extra large displays and touch panels that were on the market,” says product manager Kathryn Gaskell. “Fusion’s extra large carts come with the versatility needed to support rack-mounted equipment and even two displays at once.” The XPAU extra-large mobile cart is designed for extra-large and touch panel displays from 55 to more than 100 inches, and up to 136kg. It has space for internal storage including hardware to vertically mount 2RUs of AV gear. The XVAU extra-large video conferencing cart comes fully assembled with a camera shelf and 11RUs of rack rail for components, and is designed for 37- to 70-inch displays up to 113kg. Additional features include a turn knob to adjust screen heights, removable panels for easy access and cable management and lockable front casters, and both carts can also be customised for dual monitor video-conferencing use with a dual monitor accessory.

IDT: 1300 666 099 or www.idt.com.au Chief: www.chiefmfg.com

Rutledge AV has announced a distribution agreement with Norway’s Epsis, the company behind collaboration and teamwork software Epsis TeamBox. “TeamBox represents a new generation of tools for collaborative work environments,” says Rutledge AV’s Perth general manager, Alistair Dick. “Software is gradually replacing hardwired components; TeamBox is a major leap in that direction. Now we are able to provide content in the collaborative work environments we deliver, adding significant value to our solutions.”

Epsis: www.epsis.no Rutledge AV: www.ruteledge.com.au

Blackmagic Design’s newly released free Camera 1.8.2 software adds three new Apple ProRes file formats for its Cinema Camera, Pocket Cinema Camera and Production Camera 4K, giving users significantly smaller video file sizes while preserving full frame 10-bit 4:2:2 quality. The update adds ProRes422, ProRes 422 LT and ProRes 422 Proxy to the existing CinemaDNG RAW or compressed ProRes 422 HQ formats, and is available free of charge from the website.

Blackmagic Design: www.blackmagicdesign.com

NEWS IN BRIEF:

The annual AMX Innovations Awards held in Las Vegas last month in conjunction with the UBTech Conference drew a record 46 entries from seven countries, with Australia well represented in the nominations. The University of Western Australia (also an AVIA 2014 nominee) won in the Simulation or Medical Leaning Space category, while the University of Queensland won the Sustainability Initiative award. Charles Sturt University and the University of Sydney were also selected as finalists.

AMX Innovation Awards: www.universitybusiness.com/innovationawards

• Get your daily news fix at www.avapac.net

Pasquale Quadri, founder and President of pioneering Italian luminaire manufacturer Clay Paky, has signed an agreement for the acquisition of the company by OSRAM. Clay Paky will continue to operate from its production and administrative head office in Bergamo, Italy. OSRAM plans that Clay Paky will maintain its independence to a large extent in dayto-day business. Key positions in the company will remain, ensuring continuity in management.

Clay Paky: www.claypaky.it Osram: www.osram.com

AMX Australia has appointed Anna Mallon as regional sales manager for Queensland and the Northern Territory. Mallon comes to AMX with more than 20 years’ experience in sales and marketing in the IT and telco industries, including European experience. She will be based in AMX’s Gold Coast office and work directly with partners, and will be responsible for business growth, providing consultant liaison and overseeing AMX training requirements in the region.

AMX Australia: (07) 5531 3103 or www.amxaustralia.com.au

NEWS

015

Rewarding Excellence Celebrating Innovation OTTO JOINS ANYA EAW has debuted the first subwoofer in its Adaptive Performance Series headlined by the Anya three-way full-range loudspeaker system. Loaded with two 18-inch woofers – with acoustic energy exiting from four spaced apertures in the corners of the enclosure – each Otto module provides plenty of LF energy with an output of 131dB and response that extends down to 22Hz. Like the Anya modules, each Otto transducer is separately powered and processed, allowing multiple directivity patterns to be created from a single module, and can readily be combined in arrays to provide increased pattern control and output. With system coverage and output characteristics that can be easily changed in real time without moving or changing the set-up, Otto subwoofers can be adapted to any sized venue. The modules are engineered to generate any three-dimensional wavefront surface and determine the processing needed to achieve optimum coverage and tonal balance for the specific application.

EAW Resolution software generates DSP parameters to simultaneously adapt the complex 3D wavefront surface and optimise frequency response to perfectly match venue requirements in minutes.

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

Professional Audio & Television has announced the addition of Ross Video products to its product range following discussions at NAB in Las Vegas this year. PAT, a boutique broadcast solution provider in Australia and New Zealand, will offer Ross OpenGear, MC1 Master Control, NK routers and Crossover vision switchers.

The company has also changed its name from Professional Audio Technology to better reflect its core business.

PAT: (02) 9476 1272 or www.proaudiotv.com.au Ross Video: www.rossvideo.com

Kramer Electronics has become the 150th Dante manufacturer to license Audinate’s Dante network solution. “We see 2014 as an important year for Kramer’s expansion of delivering reliable and value-oriented audio solutions,” says Kramer marketing VP Ezra Ozer. “We evaluated other audioover-IP networking technologies and it was obvious with Audinate, we did not need to place a bet, as it is the most requested audio networking technology in the market.”

Kramer Electronics: www.kramerelectronics.com Audinate: www.audinate.com

Audio Brands Australia has announced its appointment as the distributor for Rane’s contracting products, which includes the HAL DSP platform and an extensive range of commercial audio processors, zone mixers and accessories. “We look forward to showcasing the line-up at Integrate later this month,” says Audio Brands director Don McConnell.

“The Rane brand has always been associated with quality US-made products matched with the best support in the industry.

Audio Brands Australia: www.audiobrands.com.au Rane: www.rane.com

Join AV Magazine, InfoComm (and a good chunk of the pro AV industry) for the presentation of the 2014 AVIAs. This year’s AVIAs will be presented at the Integrate Bar at 6pm on Wednesday August 27 — all welcome, free of charge.

Refreshments will be provided by InfoComm International prior to the ceremony.

For the list of finalists and other detail go: www.avias.com.au

ALIA

016

NEWS

CASTING A GLOW

SONY PRO COMPACT XDCAM

KRAMER CONVERSIONS

After extensive beta testing the final version of CAST Software’s significantly upgraded wysiwyg R33 design and previsualisation software suite is now available.

Noteworthy new features include LED Video Wall Glow, which accurately replicates the light glow on screens and video walls and interacts realistically with the lighting setup, performers and objects on stage; Shaded View Optimisation and Profiles, which optimise graphics and allow combinations of settings to be saved and toggled on/off; and double the number of universes to give users access to 200 universes, or 102,400 DMX lighting channels. Also included are a new CITP content protocol using JPEG compression to display higher resolution videos at up to 400x400 pixels with display aspect ratios including 1:1, 4:3 and 16:9, templates, a serious mini console upgrade to 512 channels, added AutoCAD support for importing, and device manager patching improvements.

CAST Software: www.cast-soft.com

Sony’s newly-launched 4K-ready PXW-X70 is the first compact XDCAM professional camcorder and expands the file-based XDCAM family to a smaller form factor and lower price point. Suited to a range of applications from news-gathering and documentary to events work, the model features a one-inch Exmor R CMOS sensor with 20 megapixel resolution, improved low light performance and greater depth of field control. The camcorder can record HD in XAVC Long GOP, enabling 4:2:2 10-bit sampling at 50Mbit/s allowing broadcastquality workflow. The PXW-X70 is the first professional compact camcorder from Sony to include wi-fi-enabled control via smartphone or tablet using the Content Browser Mobile application, and an upcoming release will add the ability to upgrade the PXW-X70 to record in 4K with file transferring and live video streaming capabilities. Pricing has not been confirmed.

Sony Australia: www.sony.com.au

The new FC series of Kramer’s bidirectional hardware and software interface systems enable control of RS232 and/or RS-485 controllable machines via an Ethernet LAN, giving installers the ability to implement simultaneous control over multiple AV devices spread throughout an installation by offering bidirectional Ethernet-to-serial conversion. Each product operates as a network server, which means they accept network connections but do not initiate them. Setup and maintenance of the devices are managed by built-in web pages, accessible via your browser. The FC-21ETH, FC-22ETH and FC-24ETH offer one, two and four (respectively) serial ports for AV device control, with one being a RS-232/RS-485 dual-use serial port. The new models support network connectivity. They are able to control up to three RS-232 devices and one RS-232/RS485 device(s) via Ethernet from a PC, and can control a device from multiple Ethernet points (up to 40 PCs or remote controllers), via a LAN or the internet.

Kramer Australia: (07) 3806 4290 or www.krameraustralia.com.au

BETTER BOXES

MATROX MURACONTROL 3.0

SMALL BUT POWERFUL

Chief has released new plenum-rated above-ceiling storage boxes designed to eliminate swing down doors with a drop-down feature that lowers the entire frame enough to slide the tile out of the way. Designers also focused on maximising the column location within a tile space for less reliance on digital adjustments and lens shift to the image. The CMS491 and CMS492 can hold 45.4kg, including 22.7kg for a projector and up to 11.3kg per shelf, and the AV components can be pre-loaded to the shelf before bringing it to the ceiling. They are available in 1x2 and 2x2 sizes, and power can be added either in the box or facing the room. A detachable power plate allows pre-wiring before box installation begins, and passive cooling vents help with thermal management. Both units come with one shelf and all the speedconnect hardware needed for installation, and can be ordered with or without a column drop, a second shelf and a 1RU rack rail. A fan kit for active thermal management will also be available in coming months.

IDT: 1300 666 099 or www.idt.com.au Chief: www.chiefmfg.com

The Matrox MuraControl 3.0 (Windows) video wall management software for Mura MPX-based video walls now features the ability to render HTML5 feeds such as social media and the ability to add multi-lingual Unicode text overlays across individual source windows or the entire video wall. The MPX series boards feature flexible, universal input channel support for both digital and analogue (DVI, RGB/VGA, component, S-Video and composite) video signals plus scaling, switching, and compositing of source content. Compatible Mura MPX analogue video capture cards provide additional NTSC/PAL/SECAM input channel support and the Mura MPX-SDI board features two 3G SDI video inputs and two DVI outputs. Additional features include support for analogue input capture adjustments, options for ‘signal lost’ events that let the user define what appears on an overlay window when the source signal is lost or not connected and options for input auto-detect filtering that let the user specify a source type.

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

The MA Lighting grandMA2 is renowned for lighting network stability and the existing 1Gbit MA 4Port and 8Port Nodes are ideal for networks where large quantities of frame-synchronous DMX need to be distributed.

Adding to the series is a new 1Gbit 2Port Node range, optimised for touring and installations with rugged steel housing, a 2-inch colour screen and status LEDs on the front panel, and mains switch and connectors on the rear. Available with and without control parameters, all MA 2Port Nodes are configurable from the grandMA2 consoles or from grandMA2 onPC software, and each DMX port can be individually configured as DMX in or DMX out. For use with the grandMA2 onPC software, the MA 2Port Nodes are available in 1024 and 2048 parameter versions for stand-alone use, or combined with the MA onPC command wing and MA onPC fader wing for parameter expansion. Accessories are available to facilitate front or rear connections, rack mounting and truss rigging combinations.

Show Technology: www.showtech.com.au MA Lighting: www.malighting.com

• Get your daily news fix at www.avapac.net

018

NEWS

CAPTURE ON SMARTKAPP

3 MORE BENQ S SERIES

TVONE 2000 SERIES

Smart Technologies has launched Smart kapp, a digital capture board. Smart kapp users write using an ink marker, just as they would with a dry-erase board, but with Smart kapp, co-workers and clients can follow the process in real-time, where everything appears on their digital devices. The work is saved with Smart’s software and then as a final product as PDFs or JPEGs. The Smart kapp app, currently available for iOS and Android users (with Windows mobile support coming soon), enables users to pair their tablets or smartphones to a Smart kapp board with a scan of its unique QR code or a tap of its NFC tag. The app activates live web-sharing with up to five users, access to the snapshot library, PDF and JPEG save and share, and Evernote. Later this year, Smart will launch subscription services within the app which open up advanced features for cloud collaboration.

Smart Technologies: www.smartkapp.com

BenQ has new additions to its S Series line of highbrightness pro projectors, made to meet the demands of medium- to large-sized venues. Comprising the SX912 (XGA), SH915 (WXGA), and SW916 (1080p) projectors, the S Series line casts up to 5000 lumens and provides 11,000:1 contrast ratios. The S Series features a 1.5x big-zoom lens ratio, while the SW916 adds corner, surface fit, and 2D keystone capabilities. The SX912 projector offers LAN control, and both the SH915 and SW916 add display control. All models provide remote management and control, and multiple projectors can be centrally monitored, and have third-party integration with Crestron RoomView, and PJLink systems.

During operation, the projectors can display content via a built-in USB reader, as well as wirelessly (SH915 and SW916), allowing users to connect using solidstate media storage drives or through the LAN. The S Series projectors are fully 3D PC, Blu-ray, and nVidia 3DTV Play ready.

BenQ Australia: (02) 8988 6500 or www.benq.com

TVOne has announced several new products and programs. Following the January 2014 launch of its universal video scaler, the C2-2855 Universal Scaler has been very well received by systems integrators worldwide, and now the company has announced several related initiatives. Two additional models will be added to the product line based on the same topology and reseller programs have been designed to provide additional value for loyal TVOne dealers. The latest C2-2855, C22755 and C2-2655 replace comparable models which will be phase out over the next 12 months. The new series features new, ergonomically-designed control panels and highly-intuitive configuration management tools, making installation efficient for integrators and operation simple for users.

Corsair Solutions: 1300 562 779 or www.corsairsolutions.com.au TVOne: www.tvone.com

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SS-CDR200

SS-R100

www.tascam.com.au

No matter your format, Tascam has the solution

NEWS

019

AN 80-INCH TABLET?

ALARMING APP

NEXO GEO M6: MICRO POWER

Not sure if ‘tablet’ really applies to something this large, but that’s what InFocus Corporation is calling the latest addition to its family of large-format touchscreen conference room devices, the 80-inch 1080p HD Mondopad. Mondopad enables users to collaborate and present with colleagues across the globe with its video conferencing capabilities, sharable interactive whiteboard, annotatable browser and network connectivity. It also comes with one year of no-cost InFocus 121 Video Calling service. Additionally, the Mondopad can communicate with all other Session Initiation Protocolenabled (SIP) and H.323 devices, such as video conferencing systems or video phones, regardless of make or model. Applications that run on Windows 7 /8 will run on Mondopad in responsive touch mode including Microsoft Office Suite, which comes as standard.

Revolution Technologies: (07) 3902 8051 or sales@revolutiontechnologies.com.au

Lone Worker Alarm is a smartphone App utilising the capabilities of today’s mobile phones to detect an emergency and broadcast an alarm. There are three Detection Modes, a panic button, an auto-activated Man Down alarm and an interval timer (Dead Man Switch). You pre-configure the telephone numbers to be auto-dialled in an emergency. You choose how your emergency contacts are notified – phone call, SMS/ text message or email, and before an alarm is sent, you are given the choice to cancel it, if the alarm proves false. Your emergency contacts receive your physical location data when they get your alarm and can open a map on their smartphones to pinpoint your position.

The emergency service works wherever your smartphone gets a data signal, and your emergency contacts can be alerted when your battery needs re-charging – at the same time you are notified. Lone Worker Alarm supports iPhone, Android phone or Windows 8 phones.

LoneAlarm: (02) 8197 7376 or sales@lonepersonalarm.com

Powerful, flexible and compact, Nexo Geo M6 is an ultra-compact full-range unit designed to be a real problem solver. The M6 cuts a subtle silhouette with its internal rigging system and custom colour options.

Comprising two identically-sized cabinets — the Geo M620 main and Geo M6B bass extension – and complemented by a comprehensive range of mounting accessories, the M6 will be a welcome option for installation contractors and sound rental companies. Systems can be flown, groundstacked or pole-mounted on subs.

Lightweight polyurethane composite cabinets measure just 191mm high x 373mm wide x 260mm deep.

Cabinets, fabric grilles and accessories can be specified in any RAL colour. A single NXAmp – the smallest of Nexo’s powered TDControllers – can power up to 12 x Geo M6 cabinets.

Group Technologies: (03) 9354 9133 or www.grouptechnologies.com.au Nexo: www.nexo-sa.com

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020

NEWS

The finalisTs for The 2014 aVias are: Category

Best application of AV in a commercial or government installation with a budget exceeding $500,000.

Best application of AV in a commercial or government installation with a budget between $100,000 and $500,000.

Best application of AV in an education project with a budget exceeding $500,000.

Best application of AV in an education project with a budget under $500,000.

Best application of AV in a production.

Submitted by

Project

The P.A. People

Royal Randwick Racecourse – Grandstand PA and IPTV systems.

Rutledge AV

Sydney Opera House – Stage management system upgrade

3D Audio Visual

University of WA – M Block, collaborative teaching and learning facility

Fredon Technology

Blacktown Council – Customer interaction centre

Soundcorp

Melton City Council – Library and learning hub

Acoustic Directions

St Andrews Cathedral, Sydney – PA System

InDesign Technologies

University of the Sunshine Coast – Nursing Simulation Sippy Downs building E and Gympie building

Fredon Technology, University of Sydney – Charles Perkins Centre X-lab WSP and The University of Sydney 3D Audio Visual

University of WA – M Block, collaborative teaching and learning facility

InDesign Technologies

University of the Sunshine Coast – Immerse and Engage Spaces.

InDesign Technologies

University of the Sunshine Coast – Workstations on Wheels

Mod Productions

Australian Chamber Orchestra – ACO Virtual

Riedel Communications International Fleet Review – Mediornet and Intercom Australia system eleven Design

ALIA

White Night Festival Melbourne – Crepuscular Beam

HD & 4K Media Players for digital signage and IPTV An extensive range of slim profile, multi-zone players offering: High quality video, HTML5 and Flash速 playback. Ideal for digital signage networks, video walls and screen galleries.

Options include: HD Capture, IPTV multicast, Touch, Live messaging, I/O control and live data integration.

www.onelan.com

ONELAN Australasia NSW: +61 2 801 56735 VIC: +61 3 911 11833 Mob: +64 275 892007 Email: oc.sales@onelan.com

Visit our Stand C40 at Integrate 2014 26-28 August 2014 Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park www.integrate-expo.com

022

FEATURE

An Oval Reborn Adelaide Oval’s $500m rebirth.

Text:/ Derek Powell

For more than 140 years the Adelaide Oval has witnessed some of the greatest moments in sport and entertainment. From Bradman and the infamous bodyline series in 1932 to David Bowie’s first-ever stadium concert in the 1970s to the Rugby World Cup; this particular hallowed turf has been the very beating heart of sporting and cultural life in South Australia. Now, thanks to a half billion dollar redevelopment, the ground is set to push on through the next century as Adelaide’s premier venue for AFL, Rugby League, Union, Cricket, concert events and much more.

In engineering terms, the core of the project has been the construction of two massive new stands. The Southern and Eastern stands have not only boosted the seating capacity to more than 53,000, but also include more than 20 indoor function spaces, the largest of which can cater for up to 1500 people. Everything about the redevelopment has been immense, and the audiovisual statistics are no exception. Included in the redevelopment is a new sound system, three enormous scoreboards, re-vamped architectural lighting and more than a thousand TV, signage and wayfinding monitors.

As covering the details of the all-new facilities

would take up most of this issue, we’ll take a smorgasbord approach and just dip into a few select items here and there.

PA TO THE PEOPLE

The A$2.5m installation contract for the new sound system, which encompasses the bowl and the extended plaza, was won by The PA People. In an unusual move, given the amount of expertise available in Australia, the design was done offshore by Texas-based consultants WJHW and was based around top-shelf EAW arrays with QSC amplification and digital signal distribution.

The PA People cut its teeth on major stadia back in 1999 when it designed and built the PA system for Stadium Australia using its own proprietary digital distribution gear and have won the majority of major arena work ever since, so it was a well-oiled machine that swung into action for a 10-month build at the Oval.

The remit included supply and installation of all main front of house clusters, fill speakers, gate speakers, amplifiers and processing. The impressive new arcs of the Southern, Eastern and Western stands roofs are home to 27 separate clusters of EAW QX500 loudspeakers

between them, supplemented by over 230 JBL AWC82 100V line loudspeakers as infill around the ground.

In addition to the main PA and stands infill, a number of specialised loudspeakers have been installed in key positions. JBL CBT Series column speakers are installed in the outside of the South and East gates for crowd address. The North gate is covered with EAW UB12 series speakers.

The Northern end of the ground, which houses the historic wooden cricket scoreboard, created some varied mounting challenges as the system had to provide comprehensive coverage while maintaining an unobtrusive look. Brett Steele, Manager – Installed Systems at The P.A. People, noted that JBL AE Series loudspeakers ended up mounted on a light tower, under a camera deck, on the new LED screen and inside the heritagelisted scoreboard itself. “We had to get special permission to install that one,” explained Brett.

“You can’t see it, which was our aim.”

RING OF FIBRE

All of the audio, video and data elements that make a modern sporting event travel across a single, fully converged network, distributed

FEATURE

023

There are now more than 20 indoor function spaces, the largest of which can cater for up to 1500 people. This space features Barco projection, a Meyer line array, a Digico mixing console and some self-conscious dancers.

via fibreoptic cable through Cisco enterprise switches. Installed as part of the base build contract, this infrastructure has enabled The P.A. People to distribute all audio via Dante and the Q-Sys Protocol.

Chris Dodds, The PA People’s managing director, commented that the converged network, rather than a dedicated structured cabling system, is the way of the future. “From an AV perspective,” he said, “if you’re using elegant protocols that abide by networking rules then there is absolutely no problem operating in an integrated environment, so long as the network is dimensioned and configured appropriately.”

A Yamaha CL5 digital mixer takes pride of place in the Southern Stand control room, linked to a combination Rio3224-D and Rio1608-D input/output boxes throughout the ground.

“There are six Rios around the venue,” continued Brett, “including positions in the control room, in the basement for linking to the IPTV system, and in strategic places at ground level for pick-ups.”

Katherine Connelly, in-house audio mixer for production company Kojo, finds the flexibility of the Dante system perfect for gameday operations: “It definitely gives you more

opportunities to patch and route around the stadium,” said Katherine. “For example, some days our host commentator won’t be in the same room as us, he’ll be on a different floor, so digital patching makes it much easier to get audio to and from him.”

HEART OF THE GAME

At the system’s heart is the Q-Sys Core 4000 open architecture DSP unit, handling all system processing and routing to QSC power amplifiers across seven amp rooms. All main signal distribution is via the Q-Sys protocol. “There are two amp rooms in each of the main stands, and one in the North,” Brett clarified. “And this is all running on the converged network along with the digital signage, video and IT.” Assisting The PA People with Q-Sys design and commissioning was Ewan McDonald, Q-Sys system sales specialist with Technical Audio Group.

Additional Q-Sys IO 22 breakout boxes are located in function spaces served by AV contractor Central AV, which we’ll learn more about in a moment. “We send them an audio feed of the bowl,” Brett expanded, “and a relay contact from the fire system that shuts their

local PA systems down in case of emergency.”

Other items integrated into the system include a Listen Technologies 150MHz hearing assistance system, four channels of Shure ULX-D radio microphones and Shure IEMs. Phase one of the Adelaide Oval renovation project saw two-thirds of the system up and running for the Ashes last summer, with March 27 as completion date for the balance.

FANTASTIC FUNCTIONS

The completion of the new stands has not only accommodated some 20,000 extra spectator seats but also added premier function space equivalent to several five-star hotels. It has catapulted the Oval into a league of its own as a corporate venue, offering everything from ballrooms to boardrooms. The contract for in-house AV operations was fiercely contested and has been won, not entirely unexpectedly, by Adelaide’s own Central Audio Visual.

Glenn Spear, Central AV’s managing director, is no stranger to high-profile projects as we discovered when we checked out his new full HD outside broadcast van. However this project is something else again.

024

FEATURE

The new stands have boosted the seating capacity to more than 53,000, served by a $2.5m, EAW QX Series-based PA system.

(Right) ULA Group along with Deluxe Lighting created a spectacular tiara of colour chaning LED atop the Southern Stand.

“Everything about the redevelopment has been immense, and the audiovisual statistics are no exception�

As part of its five-plus-year commitment, Central AV has wired up each of the 22 function rooms with permanent cabling infrastructure augmented by portable equipment to serve the varying daily requirements. The small- and medium-sized rooms are kitted out with a general purpose sound system utilising a ceiling speaker array (with a reported 280 drivers between all the rooms) and a series of local input plates connecting to projector positions via Wyrestorm extenders. To this, the on-site staff add lecterns, projection equipment, switchers, microphones and more from the extensive on-site equipment pool to match the exact needs of each function.

The flagship space is the William Magarey Room, a subdividable ballroom located on Level 3 of the new Southern (Riverbank) stand, that can

accommodate up to 1400 guests in theatre-style seating. Extensive floor-to-ceiling glazing creates amazing city skyline views, but has also required special attention to video display. The ballrooms are provided with high-powered Barco projectors that sparkle for evening functions but even these are no match for the 6m-high windows during the day. But it has all been thought through, and these rooms have access to super-bright venueowned LED screens for operation in full daylight.

No ceiling speakers here, as audio is more than a match for the space with dedicated Meyer line arrays and Digico digital consoles catering for everything from speeches to live cabaret. A full range of lighting is also on tap with plenty of rigging points built in. Naturally should you want to go live-to-air, Glenn is only too happy to

back the OB van up to the dock and plug right in to the action.

To keep the operation running, Central AV keeps two managers and four technicians gainfully employed at the Oval, with extra staff brought in as required to crew the larger functions.

LIGHTING UP THE NIGHT

Of course, sport remains the heart and soul of the Oval and the redevelopment included spectacular new architectural lighting on the Southern approach that wraps the stadium in team colours on game nights.

In response to a specification by Aurecon consultant Sarah Linton, ULA Group (in association with local dealer Deluxe Lighting Services) created a spectacular tiara of coloured

FEATURE

025

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026

FEATURE

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effects lighting that washes the Southern stand.

The LED fixtures create an infinitely-controllable panorama of light, adding an extra burst of atmosphere as fans approach from the CBD. The wash is created by an array of 30 Griven Emerald S10s, each packing 60 high-power RGBW LEDs, but the real star is the control system. The Chamsys Magic Q control software takes command of the fittings across a DMX network and can trigger preset scenes for each team’s colours to rev up crowds as they troop across the new A$40m pedestrian bridge. But wait, there’s more! Special effects scenes can be created that pulse the appropriate club hues when goals are scored, keeping viewers as far

232 4 2

Eschewing the line array trend, the in-bowl PA design is based on high-powered EAW QX series ’point ’n’ shoot’ cabinets for coverage of every seat in the house. The PA is powered by QSC PL Series amps with distribution taken care of QSC’s Q-Sys Control system.

1

36km 4km

away as the city informed of progress as the game unfolds. All this interfaces to the Adelaide Oval’s Clipsal C-Bus system which controls the rest of the stadium lighting, giving the Oval staff just a single interface for both practical and effects lighting.

It’s great fun that also keeps a lid on expenses with the LEDs running cool at less than 200 Watts per fixture – champagne effects on a beer (electricity) budget.

There’s plenty more on site, including an IPTV system connecting all areas and those three LED scoreboards, but alas the bar is closing, so those stories will have to wait for another day. 

MORE INFORMATION The PA People: www.papeople.com.au Eastern Acoustic Works: eaw.com JBL: www.jblpro.com/www/home QSC: www.qsc.com/solutions/installed-sound Central AV: www.centralaudiovisual.com.au ULA Group: www.ulagroup.com Chamsys: secure.chamsys.co.uk

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FEATURE

APAC: The Rising Star of Pro AV

Our exclusive preview of InfoComm’s 2014 AsiaPacific AV Market and Strategy Study.

Text:/ Jen Temm

The Asia-Pacific region is leading the global AV market as the fastest growing region for the AV industry, with growth projected to rise by 15 percent to reach $41.6 billion by 2016 (all amounts are in US dollars).

The figures come from InfoComm’s 2014 Asia-Pacific Global Market Definition and Segmentation Study (MDSS), which offers a detailed picture of the current and future shape of the professional AV market with a comprehensive analysis of sales and customer statistics, regional trends and opportunities, the effects of global and local politics and economics, the impact of cheaper Asian manufacturing and more.

It’s an essential tool for strategic business planning, and here we share some of its key findings.

THE BIG PICTURE

The global professional AV market has grown from $75.5 billion in 2012 to $91.8 billion this year, and is forecast to reach $114.2 billion in 2016. The industry was not Global Pro AV by Product – 2014

impacted by the global financial crisis to the same degree as many other sectors of the economy thanks largely to emerging markets. And in a landmark shift, the Asia-Pacific region (APAC) is forecast to pass North America in 2016 and become the largest pro AV market in the world.

The fastest growing product categories are displays, AV acquisition and delivery, and projectors. The slowest growing are AV conferencing and collaboration, which is expected to remain stagnant for the next two years, and screens and shades. The transition to digital technology is driving sales in emerging markets where analogue remains prevalent, and digital signage is improving product sales in all regions. Video technology use continues to grow but the catalyst has been the development of previously unavailable low-cost, softwaredriven solutions. Today the trend is towards installing small solutions in smaller rooms at lower prices. The interest in adopting network-based

AV solutions is growing, and selling complete solutions is perceived to be key to future growth as opposed to selling individual products.

APAC AV

Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the fastest growing and now the biggest region globally in terms of product sales, surpassing even North America (although North America is larger overall because of its higher services revenues). China has the largest market share in the region, and India’s pro AV market is growing slightly faster than China’s but from a smaller base. Advanced, mature markets – Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore – are experiencing slow but steady growth.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

The Southeast Asia pro AV market will grow from $2.9 billion in 2012 to $3.7 billion in 2014, and is expected to reach $4.8 billion by 2016. With the exception of Singapore, Southeast Asia is a Asia-Pacific: Pro-AV Market (2012–2016)

region of developing and emerging markets. In most countries there is a substantial focus on price and keeping costs down, often resulting in poor quality solutions and margin-pressure. Tourism, however, is important throughout the region and as a result hospitality is a strong and growing sector. Education is also significant, especially for projector and screen vendors. In the corporate sector, multinationals offer the most opportunity as local companies have less interest in AV and are less willing to pay for AV solutions.

AUSTRALASIA

The MDSS found that Australia was very tech-savvy and leads the way in technology development and adoption, with a huge trend to communicating, collaborating and educating using video. The high cost of labour is also driving demand for wireless solutions, or other products or systems that help reduce the labour component of installations.

Confidence in government affects

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investment levels, however, and the current government’s cutbacks on spending and programmes is impacting investment and spending in the private sector.

AV-as-a-service is a key trend, and service contracts are becoming a standard part of deals. A growing number of IT manufacturers, distributors and integrators are also increasing their focus on the AV market and becoming much more capable of delivering pro AV managed services solutions.

Relative to other regions of the world, adoption of unified communications is quite far along in Australia, with pro AV channels playing key roles in this development. The country’s national broadband network rollout is also creating a huge growth opportunity for unified communications and networked AV applications.

The digital signage market in Australia has developed substantially over recent years but there is a collective opinion that digital signage is a “confusing space” that is ill defined, with too many competing products from a wide range of manufacturers.

The New Zealand market is about one-tenth the size of the Australian market and largely mirrors it, although it is not doing as well as it was prior to the damaging Christchurch earthquake in 2011. Most of Australia's larger pro AV manufacturers, distributors, integrators and designers are involved in the New Zealand market, often servicing it directly from Australia. With a lack of local distributors, New Zealand pro AV tends to have a leaner structure.

DOMINATING DISPLAYS

The three largest product segments in APAC – displays, AV acquisition and delivery equipment, and projectors – make up more than half the market this year. Streaming media and webcasting, control systems, displays and signal management, AV acquisition and delivery, and software are also growing quickly.

The slowest growing segments are AV conferencing and collaboration, projectors, screens and shades, and power.

FEATURE

Interesting product trends include a decline in conferencing and collaboration revenue despite increased demand, as it shifts from large, costly hardwarebased equipment to more flexible and affordable software-driven solutions. Conferencing as a highcost or complex installation is losing favour; simplification of use and cost are now key attributes.

The MDSS identifies HDBaseT as a significant trend that is expected to see strong growth over the next few years. While still too expensive for the mass market, it is a growth opportunity that goes hand-inhand with the notion of content distribution over networks and the analogue sunset trend that is pervasive in the region.

Displays are the single largest product segment and the fastest growing, with sales expected to exceed $10 billion by 2016. Video walls in particular are gaining popularity, particularly in corporate, control room and medical markets, and there is growing interest from military and security organisations throughout Asia. There is a high level of interest in both 3D and interactive displays also but content is an issue – customers are still trying to figure out how to take advantage of these technologies.

Asia-Pacific: Pro-AV Market, by Product (2012–2016)

Asia-Pacific: Pro-AV Market, by Customer Segment (2012–2016)

WHO’S SPENDING?

ON-TREND

The corporate market dominates the APAC pro AV industry with almost one-third of total spending. One key driver, especially in the more mature markets, is a change of workspace organisation and the need for more conference and meeting rooms as well as conferencing solutions.

Virtual training, room booking systems and command/control centres are also of growing interest to the corporate sector.

Education is also a fast growing sector as governments throughout the region spend to improve education, notably in New Zealand and China. There is growing interest in AV conferencing, particularly from Australian, Indian and Japanese universities who are investing heavily in AV with a significant replacement market. 

• Chinese manufacturers dominate their domestic market and are rapidly gaining ground at the low-end in price-conscious markets around the world – expect to see growing competition and better quality from Asian pro AV manufacturers in future, especially from China.

• APAC pro AV is becoming increasingly integrated with ICT, and IT managers and CIOs play a larger role in corporate technology investments. The key challenge for AV vendors is finding staff who understand both AV and IT, particularly as IT vendors add more AV capabilities.

• Almost every pro AV channel consulted expressed concern that the lack of awareness of pro AV across the region is hindering growth, and there is a need to educate the market about the advantages pro AV can deliver. Educating and training customers leads to tangible returns and the interest in training is ‘enormous’.

• Most APAC AV vendors are experiencing high staff turnovers, and the MDSS identifies a need for more and better training of AV staff. In short supply are sales and marketing people with technical skills, integrators with multiple skills sets, and design consultants.

The third edition of MDSS was produced by InfoComm International in cooperation with Acclaro Growth Partners. Data was gathered from manufacturers, distributors, service providers and industry organisations between December 2013 and May 2014. The Asia Pacific MDSS will be available for purchase shortly for US$2,250, and the Australian edition will be launched at Integrate 2014 in Sydney. Contact infocomm.org for more information.

Christie Display Technology Impresses the Crowds at Barfoot & Thompson’s 90th Extravaganza

Photo courtesy of Spyglass Group Ltd

A total of 24 Christie Roadster Series projectors create spectacular 360-degree projection mapping at the real estate company’s celebratory event in Auckland, New Zealand.

Christie’s New Zealand partner Spyglass installed 24 Christie® Roadster S+20K 3-chip DLP® projectors to create a stunning 360-degree projection mapping on four walls surrounding the banquet hall, which covered an area of 300 meters at Barfoot & Thompson’s 90th birthday bash. The exciting visuals produced an immersive impressive projections ended the event in a literal big bang.

When you are the leader in visual projection, you have the solutions to meet the most challenging setting. From the smallest of meeting rooms to the most sophisticated virtual reality and simulation systems, Christie delivers the right visual solutions backed by the best in customer service. possible and seemingly impossible location and application need.

www.christiedigital.com

Visit us at Integrate 2014 #F66

USA ph: +1 714 236 8610 sales-us@christiedigital.com

CHINA-SHANGHAI ph: +86 21 6278 7708 sales-china@christiedigital.com

JAPAN ph: +81 3 3599 7481 sales-japan@christiedigital.com

SINGAPORE ph: +65 6877 8737 sales-singapore@christiedigital.com

INDIA ph: +91 80 6708 9999 sales-india@christiedigital.com

CHINA-BEIJING ph: +86 10 6561 0240 sales-china@christiedigital.com

KOREA ph: +82 2 702 1601 sales-korea@christiedigital.com

AUSTRALIA ph: +61 (0) 7 3624 4888 sales-australia@christiedigital.com

032

FEATURE

Facilitating Collaboration in Education The University of Technology Sydney grows its own educational technology solutions.

Text:/ Andy Ciddor

Collaborative teaching and learning is an approach to the learning process that is simultaneously as ancient as humanity’s original clan groups and as new as our ability to establish ad hoc networks of portable computing and communication devices.

Although the idea of a group of people working together to tackle a problem or undertake a complex task is so blindingly obvious and ingrained in us that we have difficulty in conceiving of any other way of doing it, the idea of collaboration in learning has been largely overlooked in our education and training systems.

Until fairly recently, the formal teaching process has usually worked on the principle of diffusion, where a person of high knowledge concentration (the teacher, guru, master) is placed in contact with people of low knowledge concentration (the students, disciples, acolytes) and the knowledge flows into them. This traditionally takes the form of the learned person standing in front of the learners and explaining what it is they should know, hopefully (but by no means always) in a way that can be understood. As far back as 150 years ago, humourist Mark Twain is credited with saying: “College is a place where a professor’s lecture notes go straight to the students’ lecture notes, without passing through the brains of either”, which pretty much matches up with my recollections of Statistics lectures.

GETTING ON BOARD

Those of us in the business of AV support for education and training have been enthusiastic accomplices in this process, providing progressively-more-sophisticated, and sometimes more-engaging, ways of presenting lecturers’ information to large groups of would-be learners. Starting with the epidiascope, sound reinforcement and the multi-panel blackboard and progressing through such technologies as 35mm slides, film strips, 16mm films, overhead projectors, CCTV, and interactive whiteboards;

right through to today’s streaming digital multimedia phantasmagoria, we’ve amplified and extended the process of presenting information, but we haven’t changed its essentially one-way nature.

In recent times, educators have looked more closely at the disconnect between the way teaching and communication takes place in classrooms and lecture theatres, and the way it takes place in the rest of the community – and a revolution has ensued. Collaborative learning has now become the preferred practice and is picking up momentum as it relentlessly sweeps previous pedagogical models before it.

AV readers will already have noticed that virtually every new or refurbished educational facility that has appeared in the magazine in recent years has included spaces either designed specifically as collaboration facilities, or with the capability of being used in that manner. Nowhere is this trend more obvious than in the huge new CBD facilities of the University of Technology Sydney. The recently-opened Faculty of Engineering and IT (FEIT) building, the first of three major new buildings on the Broadway campus is an excellent example of this trend.

RACE FOR PODS

Built from the sub-basements up for collaborative learning, even the 230-seat, 200-seat and 2 x 95-seat collaborative lecture theatres in the FEIT are designed to allow lecturers to interact directly with individuals and small groups. The design and layout of the building is based around providing informal gathering spaces for students to use for collaborative exploration and learning outside of scheduled teaching and tutorial sessions. No longer are students expected to go to a hushed library or computer lab and work in silent isolation. UTS expects today’s students to gather in unstructured working groups to learn together and from each other as they continue the collaborative processes begun in the scheduled sessions. To this end

the public areas of the building are much larger than the code-compliant circulation and assembly spaces required to allow access to the lecture and tutorial rooms. The building is constructed around a central atrium space, which on the lower levels opens out into lounge areas intended for informal study and group work. The building also houses 18 AV equipped bookable and open-access meeting pods available for meetings and group study, 10 x 30-60-seat computer labs, 26 x 20-90seat AV-equipped specialist faculty labs and 14 x AV-equipped general teaching spaces ranging from 30 to 60 seats in capacity.

The major facilities that arise from the move to more collaborative learning are the collaborative classrooms, 6 x 30-seat, 5 x 60seat and 1 x 90-seat. What makes these spaces different, is their focus on learning groups within the room. In common with many of the collaborative learning facilities we’ve seen in other projects, these spaces are structured around groups or pods of students kittedout with collaboration tools. In almost every space we’ve seen until now, the structure of the room is baked in, but in FEIT the pods and associated furniture are a moveable feast that can be configured to suit the size of group and its learning requirements. Some of this flexibility is due to the choice of furniture but a substantial element is down to the choice to use raised floors throughout the building to enable the conditioned air to be delivered to the level of the rooms where the people are actually located. It may have been done to help the building achieve its very high (targeted at 5 star) sustainability rating, but everybody loves the flexibility of cabling and service delivery enabled by raised floors.

POD BREAKDOWN

Each collaboration pod has a large LCD display panel which can display either the output of its local built-in PC, a DigitalMedia feed from the instructor’s lectern, or feeds from participants’ laptops via either an HDMI or a VGA flylead. Display switching and scaling

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for each pod is handled by a local Crestron DMRMC-Scaler-C, which is controlled by a Crestron 72mm TPMC-3SM touchscreen. The pods are grouped in blocks of five, with a DM-MD6x6 in the first of the group receiving an HDMI feed from a Crestron HD-EXT-1 HDMI transmitter, then distributing the signal as DigitalMedia over UTP to the remaining pods in the group.

Collaboration within and between groups in these rooms is handled via network, including wi-fi, using Tidebreak’s ClassSpot collaboration software to share between participants and feed the room’s interactive whiteboard, which can of course be routed to the pod screens.

NO MORE LECTERNS… KINDA

The current UTS redevelopment has prompted the university to undertake a rethink of its teaching technologies and its user interfaces.

It’s a regular occurrence in most institutions to pause every few years, stand back, and take a long, hard look at the state of the technology in its teaching spaces and see if the equipment is providing teachers and students with the best and most appropriate AV tools and whether the current standard interface is smooth, simple and sophisticated enough to meet the demands of the present and foreseeable-future, teaching methods and technologies.

The upshot of this at UTS was the design of new lectern system that would not only work

across all the teaching and presentation spaces in the three buildings under construction, but also be suitable for retrofitting into existing spaces.

The demands placed on such a system, now referred to as Presentation Tables (rather than the increasingly-inappropriate term lecterns), are quite diverse.

Unlike the conventional lecture theatre arrangement where a lectern could be placed near cupboards, demonstration desks, or even nearby equipment racks to house all the electronics, these tables needed to be freestanding and capable of operating in the middle of a room or in a small space, well away from any supporting technical infrastructure. The tables had not only to be far more sophisticated in their capabilities than previous generations of lecterns, they also had to house the entirety of their control and processing electronics, which must of course be readily accessible for servicing, maintenance and reconfiguration. And because the tables would be used in flexible and reconfigurable spaces, they also had to be able to act as both a full-height lectern for a standard lecture presentation and a standard-height table in a tutorial or collaborative learning situation.

Despite the risk that such a device could not be built without a serious compromise to some aspects of its performance, an intense design process involving everyone from academics to mechanical, electronic and electrical engineers

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(Above) A collaboration pod, with its 72mm touchscreen controller, headphone outputs, power sockets for student devices and flyleads for connecting laptop video to the switch. Photo: Fabian Boglari (Top) The FEIT building has a mesh outer skin to reduce the structure’s energy absorption. The rectangular holes are being fancifully likened by the architect to ones and zeroes, which makes the whole skin into a giant Hollerith punched card.

and an industrial designer from the Faculty of Design Architecture and Building, resulted in a design that meets all of those criteria.

TABLING THE BIG REVEAL

Effectively an adjustable-height table, with under-slung electronic racks and a presentation and control work surface, the UTS Presentation Table does all its own signal processing, storage and replay, requiring connections only to mains, AV content and data networks, beyond the audio and video display devices in the space it operates. Amongst the 140 Presentation Tables that will be rolled-out across the new facilities, there are five (out of a possible 40) distinct variants for specific purposes, including a selection of table sizes and table-top materials to match the design aesthetics of the individual spaces.

Core to the capabilities of the tables lies in the 3RU Crestron DMPS-300 DigitalMedia Presentation System which packs in all the

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multimedia matrixing, digital and audio signal processing and signal amplification and distribution required for a modern teaching or presentation space. A typical UTS Presentation Table would also incorporate a Sony Blu-ray player; a Wolfvision desktop document camera; a Shure gooseneck microphone and a Sennheiser radio microphone and receiver; an HP all-in-one touchscreen computer on a Flo monitor arm; SMART USB-over-Ethernet IWB interfaces; Extron 100V line local amplification to drive ceiling speakers and in some cases a hearing loop; Linak linear actuators and controllers for electrically adjusting the height of the table; an HD-BaseT media transmitter, and a Cisco gigabit network switch. However, the flexibility of the table design allows for a vast range of customisations for specific types of presentation and will allow the table to keep adapting to changes in technology and applications for some time to come.

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SPEAKING OF BESPOKE

The big problem with the UTS Presentation Tables is that you can’t actually buy them from anywhere. While university AV departments and engineering departments may be capable of building specialist equipment for research projects or bespoke applications, they certainly aren’t set up to do the kind of quantity manufacturing required to produce 100+ quantities of one product with a wide range of custom variations and do so in a short time. UTS put the manufacture of its Presentation Table out to tender and engaged Wilson & Gilkes, well known for producing AV hardware and such things as equipment racks and iPad storage and transport dollies. After producing a range of manufacturing prototypes and solving some of the unforeseen construction problems, Wilson & Gilkes went on to manufacture, assemble and configure the tables, then warehouse and deliver

The Presentation Table in various modes, including set to full height and opened for service access. (In use photo: Fabian Boglari.)

them as they were needed for deployment in the FEIT building.

With two more major construction projects currently underway on the UTS Broadway campus the technologies developed for the collaboration pods and the presentation tables look set for a long run in supporting contemporary learning processes.  MORE INFORMATION Wilson & Gilkes: (02) 9914 0900 or www.wilsongilkes.com.au

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Conflict Resolution The Australian War Memorial’s latest exhibition Afghanistan: The Australian Story is an intimate, unflinching commemoration of a war barely over. The hi-spec AV’s job is to ‘get out of the way’.

Text:/ Mark Davie

Recently, I caught Brendan Nelson’s (Director of the Australian War Memorial) Press Club address, where he promoted the importance of a war memorial’s role in defining a nation’s identity – in short, it reminds us of what we thought was worth fighting for at the time.

Perhaps Dr Nelson feels our collective memory is on the blink, because Afghanistan: The Australian Story is the first time the Australian War Memorial has installed an exhibition so soon after a conflict. The last combat troops were only withdrawn in December 2013 after 12 years of war; Australia’s longest engagement.

Traditionally, a decade or more would go by before a war would be commemorated with an exhibition, but Nelson obviously wanted Australians to remember this war while it was still freshly baked in by the glare of their TVs. Afghanistan: The Australian Story lacks the scale and spectacle of the Peter Jackson-filmed, THX-thumping Over The Front exhibition in the War Memorial’s neighbouring Anzac Hall — the screen alone would dwarf the single-storey exhibition space housing Afghanistan — but its power is in the raw delivery; story-telling without pulling punches. You only have to marry soldiers’

video accounts with the blown-up personnel carrier on display to make a solemn connection.

Over The Front is like a Grandfather regaling children about the glories of war, omitting all the gory bits. Afghanistan takes you into a corner and deliberately explains why your uncle screams in his sleep.

Connecting the dots with these objects of war are video projections in alcoves cut into opposite sides of the exhibition space, like arms on a cross.

They’re not as obviously linked like Striking

By Night, but you still take in the experience altogether; there’s no soundproofed theatrette to distance you from the objects’ reality.

OBJET D’ART O' WAR

SCREENING WAR

When Alex Smythe, Manager of Gallery AV Development, first arrived on staff at the War Memorial, the precedent for large-scale exhibitions had been set by the object theatre of Striking By Night, where video, light and sound augmented the story of the Memorial’s ‘G for George’ Lancaster bomber on display. Since then, it’s been a gradual refinement of the same idea, with a gradual separation of the main parts.

Afghanistan: The Australian Story is a much more sensitive treatment, and eschews this traditional format because there’s no specific iconic object.

At the end of the space is one of Archibald prize-winning Ben Quilty’s arresting nudes, and elsewhere on display you’ll find a drone aircraft hanging from the ceiling, and a personnel carrier and barricade that have taken a beating.

Two of the three walls in each alcove are covered in seamless high resolution projections curated

by Michael Hill and his team at Lightwell – including editors Elliott Magen and Kent Hau, and sound designer James Cecil – who combined with Freeman Ryan Design on the project. There’s 30 minutes of program that plays continuously on both L-shaped screens, essentially in front of, and behind, the viewer.

The content is a mixture of material shot by the Australian War Memorial, the Department of Defence and the ABC. Veteran journalist Chris Masters conducted interviews with a number of participants, which were used as voiceovers for the program. “The program was intended to convey the experience of what it was like in Afghanistan for the Australian participants,”

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Smythe: “Lighting was taken care of by the internal AV team because they rig gallery lighting all the time. It’s difficult to get right, but having really sharp, bright projectors helps. You’ve got to be very careful with spill, while still doing justice to the items you’re lighting and taking conservation values into account. It’s a bit of an art. It was a challenge getting fixtures to light the aerial drone hanging from the roof. Luckily it’s a small enough exhibition that it could be done on a fairly short lead time and with experimentation. You can’t do that if you’ve got thousands of objects to light.”

said Hill. “And show a range of points of view from soldiers, diplomats, reconstruction workers, nurses, family members and also Afghani leaders.” Large-scale landscape images, helmetcam combat footage, stills, text animation and video portraits are divided up into fragments across the six-screen canvas, to not only immerse visitors but give ample room for the differing and sometimes contradictory viewpoints.

Just some of the voices include a soldier explaining what it’s like to live with PTSD and not leaving the house for six months, and a widow recounting the day she got the devastating news of her husband’s death. There’s no ‘G for George’ glamour of war here.

“Having it on a single screen with a linear narrative wouldn’t quite do it justice,” said Smythe. “The split enables the exhibition to have more screen space, and therefore more powerful images displayed and more story covered. It’s semi-immersive; it doesn’t overwhelm like virtual reality, but it’s more than just a screen through a proscenium arch.”

Three Projectiondesign F35 panorama projectors are used to cover the two walls of each alcove, with a 25% overlap on the long walls.

CONTAINING THE SOUND With limited exhibition space available in the Memorial, a new chunk of real estate was requisitioned from the on-site library’s floorplan for the new exhibition. Its low ceilings lend the exhibition an intimacy worthy of the subject matter, but presented a challenge for the AV staff.

Anthony Russo: “It’s not a great room, because the ceilings are so low, and they didn’t want to see any speakers. So we had to pick the right equipment, and put supporting speakers on delay so it’s even throughout the space, rather than the sound coming out through one corner. It’s a pretty subtle difference between being annoying and localised, while remaining intelligible. We had to change it a couple of times, because of the location where sound was coming from and people speaking on the soundtrack have such different voices as well. A half a dB here or there can take attention away from the screen.”

A QSC QSys Core 250i is the controller for the audio system. Fully-spec’ed, the 250i has a capacity to handle 32 channels over AES or Cobranet. This allowed the sound designers extra flexibility to take their studio mix and mix it live in the space. The system is driven by 10 x QSC

CX404 four-channel amplifiers, which pump out 400W/channel. On each side the speaker setup included: Five Martin Audio DD6s 6.5-inch woofer two-ways used as the main LCR-type speakers. Because there were two walls to cover, these were set up as a five-channel configuration across the two walls – three on the main wall and two on the shorter. The DD6s covered patrons within the first eight metres from the screen. The DD6s have a rotatable horn, for horizontal or vertical mounting, a flexibility that comes in handy when mounting speakers in a low ceiling space.

Five Martin C4.8T four-inch two-way vented ceiling speakers were used as low-level delay fills for the main speakers. These 180°-dispersion units were placed at ceiling height as you walk into each alcove, to cover the shadow area not addressed by the main speakers.

Two Martin C8.1T eight-inch, two-way ceiling speakers were used as the surrounds in each alcove because of their more focused 90° directivity.

A Martin AQ112 direct-radiating sub was placed at ground level.

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The total pixel dimensions of the two screens is 14164 x 1080, resulting in a total physical image size of 10.986 x 1.6m.

Interactive Controls supplied the entire video and control system, with a Medialon Showmaster ST controller at its core. The controller drives Dataton Watchout display software hosted on two custom-built computers. Each computer delivers three seamlessly-blended 2560 x 1080 dual-link DVI outputs to the projectors over Cat6 cable using Lightware adaptors and receivers.

Two touch-enabled monitors – connected to computers running Medialon’s Kiosk Touchscreen Panel application – allow gallery staff to check on the system’s status, navigate and play scenes in the program, startup/shutdown, the status of the audio tracks and their outputs, and more.

DIVIDE & CONQUER

While the visual program is split across the two sides, the audio is mirrored. Each side is set up in a 7.1 configuration, comprising Martin Audio speakers and QSC amplifiers driven by a QSC Q-Sys DSP controller.

“When you cross the room, you’re crossing an experiential divide,” explains Smythe. “The soundtrack doesn’t change at all, but there are different images on the screens. So while the soundtrack is documenting the funereal return of a soldier, the images on the screens are playing back different views of the plane, people, etc, all related to the same narrative. It’s almost the reverse of how sound normally works in a movie, where it serves to modify the images. In this case it’s the other way around.”

Initially the show was conceived as alternating

from one side to the other: an active and passive side. But when the exhibition went live, that’s not the way people read it — they couldn’t figure out why the sound stopped.

Smythe: “We moved the point source effect of the sound to both sides, but kept them identical.

That way you could face either way and get a coherent understanding of the story regardless of which screen you were looking at. So it was readjusting it based on the feedback of how people were using it.”

Technical Audio Group’s technical director, Anthony Russo, helped specify the system installed by Elite Sound & Lighting, and tuned the system to the program. While the Medialon server holds the audio material in 16 pre-mixed tracks, the Q-Sys controller gave that extra level of flexibility that is so important in gallery installations. “You need to build a system that has the capacity to adapt,” said Russo. “You might have a great idea about how people are going to relate to something, but then you find out they relate differently.”

FIDELITY OF INTENT

The short turnaround for the exhibition was a challenge for Smythe, who acts as a technical translator between the curatorial staff and the suppliers. Much of the planning and execution on both sides was happening in parallel, often it was about taking educated guesses where to drill a hole in the plaster, only to come back a week later and fill it in. It wouldn’t be achievable without suppliers who were sensitive to the goal.

Smythe’s goal is fidelity, but in a global way that’s not just related to technology, but subservient to the bigger idea – he aims to achieve fidelity of the curator’s intent. It demands a supremely high fidelity in the media experience to stay out of the way of this intent. Basically, the AV technology can’t limit the message.

“Exhibitions like Afghanistan aim to use AV technology in a transparent way, so it doesn’t get between the visitor and what we’re trying to represent,” said Smythe. “It’s more challenging than doing a theme park where the whole idea is to be blown away by the media experience. We’re continually aiming for more transparency.

“You have to be very sensitive with the elements you use to paint the picture of a conflict. And that comes through how you apply technology. You don’t want the content to manipulate people.

You’re not trying to advertise, you’re trying to present something in an open way everyone can share and have their own relationship with.”  CONTACTS Technical Audio Group: (02) 9519 0900 or info@tag.com.au Interactive Controls: (02) 9436 3022 or info@interactivecontrols.com.au Elite Sound & Lighting: (02) 6260 2311 or sales@elitesoundandlighting.com Lightwell: (02) 9319 0311 or frontdesk@lightwell.com.au

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I’d Sell My Soul For Total Control The 30-year wait for a better lighting control protocol.

Text:/ Paul Collison

1986. The year of the first ever PC Virus Brain, Halley's Comet made a visit, Argentina beat West Germany in the World cup, Phantom of the Opera opened on Broadway , John Farnham released Whispering Jack, Neighbours was first aired on TV, Lady Gaga was born and Carey Grant passed away. It was a fairly momentous year however for the entertainment industry, most notably for ratification of the DMX512 lighting control protocol. Advancing from 0 to 10v analogue control and all the various flavours of polarities and pin configurations that encompassed that nightmare, to a packetbased, serial digital standard, that despite a few bastardisations (thanks Martin for the phase-reverse years), was a protocol that became essentially universal. Although several proprietary digitally multiplexed (DMX) control protocols had been around for a while, 1986 was the year that cool heads prevailed and a standard was agreed upon. It was the dawn of a new era of standards-based lighting control. An era that no one could have predicted would last for as long as it has, or be used in so many different and exciting ways. So let’s fast forward to now.

We have cars that park themselves, email, phones that are smart and planes with showers and beds, so why is it that we still rely on this almost 30 year-old protocol, to dictate the design and functionality of our modern lighting, video and more, control systems? Worse still, why is it that there is absolutely no replacement for his ageing standard on the horizon?

OK so DMX512 is old – which of course is no reason to suggest those copper cables are all of a sudden useless. Age is not the issue.

The problem as I see it, is that we are retarding development of fixtures and control systems, in order to hold on to DMX512. We have consoles that can interpret such parameters as beats per minute, degrees for pan and tilt, and hue, saturation and brightness for colour. And therein lies the problem: they interpret. So if the base data configuration for your specific moving

light or control system is incorrect in any way, the operator can move on, blissfully thinking they are talking in real-world values, but they are not. We are basically stringing together various pieces of equipment, and hoping that the data is interpreted properly. The process is akin to “if we get them to trigger this device, then it can send a signal over there, which will make that device do something we want”. Imagine driving a car like that! Be it video, automation or even some basic audio control, we struggle to find comprehensive solutions that can control multiple technologies.

Our control desks can get thumbnails from media servers. Great. I still can’t control a timeline with multiple layers from the same control system that can efficiently control moving lights. Then there is stage automation. The lack of error checking and delivery acknowledgement on DMX512 data packets makes it an entirely inappropriate protocol for controlling anything where high levels of safety or repeatability are required.

THE DEVIL WE KNOW... AND LOVE

Don’t get me wrong. DMX512 is not the devil incarnate. Even though on some late nights during my career I might have disputed that.

However DMX512 has done a stellar job. I’m unsure whether is was incredible design and foresight, or just good luck, but DMX512 has many redeeming qualities that have taken us so far. For starters, being based on RS-485, it is such a resilient delivery system that it can work on a variety of cable types. (There are some, like AV's Editor, who claim it will even work over damp string!) It's effectively-unidirectional, so fault finding is relatively easy once you understand signal reflection and rudimentary fault finding in transmission line systems. Solid XLR connectors keep your connections rigid and reliable. They can be thrown around, stepped on and used to open beer bottles. The strict rule of 512 channels of 256 values per channel, means that there is little ambiguity between manufactures at either end of the cable. We have a strict set of rules

to follow, and if we don’t, things just don’t work. So from that perspective, DMX512 is amazing. Checksums (or error checks) weren’t a requirement back in the day when all DMX512 was required to do was control dimmers. If a packet got dropped along the way, things wouldn’t stop. The thermal inertia of a lamp's filament would conceal the fraction of a second of incorrect current as a result of a missing or mangled data packet. The theory was: send plenty of packets of data and most of them should get through. DMX512 is simple and robust. Perhaps that is why we are desperately clinging to it.

REMOTE DEVICE MANAGEMENT?

So why this conversation? Why the diatribe against DMX512? Firstly, it seems strange to me that in 2014, we are designing fixtures and control systems for future use, that are still based on a protocol that has for a while now, held us back from real development. We are stuck for a global control platform that can control lighting and video properly. Lighting consoles can trigger video systems fine. However there is no lighting controller that includes intuitive control for video. Automation systems shun DMX512 in favour of proprietary controllers for higher levels of error checking and feedback. Imagine if all your lighting fixtures had cameras in them. Lining up 3D environments and tracking of performers becomes incredibly easy. But we won’t see that technology generally available anytime soon, as we have no way to easily and efficiently plug it all together; and most importantly, control it. I’d love to be able to see a snapshot of my media server input card before I put it on screen. That’s not going to happen easily on my lighting console because all it does is trigger my media server. It doesn’t control my media. These are just a few examples of a plethora of features we can’t have, because we have no means to transport the data efficiently back and forth. “RDM does that” I hear you say? Remote Device Management is becoming a

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laughable inclusion to the DMX world. Many systems can’t reliably communicate via RDM whilst maintaining a solid DMX signal the other way. The lack of universal adoption of RDM by lighting control manufactures has stalled any momentum the protocol may ever have had. No serious production house I know of has any plans to become RDM-proficient on a company-wide scale. So as an annexe to DMX512, RDM has had little effect on prolonging the life of DMX. ARCHITECTURE FOR CONTROL NETWORKS?

“ACN”, I hear some of you say with an earnest tone. “That's what will save us.” I've heard this repeatedly and pondered it at length. Just what is it about the Architecture for Control Networks that is going to change my life? For those who don’t know, ACN is a ‘new’ TCP/IP-based control protocol that in its wider scope, could actually be quite useful to the greater industry with its ability to carry all manner of control information. Its scope vastly exceeds that of mere lighting control and there is a loose roadmap with great ambitions to provide a lean, effective and most of all, freelyavailable protocol to all. Though the problem here is that the working group defining ACN is made up of industry professionals who meet once or twice a year and have real day jobs outside of the group. So they have little time to lend to the development. Many are from manufacturers who already have established proprietary protocols for their own products, and are in no hurry to replace them. Results are few and far between.

Which might explain why it has taken ACN 20 years to be ratified in the current state. That’s right, 20 years! One wonders how much longer it will take to see the full scope of ACN published and ratified. Then how much longer before production companies start to implement it. But will ACN help us? ACN is designed to be able to sync multiple sources of data on a single network.

It is designed to be more robust and reliable, and include check sums on all data packets. It also is intended to have maximum flexibility and be

‘future proof’ by being extensible. One of the key points with ACN is that it is to be designed with off-the-shelf TCP/IP networking components and products. We can currently send DMX512 data a thousand different ways along an Ethernet cable, and most of us do that day in day out. When used in the Ethernet world Streaming DMX over ACN protocol, the one part of ACN that has actually been implemented, is much tidier than Artnet, but it really is only a fancy way of transporting existing DMX512 packets over an Ethernetbased system.

THE LAST FIVE METRES

The big challenge, the one that is seemingly being ignored by the entire universe, is the last five metres of the data network. That’s where we still change from Ethernet networks to a daisychained DMX cable to get our precious data to a fixture. That is where our bottleneck remains, but here is no solution – coming, proposed, or even publicly discussed. Ethernet is not the answer.

For a start, even if your fixture has a basic twoport switch on board, the moment that fixture loses power, the rest of your daisy chain ceases to work. Switched Ethernet will not pass data passively like DMX does through a fixture with no power. A modern Ethernet network really only works in a star configuration, while on the other hand, nobody appears to want to change luminaire data distribution from a daisy chain buss to a star topology. This is quite surprising in light of the fact that we already run power in a star configuration. If we could get over that, then we could possibly consider a connector that distributes power and data. Now that would be cool and would certainly make things more efficient. I've never seen that before... or have I? Maybe Vari-Lite was on to something back in the 80s with its Series 200 fixtures that had power and data in a single cable. A star configuration for power and data! Way ahead of its time.

Perhaps the grass is greener, or perhaps they were on to something. Sure power and data

in the same cable opens up potential problems with interference, etc, but have you looked on a lighting truss lately and seen the copious amounts of data and power piled on top of each other?

Or the network cables that snake through the mains feeds? One fundamental problem in all this is the connector type. RJ45 is not going work in a production environment. Even protected in the XLR shroud of an Ethercon, they are just too fragile for the treatment connectors get on productions. Perhaps we could throw back to 75ohm coax and BNC connectors, they're still working reliably for high bandwidth in the world of SDI video.

The frustrating thing for me, is that there seems to be nothing on the horizon that might signal the start of a new era. At least nothing that anyone is talking about. Perhaps one day, the last five metres might be delivered by some new technology and we may be able to revolutionise entertainment system control. Until then and with a heavy heart, I’ll go back to my 8-bit asynchronous serial data world.  MORE INFORMATION ANSI E1.11 – 2008 (R2013) Entertainment Technology – USITT DMX512-A, Asynchronous Serial Digital Data Transmission Standard for Controlling Lighting Equipment and Accessories.

ANSI E1.20 – 2010 Entertainment Technology – RDMRemote Device Management over USITT DMX512 Networks.

ANSI E1.17 – 2010 Entertainment Technology – Architecture for Control Networks (ACN).

ANSI E1.31 – 2009 Entertainment Technology – Lightweight streaming protocol for transport of DMX512 using ACN. ANSI E1.27-1 – 2006 (R2011) Entertainment Technology – Standard for Portable Control Cables for Use with USITT DMX512/1990 and E1.11 (DMX512-A) Products.

Download these standards free of charge from PLASA: tsp.plasa.org/tsp/documents/published_ docs.php

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Moving Right Along The past year has seen some interesting movement in the world of moving lights.

Text:/ Marcus Pugh

Every year around the times of the LDI, Pro Light +Sound, PLASA and PALME shows, I eagerly trawl the internet for pictures and videos of any new lighting releases. I am a selfconfessed lighting nerd and my love of new toys is one of the main reasons I dig the lighting game so much. The past year or so has been a great time for innovation, with each manufacturer releasing different types of moving fixtures, as they strive to get out in front and be the company to bring out the ‘Next Big Product’ in the moving light world.

With the massive number and proliferating genres of lighting devices hitting the market, I had to set myself a few guidelines for this article or it would have ended up occupying half the magazine. I have selected only moving lights and only one unit from any manufacturer. I am not actually reviewing these units as I haven’t yet had the opportunity to play with all of these new toys, much less had a chance to pop the covers and see what’s going on inside, or test them on a gig. What I will do is introduce them to you and give you my user’s-eye view of their main features and selling points.

VL4K

Let’s kick off with Vari-Lite, just because they were the first company to produce mass market moving lights (even if the VL1s weren’t actually for sale). Vari-Lite have launched the eagerlyanticipated VL4K Spot which is only the third mover release since being acquired by Philips and follows their hugely-popular VL 3500. The VL4K spot is pitched to be an all-in-one spot and they have managed to jam every function under the hood of this one, meaning there is no need to get a different unit if you want shaping shutters or dual rotating gobos or animation wheels.

Starting from the tail the VL4K is driven by a 1200W Philips MSR Gold FastFit lamp before getting to the CMY colour mixing system with a variable CTO. There isn’t just one, but two fixed colour wheels each with five interchangeable colours. There is also a mechanical iris and a four blade shaping-shutter system which can be rotated through 50°. The VL4K also comes with two indexable rotating gobo wheels, each with seven gobos. And just because one of anything

isn’t enough, there are two separate animation wheels too, that can take dichroic glass wheels.

There is also a three-faceted prism and variable frost, plus separate dimming and strobe mechanics. All this teamed with a 5:1 zoom (9°47°) and the optics we’ve all come to expect from Vari-Lite.

Manufacturer: Vari-Lite Name: VL4K Main selling point: Every feature in the one fixture Source: 1200W Philips MSR Gold FastFit Beam Angle: 9° - 47° MAGIC PANEL

Going from the pioneers of moving lights into the new players – Ayrton, a French based lighting manufacturer, burst onto the scene last year with its Magic Panel which attracted a lot of heat online. The first thing you notice about the Magic Panel as opposed to most of the LED movers, is that it’s square (with good reason). The Magic panel is a 6x6 grid of 15W RGBW LEDs which can be pixel mapped right from the fixture, that’s right you can display media, thanks to its Arkaos KlingNet protocol or control via DMX. These LEDs also punch out a decent beam effect through haze too.

The Magic Panel also has one other impressive trick up its young sleeve and that is continuous pan and tilt, it can spin and turn all day long without having to go back to home.

This ability has already proved a useful tool for LDs and programmers. The Magic Panels have been used to great effect already on Nine Inch Nails latest tour (see the front cover) designed by LeRoy Bennett (recently in Australia for Entech Connect) and Wiz Khalifa's Under the Influence tour. As seems to be becoming the norm the Ayrton panel also comes with on-board Lumen Radio wireless DMX. Manufacturer: Ayrton Name: Magic Panel Main selling point: Pixel mappable, continuous rotation Source: 36 x 15W RGBW LEDs Beam Angle: 10°

MAC QUANTUM PROFILE

Since being bought by Harman, Martin Lighting has been maintaining its market dominance (at least here in Australia) with the release of a whole new range of ‘budget’ fixtures in their new Rush Family, but it is the announcement of MAC Quantum Profile that has excited me the most.

Whilst we have been promised a LED-based profile or spot moving light for a few years now, the MAC Quantum appears to be the first model with enough kick to replace the MAC 700 profile which has been the industry workhorse for the last five years. It would appear that Martin are taking a measured approach and not rushing to market with this fixture while the MAC Vipers and MACIIIs are still selling in the top end of the market.

The MAC Quantum Profile is driven by a 450W white LED engine which punches out a super white and crisp output and is equipped with all the usual functions for a medium-sized mover, including CMY colour mixing, colour wheel with six slots, six interchangeable rotating gobos and 10 fixed on the second wheel. The MAC Quantum is also kitted with a rotating three-faceted prism, iris, motorised focus, 12°-34° zoom and electronic shutter for strobing. Being a LED-based fixture means the MAC Quantum profile can be electronically dimmed and has four programmable dimmer curves, while also being compact, lightweight and runs significantly cooler than other fixtures with similar output, which will surely mean less frequent maintenance.

In conclusion, I think Martin could be onto a winning product if the MAC Quantum has the same build quality that has become synonymous with the Danish manufacturer.

Manufacturer: Martin Name: MAC Quantum Profile Main selling point: Bright LED profile Source: 430W white LED engine Beam Angle: 12 -34° SHAPESHIFTER

To go from the measured and refined Danes over to the big, brassy and just-a little-bit-nuts Americans. High End have released another creation from the depths of Richard Belliveau‘s

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DXW-2 Series 2-Gang HDBaseT Input Wall Plate Switcher

DXW-2EU DXW-2E DXW-2

Vari-Lite VL4K

VIDEO. AUDIO. NETWORK. CONTROL. POWER. EXTEND UP TO 600FT OVER ONE CAT-X CABLE*

* 600ft over one CAT 6a cable (1080p 60Hz 24bit)

Ayrton Magic Panel

Features • • • • • • • • • •

1 HDMI input with audio for DVI 1 VGA input (can accept YPbPr, S-Video, & Video) All inputs converted to HDMI at the wallplate HDBaseT 600ft extension 1 IR receiver (40ft range) 1 LAN pass-through connector (2E and 2EU only) Auto-sense, buttons, RS-232 for source select Low depth for floor and table boxes Remotely or locally powered Connect direct to HDBaseT compliant displays

Made in the USA

Martin MAC Quantum Profile

For all product enquiries, demos or quotes, please contact us: jands.com.au

info@jands.com.au

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Is this your copy of AV? If you’d like to receive your own copy of AV or if you’d like to continue to receive AV w w w. a v a p a c . n e t

High End Systems Shapeshifter

OUR PICK OF THE CURRENT CROP OF MOVING LIGHTS

issue #41 $6.95 AUD

INFOCOMM’S ASIA-PAC AV MARKET & STRATEGY STUDY CLEARONE BEAMFORMER: CONFERENCING MIC ARRAY DANTE, Q-SYS, CISCO: ADELAIDE OVAL’S $2.5M INTEGRATED AV NETWORK

AV_Cover_41.indd 1

11/08/2014 12:22 pm

Clay Paky Super Sharpy

Register now!

HERE’S HOW: LOG ONTO WWW.AVAPAC.NET CLICK THE SUBSCRIBE BUTTON FILL IN YOUR DETAILS AV MAGAZINE IS SENT FREE OF CHARGE TO AUDIOVISUAL INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS. IF YOU’D LIKE TO BE TAKEN OFF THE MAILING LIST PLEASE EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS@AVAPAC.NET Robe Robin 1000 LED Beam

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to strength, after the Sharpy blew everyone away and became the ‘must have’ item for every tour or event. The Italian manufacturer followed up the Sharpy with the Aleda range including the new K20 B-eye which is redefining the LED wash.

Now Clay Paky has announced the Super Sharpy, there are only a couple of pictures and some very impressive demo videos online currently. What I have been able to find is that the new Super Sharpy will be more like a searchlight than just a beam, being four times brighter than the original Sharpy with a 470W arc lamp, it will have a wider 7-inch front aperture, CMY colour mix, plus colour wheel, seven rotating gobos and 20 – yes 20 – fixed gobos on the second wheel, plus a rotating prism and frost. Needless to say, I can’t wait to get my hands on one of these and I’m just unsure with that much output how it’s not going to instantly set things on fire.

SGM G-Spot

mind and they’ve called it the Shapeshifter. There are four different versions on the market, RGB and White LED, in both large and small versions – we’ll focus on the larger RGB version. Just like the Ayrton Magic Panel the Shapeshifter looks a bit like a LED wash fixture without zoom and are more of a beamy effect-light. What makes the Shapeshifter an innovative fixture is that the 126 single-colour LEDs are divided up across seven different modules which all move independently.

Plus, it claims to be the brightest LED fixture on the market. To complete the look, the face of the fixture is back lit with blue LEDs from behind the modules.

The Shapeshifter has to be seen to be believed, it has a super-fast pan and tilt and as with all High End fixtures they’re built like a Buick with the rough and tumble of touring in mind. This fixture has me in two minds and will likely give rock and EDM (Electronic Dance Music) LDs a bunch of new looks to play with. Is it different? Yes. Is it inspired? Definitely. Is it practical? Well… that remains to be seen, but all-in-all it did make this lighting nerd sit up and pay attention.

Manufacturer: High End Systems Name: Shapeshifter Main selling point: LEDs that move independently to the fixture Source: 126 x 3W LEDs Beam Angle: 10° SUPER SHARPY

Over to Clay Paky, which I have to put my bias on front street, as I have loved their products ever since the old Goldenscan days and I hire out a lot of their fixtures in my day job as hire manager for Resolution X. Clay Paky has gone from strength

Manufacturer: Clay Paky Name: Super Sharpy Main selling point: Big beam small package Source: 470W discharge Beam Angle: 0 - 4° ROBIN 1000 LEDBEAM

I was spoiled for choice from Robe for this article, as they have a lot units being released in their Robin range which run the entire gamut of fixture types. I eventually settled on the Robin 1000 LEDBeam which is the latest in this range, improving on the already very popular Robin LEDs with 37 x 15W RGBW LED multichips and a whopping 4°-60°(1:15) motorised zoom. The fixture has three separately-controllable rings for those eye-candy effects. You get a whole lot of light and output in a small package that only weighs 17kg. The LEDBeam comes with Lumen Radio wireless DMX as a standard accessory, and is the only unit here that has a touch screen display.

Manufacturer: Robe Name: Robin 1000 LED Beam Main selling point: Super bright LED wash Source: 37 x 15W RGBW multichips Beam Angle: 4° - 60° G-SPOT

SGM have been through some big changes in recent years, with a definite re-focussing on innovation. SGM created a stir recently with their X5 LED Strobe and are now making waves with the G-Spot. What does the G-Spot have that all the other fixtures don’t even get close to? It’s water proof – well IP65 rated. This means you can easily sit this mover outside without covers or domes or reaching for the plastic bags every time it threatens to rain. The G-Spot is powered by 850W of RGBY LEDs has two gobos wheels, each with five gobos, two independent effects

wheels, iris, strobe, electronic dimming and onboard Lumen Radio wireless DMX. Did I also mention that it’s IP65 rated!? This means all the internals are not only waterproof but also protected from dust which is the bane of any moving light techs existence. While the G-Spot isn’t super-fast or overflowing with features, I think it is beautifully engineered and something that I certainly wasn’t expecting to see in a moving light.

Manufacturer: SGM Name: G-Spot Main selling point: The first IP rated moving light Source: 850W RGBY Beam Angle: 8 - 43°

This latest crop of movers means that the lighting buying public and designers are spoiled for choice and the manufacturers should be complimented for their continued innovation and not resting on their laurels. I would like to personally thank them on behalf of lighting nerds everywhere.  MORE INFORMATION Vari-Lite – VL4K: www.vari-lite.com/index.php?src=d irectory&view=products&srctype=detail&refno=859 435&category=Series4000 Distributed by Jands www.jands.com.au Ayrton – Magic Panel: www.ayrton.eu/produit/magicpanel Distributed by SHS Global www.shsglobal.biz Clay Paky – SuperSharpy: www.claypaky.it/en/news/ supersharpy_the_legend_continues_first_international_ preview_at_prolight_sound_2014 Distributed by Show Technology www.showtech.com.au Martin – Mac Quantum Profile: www.martin.com/product/product. asp?product=MACQuantumProfile Distributed by Show Technology www.showtech.com.au High End Systems – SHAPESHIFTER: www.highend.com/products/LED/shapeshifter/ SHAPESHIFTER.asp Distributed by Lexair Entertainment SGM – G-Spot: sgmlight.com/entertainment/g-spot/c-23/p-179# Distributed by Entertainment Technology Australia etaust.com

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ClearOne Beamformer ClearOne is shaking up conferencing with a smart–looking, smart–thinking microphone array. Beam me up!

Text:/ Christopher Holder

It really is almost like magic. I was at the Deakin Management Centre to hear ClearOne’s Beamformer in action and after all of the introductory chit chat it was time: “so can I hear it in action?”

We set up a video conference between two rooms in the centre. One of the university’s AV team went down the hall to talk to me from as close as he could get to the Beamformer array, then walked the room, until he was all but whispering into a corner near the coffee station. Throughout, the level remained stable and the response was always highly intelligible.

Beamformer can’t bend the rules of physics to breaking point, and naturally there’s an audible lift in the noise floor and you can hear more of the room the more distant you are from the

microphone array, but it’s remarkably good.

Sounds amazing. What’s it like with a room full of people talking?

We were about to find out, as some of the centre’s senior staff and a ClearOne representative all filed into the adjoining room. Again the clarity and the consistency of level was remarkable.

Inviting unfettered communication without any jarring artefacts as a result of ducking or auto– mixing weirdness.

100 YEAR OLD KNOWLEDGE

Beamformer is a remarkable system made possible not because of a product design breakthrough so much as DSP catching up so we can harness a long-known acoustic phenomenon. Here’s how ClearOne’s whitepaper of 2013 describes

it: by combining microphone elements in a phased array, so that signals at particular angles experience constructive interference while others experience destructive interference, beamforming can be used to achieve spatial selectivity and elimination of unwanted signals.

Ah phase. Anyone working with audio will be familiar with phase. ‘Out of phase’ means combined signals start to cancel each other out; while ‘in phase’ signals reinforce each other… making those frequencies that are in phase sound louder. To adjust and tune the directionality of the array to focus on desired sounds, a beamforming array adjusts the phase and amplitude of the signals coming from each microphone, to create a pattern of constructive and destructive interference in the wave front.

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Table

BEAMFORMING BY DEFINITION Beamforming is a signal processing technique carried out by a processor using the input from the beamforming microphone array. The signals from the mics are combined such that signals at particular angles experience constructive interference, while others experience destructive interference. To adjust and tune the directionality of the array to focus on desired sounds, a beamforming array system adjusts the phase and amplitude of the signals coming from each mic, to synthesise a pattern of constructive and destructive interference in the wavefront.

Information from different microphones is then combined such that the expected acoustic pattern is preferentially processed and fed into the conferencing audio stream.

Ceiling

Wall

Although most often used suspended from the ceiling, Beamformer can be installed on a desktop or even on a wall. The diagram shows how the 24 microphone elements are grouped into as many as six zones. Within software you can switch off zones to help Beamformer be ‘deaf’ to unwanted noise.

The Deakin Management Centre recently installed ClearOne Beamformers into three of its conference rooms (left). The ClearOne audio conferencing interfaces with the Cisco C60 Telepresence system, with an iPad-based control interface designed by the integrator, ProAV Solutions.

Information from different microphones is then combined such that the expected acoustic pattern is preferentially processed and fed into the conferencing audio stream.

That’s beamforming. It’s a process that automatically steers tightly-focused audio pickup patterns towards people speaking. It’s smart and it requires an awful lot of Fourier transformations, but it’s not science fiction.

24:1 MICROPHONES

ClearOne’s Beamformer packs 24 microphone elements. The 24 elements are arrayed to cover six zones (beams) when in Table mode, and five zones in Ceiling mode [see diagram]. To function, it needs to be teamed with a ClearOne Converge Pro host unit (the 840/880/880T/880TA) –

simply plug a Cat5/6 cable into the Converge Pro’s G-Link expansion bus, which can be 50-plus metres away if needs be. The array is powered using the optional ClearOne PoE PSU or any standard third-party Ethernet switch and PoE injector. Run as many as three Beamformers per Converge Pro box and as many as 16 Beamformers per system.

Having the Beamformer integrate into an existing Converge Pro setup is convenient and will be appreciated by existing ClearOne customers. For those married to other systems, such as Biamp, I guess it’s worth remembering Beamformer won’t play with them.

Beamformer can be installed in a tabletop configuration or even on a wall, but will mostly be suspended from the ceiling above the conference participants. So more than likely, the nearest microphone will be no nearer than a 1.5m away. ClearOne promises that its adaptive steering smarts will provide a pickup response akin to half that distance (ie. 75cm) but even then a perfectly positioned table top or flushmount boardroom mic will win the shootout. Equally, a radio mic (lanyard style or lavalier) may provide a more present response.

But I don’t need to tell you that professional AV integration and installation isn’t simply a performance equation. When it comes to corporate boardrooms, image and prestige is as important as performance (so, for starters, you can forget about the traditional three-cornered tabletop conferencing box). No, it’s quite likely the architect has built the boardroom table out of granite, hewn from the chairman’s own private mountain range in the Pyrenees and won’t let you within a bull’s roar of it with a drill. The ceiling is a single monocoque carbon fibre sculpture, so don’t even think about dropping ceiling mics.

Beamformer will win-over style-nazi architects the world over.

What’s more, running a dozen or more tabletop mics and/or a wireless system is a pain in the neck. I think most of us would happily sacrifice a little nearfield audio performance for what Beamformer is bringing to the party – convenience, consistency, clean aesthetics, ease of installation and low upkeep.

What’s more, the best case scenario of each participant with a perfectly placed close mic is rarely achieved, and in any other circumstance, Beamformer is likely to outperform most existing setups.

KEEP IT CLEAN

HIGH BEAM

So why would you install a Beamformer? For its performance? Yes and no. Nothing beats a directional mic in the face – the sound of a sensitive cardioid microphone 50cm from each participant around a boardroom table is impossible to beat.

Where Beamformer really comes into its own is in flexible spaces, where the granite boardroom table is replaced by, say, four workshop pods that are reset daily. Clearly in this case a fixed microphone solution would not be possible and

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The BeamFormer is largely self-sufficient, with a full complement of filters, auto level control, acoustic echo cancelling and noise cancelling, but it requires a Converge Pro 840T/880/880T/880TA for its Echo Reference (which either comes from line outputs or amplified outputs of DSP), and for routing within the DSP matrix. The Converge Pro DSP also allows the BeamFormer to be on a seperate gating group to the lectern and wireless mics in the room.

where a dozen or more participant would make a wireless solution complicated and costly. Enter Beamformer. One or more arrays can be mounted above the tables and automatically respond to every unique configuration – tracking each participant in a conference room and adjusting its gain and mic coverage pattern automatically and dynamically to best pick up each participant.

Wow. It’s hard to see how any other conferencing system could compete in this type of application.

Most rooms will have no-go regions such as windows, doors, a water cooler or that Nespresso coffee station, and those zones can be disabled by the installer in software. But that’s about as much customisation that’s required. The Beamforming Microphone Array is pre-configured to work directly with the internal gain structure of the Converge Pro. The smarts are inside the box, doing the hard work for you.

CLEARONE CLARITY

If you have existing Converge Pro hardware and you’re looking to upgrade your conferencing setup, the Beamformer is a no-brainer – a single array can typically replace six to 10 traditional microphones, clean up the look of your room, inject some real versatility and more than likely improve the audio performance.

If you’re looking at a fresh install, then Beamformer may well provide the answer in a medium/large room. Especially if aesthetics are a

REVIEW

DEAKIN MANAGEMENT CENTRE CASE STUDY The Deakin Management Centre (DMC) is an executive retreat, combining accommodation with state–of–the–art meeting and conferencing facilities.

Originally built to accommodate candidates for the (then) new university’s residential MBA program, it’s subsequently become a multipurpose events and conferencing centre. Around 40% of its use is related to Deakin University, and the remainder from business community and private hire.

DMC has six 'Syndicate' meeting spaces. Working from a brief from the uni’s AV department, the rooms have been upgraded by ProAV Solutions, with Brett Tolson as Project Manager: “Of the six upgraded Syndicate Rooms, three have had the ClearOne Beamformer installed. One of the spaces has one Beamformer and the other two rooms have two.

“Installing the Beamformer is easy. Actually, the most care needs to be taken in where you’re installing them. We had DMC provide us with drawings of how the rooms were typically configured. From there, we’d start by positioning a Beamformer with one of its ends pointing towards the LCD at the front of the room. In a video conferencing scenario, audio is piped into the room via NEC column speakers positioned either side of the LCD. So we don’t want Beamformer picking up audio from that direction.

big consideration or if the room is an odd shape or regularly reset.

It’s not all about telepresence. Less conventional spaces, such as courtrooms, classrooms, training rooms, houses of worship, could well benefit from Beamformer where directional microphone installations fall short because of the unpredictable nature of who’s talking and where.

If there’s a downside, then it will be price.

Beamformer won’t be cost-effective for smaller or portable conferencing scenarios, where a cart

Within the Converge Pro software we can turn off those two corner lobes.

“During our tests we were very impressed with the system’s sensitivity. It means you’ve got plenty of flexibility up your sleeve – you can reset the room and, providing you’ve got enough Beamformers in the room, you’ll achieve great results regardless of where people are seated.

“Saying that, Beamformer’s sensitivity is a blessing and a curse. The time you spend minimising mechanical noise like air conditioning and turning off noisy zones is time well spent.”

ProAV Solutions has written a bespoke GUI for DMC that runs on an iPad. They’ve found the iPad is a more approachable option than the equivalent AMX or Crestron touch controller. Within the user interface the operator can launch a video conference and take care of basic AV housekeeping.

“There’s very little babysitting required,” noted Brett Tolson. “There’s no volume control, for starters, so one group can’t get the next group into trouble by fiddling with the controls. And for the installer it really does work amazingly well straight out of the box.”

Deakin Management Centre: www.managementcentre.com.au ProAV Solutions: 1300 287 253 or www.proavsolutions.com.au

and/or a tabletop console would suffice.

There’s no doubting Beamformer’s elegance.

It’s an aesthetically pleasing piece of industrial design with the performance to match.  MORE INFORMATION Production Audio Video Technology: (03) 9264 8000 sales@productionaudio.com.au ClearOne: www.clearone.com/beammeup Asia Pacific: +852 3590 4526 or global@clearone.com

TUTORIAL

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InfoComm News

News from the Asia Pacific Region INFOCOMM AT INTEGRATE & BEYOND

InfoComm has several trade shows coming up that will provide access to the latest AV products, education sessions and valuable networking opportunities. Join us for InfoComm University sessions at the Integrate show in Sydney, 2628 August. The Indian subcontinent’s AV marketplace will gather to see groundbreaking products and engage in free education classes at InfoComm India 17-19 September, in Mumbai.

And in October, many from the Asia Pacific will return to the InfoComm Middle East and Africa show in Dubai, co-located with the GITEX IT show, for complimentary training, networking and more. InfoComm members receive free passes to all of our shows around the world (preregistration is required). We hope to see you in person soon. Visit infocomm.org/events to links to these great tradeshows around the region.

INFOCOMM UNIVERSITY IN AUSTRALIA & SINGAPORE

Some of InfoComm University’s most popular classes were recently offered in Sydney and Singapore. RGB Integration, Extron’s distributor in Australia, sponsored a session of AV Design School Boot Camp. This popular class was offered 2-11 July, thanks to the generosity of RGB, which underwrote some of the class cost and hosted the event at its training facility.

Networked AV Systems debuted in Asia on 16-18 July in Singapore. The course had 18 participants from the manufacturer, systems integration, higher education and house of worship communities.

Are you interested in InfoComm training but can’t wait for the next scheduled offering?

InfoComm offers on-site training at your company. Contact your regional representative for details.

INDIAN ENTREPRENEURS SAY YES

The Young Entrepreneurs (YES) Training Centre of the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce organised an 80+ member delegation to InfoComm 2014 in Las Vegas, with support from USDOC/US Commercial Service, Chennai.

The delegation was led by Mr. V. Neethi Mohan, Chairman of YES and Former President of Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce.

YES is the first group of its kind in the South India region. Based in Madurai, the organisation has been imparting valuable insight into business practices and systems for nearly seven years. The main objective of the delegation was to learn and adopt new technologies in the AV sector to facilitate business. The visit also informed and inspired AV adoption across various industries,

while encouraging networking with business partners. The delegation from Madurai gained exposure in the global AV marketplace by visiting the show.

TRAVEL 75 YEARS IN 3 MINUTES

The AV industry has changed a lot over the past 75 years, and so has your trade association, InfoComm International. Enjoy a brief video on infocomm.org/75 and look back to see where we’ve come from — and where we’re going.

STRIVING TO REACH THE APEX?

The InfoComm APEx program is a marketing recognition program for integration companies and AV design consulting firms dedicated to providing quality service to customers and upholding industry excellence. This offering replaces InfoComm’s CAVSP program. Are you trying to satisfy the many requirements of this program to prove you are the best? Let your regional representative know at oceania@ infocomm.org Reaching your goal may be easier than you think! 

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Types of Control Signals The following is an excerpt from the InfoComm University course Essentials of AV Technology Online.

CONTACT CLOSURE

This is the simplest form of remote control communication. It is a switch, which operates a device by opening or closing an electrical current or voltage loop. It has the most basic protocol language: on (closed circuit) or off (open circuit).

Typically, contact closures control mechanical devices such as motors. Projection screens, curtains and blinds require a low voltage interface to enable the low voltage of the contact closure to operate the high voltage of the motor.

Contact closure can also provide input to the CPU. For instance, a contact closure can provide the status of a room dividing panel.

VARIABLE VOLTAGE

The variable voltage control, also referred to as a voltage ramp generator, is an analogue form of control communication. A voltage of specific parameters is applied to the control point of the device to adjust a parameter by the ratio of voltage value to device level.

A video camera's pan/tilt head can be controlled by a variable voltage signal. The unit is at rest when it does not receive any volts. If it receives negative voltage it will move in one direction, while a positive voltage will cause it to move in the other.

OPTICAL AND WIRED INFRARED

Infrared (IR) control comes in two formats: optical and wired.

The handheld remote which controls a TV in most homes uses the optical format. The wired format is generally called serial communication, or one of many other names used by individual manufacturers. Serial communication sends the same information pulses as an optical control.

Optical IR uses light to send commands to a device. A pattern of invisible light pulses is emitted from a light emitting diode (LED). These light pulses carry data which is recognised by the control point on the device. If the pulses do not match the specific functions programmed into the controlled device the command is ignored.

Optical IR does have some disadvantages.

Direct line of sight to the device’s control point is required, and the range is limited to 9-12m.

Optical repeaters and infrared blasters can be employed to overcome these limitations.

Another disadvantage of optical IR is that the signal is susceptible to interference from sunlight or fluorescent lighting. In environments where this cannot be controlled the wired serial format can be employed. Distances up to 75m from the CPU can be achieved.

Most integrated remote control systems use the wired format with IR LEDs installed directly over the controlled device’s IR receiver. This also allows control of devices installed in a cabinet or equipment rack.

IR is a one-way communication path, meaning that the controlled device has no way to provide feedback about its status, or to confirm it has received a command from the CPU. RADIO FREQUENCY

Radio Frequency (RF) control is used as a user interface to the CPU. Some manufacturer’s devices provide control links into their components using RF transmission, as it enables control of devices without line of sight. RF control has a general limit of 30m. Third-party control systems do not easily emulate this type of control link, because it requires specific frequencies along with the protocol with which to communicate.

When using RF controls you must verify frequencies which are already in use or noisy in the environment. The RF spectrum is quite busy, and many electronic components emit RF into the environment which can interfere with desired communications. By testing the spaces to be controlled you can employ appropriate frequencies.

standard RS-232. It uses an unbalanced circuit, so is susceptible to noise. This limits the usable cable length which, depending on its quality, can be about 15-20m.

RS-232 communication is usually connected using DB9 or DB25 connectors and uses a minimum of two conductors plus shield. It is a point-to-point protocol.

RS-422 was developed in response to these limitations. It is a balanced four-wire format which allows cable runs of up to 1,200m.

The length is dependent upon data speed and cable quality. RS-422 uses a minimum of four wires, plus usually a shield. It is a multi-drop protocol using one transmitter (driver) in most applications.

RS-485 generally supports 32 transmitting and receiving devices. The balanced design allows cable distances up to 1,200m on unshielded twisted pair cable. RS-485 is a multi-point protocol allowing multiple transmitters (drivers) and receivers.

ETHERNET

The most recent innovation in control is the use of standard Ethernet networks. It could easily be defined as a digital data link, but its possible uses are so extensive that it really is a separate class.

Other digital data links communicate between devices, whereas ethernet allows communication among control components, applications, data and the internet.

Ethernet is utilised mostly to enable smarter control of devices, or to extend the control environment to previously unachievable distances. In a single building the local area network (LAN) can be utilised to enable a central control room to communicate with each AV system. LANs can be connected together between buildings in a corporate campus to create even broader control possibilities.

From IT-based topologies, control solutions which allow effective real-time room support, loss prevention, facility usage and scheduling can be created, to name only a few possibilities. With Ethernet the control scenario shifts from the needs of the facility to enterprise-wide applications.  Company Data Network Control CPU

DVD

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Doc Cam

052

HUMOUR?

Termination Stock shrinkage has Kodak moment Text:/ Graeme Hague

Some people just don’t know when they’ve got it so good.

A bunch of famous Hollywood-types have come together to save the film industry. No, not the movie industry, but the actual film-making side of it – specifically by promising to buy a guaranteed amount of film stock from Kodak to prevent that corporate doyen of the picture business from closing its manufacturing plant for good (it’s worth noting that making film is now bringing less than 10% percent of Kodak’s total revenue, so don’t break out the tissues too quickly). You don’t see a 96% plummet in sales too often – or do you? That’s Kodak’s problem, by the way. In fact, most products eventually suffer a 100% drop in sales. Have you bought any cassettes lately? Any ear trumpets?

The same old arguments are being debated.

Real film has ‘grain’ and ‘natural light’ or less definable je ne sais quoi like ‘substance’ that digital video simply can’t reproduce. We’ve been squabbling over the relative merits of analogue versus digital since Tom Cruise was knee-high to a grasshopper... oh wait, he still is. Anyway, Quentin Tarantino is a huge fan of film. The upcoming Star Wars movie is being shot on film too – possibly in an attempt to give Jar Jar Binks some substance.

The aim of this until-now secret deal with Kodak is to preserve a traditional (and arguably more creative) method of making movies, and provide a unique cinema experience despite the fact digital video has enormous and obvious benefits.

There’s another advantage, which might strike you as a little ironic: film stock is the best means of preserving any movie over the long term.

Digital video has to be regularly transferred to

new storage media, risking losing it in the process or at least a smattering of data at the time. Good ol’ 35mm film, like any other non-biodegradable plastic, will last forever – as long as you don’t use it. It’s the act of projecting the film that causes damage and degradation.

And therein lies the main flaw of this warm, fuzzy initiative to extend the life of celluloid

“The upcoming Star Wars movie is being shot on film too – possibly in an attempt to give Jar Jar Binks some substance” movies. People like Tarantino and Judd Apatow (another champion of film) don’t have to work with this crap.

Seriously, has either Quentin or Judd ever sat inside a dark, stifling control room with a projector belching more noise and heat than an asthmatic Smaug? Do they know what it’s like waiting for that dodgy splice to pass successfully through the gates, or experienced the resulting chaos if it doesn’t? Modern directors love to make four-hour epics, but they should try splicing the bastards together in the right order and properly.

For those who don’t know, film movies arrive at the cinema in reels roughly 20 minutes long and for decades the standard practice has been

sticking them all together on one huge platter to feed through the projector. Each reel has a ‘head’ and a ‘tail’ temporarily taped on that identifies which way the film is wound on, plus it crucially tells you the sequence in which it should be placed in the film. The fun bit is, once the heads and tails are removed, you have no way of knowing which reel is which and it’s all down to the Sacred Order Of Projectionists to ensure the movie is put together correctly – hopefully the cinema previous to yours replaced the head and tails properly, and you’ll do the same. Otherwise people in the movie strangely come back to life and the plot gets a bit puzzling unless, of course, it’s a Tarantino movie in which case nobody will notice the difference.

The other issue is that in an ideal world the projectionists remove the old splices, peeling off the adhesive tape, rather than chopping off frames and splicing ‘fresh’ bits of the reel. This is because over time, despite running at 24fps, those missing frames add up and the film ‘jumps’ at the reel change-overs. However, constantly reusing the same section for splicing also results in the sprocket holes wearing, the film itself getting sticky with old adhesive, and you get these dreaded, dodgy moments where you’re praying to the film gods that the splice passes through the projector’s guides.

If it doesn’t, it’s your fault. Not the projector’s – or Quentin’s or Judd’s fault, despite the fact they considered using this archaic, analogue projection method was a good idea and digital sucks. In the Public Enemy ranking system the projectionist who suffers a snapped film is right up there with silly, football umpiring decisions and Justin Bieber’s wardrobe manager. The moan of dismay from a cinema audience when a screen turns to melting mush is terrifying – it’s a hair’s breadth away from rioting and anarchy. Clever projectionists will immediately barricade the door.

Maybe that’s the unique experience that Quentin and his mates should try, before chucking money at Kodak?

Hang on, you’re saying that movies shot on film are ultimately transferred to digital for distribution? The revered analogue warmth is still converted to chilly binary code anyway? So, at this point are we allowed to throw our hands in the air and loudly ask, “What the...?”

It’s enough to make you choke on your popcorn. 

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