AV Issue 47 by Alchemedia Publishing

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Editorial Watching the Tide Roll Away The editor’s chair at AV Asia Pacific has a truly panoramic view of the happenings in the AV industry. You can see bright people with interesting ideas pop their head over the horizon to see if anyone is interested in their idea, then tentatively show their idea around until it’s either noticed and maybe snapped up by one of the big players, or left to wither and die, sometimes from lack of interest, or worse – lack of comprehension. Then there are the folk with silly or pointless, or sometimes just incomplete ideas, but with access to someone’s deep pockets (possibly their shareholders or angels). These are the ones who just keep on flogging away in the hope of getting some traction rather than making improvements or simply getting the message and walking away. The best view is of the smart players who are constantly innovating and pushing the envelope of their technology’s capabilities in the fervent hope that someone the industry will be savvy enough to figure out how to use these new capabilities to drive things forward by working smarter or cheaper or faster, or by taking off in a new direction and leaving the rest of us in their dust. Then there are the long-time players who get a bit frightened by the pace of innovation and become progressively by-passed by the inexorable tide of change. Occasionally one of them will try to hold back the tide by attempting to convince the world that their old product or way of working is better than the new one. A certain un-named plasma panel manufacturer springs rapidly to mind, but there have been countless others, especially in the automotive industry. You can also see the players who carpetbomb the industry with hundreds of product announcements at every tradeshow and in the media, then wait until someone actually orders one of the products before attempting to complete the product design and supplying a few prototypes. One of my favourite types of player has some resonance with the fire and brimstone preachers of old. They have an idea, a methodology, a product or a solution to a problem and believe in it so fervently that they just won’t rest until the whole industry has at least heard of it, if not taken it to heart. It’s so exciting to see their passion and commitment to saving the world through their idea.

The most terrifying players are the incisive smart arses, the ones who see straight through to the problem and are already working their way towards the solution before the rest of the world has even realised what the problem is. They tend to annoy the rest of us and just can’t understand why the world gives them such a hard time. As always you’ll meet a cross-section of these folk in this issue of AV. There is the exhibition design team who have lovingly revamped that First World War exhibition you saw at the Australian War Memorial on your high school visit to Canberra. There’s the AV team at the University of Technology in Sydney who have just taken possession of their new teaching facilities in the slightly unusual brown paper bag building that houses the new School of Business. Then there’s the old lighting tech who thinks that dimmers are really cool and wants you share his fascination with all the different ways you can dim light sources. And there’s the AV team at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, who finally have a digital video network that will make their lives less stressful and continue to please their blissfully-unaware clients. As this is my last opportunity to take in the impressive view from this chair, I’d like to thank everyone in the AV industry for the exciting opportunities to share your passion and knowledge as I’ve edited this magazine for the last seven years. In the immortal words of Douglas Adams’ dolphins: “So long, and thanks for all the fish.”  Andy Ciddor, Editor.

I’d just like to chime in here on the occasion of Andy’s final editorial for AV Asia Pacific. Unlike mainstream consumer publishing, technical magazine editors tend not to come and go like migrating birds – they stick. So it is no small thing to recognise Andy’s seven-year service to the magazine. Andy came to the job with a long history of contributing to technical magazines, yet had never directly pulled the levers from the inside. He was quick to point this out to me, stating he’d “never edited a magazine before” and even some seven years later it was a line he’d readily trot out to explain whatever publishing-related snafu was currently flaring – as they’re wont to do under Andy’s or anyone else’s aegis. The truth is Andy instantly apprehended the possibilities and responsibilities of AV Asia Pacific from the get-go. He understood that we aren’t, and never will be, a ‘trade magazine’. We’re a technical title which shares the readers’ joy of discovery – learning about areas of AV that aren’t necessarily your day-to-day bread ’n’ butter. And although we will always be strongest in the area of AV integration, under Andy’s ministrations, AV Asia Pacific has been diligent in its coverage of AV production, lighting and areas where AV intersects with broadcast and post production. We’re a broad church and AV Asia Pacific’s extended ‘patch’ represents its Editor’s wide range of technical interests – and I believe the magazine has been the better for it. As an Editorial Director your prime staffing concern is to find people who care. Andy has always cared. He cares about the quality of the magazine; the appearance, the accuracy and the reputation. Andy has been instrumental in establishing the AVIAs. Again, Andy immediately understood what an awards program like this needed to be and what it could mean to the industry. From the outset he and I were in furious agreement regarding what they would, and just as importantly, what they wouldn’t be, and the AVIAs will remain a testament to Andy’s diligence and passion. Finally, I would like to extend Alchemedia’s best wishes to Andy and wish him well in whatever challenge he will be soon applying himself to. He may no longer have the reins of magazine he was so instrumental in establishing but he will always be AV Asia Pacific’s Founding Editor. Christopher Holder, Editorial Director chris@avapac.net

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Crew Andy is a freelance technical writer, consultant, teacher and systems technician. His unhealthy interest in how things work began when he terminally dismembered an army field telephone at the age of eight. Andy’s interests expanded into wireless, audio, lighting, electronics, AV, IT, neurobiology, software, cosmology and communications as the opportunities arose. His favourite place is at the bottom of a steep learning curve. Andy was the editor of this magazine for its first 47 issues.

Advertising Office: +61 (0)2 9986 1188 PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 Australia

Editorial Office: +61 (0)3 9998 1998 PO Box 295, Ballarat, VIC 3353 Australia

Editor: Andy Ciddor (andy@avapac.net) Publication Director: Stewart Woodhill (stewart@avapac.net) Editorial Director: Christopher Holder (chris@avapac.net)

Michael is a technology estimator, with over 8 years of experience in estimating, design, technical sales and marketing within the AV space. He has broadbased understanding of system integration and optimisation. Although he works in AV technology, Michael has a few other strings to his bow: a Diploma of Sports Marketing, a Certificate IV in Professional Writing & Editing, a Diploma in Teaching English as a Second Language… and soon, an MBA too!

Publisher: Philip Spencer (philip@avapac.net) Art Director: Daniel Howard (daniel@avapac.net) News 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: Andrew Worssam

Stephen Dawson is a long-time geek, whose geekery changes focus from time to time. He made his first microphone pre-amp from an Electronics Australia (remember them?) design back in the early 70s. His schooling involved melting a screwdriver on the school hall control panel, and receiving tingles from poorly-insulated antique lighting control pots. These days he spends just about all his time writing about audiovisual gear.

alchemedia publishing pty ltd (ABN: 34 074 431 628) PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 Australia info@alchemedia.com.au All material in this magazine is copyright © 2015 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. 26/5/2015

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

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Issue 47 REGULARS NEWS AV industry and product news highlights from the AV website.

INDUSTRY UPDATE News from the AV associations InfoComm and AETM.

TERMINATION AV's role in conspiracy theories

FEATURES

WAR STORIES The First World War exhibition at the Australian War Memorial undergoes a major AV re-think.

BAGGING A NEW BUSINESS SCHOOL FOR UTS Taking a look at the AV fitout for Australia's only Frank Gehry building.

ADDING FIBRE TO THE MENU MCEC gets a major update to its video network infrastructure

REVIEWS

EPSON EB-1430Wi INTERACTIVE PROJECTOR An ultra-short throw projector with some really useful bells and whistles.

SYMETRIX JUPITER Audio DSP with a library of pre-built modules.

TUTORIAL MIX MINUS â&#x20AC;&#x201C; WHERE LESS IS MORE Getting a clean feed.

DIMMING IN THE 21ST CENTURY A guided tour of the contemporary dimming landscape.

INFOCOMM TUTORIAL Microphone placement.

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NEWS

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NEWS

Highlights from AV News Online

PANASONIC: ALL DAY EVERY DAY

MARTIN CDD: INSTALL CONSISTENCY

GEFEN 4K 8x8 MATRIX

Panasonic is making a strong tilt at the university and museum markets with a new high-brightness PT-DZ780 1-Chip DLP projector series. These projectors are built for 24/7 operation in lecture halls and exhibition spaces as well as for staging and rental applications. The projectors feature a sealed liquid-cooling system that reduces operating noise down to 30dB when projecting at full lamp output power, making them one of the quietest projectors in its class. The dual-lamp PTDZ780 outputs 7000 lumens at WUXGA resolution and introduces features normally found in Panasonic’s largevenue products, for the first time in an installation-class projector. Lamp life is extended: with up to 4000 hours in Normal Mode. The range also eliminates air filter replacement with a dust-resistant optical engine. Dual lamps and Relay Mode enable continuous 24-hour operation while ensuring uninterrupted playback in the event of lamp failure. The PT-DZ780 is compatible with an optional Geometric Manager Pro image mapping software upgrade kit, and is now compatible with ArtNet DMX protocol for lighting management. There are optional lenses, including an ultra-short-throw lens, and offers 360-degree vertical cabinet rotation. Panasonic: 132 600 or www.panasonic.com.au

Martin Audio announced a major new dedicated installation loudspeaker range — the CDD Series. Combining distinctive curved enclosures with its Coaxial Differential Dispersion technology, the series is designed to deliver “class-leading performance, fidelity and coverage consistency to venues that demand the ultimate in cutting-edge technology and style”. Whether it’s a bar, an AV installation, a church or a prestige nightclub, the CDD Series has it covered. There are six two-way full-range coaxial systems in the range, from the micro CDD5 to the powerful CDD15, complemented by high-performance subwoofers, which will serve to cover the majority of install applications. All models come in black or white as standard and all RAL colour variants are available to special order. Coaxial Differential Dispersion is designed to provide a more consistent audience coverage than traditional X° x Y° horns. CDD will project more output to the rear of the audience to distribute sound evenly from front-to-back, while having wide horizontal coverage close-up. The increased coverage area can reduce the speaker count in larger installations. Technical Audio Group: (02) 9519 0900 or info@tag.com.au

Gefen’s new ToolBox 4K Ultra HD 8x8 Matrix is a compact, lightweight and surface-mountable alternative to rack-mounted matrix switchers. The HDCP 1.4 compliant matrix routes eight Ultra HD sources to any eight 4K Ultra HD displays with HDMI inputs, supporting resolutions up to 4K DCI (4096 x 2160 at 24Hz), 4K Ultra HD (3860 x 2160 at 60Hz, 4:2:0 colour space), 1080p Full HD, and 1920x1200 WUXGA along with 3D, Deep Color, and multichannel digital audio including 7.1 channels of LPCM and HBR (High Bit Rate) formats such as Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio. The Gefen Syner-G software's Discovery and Show-Me features simplify initial IP configuration of this matrix. Each source can be routed to any display location, using the frontpanel push buttons or the included handheld IR remote control. The matrix can also be controlled via RS-232, Telnet, UDP, and Gefen's web server interface. An easyto-read backlit front panel display indicates the current routing status and IP settings. Amber Technology: 1800 251 367 or www.ambertech.com.au Gefen: www.gefen.com

NEWS IN BRIEF:

National Audio Systems has announced its appointment as the exclusive distributor for Inter-M commercial and professional audio products in Australia and NZ. The Korean brand has a 32-year history in the pro audio markets with an extensive line-up including amplifiers, matrix systems, mixers, digital signal processing, network audio, line sources and loudspeakers. The company recently constructed a speaker manufacturing and testing facility in southern Korea, and boasts high profile installations at the Incheon International Airport in Korea, and The Sydney Fish Market. National Audio Systems: (03) 8756 2600 or sales@nationalaudio.com.au Inter-M: international.inter-m.net

The fourth edition of Entertainment Design: Scenery, Lighting and Sound with Vectorworks Spotlight offers readers tutorial-based design techniques for film, television, concerts, exhibits and more. Authored by scenic and lighting designer, Kevin Lee Allen, the newly released edition has been updated to complement the release of Vectorworks’ Spotlight with Renderworks 2015 software. It outlines a process for design development and collaboration, and explores the creation of scenic, lighting and sound designs for a theoretical Broadway production. It’s available for $75 plus shipping from the Vectorworks website. Nemetschek Vectorworks: www.vectorworks.net

Allen & Heath’s V1.7 ArcLight firmware upgrade for its Qu series of compact digital mixers allows up to two iPads running Qu-Pad to be connected to a Qu mixer, and adds new key features including saving and recall of processing and FX libraries, a third custom layer for easy access to any combination of inputs, mixes, DCAs, Mute Groups or SoftKeys, full control over key FX parameters, the ability to store and recall scenes, and access to the mixer SoftKeys. Technical Audio Group: (02) 9519 0900 or tag.com.au Allen & Heath: www.allen-heath.com

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A partnership between Technical Direction Company (TDC) and the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) will see the video solutions specialist provide the next generation of Australia’s technical designers and practitioners with training and access to the latest stage and performance technology. “TDC is giving students the opportunity to flex their creative muscles, experiment with high performance equipment and, importantly, gain vital industry experience,” says NIDA’s head of technical theatre and stage management, Graham Henstock. Technical Direction Company: (02) 8332 2100 or www.tdc.com.au NIDA: nida.edu.au

A consortium of companies including broadcasters and manufacturers has united to form the TICO Alliance, to address 4K/ UHD video delivery workflows. TICO, a lightweight compression technology, was developed by Belgian AV tech company intoPIX, and enables 4K to be transported over legacy SDI infrastructure and modern IP production and contribution networks. It supports visually lossless compression up to 4:1, and allows mapping of a single 4K/UHD 2160p60 stream over a single 3G-SDI link. Over 10Gbps Ethernet, it allows the simultaneous transmission of up to three 4K streams. TICO Alliance: www.tico-alliance.org intoPIX: www.intopix.com

BLU-50

4x4 Signal Processor with BLU link

MEYER ANNOUNCES COMPACT LINE ARRAY The latest in Meyer Sound’s flagship Leo family are its smallest and most versatile members. Boasting excellent power-to-size ratio with ultra-low distortion, the Leopard line array loudspeaker and the 900-LFC low-frequency control element offer “an unprecedented level of clarity, power, precision, and ease of use,” the company says. Suited to applications from mid-sized touring and live theatre to worship and live performance installations, Leopard offers 10 times less distortion with significantly more power than its competitors, Meyer says, with newly designed and highly efficient class-D amplifiers. Each loudspeaker is optimised for an array of six cabinets or longer, with default low-mid array compensation for out-of-the-box simplicity. Six Leopard and two 900-LFC loudspeakers can be flown using a half-ton motor, and the new system includes MAPP XT for acoustic prediction, real-time monitoring, a loudspeaker management system, and a new distribution module for routing AC power, audio and RMS signals. Based on its larger brother the 1100LFC, the self-powered 900-LFC is ideally matched to Leopard but also suits other Meyer systems including Leo, Lyon and Ultra. Leopard and the 900-LFC being shipping mid-year. Meyer Sound: (07) 3267 7800 or www.meyersound.com

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has unveiled its Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) at NAB, a free, open, device-independent colour management and image interchange system that offers an industry standard for movie and television production. From image capture through editing, VFX, mastering, public presentation, archiving and future remastering, ACES enables a consistent color experience and addresses significant production, post production and archiving problems arising from the variety of digital cameras and formats in use, and a surge in productions that rely on shared digital image files. ACES: www.oscars.org/sciencetechnology/sci-tech-projects/aces

Eric Robinson, CEO of JPJ Audio and Jands Production Services,is the winner of year’s Sue Nattrass Award for his commitment to the live performance industry. Robinson has been responsible for the production of some of Australia’s most admired events throughout his 45-year career, from early tours by Elton John in the 1970s, to Big Day Out and theatrical productions including Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. The award will be presented at the 15th annual Helpmann Awards on July 27. Live Performance Australia: liveperformance.com.au Helpmann Awards: www.helpmannawards.com.au

PlayBox Technology has joined the NewTek developer network, enabling its TitleBox IP graphics system to be integrated with NewTek's line of TriCaster multi-camera video production systems. TitleBox IP allows operators to create and deliver animated graphics with real-time on-air control. It can be operated via any standard desktop or laptop PC, and connected directly to an existing network, allows pre-constructed or live title and channel branding graphics to be streamed straight into an IP network without need for external video inputs for key and fill. Gencom Technology: (02) 9888 8208 or www.gencom.com PlayBox Technology: playbox.tv NewTek: www.newtek.com

BSS Audio Introduces a Cost Effective Addition to the Soundweb™ London Processor Line The new Soundweb London BLU-50 represents a premium, open-architecture solution in the form of a highly exible, cost-effective and scalable package. The BLU-50 is a half-rack width processor that offers a xed conguration of four inputs and four outputs, congurable signal processing, logic processing and BLU link. The device can be powered with the included 12VDC power supply but can accept 12-48VDC via a terminal block connector. The BLU-50 can also be powered with PoE+ via the Ethernet port, allowing the device to be powered, congured, controlled and monitored using a single Cat 5e cable.

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NEWS

COMPACT 4K ON-CAMERA MONITORS

PRIME VIEWS: BROADCAST DISPLAY LAUNCH

CONSORTING WITH COMPRESSION

Sound Devices previewed its Video Devices PIX-E, a new series of camera-mounted recording field monitors, at NAB 2015. The new line features 1920x1080 five-inch, and 1920x1200 seven-inch LCDs, a full suite of precision monitoring tools, SDI and HDMI I/O, plus the ability to record 4K and Apple ProRes 4444 XQ edit-ready files to affordable mSATA-based SpeedDrives. All models in the range offer die-caste metal housings and Gorilla Glass 2 protection for the LCD displays for demanding production environments. PIX-E includes PIX-Assist, a suite of monitoring tools including TapZoom for unrivalled focusing speed, false colors and zebras to help set exposure, guide markers for framing, LUTs and a range of scopes including waveform monitor, histogram and vectorscope. The user interface combines easyto-access tactile buttons and an intuitive touch screen. Accessories available include the PIX-LR audio interface, a SpeedDrive and the PIX-E kit including a hard case, articulating arm, two SpeedDrives, L-mount batteries, USB3 Y-cable and video I/O cables. John Barry Sales: (02) 9355 2300 or www.johnbarry.com.au Sound Devices: www.sounddevices.com

Broadcast display company Primeview USA unveiled its latest in OLED technology and HD-SDI connectivity at NAB. The studio quality large format 55-inch OLED display provides excellent colour and motion clarity with true black reproduction, a refresh rate of .001ms and a nearly infinite contrast ratio, the company says. The new HD-SDI (high definition serial digital interface) embedded 55-inch LED LCD video wall features a narrow 3.5mm total bezel, and daisy chaining capabilities that allow broadcast studios to natively connect on-set video walls to their legacy technology infrastructure, with the lowest levels of video signal latency. The HD-SDI feature is used particularly in broadcast thanks to its capability to reproduce content at the highest level of video excellence, and with no digital copy protection inserted in the signal, it makes HD-SDI that much easier to integrate into projects that require broadcast quality. Primeview: www.primeview.biz

A growing consortium of more than 20 global companies including Hitachi Data Systems, Intel and Sky Italia launched a range of compression products at NAB 2015 that offer up to three times the compression gains compared with H.264, HEVC and JPEG2000. Led by UK video compression solutions provider V-Nova, the products are based on a new compression technology called Perseus, and include a scalable endto-end solution for mass-market adoption of live UHD, as well as other distribution products for UHD, HD, and SD video. According to V-Nova, legacy compression technologies were designed for the early chips of the 1970s and ‘80s and no longer fit for purpose. Perseus achieves higher resolutions, speed and efficiency compared with most existing codes. The technology is highly robust at very low bit rates (for instance, offering continuous viewing and graceful picture degradation); it allows for precise bit rate control through multi-scaling, and can encode/decode rapidly with reduced power consumption. It is designed to rapidly and seamlessly integrate within existing workflows and infrastructure, and is compatible with existing MPEG-based transport. V-Nova: www.v-nova.com

HYBRID MULTIVIEWER

STREAMLINED CAMERA TRACK SYSTEM

PRO WEBCAM TELEPROMPTER FOR IPAD

Apantac has launched a new hybrid multiviewer that supports IP/ASI and SDI/CVBS on its Tahoma platform, giving facilities the ability to mix and match up to 16 images on a single display. IP/ASI support on the new Tahoma IL includes H.264, MPEG-2/4, and ASI, and video support includes 3G/HD/SD, as well as composite video formats. The multiviewer offers high resolution HDMI/ DVI outputs and an optional SDI output, with output resolution up to 2048 x 1080P. Built-in CATx extenders for each output extend the output up to 35m. If longer distances are needed for the HDMI outputs, Apantac offers HDBaseT extenders for up to 100m, or fibre extenders for up to 457m. Interactive and customisable on-screen display setup via software includes borders, labels, GPI/O, tally, visual and audio alarms, AFD and WSS, alarm monitoring, close captioning, safe area markers, audio meters, analogue and digital clocks, as well as room for logos. Video windows on the display include multiple labels, and support UMD, OMD, IMD and standalone labels. Techtel: (02) 9906 1488 or www.techtel.com.au Apantac: www.apantac.com

Telemetrics’ new TG4M Track System is the latest in its TeleGlide camera track system line and uses a newly designed, streamlined trolley and track to minimise space requirements and deliver reliable, stable operation. Telemetrics president Anthony Cuomo: “It can be ordered in custom lengths and curved sections that are easy to install on studio and newsroom ceilings.” Stability and steadiness comes from a triple track system and long-lasting composite wheels for ultrasmooth motion the company says will last for years with no maintenance or wheel replacements. New to the design and unique in the industry is continual auto track-trolley alignment. Tracks can be mounted on either the floor or ceiling and configured in straight, C-, S- or L-shaped designs for maximum application flexibility. The TG4M is fully servo controlled, providing accurate preset positioning and repeatable motion. It’s compatible with all Telemetrics pan/tilt heads, extendable camera mounts, and control systems. Custom track lengths and cable management systems are also available. Telemetrics: www.telemetricsinc.com

Bodelin Technologies’ new ProPrompter Desktop is a redesign of its popular See Eye 2 Eye device, which was originally made to provide direct eye contact for video chats but repurposed by customers as a mini teleprompter for podcasts and corporate video. The ProPrompter Desktop works with all built-in webcams, centre lens external webcams such as the Logitech C920, DSLRs, laptops, desktops, iPads and most other full size tablets. It provides direct eye contact for video web chats and prompting, with 4x5 wide studio quality 70/30 beam splitter glass, true 16:9 field of view for the camera, and easy viewing of the script from several feet away. It’s made from aircraft grade aluminium and carbon fibre, in a foldable design for easy transport in a laptop or camera bag. An optional ProPrompter Studio app (AUD$18.99 from the iTunes app store) offers the ability to record from an iPad’s front facing camera while prompting script with adjustable margins to position the script within the beam splitter glass, and FreePrompter accommodates customers seeking a free, basic teleprompter solution for laptops and desktops. Bodelin Technologies: www.bodelin.com

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

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NEWS

Massive Blackmagic NAB Lineup Blackmagic introduced a huge lineup of products at this year’s NAB show, chief among them a massive update to DaVinci Resolve, a 4.6K image sensor with 15 stops of dynamic range for URSA cameras, another three new cameras, and a range of 12G-SDI products for broadcast, post production and live production.

solve all these problems and easily handle the speeds of 12G-SDI without overheating for all video formats from SD to HD, and Ultra HD. 12G-SDI allows Teranex Minis to operate in all video standards up to 2160p60 on a single BNC cable.” There are six models, will start at AU$699 and will be available by the time you read this.

DaVinci Resolve 12: DaVinci Resolve 12 has more than 80 new features including a new modern interface, multi-cam editing, new media management tools, an entirely new professional audio engine with support for VST/AU plug-ins, automatic shot matching, 3D keyer, new 3D perspective tracker, and enhanced curve editing. The new UI has a lighter colour scheme with a new top down navigation and a new multicamera editing feature, which allows editors to cut programs from multiple sources in real time.

ATEM 2 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K: The new ATEM 2 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K is a fully 12G-SDI based switcher with 20 inputs, and built-in features including DVE, SuperSource, six keyers and transitions, all in Ultra HD up to 2160p60. All inputs still include full re-sync. The new model has double the size media pool and the two built-in multiviewers are HD or UHD, along with four built-in media players.Price: AUD$8445. HyperDeck Studio 12G: The new HyperDeck Studio 12G supports all video formats from SD, HD and UHD up to 2160p @60fps. It features the same VTR-style controls as the other HyperDeck models and includes advanced 12G-SDI and HDMI 2.0 connections for recording and playback of high frame rate Ultra HD over a single BNC cable. Price: AUD$3515.

Ursa 4.6K Cameras: Ursa has a new 4.6K image sensor which features a Super 35 size with a resolution of 4608 x 2592 at 120 frames per second. With an extremely wide 15 stops of dynamic range it rivals most traditional 35mm film stock. There are two new models of Ursa with the new sensor: the 4.6K EF and the 4.6K PL, which will be available for AU$9845 and $10,555 respectively and available July. Those who already own an Ursa can upgrade.

Teranex Mini: The new Teranex Minis are a range of 12G-SDI mini converters which are slightly different to normal converters. Petty explains: “Regular Mini converters cannot dissipate the heat generated from 12G-SDI, they have cumbersome power supplies, they cannot use standard XLR connectors and they only have switches for control. Teranex Minis

Smart Videohub 12G 40x40: The new Smart Videohub 12G 40×40 is a native 12G-SDI router with 40 inputs and 40 outputs. It’s multi-rate so it automatically works with all SD, HD or UHD equipment, and can route multiple different video formants on the same router at the same time. Price: AUD$7035.

Smart Videohub CleanSwitch 12x12: The new router is part of the regular 6G-SDI router range so it can work with all video standards

including SD, HD and Ultra HD up to 2160p30. What’s different is that every single input has a full re-sync. “What this means is that if you have multiple untimed video sources of the same video standard, this router will re-sync those sources and then you change the route to a router video output, the switch over will be perfectly clean without any glitches or slow monitor relocking,” Petty explains. “That’s important when routing to a big display or projector at a public venue where you want the route changes to be clean cuts.” Price: AUD$2119. ATEM Talkback Converter 4K: The new ATEM Talkback Converter now has BNC 12G-SDI connections so you can run simple BNC SDI cables to the cameras. It supports up to eight cameras so you can double the number of cameras you can talk with on the one unit. Price: AUD$3515.

UltraStudio 4K Extreme: Blackmagic says this is world’s most advanced Thunderbolt and PCIe video capture and playback solution. It features a quad link 12G-SDI, HDMI 2.0 and a builtin multi-format hardware codec encoder that includes encoding to H.265 compressed streams. UltraStudio 4K Extreme can work with super high resolution and frame rates up to 3D stereoscopic 4K at 2160p60. It comes in a rackmount design, and includes a full copy of DaVinci Resolve 12. Price: AUD$4235, and the H.265 encoding will be a free update that should be available in July.

DeckLink 4K Pro: DeckLink 4K Pro is a new lower cost 12G-SDI solution for capture and playback. This new model features dual link 12G-SDI in and out, so it supports real time capture and playback of fill and key channels even when operating up to 2160p60, includes video reference input, and supports Mac, Windows and Linux as well as BM’s DeckLink SDK. Price: AUD$845.

NEWS

Ursa Mini: The original Ursa is a beast and quite a lot to hold for a smaller crew, which is part of the reason Blackmagic has designed a much more portable version in the Mini. It doesn’t have all the features of its bigger brother but it does contain the same 4K and 4.6K sensors and the core processing of the original. It’s made from magnesium alloy and its compact design is light enough to use as a handheld camera. It’s also compatible with the new Ursa Viewfinder and features frame rates up to 60fps, with a five-inch full HD touchscreen (that folds out and angles). There are four versions of Ursa Mini: 4K EF (AU$4235), 4K PL (AU$4925), 4.6K EF (AU$7035) and 4.6K PL (AU$7755). The range will be available late July. Fusion 8 Studio: Fusion 8 is finally coming to Mac OSX and Linux systems. The update will be released around the third quarter of the year with a public beta possibly available beforehand. Fusion has been used as a tool in VFX and motion graphics for more than 25 years, and has been used on thousands of feature film and television projects. The Windows based Fusion 8 is free of charge and for download from the Blackmagic website.

019

Persistence of Vision 100 YEARS OF SMPTE

If you only attend one event in 2015, this is it! 14 - 17 JULY HORDERN PAVILION & ROYAL HALL OF INDUSTRIES, MOORE PARK

Video Assist: Video Assist is a portable, all-in-one professional monitor and video recorder that can be used with any camera or DSLR with SDI or HDMI camera, adding professional ProRes recording and full resolution HD monitoring. It can be mounted on cameras as a large monitor, be handed to the cinematographer or DOP for setting up shots, or sit on a table in front of the director to review each take. The five-inch 1920 x 1080 HD monitor and touchscreen offers a wide 135º viewing angle and records broadcast quality 10-bit 4:2:2 video onto SD cards in ProRes file formats. Video Assist will be available in July for AU$699.  Blackmagic: www.blackmagicdesign.com New Magic Australia: (03) 9722 9700 or www.newmagic.com.au

For more information go to www.smpte.com.au or call now to book your space +61 2 9452 7594

N O I T RA EN T S I P REGNOW O

020

NEWS

L-ACOUSTICS: X MARKS SPOT

QSC GXD AMPLIFIERS

CANON CONVERGENCE

L-Acoustics’ X Series is a new line of coaxial speakers for the installation and rental markets. L-Acoustics has always had coax loudspeakers but the X Series represents the state of the art for the French innovators, with improvements in the high-excursion neodymium drivers, ellipsoid directivity, laminar vented ports and up to 30% weight reduction. Used as a stage monitor, the X Series offers low-latency monitor presets and a 7% lower profile. In installation applications the X Series comes with a complete range of flexible rigging accessories and a RAL custom colour program. With improved radiation control and low frequency performance, the X Series is a true point-source system, boasting pristine sound for short throw applications. The X8 is the live monitor of the X series; the X12 (with an ellipsoid directivity of 90° x 60° ) can cover multiple applications in rental and installation; while the X15 is the big gun with integrated risers allowing it to go from 35° to 55°. www.l-acoustics.com Hills SVL: www.hillssvl.com.au

QSC have added DSP to its popular GX Series amps, making them more suitable for install applications. Both GXD models feature Class-D power devices for high output in a lightweight chassis design. DSP processing includes high- and low-pass filters (24dB LR), four-band parametric EQ, signal alignment delay, and RMS/peak speaker protection limiting. The smart loudspeaker protection is set by selecting the loudspeaker’s continuous power and impedance (4Ω and 8Ω), and either a Mild, Medium or Aggressive protection mode as desired — 20 preset ‘starting points’ for selected typical systems are provided. With a solid 400W/ch at 8Ω (600W/ch at 4Ω), the GXD4 delivers a max total peak power of 1600W, while the GXD8 delivers a robust 800W/ch at 8Ω (1200W/ch at 4Ω) with a max total peak power of 4500W. Pricing: GXD4 AUD$1099 and GXD8 AUD$1799. Technical Audio Group: (02) 9519 0900, info@tag.com.au or www.tag.com.au QSC: www.qsc.com

Canon has announced its compact and lightweight 4K XC10 digital camcorder, designed to deliver the goods for both video recording and stills photography. Inheriting many of the Cinema EOS range features, the new model offers 4K video and 12MP stills, fast and slow motion recording, built-in wi-fi for easy browser and smart device control, high bit rate XF-AVC files, and integration with professional workflows thanks to a portfolio of professional standard codecs and recording modes. The XC10 is designed as a small stand-alone camera for indie filmmakers or as a support camera in larger productions. Its imaging engine combines a specially developed one-inch CMOS sensor and Canon’s new DIGIC DV5 image processor to give the speed and quality required to capture 4K video at a range of variable bit rates. Features include a 10x optical zoom lens with Canon’s image stabilisation tech, and a 27.3273mm focal range (35mm equivalent, in video mode). The model is expected mid-year for US $2500. Canon Australia: 131 383 or www.canon.com.au

SMALLHD 5-INCH MONITORS

KV2 AUDIO ESD INSTALL RANGE

CRESTRON SHIPPING RL 2 CODEC

SmallHD has released the first of a new series of 5-inch Full HD on-camera monitors. Based on a new platform, the compact 502 supports two digital inputs and delivers 1920x1080 resolution images with a 179° field of view for group viewing, and a wide colour gamut the company says rivals OLED display technology. It supports 3G-SDI and HDMI input, output, and cross conversion, and the device is format and frame rate agnostic, automatically adapting to a wide range of video signals. The full-size SD card slot facilitates 3D LUT import and allows export of screen captures for continuity and other purposes. The 502 is small enough to carry in a pocket, even with a pair of rechargeable LP-E6 batteries installed, weighs 250g and is housed in a rugged aluminium frame with a rubberised chassis. It can also be powered by an AC/DC adapter, and from the D-tap on a camcorder or camera battery pack using the LP-E6 battery interface. Power draw is “paltry” the company says, and allows all-day operation from two LP-E6 batteries under normal use. SmallHD: www.smallhd.com

KV2 Audio is always prepared to tread a path less travelled to deliver something it believes sounds superior. So when it releases a range of passive install boxes, it doesn’t induce the yawns you might normally assume. KV2 Audio started by re-looking at the design of the passive crossover network to achieve the best possible sound quality. Drawing on its experience in active technology, KV2 Audio developed an analogue delay line circuit that would provide time alignment and phase correction passively, substantially improving clarity and definition. Combined with its Active Impedance Control, KV2 is well-pleased with the results. ESD comprises a variety of models each with a tailored frequency response and sensitivity so they would compliment each other when installed in a venue with little or no outboard control. While matching frequency response and sensitivity, KV2 also provided varied impedances for the different sized cabinets to suit a variety of applications. KV2 Audio Asia Pacific (02) 43884152 or www.kv2audio.com.au

Crestron’s second generation RL2 is a group collaboration solution combining Crestron hardware with Microsoft’s Lync server-based software to enable real-time group collaboration on conference room displays rather than on personal laptops, and incorporates video, voice, interactive content sharing, presence, and chat from one touchscreen interface. RL 2 offers a new codec with features including a fully integrated DigitalMedia receiver, native Crestron Fusion connectivity for room monitoring, multiple audio input configurations, and various mounting options. It also comes with Crestron’s TSW-style touchscreen controller that allows users to add a Crestron enterprise class 3-Series Control System as well as optional custom elements — display, camera, microphone, and speakers. There are four configurations available: the Integrator Kit, which provides the codec and touchscreen to leverage existing equipment; and Packages 1, 2, and 3, which are complete systems for huddle spaces, small to medium conference rooms and large rooms respectively. Crestron: 1800 555 040 or crestron.com.au

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

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NEWS

023

Barely Containered Excitement

Forget about Cannes, forget about Eurovision, we’re talking shipping containers. The opening of the “world’s safest, first fully automated, zero emissions container terminal” was attended by The Netherlands’ Monarch King WillemAlexander and 500 senior representatives from the global shipping industry and world governments. Working for show designers BIND Film, Jurlights were tasked with providing a technical concept for the launch presentation. What the ceremony lacked in glamour it made up for in sheer size, and went without a hitch thanks to BlackTrax real-time motion tracking solution from CAST BlackTrax. “The only way to accurately track the LiftAutomated Guide Vehicles (AGV) across the 400 by 200-ft area was by using BlackTrax,” explains

Menno Broere, Creative Director at Jurlights. In describing the project workflow, Broere says: “BIND and Jurlights designed the show across 16 x 40ft shipping containers fitted with 12m wide by 2.5m high LED video screens. The screens were viewed by the audience who were stationed aboard a temporary viewing platform.” “For the moving part of the presentation, we positioned BlackTrax BT Beacons on 6 x AVGs that sent out real-time positioning data to d3 Technologies 4x2 pro media servers to track the display of presentation content and dance performers. Effectively the AGV’s were driving over a giant virtual canvas. Using BlackTrax, the position of the AGV’s determined which part of the canvas was shown.” Thorough preparations made it possible for

Jurlights to install and calibrate the LED displays in only a few hours and BlackTrax was working within minutes. Igor Silva, Marketing Director at CAST BlackTrax said: “We’re delighted to see that BlackTrax has been deployed to drive choreographed content on to screens – now a new updated feature of BlackTrax.” Since investing in BlackTrax, Jurlights has deployed BlackTrax to track lighting and video in corporate events. And the last word goes to Broere who said: “For us, BlackTrax opens up a lot of new possibilities to tell the story of our clients – and that’s what our business is all about!”  BlackTrax: www.blacktrax.ca Jurlights: www.jurlights.nl

EVERYTHING FROM ANYWHERE

Free yourself from the confines of FOH. With the DL32R, you get 32-channels of powerful digital mixing that’s completely controlled wirelessly — MIX FREE. Find a DL32R: www.cmi.com.au/mackie-dealers

Dante card sold separately. Shipping Q2

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Lose The Snake: Wireless control removes the need for costly cabling!

Recording/Playback: Complete wireless control over mult-track direct-to-drive recording and playback

32 channels of Dante: Allows truly flexible routing in any application Hardware: Flexible, professional I/O in an incredibly compact 3U rackmount design Mix From Anywhere: No Fixed FOH means no restrictions in venue placement

iPad is a registered trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. ©2014 LOUD Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. Wireless router and iPad required for operation (not included).

NEWS

025

Dante Drives V8 Supercars

Held over four days from 26 February to 1 March 2015, the Clipsal 500 is a massive V8 Supercar street race that brings over 285,000 people through its gates. Run on a 3.7km long circuit through Adelaide’s beautiful East Parklands, the Clipsal 500 attracts a huge audience both at the track and via broadcast. Staging Connections’ Adelaide team has been involved with the race since it was first run in 1999, and in 2015, radically upgraded its production infrastructure. “The South Australian Motor Sport Board had been talking to us about taking the event to the next level in terms on technology,” said Trent Parkin, sales manager at Staging Connections, “so we started looking at the different platforms available to run the audio system, and new ways to upgrade the TV reticulation system.” Tatu Murch-Lempinen, Staging Connections operations manager in Adelaide, assisted Trent as they designed a new system to make the event’s backbone the equal of any event in the world. “We began looking at options as last year’s event ended,” Tatu explained. “Up until 2015, we’d been running the audio around the track over PSTN telephone lines. It went through a main distribution frame and was all copper cabling that ran from point-to-point. Trent and I started researching the option of running the audio system via fibreoptic cabling. In the end, Audinate’s Dante network, with its star topology, perfectly suited our needs.” For those at the back of the class: Dante allows

audio devices fitted with a Dante interface to send and receive audio channels over standard Ethernet infrastructure. This means off-theshelf Ethernet switches, fibreoptic cabling and standard Cat6 cabling can be used to move audio over large distances and to many devices with a minimum of equipment, time and investment. Best of all, a Dante network’s channel capacity is only limited by its Ethernet switch’s bandwidth; a single standard gigabit Ethernet switch can carry a whopping 512 channels of audio. “The more we plotted out what we needed and where we needed it, the more it fitted Dante,” confirmed Trent. To form the core of the system, Staging Connections acquired and rolled out an entirely new Ethernet platform. “We purchased a large quantity of fibreoptic cables and Cisco switches,” continued Tatu. “The longest fibre run around the track was about 1.2km. There were eight lines run previously, which we’ve had upgraded to 24 lines. We also have some temporary military-grade fibre running through underground pits.” All audio devices required to run the event, including mixing desks, inputs, outputs and power amplifiers, were connected back to the Cisco switches via Cat6. For mixing duties, Trent and Tatu decided on Yamaha’s CL5 digital mixers. Tatu: “We ran two CL5s, one main and one redundant which was slaved via MIDI and mirrored what the main desk was doing. We had a laptop running the Dante controller software, and in the case of any issues, we would have

swapped the patch and made the secondary desk active. The changeover time would have been 20 seconds, if we had needed to do it.” Deployed around track were a range of Yamaha’s R-series remote input/output interfaces. These ranged in size from the Rio3224-D 32-in/24-out unit positioned at the media compound to the 16-in/8-out Rio168-D, right down to Ri8-Ds and Ro8-Ds that offer eight inputs and outputs respectively. With a fully integrated Dante network now available for all audio services on site, a variety of tasks became simpler. Outside broadcast provider Gearhouse Broadcast connected its HD-5 truck directly to Staging Connections’ audio system with two cables by using Yamaha’s new RMio64-D DanteMADI bridge. Over four days, through Adelaide summer heat and all the demands of a vast outdoor event, both the audio and video systems performed flawlessly. Mark Warren, CEO of the South Australian Motor Sport Board, saw a significant improvement in the quality of the audio at the event. “It was clear to us that the previous analogue audio system was in need of some attention. Staging Connections fully fibreoptic backbone gives us greater flexibility to adjust audio levels to each different patron’s needs.”  Yamaha: www.yamahaproaudio.com Audinate Dante: www.audinate.com Staging Connections: www.stagingconnections.com.au

026

FEATURE

War Stories The new First World War exhibition at the Australian War Memorial is a moving and engaging showcase of the best in AV presentation technologies. Text:/ Christopher Holder

If you want a glimpse of the future of museum exhibits and how a gallery can leverage technology and media to engage a much broader range of patrons, then look no further than the Australian War Memorial’s new First World War exhibition. If you thought an exhibit like this would be full of blokes in gaberdine jackets obsessing over the calibre of their howitzers and the forward positions of the Coldstream Guards, then you’d be quiet wrong. You’re just as likely to encounter misty-eyed women following the trail of a digger’s love letters home, or a student digging deep into the first hand account of the Gallipoli landing. It’s a fresh approach made possible by the expert and judicious application of current audiovisual technologies; left-of-field execution of ‘customer facing’ user interfaces; and ultimately a better understanding of who

that potential audience actually is. And when you think about it, that just about describes your ideal AV integration: know your clients’ needs; and make the ‘complicated’ look easy. FRESH LOOK

The Australian War Memorial (AWM), to its credit, knew from early planning stages that this new exhibition would be different. Gone are the days of papier mâché models, static displays and a drafty theatrette. AWM engaged technical experts with specialist museum sector smarts as well as some newcomers who could bring a fresh perspective to how the content could be delivered. Virtually all aspects of the museum environment now have AV woven through their fabric to provider a richer, more detailed, and more immersive experience. Traditional

showcases of exhibits now have digital labels. That papier mâché model I mentioned of ANZAC cove has been replaced with a digital 3D model with a touch overlay. Photographic archives can now be explored via large touch walls. Official archive photography is now displayed in magnificent detail on video walls. Certain traditional painted diorama backdrops have been replaced with digital video animations. The audio tour is smart and provides position sensing for a set ’n’ forget voiceover experience that’s always relevant. The gallery-wide soundscape leverages up-to-the-moment digital processing to provide a detailed multi-channel immersive audio experience. I hope you enjoy this journey through the new gallery, as we hear from the technical and creative masterminds behind the exhibits.

FEATURE

027

SOUNDS OF WAR A highlight of this project was the soundscape, which was thematically linked to create cohesive sound for the entire First World War gallery. The creative soundscape for the gallery allows visitors to ‘discover’ each exhibit with atmospheric sounds and elements. Sound designer, Luke Mynott, Director of Sonar Sound walks us through his creation: “We’re asked to create soundscapes that gave a sense of moving through the war. There are five different 45-minute soundscapes in five different zones. Mostly the zones are focussed on specific artefacts or dioramas. The first accompanies the Ascot boat [a 1.5-tonne steel lifeboat from HMAS Ascot used in the landings] at the opening of the gallery. It was brought back from Gallipoli complete with bullet holes. The curators wanted a soundscape that captured its spiritual significance – it’s more than a military object, it’s a relic. So, unlike the other soundscapes, it has a more musical drive about it. “The soundscapes themselves needed, of course, to be historically accurate. We consulted at length with the curatorial staff who gave us the specifics regarding which weapons would be heard and when. “We were able to track down some of those gun reports in existing sound libraries. But I tried to get a recording session done with an armorer in Australia. Unfortunately he said it would be nigh on impossible, given the gun regulations in Australia, and prohibitively expensive to find a location quiet enough.

“I did some more research and found armorers in America who had all the guns and had no issues firing them whenever we needed them to. We sent a USbased effects recordist out to Arizona and we got all the weapons reports we needed. They were beautiful recordings and, historically, precisely the guns we need. The US guys were amazing. “Oh, if you’re looking to get the Lee-Enfield rifle you’ll need the Lewis gun” — they helped us a lot. But no, I didn’t get to drive a tank. “Apart from the weapons we did a lot of voice recording sessions of people being injured and dying. Which got a bit heavy after a while. We spent some time plunging bayonets into watermelons, but mostly there’s more than enough blood and guts in existing sound libraries. “All the soundscapes were mixed using a 5.1 ‘canvas’. The Ascot boat soundscape is more conventionally mixed in 5.1 while the others use the five loudspeaker channels (Martin Audio DD6, six-inch speakers driven by QSC amplification) as mono point sources. In that way you get more of a sense of the audio moving around, with plenty of dialogue, atmospheres and effects. It means people might be standing under a more directional speaker and then only hearing ambient spill from other speakers. That’s preferable to having an all encompassing wash of sound. “The majority of the work was done in our Sydney studios at the Fox lot. We had some of the Martin Audio speakers set up in our foyer as a reference. Once we were happy, we decamped to Canberra

and finished the mixes on site. After sign-off, we took our ProTools mixes and ported our files over to QSys (stored in a 64-channel multitrack format), which was the main DSP delivery platform. “We delivered the 45-minute loops as ‘stems’ — dialogue, effects, atmospheres, music — so the AWM could respond to patron feedback… it provides them with some flexibility. The content of each zone’s soundscape are spread across four media players. The house Medialon and Watchout systems provide the master timecode.” Rutledge AV provided the hardware that allowed the gallery to accurately focus sound and automatically adjust playback levels on the amount of background sound present, including motion triggers. In addition, Rutledge installed a sophisticated signal processing solution (QSC QSys) to provide precise and discrete control over the separate exhibits. (Main image: Mental Media.) Sonar (Specialist Audio Services): www.sonarsound.com.au Rutledge AV (Hardware Supply & Installation): www.rutledge.com.au Technical Audio Group (TAG) (Martin, QSC): (02) 9519 0909 or info@tag.com.au Martin Audio: www.martinaudio.com QSC Audio: www.qsc.com

028

FEATURE

200 PHONES, 50+ WAPS & A BIG TOUCHSCREEN WALL Mental Media has pushed the boat out here. This is an audio tour on steroids. I thought we’d investigate it not so much from an audio tour perspective but for the technologies it uses; technologies crucial to many a contemporary digital signage deployment. The tour starts by grabbing your personal audio device (which just happens to be an Android phone with a heavily modified OS) and placing it on the large MultiTaction video wall in the orientation gallery. There are five different audio tour programs to choose from. Once you place your device down on the touchscreen bench, and the MultiTaction cells recognise it, you’re presented with a menu. You can drag and drop the desired tour into a placeholder that then ‘loads’ (or, more correctly, selects) that tour onto the device. You’re now good to go. You don’t need to interact with the device again except to fine tune the volume. As you walk through the gallery, the device triggers content relevant to that position thanks to some clever indoor positioning. Here’s how: There are some 56 wi-fi wireless access points (WAPs) spread throughout the gallery; some directional some omni. Mental Media measured the signal strength from those WAPs and created a fingerprint (or map) of the entire space. The app (developed by Art Processors) reads that fingerprint – effectively allowing the device to see all those access points. From there an API in the app (developed by the Fraunhofer Institute) interprets the signal strength, compares it against the known fingerprint, locates the device, and triggers the relevant audio track at the appropriate point. The WAP doesn’t carry or push data, it simply collects info from the devices. Does that sound a little like using beacons? Similar. Beacons use Bluetooth rather than wi-fi. Bruce Brown, head of Mental Media, did a thorough appraisal of how the market is using beacons and/or WAPs and surmised that Bluetooth beacons weren’t going to cut it. He couldn’t find a beacon that wasn’t batteryoperated, which makes them unsuitable for mission-

critical applications. Plus, when you have dozens of these points throughout a venue and a handful start to lose power, they’re effectively a lump of plastic stuck to a wall – potentially hard to locate when they’re not pinging you. Beacons also tend to be lower-powered than a WAP. Meanwhile, a WAP can be connected via PoE (power over Ethernet) so they can be powered and monitored remotely. Bruce Brown: “WAPs are the way to go. We’ve used a standard Aruba WAP at the AWM. We then engaged the Fraunhofer Institute (the equivalent of the CSIRO in Germany, best known for developing the MP3 audio codec). It has a large department working on positioning in general. So we’re talking about driverless cars and sophisticated warehousing

systems, or, my favourite, putting a device in a soccer ball to accurately sense its position on the field — which will change the way the game is described and analysed, and put an end to goal line disputes. “We also engaged Art Processors, which did the positioning system for MONA in Hobart (see AV Issue 24), to develop the app, building it around the Fraunhofer API that reads the wi-fi density ‘fingerprint’ of the gallery.” (Images: Mental Media.) Mental Media (Technical Direction/Content Production): www.mentalmedia.com.au MultiTaction: www.multitaction.com Art Processors: artprocessors.net Fraunhofer Institute: www.fraunhofer.de

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FEATURE

Mt St Quentin: is one of two traditional dioramas in the redeveloped WW1 Galleries that have been updated with the addition of a continuously moving animated backdrop from Melbourne-based video artist Arlo Mountford. Two Projectiondesign F32 projectors from Barco with ultra-short throw lenses from Navitar are employed to project the eight hours of content onto a custom front-projection surface that wraps the rear of each diorama. The video and audio content for each diorama is fed from its own Dataton Watchout media

server via Lightware DVI-over-Cat-6 extenders. Due to the complexities of trying to project onto such a tight curve (approx. 3.5m radius on the Desert Patrol diorama) with ultra-short throw lenses and keeping in mind the hardware needed to be unobtrusive while being readily serviceable, Dean Stevenson from Interactive Controls chose to use the Dome Projection camera-based auto-alignment system that allows an operator to create a custom 3D mesh that exports directly in to the Dataton Watchout software.

The installation was programmed and installed by Interactive Controls. (Image: Mental Media.) Interactive Controls (Dataton Watchout, Medialon show control, Dome Projection software): www.interactivecontrols.com.au Barco: www.barco.com Arlo Mountford (Diorama Digital Backgrounds & Sound Design): www.arlomountford.com Lightware: (02) 9476 8850 or www.lightware.com.au

CRAZY RESOLUTION Two video walls display super-high resolution digitised WWI images. The official photography from the likes of Frank Hurley were originally on 8 x 10-inch glass plates. The resolution of these large-format photos is astonishing and needed an equally astonishing display technology to do the images justice. Bruce Brown of Mental Media, the lead technical contractor, decided on a shootout of the rear-project video cube technologies. Eventually the Eyevis OmniShape won the day in a hotly-contested runoff against the Christie Microtile product. The Microtile is brighter but it was deemed the OmniShapes ran quieter and cooler, features particularly important to the AWM. The OmniShape is a tad larger as well and can also be accessed from the front, which is important when rear access is limited. The 7 x 7 OmniShapes array displays the official photography at a mind-bending resolution. Every OmniShape is XGA resolution (1024 x 768) resulting in a total count of 10,000 pixels (at around 6m) across. The images – driven by 16 synchronised Dataton Watchout outputs from four media servers – dissolve from one to the next and it’s mesmerising. If you thought 4K resolution was an eye-opener then you simply won’t believe how beautifully these photographs are rendered. (Image: Mental Media.) ITI Image Group (Eyevis): www.iti-imagegroup.com.au

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USING ANDROID TABLETS The world is awash with Android tablets. To say ‘you can’t give them away’ has some truth… telcos pass them out like confetti as deal sweeteners. But at their core, the humble Android tablet is a super-cheap touchscreen digital sign. The AWM’s digital labels are all Android tablets – normally two per showcase. The digital label is a godsend to curators (who can manage, edit, and update content easily and remotely) and to patrons (who can dig deeper into descriptions and explore related objects in a way conventional labels never could). All the tablets are powered via PoE and updated over Ethernet via the CMS server. An Ethernet to USB converter is used at the tablet to access push data and power to the device. (Image: Holly)

HDBASET ALL (WELL… MOST OF) THE WAY Linking the displays and projectors back to the servers are kilometres of Cat-6 almost exclusively carrying HDBaseT. All except the showcases displaying conservation objects which demand a stable temperature. In those cases the HDBaseT receivers (which emit heat) were replaced by passive VGA baluns (which don’t). Elsewhere Lightware components combine with DVI connectors (“we’re trying to keep away from HDMI to avoid the possibility of plugs falling out longer term,” noted Bruce Brown). Bruce also spec’ed EDID managers between the computers and the HDBaseT devices to circumvent any problems with resolution incompatibility. “The small additional expense to put an EDID manager in line saves you a lot of time on site if you do run into a problem,” said Bruce.

ANZAC FROM ABOVE Remember the old-school 3D models, where you’d press a momentary switch on a panel and it would light up a bulb on the model? Aaron Pegram, Senior Historian, Military History, at the memorial does: “In the old galleries we had a large papier mâché model of the Gallipoli peninsula and of the fighting positions at ANZAC cove. Technology has advanced so much in the nearly 30 years since that was first put on display. Now we’re able to use up to 100 aerial photos taken of the Gallipoli peninsula by the members of the Royal Navy Air Service in the First World War. These were assembled into a large aerial mosaic then draped over a 3D terrain model of the peninsula. Using these technologies and the creative thinking of Holly, it’s forced us to look at that story in a new and exciting way. To make the story of the First World War relatable to all Australians.” The realtime 3D environment on the 3 x 3 touchscreen (a Planar Clarity Matrix LCD video wall system) is something to behold, providing perspective and context to one of WWI’s most famous theatres of war, and allows those attending the museum a way of visualising the ‘where’ of the stories, letters and despatches.

The original reconnaissance photos were often shot on large-format film with spectacular resolution. The 100 or so images were stitched together in a montage. Holly then purchased modern-day satellite imagery of the area. The resolution of the data is a very workable 2sqm per pixel. The old aerial shots are overlaid on the new to present a 3D model that can be rotated and manipulated on screen. The 3 x 3 video wall exploits every pixel of the HD (1080p) displays for a total of 5760 x 3120 pixels. Each row of three screens is driven by an AMD FirePro W7000 4-port workstation graphics card. Each workstation runs a copy of the custom 3D application designed and built by Holly, which syncs its state via the network, keeping all nine screens in step. When combined with the infra-red touch overlay, the result is a highly-detailed image that responds instantaneously to touch. (Image: Australian War Memorial.) Holly (Co-Executive Producer AV design & production): www.hollysydney.com IDT (Planar): www.idt.com.au Planar: www.planar.com

GALLERY HARDWARE HIGHLIGHTS 4 × Samsung 55-inch monitors 101 × Outform iMonitor 10-inch 14 × Outform iMonitor 18-inch 15 × Advantech 15-inch XGA monitor 13 × Clarity Matrix 46-inch video wall monitor 1 × Ideum 55-inch 4k touchscreen 79 × Eyevis OmniShapes 44 × Lightware HDBaseT transmitter/receiver (DVI) 4 × Projectiondesign (Barco) F32 projectors 18 × Medialon MIPHD interactive players 2 × BrightSign digital signage players 29 × Martin Audio DD6 loudspeakers 27 × 4RU Interactive Controls Custom Multi-Output Display Computers 9 × Dataton Watchout V5 Software Licenses 1 × Medialon Manager Pro Control Software

ADDITIONAL CREDITS Cunningham Martyn Design (Exhibition Design): www.cmdesign.com.au Luscious International (Executive Producer AV Design & Production): www.luscious.com.au

Digital Signage for all applications Retail, corporate communications, education, health, public signage & hospitality. From enterprise content management solutions to single standalone players. Options include Integrated player displays - tablets, DVB-T, HD Capture, IPTV, Touch-wayfinding, I/O Control and Data Integration. www.onelan.com

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FEATURE

Bagging a New Business School The exterior of the UTS Chau Chak Wing building has claimed all the headlines but the audiovisual fitout is anything but average. Text:/ Derek Powell Images:/ Andrew Worssam There is so much to the story of Australia’s first Frank Gehry designed building that it is easy to overlook the innovative design of the teaching facilities. The new home of University of Technology Sydney’s Business School is named for businessman and philanthropist Dr Chau Chak Wing who donated $20M to the project, along with $5M in scholarships to allow Chinese and Australian students to study here and in China. Dr Chau Chak Wing is delighted with the realization of Gehry’s vision. “His design is distinctive, full of passion,” said Dr Wing. “There is nothing like it in Australia,” he added with masterful understatement. IT’S BETTER ON THE INSIDE

Indeed, rivers of ink have already been spilt over the AU$180 million building’s eyecatching exterior, which to many, resembles a crumpled paper bag. However a close look reveals a design that is no mere gimmick but truly iconic. Contrary to first impressions, the building was designed from the inside out, taking as its metaphor a ‘tree of knowledge’ with a trunk branching out to different areas of learning and research. Inside, that trunk takes literal form in a spectacular oval structure of timber, housing two stacked classrooms that is one of the many arresting features of the spectacular interior design. These unique spaces place the teacher at the centre of the room – Socratic style - with the students tiered on all sides like a Harvard room. It’s a layout that provides tremendous opportunity for student participation in robust discussion and collaboration but it is also a layout that provides a tremendous challenge to the AV design team. Leading the audiovisual design, in close consultation with UTS, was a team of consultants from integrated infrastructure firm AECOM who had just completed RMIT’s Swanston Academic Building [featured in AV Issue 32]. The team worked closely with Reg Collins, himself a muchrespected icon in the university audiovisual

scene, recently retired after an unprecedented three decades as UTS Audio Visual Services manager. During the project, Reg was the UTS AV/IT consultant to the City Campus Master Plan and ensured AECOM’s designs complemented the Business School teaching needs and meshed seamlessly with the wider UTS infrastructure. IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS

I spoke with AECOM principal audio visual consultant Mike Comiskey, who agreed that these spaces required a unique approach. “You don’t have straight walls, there are unusual windows and lots of light so it required everyone to work together and stay on top of the design,” he noted. “But it provided opportunities to do some great work. Even if you know something’s ‘impossible’ you can go off and try to find a way to do it.” The lower of the two oval rooms opens out to a break-out area and is used for a variety of functions

as well as teaching. The ‘impossible’ challenge of providing projection to an in-the-round audience was met by using three pairs of projectors and six retractable screens allowing two sources to be viewed simultaneously by students anywhere in the room. The in-room action can also be routed to overflow areas outside. Here, provision has been made to plug in two mobile NEC LCD screens to relay proceedings using the projected images from PC, document camera and Blu-ray sources; as well as a number of Sony PTZ cameras. Switching and control duties throughout the building are handled by Crestron DM; in this case centered on a DM-MD 8 x 8 matrix switcher. Upstairs, in the second oval classroom, the layout is similar, though with a larger Crestron DM-MD 16 x 16 which allows the opportunity to video conference, routing to and from a shared Lifesize codec located in the auditorium. The

FEATURE

033 Far Left: The unforgettable shape of Frank Gehry's first Australian building. It's not hard to see why the shape has been humourously likened to that of a crumpled paper bag. Top: The Collaborative theatre features a Beyerdynamic delegate microphone system that provides voice lift using push to talk microphones arranged in a daisy chain configuration. Middle: Learning spaces throughout the building have a wonderful connection to the city. In the seminar rooms, moveable furniture and flexible audiovisual design allows collaboration, debate, group work and presentations. Bottom: The stacked oval classrooms have been constructed from around 150 large laminated timber beams, each weighing up to two tonnes and the longest measuring 12 metres. A 23-inch Samsung screen stationed at the entrance to the teaching rooms provides room timetable information.

collaborative focus of the space is sharpened by a incorporating a Beyerdynamic discussion system with thirty mic/speaker delegate units, arranged one between each two students. This provides vocal lift throughout the parliamentary-style chamber to promote truly interactive discussion from all students. THEATRE OF THE OBSERVED

The largest space in the building is a 240-seat tiered multi-purpose auditorium on the ground floor. AECOM collaborated extensively with the UTS AV staff on the design, and put a lot of effort into enabling it as a true flexible use theatre. For front line teaching, it can be controlled from the lectern where it operates like a standard UTS learning space but the real power comes from the addition of a full control room in the bio box at the rear. Since it is intended for a variety of public events, the auditorium is fitted out for videoconferencing and video production with a Sony HD-SDI switcher, high quality PTZ cameras and patch points for portable cameras in useful places around the room. A Yamaha LS9-16 digital audio mixer is coupled to the roomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s primary BSS audio processor and microphone patching to floor boxes down the front that enables panel discussions and more from the stage area. Above the bio box sits a pair of 8,000 lumen Panasonic PT-DZ870 projectors providing bright and razor sharp side-by-side images on the front wall. Routing through a CorioMaster Mini multi-window videowall processor allows up to four images at a time to share the twin screens and annotation is also possible using the Crestron Digital Graphics Engine. At the centre of the signal path in this ultraconnected space sits a Crestron DM-MD32x32 matrix which integrates everything from the cameras to the projectors converting all signals to Digital Media format. Lecture capture and streaming is enabled by a combination of the CorioMaster with a Crestron Capture HD appliance. In a thoughtful move, there are two large screen LCD monitors positioned at the

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Right: Dual LCD screens at the front of the teaching area in the auditorium can either mimic the main display on the presentation wall or act as far-end monitors in videoconference mode. Far right: Screens in the two oval classrooms are arranged as three pairs of two screens so students seated anywhere in the room have uninterrupted views of all content.

front of the teaching/presentation space so the presenters can see what’s happening behind on the big screens or view the ‘far end’ participants in a videoconference presentation. THEATRE OF COLLABORATION

Directly above the auditorium sits a similar sized room fitted out as a collaborative theatre. Instead of theatre-style seating with high density table- arm chairs, this theatre places desks in front of the students, broadening the kinds of teaching and learning activities that are possible. The 120-seat theatre features the now-familiar double tier arrangement with two rows of desks on each level, facilitating the formation of groups between each pair of desks. To promote discussion in such a large space, Beyerdynamic delegate stations are placed on the desk, one between two students. The units have a push to talk gooseneck microphone and a speaker in each station which provides clear distributed sound across the room without the need for extensive gating and compression. Eleven seminar rooms are spread across the four main teaching floors of the building in a variety of configurations. Most feature the same line up of source equipment: PC, laptop input, Blu-ray player and visualizer but there are a number of different display layouts. Many rooms have the Smart 87-

inch interactive whiteboards and most rooms have multiple projectors to facilitate break-out arrangements for group work. In the seminar rooms, flexible furniture is the norm, with tables and chairs on wheels to facilitate quick, no-fuss rearrangement to suit the task at hand. In all cases, switching and control is Crestron – with the seminar rooms mostly running the DMPS200C or 300C all-in-one presentation systems. Digital signage systems have been installed throughout the public areas, including the extensive student commons, with the larger displays being either NEC P462 (46-inch) or P552 (55-inch) screens, each running on an internal PC in the OPC slot. In addition there is a 23-inch Samsung screen stationed at the entrance to the teaching rooms to provide just in time class timetable information. INSPIRING THE EXTRAORDINARY

There’s no doubt that the extraordinary form of the building will elicit a reaction from all who experience it, but Roy Green, Dean of the UTS Business School put the design into perspective at the opening, commenting that the building “… provides our students and generations to come with inspiring spaces that enable them to literally think outside the box and develop a learning experience that expands way beyond the limitations of traditional university buildings.” It certainly inspired the audio visual team.

AECOM’s Mike Comiskey considers himself lucky to have worked on the project. “I’m never going to get to meet Frank Gehry,” he commented, “but when you’re not exposed to simply four walls with a rectilinear layout you’ve got to really think about how you can achieve certain things. In a building like this — the job of design becomes really, really interesting.”  THE PLAYERS Owner: University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Design Architect: Gehry Partners, LLP Executive Architect: Daryl Jackson Robin Dyke Architects Main Works Contractor: Lend Lease Audiovisual Consultant: AECOM Acoustical Consultant: Marshall Day Acoustics Lighting Consultant: L’Observatoire International (USA) Audiovisual Subcontractor: Concept AV

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PRINCIPAL EQUIPMENT (COURTESY OF AECOM) Switching and Control: Matrix Switchers: Presentation Systems: Controllers: Graphics Engines:

DM-MD-8×8; 16×16 and 32×32 DMPS200C; DMPS300C CP3N DGE-2

Source Equipment Blu-ray Players: Visualisers: PTZ Cameras: Switchers: Classroom Capture:

Sony BDP-S1100 (× 18) Wolf Vision VZ-8Light3 (× 14) Wolf Vision EYE-12 Sony BRCZ330 (× 8); BRCH700P (all HDSDI out) Sony BRS200 Crestron Capture HD

Display Projectors: Screens: Monitors: Interactive Whiteboards:

NEC PA-622UG – with various NEC lenses (× 42) NEC NP-UM330W IWB Projectors (× 8) Panasonic PT-DZ870EK (× 4) Grandview (various GRSG range) 72in – 150in NEC P552 with NEC OPC slot PC (× 10) NEC P462with NEC OPC slot PC (× 16) NEC P462-DST with OPC slot PC and touch overlay Samsung 230 MXN 23-inch LCD Touch Monitor (× 26) Smart SBX-885 × 17)

Audio Delegate Mic Systems: Beyerdynamic MCS 501 – upper oval space (× 30) Beyerdynamic MCS 521 – in Collaborative Theatre (×64) Discussion Controllers: Beyerdynamic MCS 50 and MCS 50-64 Lectern/Table Mics: Shure MX-412 (× 27) Radio Mics: Sennheiser EW-312 G3-A Lapel kits plus chargers (× 23) Sennheiser SKM 500-953 G3 Hand Held (× 92) Digital Mixer (Auditorium): Yamaha LS9-16 with Dante-MY16-AUD board DSP Systems: BSS BLU-100; BLU-101; BLU-806 Ceiling Speakers: Bosch LC4-UC12E Sound Tube CM-52S Wall Mount Speakers: Turbosound Impact 55TW (× 26) Turbosound Impact 35TW Induction Loop Amps: Ampetronic MLD9 (× 6) IR Hearing Assistance: Williams Sound WIR TX 75 plus receivers and kits (× 9) Racks

Middle Atlantic SRSR-2-12, and SRSR-2-14; MFB 2005 B (45RU)

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Adding Fibre to the Menu A fibreoptic digital media network upgrade to Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre is realising the AV team’s original hi-def vision. Text:/ Andy Ciddor

The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) has an unusual relationship with its owners, the Victorian state government. Rather than merely being a profitable venue hosting conventions, events, trade shows and exhibitions, its primary role is to bring business to the state and every aspect of its extensive operations is focussed on that goal. In place of the usual approach of eking out just a couple more years of operation from infrastructure and equipment that’s nearing the end of its profitable life, the philosophy at MCEC is to look for the business advantage in making pre-emptive improvements and upgrades. The advances are harnessed to build better relationships with existing clients and to seek new clients who are attracted to the facilities that the upgrades enable.

IN SOURCING THE AV

From the day MCEC opened, it has been the centre’s goal to provide the majority of clients’ technical facility requirements in-house. Essential facilities, such as simple PA, video projection/ display, conferencing, lighting, staging and room control is part of the base hire for every one of the centre’s 42 meeting rooms. Even the banquet spaces and the plenary halls come equipped, configured and crewed with sufficient facilities for a broad range of activities before any additional client cost or intervention is required. While third-party hire and production companies are welcomed, the included in-house facilities are usually more than sufficient for bread-and-butter meetings, seminars and conferences. What MCEC aims to offer is a simple, smooth and painless experience that enables clients to do what they

want, without any perceived complexity. And as we’re all acutely aware, making things looks smooth and simple takes an awful lot of careful planning, configuration, support, maintenance and preparation for the blind intervention of Murphy’s Law. ORIGINAL PROMISE

MCEC is big, the largest such venue in the southern hemisphere, with facilities spread across an extensive site. To minimise cable runs the facility is constructed as three clusters of spaces, each with a local control/machine room. The clusters are linked via redundant fibre rings to a central control room, allowing connections between any source and any display device on the site. Even so, some signal runs from individual meeting spaces to their control/server room are pushing at the limit of most copper cabling technologies.

FEATURE

In accordance with everyone’s best guess at the time of construction, the then-cuttingedge digital video network linking the lecterns, HD projectors, rack-mounted PCs and HD PTZ cameras in each space was based around Category 6 STP cable with a maximum bandwidth of 250Mbps per pair. In everyday use the video quality on some of the longer runs did not live up to expectations, so it was decided to limit video transmission to 720p60 (1280 x 720 non-interlaced at 60fps). This was not quite the HD/1080p60 (1920 x 1080 at 60fps) that MCEC had promised to its clients. WAIT & BNC

In 2010, less than a year after the Convention Centre opened its doors, and after considering the available options for bandwidth, run length, and technological stability, the decision was

taken to install a broadcast-standard 3G-SDI network (2.97Gbps) to deliver full-bandwidth uncompressed HD between the sources and displays in each room. Video transport between spaces was limited to 3G-SDI signal converted to either RGBHV (VGA) or RGBHV over DVI. The transition to SDI involved opening walls and pulling 75Ω coax cable from every video I/O point to its associated control/server room, a costly and time-consuming undertaking. To many of us with a long history in AV, it is ever-so-slightly ironic that modern, state-of-the-art, low-crosstalk shielded twisted-pair cable was being usurped as a video carrier by ancient and venerable coax cable terminated by BNC connectors. Designed by SMPTE for high bandwidth broadcast applications, the 3G-SDI data stream may carry embedded stereo audio and image metadata, but it isn’t intended to handle the DDC (Display Data Channel, ie. EDID, HDCP, etc) negotiations between devices to arrive at suitable transmission formats. Hence all video feeds between spaces had no DDC capability and so required operator intervention every time a room was set up and every time a user brought in their own device. Although optical fibre had been a technological contender for all video transport both during construction and at the point of the SDI upgrade, at the time it had simply not been cost-effective to purchase, install or configure at those points. Since the 3G-SDI upgrade the demand for increasing resolution in video images continued to grow, while the range of resolutions, connection types, pixel depths, aspect ratios and frame rates on both sources and displays continued to proliferate with gay abandon. By now, the original concept of MCEC being a simple plug and play environment for clients had been

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abandoned and operator intervention was the modus operandi, requiring far more staff than had been anticipated to maintain the illusion of seamless operation. ANYTHING TO ANYWHERE

In 2013, with MCEC’s first five-year capital equipment replacement cycle about to roll around, Michael Walker, infrastructure and equipment manager for technical services, started looking for replacements for some key pieces of equipment that would have a major impact on the clients’ experience and satisfaction in the venue. Unsurprisingly the long-promised capability for any client to turn up for a presentation, put their device on the lectern and simply begin a session which could be shared anywhere in the MCEC was very appealing at a variety of levels, so a search for a new video distribution system was undertaken. This time around, optical fibre was a prime candidate. Not only does fibre have the bandwidth to handle 1080p60 and well beyond, but unlike the situation a decade ago when the venue was being designed, the terminating optoelectronics are now mainstream devices at realistic prices, with proven records of reliably delivering the goods. Opening the walls for fibre runs would be a one-off event because all that’s required to get more bandwidth out of the system at a later date is to update the terminating optoelectronics in meeting rooms and equipment rooms. ROLLING OUT FIBRE

The extensive fibre system rolled out by Rutledge AV is based around AMX Enova DGX digital media matrix switchers, which include such capabilities as independent audio and video routing and distribution, native resolution scaling, embedded converting, transcoding,

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ENOVA NETWORK 43 × AMX Enova DGX 16 × 16 enclosures, each loaded with: 4 × Enova DGX-I-HDMI – HDMI input boards with HDCP 4 × Enova DGX-I-DXL-MMF – Multimode fibre input boards 4 × Enova DGX-O-DXL-MMF – Multimode fibre output boards 4 × Enova DGX-O-HDMI – HDMI output boards with SmartScale 16 × Enova DGX-AIE – Audio Insert or Extract boards 1 × AMX Enova DGX 64 × 64 enclosure loaded with Enova DGX-I-DXF-SMS – Single Mode fibre input boards Enova DGX-O-DXF-SMS, – Single Mode fibre output boards Enova DGX-I-DXL-MMF – Multimode fibre input boards Enova DGX-O-DXL-MMF – Multimode fibre output boards Enova DGX-O-HDMI – HDMI output boards with SmartScale Enova DGX-I-HDMI – HDMI input boards with HDCP Enova DGX-AIE – Audio Insert or Extract boards

An MCEC lectern sporting its new 9-inch AMX Modero ViewPoint touch panel nestled in its docking station.

amplification, HDCP management, embedded Ethernet, analogue input encoding and twisted pair distribution. The I/O frames take media cards for single mode fibre (up to 10km), multimode fibre (up to 300m), DVI, HDMI and UTP. Standalone AMX DXlink transmitters and receivers provide the meeting room and device endpoints for the fibre network. The current generation of Enova DGX is based on a 10gbps architecture which can handle uncompressed 4k/UHD video at 30fps, while the recently announced 100 series of Enova handles 4k at a full 60fps plus de-embedded audio and DSP processing. The switchers are controlled by AMX NetLinx NX protocol which enables them to be integrated into the existing facility-wide AMX control network. ONE GOOD LECTERN DESERVES ANOTHER

One of the stand-out facilities at MCEC has always been its fleet of custom-designed lecterns that not only come with all the usual facilities like twin microphones, an AMX room control tablet, a built-in PC, remote USB sockets, a slot in the front for client artwork/branding, audio and video inputs, client laptop inputs and LED script lighting, but they also have dual cup-holders. Now, the additional capabilities added to MCEC’s AV networks required a major redevelopment of the user interface for the wireless AMX tablets in each lectern, so a decision was made to upgrade all of the tablets to the AMX nine-inch Modero ViewPoint as part of

Transmitters & Receivers 122 × DXLF-MFTX-MMD – Multi-format Multimode fibre transmitters 118 × DXLF-HDMIRX-MMD – HDMI Multimode fibre receivers, duplex

the redevelopment. Not only are the new tablets higher in resolution, more responsive, brighter and faster than their predecessors, they are also connected directly to their LAN by Ethernet when docked into the lectern, only cutting over to the 5GHz wi-fi network when removed from the docking station. The previous panels connected only via 2.4GHz wi-fi and had connectivity issues under some circumstances. FULLY COVERED WI-FI

MCEC is rightly very proud of the extensive wi-fi capacity available to clients and visitors throughout its facilities, and has worked very hard to ensure that wireless coverage meets the peak load requirements and WAP handoffs are effectively seamless. During one large technical conference last year, the network was handling something in the vicinity of 70,000 simultaneous connection sessions. With those levels of wifi activity, it’s clearly safer to keep any critical control applications for meeting rooms well away from wi-fi (most especially 2.4GHz) wherever possible. PROJECTOR UPGRADE: BOXER CLEVER

One other noteworthy upgrade in this round of equipment replacements is the projectors in the three sections of the plenary hall. The two HD Barco FLM14HD (14k ANSI lumens) projectors in the side halls and the HD Barco FLM18HD (18k ANSI lumens) projector in the main hall are being replaced by a trio of Christie Boxer

4K30 (4096 x 2160 at 30k ANSI lumens). These 3DLP projectors with 2 x dual 3G-SDI, 2 x Twin Displayport and HDMI inputs, are powered by six user-replaceable 450W mercury arc lamps, rather than the more familiar and ferocious Xenon arc. MCEC is always pushing its technical infrastructure as a major selling point to the meetings and events industry and has recently won an international digital infrastructure award on the back of the fibre network upgrade. It’s refreshing to see a venue whose owners not only pay lip service to the idea that its AV facilities are critical to its operations, but actually puts its money where its PR mouth is, by committing to keep the facilities at the forefront rather than cutting critical corners.  CONTACTS Rutledge AV (Integration): (03) 9488 1500 or www.rutledge.com.au AMX: www.amx.com Christie: www.christiedigital.com

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TUTORIAL

Where Less is More Mix Minus, Clean Feed, Return Audio… call it what you will, but a successful conference call can be doomed without it. Text:/ Gep Blake

A second feels like an hour. Sweat drips from your palms into the console as the entire board of executives sits patiently in the boardroom of Particularly Important Inc, looking up at the video conference screen: waiting for their esteemed colleague in Beijing to respond to the critical question put to her by the company president. You’ve checked everything before the meeting. You’ve heard the operator at the other end recite “Mary had a little lamb” in Mandarin. PA and mics all working at your end. Levels are good. Should be okay…. She smiles, nods, opens her mouth, gets about one and a half words out and starts to speak in slow motion, all the while gesticulating madly at her ear saying “sorry, I – seem – to – be – hearing – myself – back – a – bit – delayed…” Hearing your remote guests is only half the story. They need to hear you without extraneous distracting sound. That’s where a mix minus comes in. Mix minus audio, as the name suggests, is an audio feed that consists of a full mix of all

program sound minus some elements – usually the source to which it is being fed. For example, if the mix minus had been set up properly for our friend in Beijing, she would hear everything in the conference room – attendees’ microphones, tape replays, etc, but not herself. KEEP IT CLEAN

A mix minus is also referred to as return audio or a clean feed. This shouldn’t be confused with Interruptible Fold Back (IFB). In my experience, there’s no hard and fast rule about which term to use — particular terms often become part of the local parlance within a given organisation or region. Mix minus is the term I have heard most commonly used in Australia, but broadcast professionals will generally understand what you’re talking about if you refer to clean feed audio or return audio. Because as operators we’re always in a desperate hurry, the word ‘audio’ will often get dropped to save us thirty milliseconds, but to avoid confusion, get in the

habit of specifying whether you’re talking about audio or vision. To nail down the distinction, IFB is foldback that is provided to remote reporters; studio presenters; commentators or even operators. The audio in an IFB will usually be a mix minus, via an earpiece and the clever part is that it can be ‘interrupted’ by a director, producer or anyone appropriate, keying on a talkback panel. The purpose of IFB is to give directions or updated information to the person receiving it, with minimal intrusion on the performance. There is an obvious danger of distracting the on-air talent, so if you are ever using IFB, keep in mind the bod at the other end is already splitting their attention and trying to appear authoritative/ compassionate/fun/knowledgeable (depending on the situation), so interrupt sparingly! THE SETUP

The ease of arranging a mix minus is dependent on how comprehensive your audio setup is. Some broadcast consoles have a dedicated clean feed

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TUTORIAL

INPUTS LOCAL MIC 1 LOCAL MIC 2 LOCAL MIC 3

AUDIO REPLAY

AV REPLAY

REMOTE FEED FROM PILBARA

REMOTE FEED FROM BEIJING

OUTPUT GROUPS

LOCAL MIC 1 LOCAL MIC 1 LOCAL MIC 1 AUDIO REPLAY AV REPLAY PILBARRA BEIJING

FEED TO LOCAL SPEAKERS / PA REMOVED / LOW LEVEL REMOVED / LOW LEVEL REMOVED / LOW LEVEL NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL

FEED TO LOCAL IN-EAR MONITORS NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL

FEED TO PILBARA NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL REMOVED NORMAL

FEED TO BEIJING NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL REMOVED

In a conference application every station receives a mix of every other station, except itself (and if the system is sufficiently sophisticated, its nearest neighbours).

output bus, which obviously makes things very straight forward. Generally, however, the easiest way is to use an available group output. Simply select each source that you want on the group output that you’ve chosen, leaving out (minusing) the remote guest to whom the mix minus is being sent. If you’re using less sophisticated gear, you could use auxiliary or effects sends, but that will take a lot more setting up and starts to get pretty confusing, particularly if you have more than one remote guest. Generally it’s best to go post fader, as the guest will usually only be interested in hearing the main program sound and you reduce the danger of them hearing tapes cueing or other spurious material. In situations where a full twoway audio path isn’t available, the most common way for the audio to get back to the remote guest is via a Telephone Recorder Interface (TRI). This device will send your mix minus audio down a phone line to the remote location, where another TRI will decode the phone signal for use as normal audio.

DON’T DELAY

The main problems are nothing new to AV operators – unwanted delay and feedback. Any transmission medium will introduce some delay, and that will obviously vary considerably according to the length and latency of the signal path. If the audio of the guest in Beijing strays into an open microphone in your boardroom, that sound will then be sent down the mix minus, with the delay from the original signal (Beijing to boardroom) plus the delay from the return path (boardroom to Beijing). Suddenly our colleague is hearing herself in her ear, half a second after she speaks. Most disconcerting! Worse still, if the audio then leaks back to the main signal in Beijing, we have a feedback loop of global proportions. LOW LEVEL

There’s only one failsafe solution, and that’s to use earpieces at both ends to isolate all the audio. This is usually what happens in broadcast situations, and if it can be done this way, do

it! However, it can be difficult or impossible to give earpieces to a large group – a big board of directors or an audience, for example. If you have to use sound reinforcement there are a few things you can do. Firstly, make sure the audio of the guest is as low as it can be; if possible use many smaller speakers at low level, closer to the listeners rather than big cabinets. Secondly, ride the levels as much as possible. Using our example again, if the boardroom mics are down when our guest is speaking, they’re less likely to pick up her audio, and vice versa. Finally, if these options just aren’t open to you and you’re prepared to lose a bit of sound quality, there’s the technological solution: echo cancelling. So, to sign off, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, but the important principles to keep in mind with a mix minus are: • Remote locations receive all program audio except themselves. • Isolate program and return audio signals – if possible through the use of earpieces, or at least through minimal PA and riding levels. 

042

TUTORIAL

Dimming in the 21st Century A guided tour of the contemporary dimming landscape Text:/ Andy Ciddor While dimming may not be at the leading edge of the technologies used in our profession, it retains a critical place in our design toolkit. Indeed, dimming has become so simple to implement and so reliable that to many of us it has just become the black box in the corner that controls the level of our fixtures. Perhaps it’s time to open up the black box and have a peek inside a 21st century dimmer. The first thing you may notice when you focus in on dimming is the wide variety of technologies available to go in your black box. These include phase control, reverse phase control, sine wave, direct optical dimming, pulse width modulation and constant current reduction. Most of these technologies are great for directdriven incandescent sources, others work well with transformer-driven incandescents. One technology can dim externally-ballasted sources like linear fluorescents and even metal halide discharge lamps. A couple of these work well with LEDs, while optical dimmers can control everything, especially the light sources that can’t be dimmed electrically. OPTICAL

The earliest known dimming technologies were variations on the same optical dimming tricks we use today to control the light from sources such as candles, the sun, and many families of discharge lamp. They involved using a range of ingenious shutter mechanisms or pieces of cloth to progressively obscure the light source. Today’s DMX-controlled, motorised louvres may have a more sophisticated control mechanism but they still work by blocking the light with an opaque material. In the early days of electric lighting the majority of dimming was achieved with resistances and, after the introduction of alternating current, with auto-transformers (variacs). Although we’ve walked away from these crude mechanicallyoperated technologies and their incrediblyinefficient all-electric successor, the saturable reactor, these cumbersome monsters from the first half-century of electric lighting were generally much kinder to the supply network than most of today’s technologies. ELECTRONIC

The overwhelming majority of contemporary electronic dimmers work by chopping chunks out of the power feeding the lamp. The older and more robust technologies take out big chunks just once in each half cycle of the mains

Top: Forward Phase Control removes a chunk from the front (leading) end of the power cycle to control brightness. As the chunks get bigger, the lamp gets dimmer. The slight slope at switch-on is the inductive choke doing its job. Bottom: Reverse Phase Control works the same way as the forward version, only this method removes the chunk from the T back (trailing) end of the power cycle.

power, while the newer and more agile devices take out delicate little nibbles, but do so much more often. Any device that chops up the power to a lamp this way produces distortions in the power supply, especially at the triplen (3rd, 9th, 15th, etc) harmonics of the power supply frequency. In addition to the problems caused for all other electronic devices connected to the distorted supply, these harmonics produce T substantial currents in the supply neutral and in substation transformers. Any sizable dimmed installation must be designed with the harmonic distortion issues in mind, particularly where dimmers are being retrofitted to existing undimmed installations. PHASE CONTROL

The very first all-electronic dimming technology, T Phase Control has been around for about 80 years. In its earliest incarnation, using Thyratron valves as the switches, it was neither sufficiently reliable nor anywhere near affordable enough to make it popular. The technology finally came into its own in the 1950s with the appearance of an affordable and highly robust solid state switching device, the SCR (Silicon Controlled

Rectifier). This was later supplemented by other solid state devices such as the Triac, the Metal Oxide Silicon Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) and most recently, the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT). The basis of phase control dimming is quite simple. Rather than attempting to restrict the amplitude of the current flowing through an incandescent lamp, as earlier forms of dimming had done, it works by switching off parts of each cycle of the alternating current supply. You might expect the resulting chopped current to cause the dimmed lamp to flicker, but the thermal mass of the filament smooths out the current output and it just gets cooler and less bright as the missing chunks get larger. The SCR is a solid state switching device that only conducts current in one direction (like a rectifier diode), although it doesn’t conduct at all until triggered on. However, once an SCR starts conducting, it snaps rapidly from fully-off to fully-on, producing very little waste heat, but it is extraordinarily difficult to turn off. This doesn’t really matter as the current stops flowing at the end of the half-cycle anyway. As an SCR can only handle current flowing in one direction, a pair of them is required to handle the alternating current supply. The Triac was a later development that is essentially an inverse pair of SCRs in a single device, although not quite as robust. As SCRs and Triacs are much easier to switch on than off, the unwanted part of the power cycle had to be cut from the start (or leading edge) of each cycle, hence the name Forward Phase Control. Phase control is a long way from being the perfect dimming process. Switching on the current to a lamp partway through a cycle brings with it some serious side effects. The sudden surge of current in the lighting cables and luminaires produces a ferocious burst of electromagnetic interference (EMI) that finds its way into everything from unshielded audio and video cables to cousin Wilf’s hearing aid. The inrush of current to the lamp being dimmed also brings with it mechanical stresses that not only shorten the working life of the filament but also cause it to vibrate at audible frequencies, a phenomenon known as a ‘singing’ (the filaments aren’t really singing – they’re humming, because they don’t know the words). To reduce these problems, a substantial choke inductor is incorporated into the load circuit to slow down the switch-on. As such an inductor is generally both large and heavy, this limits the possibilities for both portability and

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TUTORIAL

miniaturisation of low-interference dimmers. Despite these shortcomings, the majority of dimmers installed over the last half century are variations on the forward phase control concept. Phase control is also the preferred technology for controlling low-voltage lamps being fed by inductive (iron cored or magnetic) transformers. REVERSE PHASE CONTROL

Power MOSFETs and IGBTs are essentially very high powered transistors. Unlike Triacs and SCRs, they can not only be switched on and off with relative ease, they can also be switched on and off s-l-o-w-l-y, to reduce the production of harmonic distortion and EMI. These devices can be used to make dimmers that don’t require a substantial choke inductor or even dimmers that chop their chunks of power out from on the trailing edge of power cycle, a process known as Reverse Phase Control. Switching the power slowly generates a lot more heat in the IGBT or MOSFET than is produced in SCRs or Triacs. These dimmers are characterised by their need for more aggressive thermal management and require larger heatsinks, thermal monitoring, and often also noisy fans. While it may be possible to make a more compact dimmer without a big inductor, the need for heat dissipation prevents the dimmers from shrinking very much in size. There has been much discussion as to whether or not reverse phase control dimmers actually produce less EMI or mains distortion when dimming lamps but there is no doubt that they are much better for dimming lowvoltage incandescent lamps that are fed through ‘electronic transformers’. These ‘electronic transformers’ are actually switch-mode power supplies which are much happier drinking their current from the front end of the power cycle. Some MOSFET and IGBT based dimmer systems can dynamically switch between forward and reverse phase control. SINE WAVE

Like the switch-mode power supply units used in most modern electronics, sine wave dimmers use pulse width modulation (PWM) of a switching device (in this case an IGBT) to control their output. Each cycle of power is divided up into a fixed number of slots (usually between 400 and 600 of them) and the amount of time that the IGBT is switched on during each slot (the width of the power pulse) is used to vary the amount of power being allowed through the dimmer.

This strategy ensures that there is no sudden inrush of current and no substantial distortion of the power waveform, producing an output power cycle that looks remarkably like the sine wave shape of the original power supply, only lower in amplitude. However, to achieve this feat, these dimmers incorporate very sophisticated monitoring and control electronics and complex cooling systems, making them substantially more expensive than any other form of dimmer. When it comes to acoustic noise, although the sine wave power output may reduce or eliminate singing lamp filaments (the main reason so far for the adoption of this technology), the cooling fans generally make the dimmers themselves quite noisy, requiring them to be acoustically isolated from the space they’re dimming. Sine Wave dimmers can be used to control any type of load that isn’t voltage dependent. CONSTANT VOLTAGE

Pulse width modulation is the time-honoured method of dimming LEDs, despite the US patent system allowing someone to patent the technique decades after it was in wide general use. The switching frequency of a PWM dimmer must be high enough to avoid perceptible flicker while producing the minimum amount of RFI and acoustic noise. The very fast rise time of the pulses produces little waste heat in the switching device. As the output of a PWM dimmer is always at the same voltage while the brightness varies with the width of the output pulses, it is ideal for powering devices that operate at a fixed voltage. Known in the LED world as Constant Voltage dimmers, PWM devices are suitable for controlling LEDs that vary in colour or output efficiency with changes in voltage.

big mechanical handle to vary the output. In LED terminology, these dimmers are referred to as Analogue, Constant Current Reduction or even more confusingly, as Constant Current dimmers. They are suitable for controlling the brightness of LEDs where possible colour shifts and variations in output efficiency are not critical. While a significant amount of dimming is T being incorporated directly into luminaires and even the light sources themselves, the underlying technologies in those black boxes remain comfortably familiar.  Top: The output of a sine wave dimmer is a smooth power cycle of lower amplitude. There are no big spikes to cause EMI or rattling lamp filaments. Middle: Sine wave dimming is achieved by high frequency PWM of the power cycle using very fast switching devices like IGBTs and MOSFETs. T Bottom: Pulse width modulation of the DC supply to an LED delivers pulses of the same frequency and the same amplitude. Dimming is achieved by varying only the width of the pulses.

CONSTANT CURRENT REDUCTION

The simplest and oldest method for controlling the brightness of an electrical light source is to put a variable resistance between the power supply and the source. Historically that resistance was a long length of high temperature wire wound around a ceramic or mineral former (similar to that dangerous old bar heater in your grandma’s garage). The same effect can be achieved for moderate DC loads by using chunky power MOSFETs mounted on even chunkier heatsinks, often with a few cooling fans thrown in. The advantages of the MOSFET over the original resistance dimmers are that their dimming curve is independent of the load they’re controlling, and they’re totally electronic so they don’t require a

044

REVIEW

Epson EB-1430Wi Meeting Mate Interactive Projector An ultra-short throw projector with some really useful bells and whistles. Text:/ Stephen Dawson

The other day I received a press release from a major manufacturer of projectors boasting that it proudly held second place for global sales share. Guess which brand holds first place? Yes, Epson of course, and for good reason, given the enormous variety of its products. DESCRIPTION

The Epson EB-1430Wi Meeting Mate is an ultrashort throw interactive projector. Typically it will be attached to a wall, poking out into the room above the screen. It will project the image down onto the wall (or screen). At the smallest screen size it protrudes into the room only by about 440mm, but it can slide out for a larger projected image. All that’s nice, but where it gets tricky is that the projector is interactive. That is, you can ‘draw’ on the screen with the two included styluses and, even more clever, with your finger or any other object. This is virtual drawing of course. You leave no mark on the screen, other than those from a grubby finger. The projector detects the position of the stylus or your finger, and then inserts a line onto the projected image to match. The projector offers up 3300 ANSI Lumens, both in colour and white according to Epson. The screen resolution is a relatively modest 1,280 x 800 WXGA. Normally I’d whinge about anything less than full HD, but this is not really intended to be a general purpose projector that might find itself pushed into movie night duties. The resolution provided is plenty for its intended purpose. That said, the unit does have HDMI inputs and D-sub15 and even composite video, and it does support full HD signal standards (and MHL signals from certain Android devices). Plus just about all computer signals up to full HD. You can easily use the unit with your computer for the display of a PowerPoint. I will be mostly talking about the interactive features. The projector comes with all the extras it needs to provide full functionality. That includes the wall mounting bracket with a sliding arm, an infrared remote control, a wi-fi attachment, a wall control plate which doubles as a convenient USB connector, two styluses and a touch connector attachment.

INSTALLATION

Installing the projector is not for the faint of heart. Quite a careful calibration process is required, particularly for the finger interactivity. The styluses [hmm… styli - Ed] are batterypowered and have active heads transmitting a signal (infrared, I believe) that is tracked directly by a camera located next to the projection lens. The finger detection system, though, requires the ‘Touch Unit’ which projects an invisible grid pattern just above the projection surface. It must be aligned so that the grid runs just above the entire surface. This can be a bit fiddly. Multiple projectors located in different rooms can be linked together for collaborative or for master/ slave operation. The installation of multiple projectors can be facilitated by the ‘batch’ installation mode (where certain settings are stored to USB from the first-installed projector and then loaded into other ones). The sliding arm on the mounting bracket has a range to allow the projector to display images between 60 and 74 inches (1520mm to 1880mm) on their diagonal in a 16:10 aspect ratio. IN USE

Installation might be a little fiddly, but once done it’s hard to see how using the projector could be easier. Aside from the super short throw nature of the unit, in operation when used with an external source it is pretty much like any other Epson projector. Except that you can annotate

SPECIFICATIONS Display technology: 3LCD, 15mm, 1280 × 800 pixel (WXGA) resolution. Lamp: 245W UHE. Lamp life: 4000/6000 hours (Normal/Eco mode). Brightness: 3300 ANSI lumens. Contrast ratio: Not stated. Inputs: 2 × HDMI (1 with MHL), 1 × composite video, 1 × RGBHV (D-sub15), 3 × stereo audio, 1 × USB-A, 1 × USB-B, Ethernet, WiFi. Outputs: 1 × RGBHV (D-sub15), 1 × stereo audio. Control: 1 × RS-232C, Remote in, Sync In/Out (for synching other projectors). Dimensions (w × h × d): 367mm × 155mm × 375mm Weight: 5.6kg

045

REVIEW

Using the projector's 'whiteboard' collaboration features in a table top configuration. (Possibly a meeting of vampires, because nobody is casting a shadow.)

MORE INFO Price: AU$3,699 Warranty: Three years (first of 12 months or 750 hours on lamp) Contact: Epson Australia Pty Ltd: +61 (0)2 8899 3666 or www.epson.com.au

the projected image. And then save it to the ‘whiteboard’ mode, or indeed save it to storage. If you want improved personal interaction with your audience, you can set the projector to computer interactive mode. That way you plug the computer into the projector via USB rather than HDMI or D-sub15 and install the appropriate driver. You can then use on-screen interaction to control the computer itself. Storage for saving material can be USB plugged directly into the projector, or more conveniently, USB plugged into the wall plate. You can also plug your computer into this for USB image connection, but have to plug directly into the projector for HDMI or D-sub15. Alternately, your storage can be a shared folder on the LAN. The projector supports both wired and wireless connectivity. Most interesting, though, is the ‘whiteboard’ mode. For this you need no source. Your projection screen becomes a virtual whiteboard. Actually, that’s underplaying it. It becomes a virtual flipboard because you can have multiple pages of whiteboard content and switch between them with the touch of an icon. WHITEBOARD MODE

You can draw on the whiteboard in several colours, with different colours assigned to finger and the two styluses. Two different line thicknesses are available. There is an eraser plus a highlighter which applies translucent colour over existing material. Applying all these was smooth and reliable. I was able to scribble fairly quickly without dropping segments of drawing. Up to six fingers can be used in addition to the styluses. You can bring up images previously saved to your storage (USB or shared folder), annotate them and save them. This includes captures of from external sources previously made, or indeed selected sections of such images. You can print material to an Epson or other printer supporting PCL (the de facto standard derived

from HP's Printer Command Language for its ThinkJet printers). You can also email the pages, or sections of them, directly from the projector. There’s an address book for holding contacts to make this reasonably convenient. It is clear that the drawing software is objectoriented in design, somewhat like a vector drawing program, though without its flexibility. If you draw an X on the screen as two single strokes, then the strokes are two separate objects. A freeform selection tool (there’s also a rectangle one) allows you to select just one of the strokes and you can move it, copy and paste it, delete it, rotate it or resize it. If you resize then the line scales up smoothly, preserving clean edges to the maximum resolution available with the projector, rather than becoming jagged. Of course, if you have opened up a graphic from USB and select and scale up a portion of it, that does become jagged because it is merely a bitmapped graphic rather than an object. When you save you have a choice of PDF, PNG, EWF. This last appears to be a proprietary format for Epson, so you can’t really use it anywhere else. But for the projector it is extremely useful because it preserves the object oriented nature of the graphics. You can reload it in another session and be back precisely where you were, able to manipulate individual objects again. The PNG format is the standard computer one. The pages are saved with a resolution of 1,280 by 800 pixels, matching the projector’s display resolution. The PDF format doesn’t maintain the objects as objects, except to the extent that they are vector defined within the PDF file, so they scale up smoothly. This would be the best format if you want to keep the slides you’ve created for future printing. PICTURE QUALITY

The projector did a competent job of downscaling higher resolution images, and it was certainly very bright, with strong colours, even under

significant ambient light. The brightness of the image appeared uniform to the eye across the screen and the picture geometry was undistorted. Of course, it’s generally best to set a PC’s output to match the physical resolution of the projector to achieve the best presentation of its contents. That way all material – particularly text – is generated optimally for the resolution, rather than having to be scaled. PRACTICALITIES

The projector took just three seconds to switch off its cooling fan after being shut down, even in normal mode. Startup was relatively slow, taking 70 seconds to get going in whiteboard mode, and then another 30 seconds or so to reach full brightness. The unit is rated to consume 365W during operation. Standby power consumption is 2.5W with the network functions idling but available, or 420mW with them off. A replacement lamp is priced at just AU$79. The rated lamp life is 4000 hours in normal mode, 6000 hours in low-output mode. Assuming electricity costs 20c/kWh, this projector would cost just 9.3c per hour running in normal mode, of which less than two cents is lamp cost. CONCLUSION

What a wonderfully useful device the Epson EB1430Wi projector is. All a presenter needs to do is punch the ‘whiteboard’ button on the wall plate, grab a stylus (or not, because of the finger functionality), and after a couple of minutes start writing away. No need for photos to preserve annotations, and the contents can be emailed easily to meeting participants. It looks like it might be offering an actual new way of doing business. 

046

REVIEW

Symetrix Jupiter An audio DSP with a library of pre-built modules. Text:/ Michael O’Connor

The Jupiter DSP product line from Seattlebased manufacturer Symetrix aims to allow everything from complex to straight-forward audio applications to be easily programmed, installed and controlled all with simple and intuitive graphical user interfaces. What is different about the Jupiter product line is how they are configured. While Symetrix label the configurations within the Jupiter line of products with the cool title ‘apps’ they are essentially pre-built module configurations, and are a way of promoting (or disguising) a closedarchitecture DSP product. It’s closed in the sense that the app architectures cannot be modified, but it’s open in the sense that there are many apps to choose from and each piece of hardware can be purposed specifically for the application at hand. You choose the hardware based on the I/O requirements, choose the app based on the job application, then dial in the settings and you’re done. There are approximately 30 apps for each of the product models – Jupiter-4 (4 x 4 I/O), Jupiter-8 (8 x 8 I/O) and Jupiter-12 (12 x 4 I/O). As you would expect, Symetrix has been expanding the library in response to customer demand since Jupiter’s release. Jupiter apps are comprised of an extensive library of signal routing and processing modules including gain sharing and gating auto-mixers, matrix mixers, priority paging mixers, feedback fighters, FIR filters, and ambient SPL computers, to name just a few. All inputs are software selectable for line

or mic with phantom power. Each hardware unit also has one Ethernet port for control and configuration and dedicated external controller using Symetrix’s ARC range of wall panels. There are also digital or analogue control voltage inputs and open collector outputs. STRICTLY STANDALONE

It should be pointed out that the Jupiter platform is designed for a wide range of routing, processing and reinforcement applications – but no acoustic echo cancellation is on board. It should also be noted that Jupiter is a stand-alone platform that is not expandable beyond a single unit. Being a closed-architecture product, it’s definitely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. The main constraint I see for first-time users and ‘traditional’ audio programmers is choosing an app that suits your project or event. As the Jupiter line of products is not a true ‘drag and drop’ DSP, the long list of app titles available to select from, might take a few integrators and programmers by surprise when they first launch the software. However it is reassuring to know that it’s also impossible to run out of DSP power – because of the fixed architecture nature all modules within an app can be fully activated. Symetrix promotes the Jupiter range as the “zero learning curve DSP”, and I’d concur. Once you spend some time familiarising yourself with the accessible apps, the processor is actually good value. The amount of DSP is very impressive, and the quality of sound is also very good.

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REVIEW

Left: All I/O is via compact Phoenix connectors. Below left: Some examples from the Symetrix range of ARC remote panels. Above: Simple graphical interface screens allow the configuration of the pre-built apps.

SIMPLICITY IN THE FIELD

From personal experience using the 8 x 8 in a few background music applications and bar/ nightclub venues, I found the control layout made sense. The connection wizard made for a very simple hardware discovery process that takes you step-by-step through connections process, so it was easy to get up and running. The low-noise preamps made for a very natural sound. For multi-zone installations such as bars and restaurants, the collection of available ‘Sound Reinforcement’ apps has proved invaluable in enabling our programmers to efficiently set up reliable and easily-deployable DSPs. With many of Melbourne’s busy hospitality environments operating nearly 24/7, setting up the audio system with minimum down-time is crucial for the establishments’ owners. Sound Reinforcement #12 has been a personal and regularly used favourite app for these projects, with its preloaded modules including high- and low-pass filters, 15-band graphic EQ, output limiting, plus eight bands of speaker management on each channel. It has been a real problem-solver for those quick turnaround projects where so much time is saved in site-file design. LEARNING CURVE

However, it did take some effort getting accustomed to how the matrix mixer works

with setting presets, something that should be explained more clearly the supplied Help file. The Tools menu, where the Jupiter's Control Wizard and Config Manager live, allows for quite simple operating parameters to be assigned to Symetrix ARC (Adaptive Remote Control) wall panels or third-party controllers. The Preset Manager enables you to edit and create recallable presets, with an event scheduler for timed preset replays. It was also quite easy to export the control IDs from the site file for use with third-party control systems. Symetrix has the complete list of control ID numbers available for each app under the ‘View External Controller’ section when you are first selecting your application. These numbers can also be conveniently found within each app in the custom preset dialog. GIVE ME A REASON

In my view, there are two key reasons why Jupiter is worthy of consideration as a standalone processor. Firstly, the value for money is excellent. When your application calls for an 8 x 8 DSP you’re looking at an MSRP of AU$1649. Often you’ll only get 6 x 4 I/O from competing brands for that kind of pricing. The other drawcard is the introduction of the free and very useful ARC-Web controller to complement the existing range of ARC wall controllers. ARC-Web allows you to create a mobile or web user interface with up to 24 control commands per ARC-Web, and four ARC-Webs per device. This means that in a bar or restaurant application, staff can switch presets and adjust volumes from their mobile phone, laptop or tablet. You can also set passwords and

different levels of security for each user, which is a nice feature. This makes the Jupiter package a very user-friendly system, and one where you don’t necessarily have to price in third-party control systems. While keypad or push-button wall controllers might be less popular these days as control system manufacturers are opening up much more flexibility with iPad integration, you can still use Symetrix RS485 ARC wall panels for volume control, source and preset selection at fraction of the price of a new iPad and wall dock. The ARCs use Cat5 cable to link to the Jupiter processor, and you can typically get away with daisy-chaining up to four ARCs if the application requires multiple zones. Any product that can deliver such ease of setup, with a low price tag and in a powerful frame is definitely going to attract some attention. As the baby brother to the SymNet range (open architecture) of products, Jupiter is becoming quite the solution for those challenging applications where budget-conscious clients come along with high expectations. 

MORE INFO Manufacturer: Symetrix: www.symetrix.co Australian Distributor Production Audio Video Technology: +61 (0)3 9264 8000 www.pavt.com.au

048

NEWS

Industry Update AV Association News

AV CALENDAR INFOCOMM APEX: A CASE STUDY Last year InfoComm International introduced APEx (the Audiovisual Providers of Excellence) program. In some ways you can think of it as a CTS for your business. InfoComm CEO, Dave Labuskes, puts it this way: “As someone who ran a business for 15 years I know that building a business is about finding customers. I also know how hard that is. One of the things you need to get customers, is to differentiate yourselves from other businesses that are making promises they can’t deliver and offering services at prices they can’t reconcile.” So if you’re an AV business that makes a point of adhering to standards, training your employees and meeting your clients’ expectations, then InfoComm believes it has the industry designation for you. “But my clients have no idea what APEx is. How will it get me more work?” Good point. But what it does allow is for a conversation – once the client asks what APEx is, it allows you to discuss your commitment to standards and quality. At a recent InfoComm roundtable meeting, CHW, an independent AV consulting firm with offices in Melbourne and Perth, presented the case for becoming APEx compliant. Manoje Indraharan, CHW’s Operations Manager, drove project and explains: SIGNING UP WITH EYES OPEN “We see APEx as important part of our business, not only as a marketing opportunity but it also qualifies us – it says we’re capable of delivering complex projects for our clients. “We found that APEx also provides some governance regarding how you should do business. It’s about best practice: promoting standards/guidelines. It provides industry recognition and the need for continual improvement within your business. It’s about quality management systems, something we’re quite focussed on in our company. “You may well find that you’ll need to do a certain amount of compliance work to qualify. We certainly had a look at the requirements as a company. We discussed the appropriateness of APEx for our business and the impact it would have on our business’s processes – it was important that we weren’t signing onto a whole lot of extra work just to get a rubber stamp. We talked to our key clients about APEx and whether it would be something they valued. Initially they didn’t know what APEx was, but as they learned more, the feedback was positive.” COLLECTING POINTS “To qualify, you must collect APEx points. You can get online and see the categories for yourselves, but essentially it’s about adhering to InfoComm/ANSI standards, training staff, ensuring your technical staff are CTS certified, and conducting regular client surveys. Positives: “We found that a lot of APEx requirements already align with our ISO 9001 processes and general business processes, so the transition hasn’t been so difficult. Once you educate your clients, they do

appreciate APEx and do see value in it. Many clients also acknowledge that the AV industry needs a standards body and a way of discouraging the cowboys who are devaluing the industry. Challenges: “There have been some challenges. It’s not enough to conform to the InfoComm standards, you now have to document your conformance – there’s an extra layer of admin there. It’s also hard to get buy-in from integrators who, quite naturally, want to finish the job and move onto the next one – they’re less concerned about helping you document your conformance to Infocomm standards and maintaining your APEx status. Finally, some clients just don’t and won’t get it. Often they’re commercial clients without any in-house AV expertise and would rather you weren’t ‘wasting time’ on the likes of APEx.” INDUSTRY COMMITMENT AV hardware is getting progressively commoditised and any help to differentiate your business’s services from competitors is a valuable thing. I think we can all agree on that. So is APEx simply a marketing drawcard? Not entirely. As Minoje puts it, “it drives better and, sometimes, more efficient processes. APEx shows a commitment to quality and a commitment to our industry._”

AETM Audiovisual and Educational Technology Management Inc.

NEW ZEALAND CHAPTER MEETING Victoria University of Wellington 8th July at Noon AETM’s New Zealand chapter, in association with InfoComm is meeting from noon on July 8th until noon on July 9th. AETM are expecting to see the AV senior/manager and at least one staff member from each associated organisation at this networking event. The agenda for this busy 24 hours includes: Round table sessions: • Technology challenges in universities • Emerging technology forum • University roadmapping forum • A presentation from InfoComm International • Case Study – Moving from physical lifecycles to a customer-focussed/pedagogical needs-based model of room refurbishments. A tour of rooms at Victoria University, Wellington. A tour of Massey University’s Wellington Campus

INFOCOMM 15 Orlando, June 13–19 www.infocommshow.org SMPTE (AUSTRALIA) Sydney, July 14–17 smpte.com.au INTEGRATE Melbourne, August 25–27 www.integrate-expo.com INFOCOMM INDIA 2015 Mumbai, September 21–23 www.infocomm-india.com PLASA London, October 4–6 www.plasashow.com LDI Las Vegas, October 23–25 www.ldishow.com SMPTE Hollywood, October 26–29 www.smpte.org/ATC AES New York, Oct 29 – Nov 1 www.aes.org/events/139 AETM CONFERENCE Melbourne, November 9–12 www.aetm.org/conferences TRAINING InfoComm’s Networked AV Systems (in conjunction with AMX) June 2-4 – Sydney July 1-3 – Perth July 6-8 – Gold Coast

049

TUTORIAL

Microphones:

How to Place Them, How to Hide Them The following is an excerpt from Design Environment Online. This topic will be covered in greater detail, with added project based skills practice, during InfoComm’s AV Design School in Melbourne and Sydney during 2015. For enquiries or to enrol contact Jason York at oceania@infocomm.org Ask any audio expert where to best place a microphone, and the response will invariably be: “as close to the source as possible”. Ask the same question of an architect or interior designer, and the likely response is “anywhere I don’t have to look at it”. The audio system designer might recommend gooseneck mics for all participants in a videoconference space, while the architect refuses to allow a bunch of equipment to clutter the room. The client wants a room that looks and sounds beautiful. How can we meet these competing needs? MICROPHONE POSITIONING BEST PRACTICES

Let's say you need to place microphones around a conference table. Here are two possible options: 1. Six cardioIds: one microphone per every two participants, with one each for the participants at the ends of the table. 2. Two omnis: while two microphones would indeed seem to cover the participants, you must also consider the environment. Omni microphones are equally sensitive to sounds coming from all directions. You must therefore consider: • Will there be a projector above the table? Projectors create fan noise, which the microphones could pick up. • How loud will the background noise level be? The HVAC system could also be picked up and drown out the presenters.

microphones do. In addition, since they are farther away, the sound that these two microphones pick up will be out of phase. Let’s say the mics are separate by one foot and are one foot away. The front mic picks up the talker at 65dB SPL. What are the two mics picking up? The outside mics are this far away: C= √(12 + 12) C= √(1 + 1) C= √(2) C= 1.41 The loss over distance is: dB = 20 log(1.41/1) dB = 2.98 or about 3dB less (not very much)

In an analogue mixer, the three microphones would be 'mixed' together. The phase differences between the microphones create a comb-filter effect in the sound’s frequency response, which gives it a thin, hollow tone quality.

In this example, the microphones are separated at a greater distance, this time at a ratio of 3:1. That is, the distance between each microphone is three times the distance between the microphone and a presenter. By separating the microphones with the 3:1 rule, the outside microphones are this far away: C= √(12 + 32) C= √(1 + 9) C= √(10) C= 3.16 The loss over distance is: dB = 20 log(3.16/1) dD = 9.48 or about 10dB less, which sounds half as loud

MICROPHONE PLACEMENT 3:1 RULE

When using multiple microphones, consider how the sound from a presenter will reach the microphones. In the example above, each person has been given their own microphone. When a presenter speaks, their voice is picked up by three microphones. The microphone directly in front picks up the sound louder than the off-axis

When the three microphones are mixed together in an analogue mixer, the phase differences between the microphones will still 'colour' the sound. However, the levels being mixed are greatly reduced because of the distance, which makes the comb filtering coloration less noticeable. The 1:3 ratio works out to be a 9.5dB reduction not including off-axis response, etc. That's close to the 10 dB mark that is perceived as 'half as loud'. So if the next closest mic is three times further away than the closest mic, the signal getting into the mic further away is 'about half as loud'.

dB = 20 * log (1 / 3) dB = 20 * log (0.333) dB = 20 * -0.4776 dB = -9.552

IDEAL V REAL WORLD POSITIONING

While we outlined InfoComm’s recommended best method for positioning microphones above, it is well-known that project stakeholders often just say 'no' to the prominent microphone positioning these best practices require. What can you do when you can’t put the mic where you know you should? Ceiling-mounted loudspeakers have long been the industry’s answer to unobtrusive mic placement. Major manufacturers have pursued ceiling mounted mic array. These arrays tend to require a really long source to mic distance. This option creates some limitations. Loudspeakers are typically mounted in the ceiling. This results in ceiling-mounted microphones often being closer to the loudspeakers than to the person talking. The proximity between the loudspeaker and microphone results in the sound from the loudspeaker potentially being louder than the speaker's voice. As a result, it is really important to follow best practice guidelines for mic placement when using ceiling microphones. Prior to installation, the acoustical properties of the room must be assessed to ensure sufficient intelligibility. An acoustical model should be requested to calculate the number of mics and placement. Ideally, a room reverberation time of less than 0.35s and an NC (noise criteria) no greater than 48dBA (A-weighted decibels) should be achieved. The dBA measurement uses an A-weighted filter to more closely represent the characteristics of human hearing. Beamform microphone arrays are another potential solution to this problem. They can capture high-quality sound from a dispersed group of participants. The idea is that an array of many microphones picks up all the sound in the room. An audio processor, either separate or included in the mic array, determines which of that sound is signal, and which is noise. It can then reinforce the signal and actively cancel the noise. Beamform arrays can be placed in relatively unobtrusive locations, like the centre of a conference table or the front of a room, and still capture high-quality audio. There’s a common misconception that beamform arrays just turn off the 'bad' mics that are picking up noise, so that only the 'good' mics picking up the intended signal are feeding their info to the audio system. Not so! A beamform array actually uses the signal from the 'bad' mics to detect and remove noise picked up by the 'good' mics. 

050

HUMOUR?

Termination Ghost-busting AV? It’s a conspiracy, man. Text:/ Graeme Hague

There is one aspect to modern AV technology that continues to disappoint me. An ongoing failure of epic proportions. Yes folks, shocking as this may seem, modern technology is still capable of failing. Who would have thunked it? Despite the zillions of high-resolution cameras installed everywhere, including sneaking into digital signage, we’ve still yet to see a decent picture of a ghost, UFO, yeti or the Loch Ness monster. To be fair, Loch Ness probably isn’t a prime location for digital signage — the actual watery bit — but you know what I mean. It’s amazing, because cameras are everywhere now. So are ghosts and flying saucers. Still, no one’s got a decent happy-snap of either [you’re frequenting the wrong conspiracy sites, evidently — Ed.]. I’m interested in this stuff and I stumbled across a picture that’s supposedly from the 1950s called the Cooper Family Ghost photograph. It shows a family who moved into an old house (of course) in Texas and took a picture of mum, grandma and the two kids at the dining table. Upon being developed, the photo revealed a ghostly figure hanging upside down on the wall behind them. No surprises that an internet debate rages about its authenticity ranging from true believers to calling it Photoshopped “horror art” from 2009. The thing is, in my other life, apart from this gig of annoying our editor with totally non-AV related back page columns, I write horror books and I’ve been researching these kinds of phenomena for decades. There are countless, incidental photographs of ghosts, demons and slightly-miffed spirits. Pictures taken by photographers trying to capture something entirely innocent and discovering spooky stuff when the picture’s developed, every one of them blurred, grainy, over-exposed and really only proving one thing — the person holding the camera is crap at taking photographs. It shouldn’t be a problem now, right? Even I’ve got a dodgy old mobile phone that can take a 10 überpixel photograph worthy of hanging in the National Gallery. So surely someone can finally get a decent picture of a genuine ghost? Is it too much to ask? All right, what about video footage? According to most US-based television crime shows there is a “traffic cam” installed on every intersection in America. Add to these a couple of billion

Four of the AV industry’s finest?

surveillance cameras plus the entire population walking around with a smart phone in their hand, and that’s some serious AV happening every single second of the day. Yet no one’s YouTubed anything decent video-wise when it comes to strange and inexplicable figures making weird noises in the night — Justin Beiber concert videos don’t count, by the way. This is nothing short of extremely disappointing. How can it be so hard? Yes, it’s starting to sound suspicious. UFO’s... well, okay. Arguably any master race of alien beings that’s capable of travelling lightyears across the universe shouldn’t have too much trouble avoiding photo-bombing most wedding parties and teenage selfie sessions. They’ll have some kind of far-out technology that masks them from being seen on any digital AV recorders — a bit like Johnny Depp’s dogs at the airport — so maybe it’s not that impressive. However, there is also an enormous amount of evidence that UFO’s can be sloppy when it comes to being discrete, popping up on the ancient pyramids, sneaking around the Nevada desert, snatching chickens and Elvis from Memphis... We hear about these things all the time. You can even see it on the telly around 1 o’clock in the morning between the infomercials. Plainly, there has been more than enough opportunity to capture some hi-res, irrefutable video of your basic flying saucer, yet no one has. Instead, it’s always the out-of-focus, shaky stuff that might be a UFO or possibly a potato hanging on a piece of string. Which leads me to the outrageous, yet entirely plausible suggestion that the AV industry is, in fact, run by aliens [oh dear, wondered where this was headed — Ed.]. This is all part of a cunning conspiracy by Little Green Men to ensure their existence is never confirmed. Somehow, using some sort of other-worldly technology, they’ve managed to maintain throughout the world that any photographs and videos of UFOs will

always be barely watchable and nobody can quite prove that dudes from Mars exist. This also explains why a lot of AV equipment has the controls labelled with tiny, dark lettering and indecipherable hieroglyphics that no one understands unless you come from another planet. It’s why the Adobe Help website takes so ridiculously long to open, too. The software is checking your PC for images of UFOs might actually stand up to some scrutiny. And the lack of decent ghost pictures? That’s a collateral side-effect of the same alien-driven, AV industry technology. What else might explain such a consistent failure that’s lasted over decades? Particularly during the last 10 years or so when taking a hi-res photo or video is practically impossible not to do? All this can be disproved very easily. Go looking for a bump in the night. Record the bump in 24-bit/48kHz audio and the ghostly video in super hi-res 4K format and post the results up on YouTube. See what happens. I’ll bet it mysteriously turns to crap. Beware, you might get a midnight visit from the Men In Black. That’s a couple of guys wearing black cargo pants, black tee-shirts and carrying Mag lights and Leathermen tools. They’ll drag you off screaming into the night, never to be seen again. Say hello to Elvis for me.  Graeme Hague is quite possibly the most incredulous horror writer in the history of fiction, and potentially an illegal alien.

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