AV issue 5

FUTURE PROJECTIONS THE LATEST, THE GREATEST, THE TINIEST & THE MOST IMMERSIVE

GIVE A MOOT: SYDNEY UNI’S NEW LAW BUILDING AWAY FROM HOME: HDMI DEMYSTIFIED SHOOTING COWBOYS: INDUSTRY TRAINING MTC: MELBOURNE’S THEATRE OF DREAMS

$6.95 inc gst

Photo: Shannon McGrath

WORD TO THE WISE Melbourne Theatre Company Sumner Theatre.

Word Walls illuminated by Space Cannon Athena RGB LED wash lights to form an auditorium-sized lightbox. Space Cannon’s Maya 9 RGB uplight the walkways and the Pictor 6 RGB are used for the airlocks in the entry.

Credits : Lighting Design : Electrolight Lighting Suppliers : Lightmoves P/L

Space Cannon Australia Pty Ltd 3/169 Beavers Road Northcote 3070 Victoria Australia

sales@spacecannon.com.au tel. +61 (3) 9486 5366 fax. +61 (3) 9923 6249

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Editorial Apology.

I would like to apologise to our readers for our lack of interactive connection with you since we launched AV just under a year ago.

Right from the outset, we had every good intention of talking directly with you through the forums area on our website www.av.net. au, but somehow or other we’ve been so focussed on producing AV, the magazine, that we haven’t got around to striking up that conversation yet.

It’s not as if there aren’t some important issues for us to be discussing. While this may be a very tough time for all of us – both as participants in a damaged world economy, and as residents of a planet where all manner of anomalies are arising in the climate – this is also an important time for us to be assessing our position and making efforts to move beyond these circumstances.

As a community we need to talk about where we are and how we got to this point, not so that we can find someone to blame, but so that we can learn from the all of the processes that brought us here and determine how to keep the good bits and discard the dangerous, hurtful and unproductive bits. We urgently need to work out how to move ahead swiftly, safely and productively and how our skills and knowledge can enable and improve that process.

Most of us prefer to think of audiovisual technologies and productions as part of the politically- and economically-neutral enabling structure of our civilisation, providing channels for learning and communication.

If we set up a parliamentary recording and transcription facility, are we in any way responsible for the loss of liberty or human rights or lives that may come from the outrageous legislation that may be enacted in that parliament?

When we run a corporate presentation for a company that goes on to mislead its shareholders, or steal their money, or poison the environment, or sell products like alcohol, tobacco or gambling that

lead to death, destruction and misery in our own families, are we in any way to blame for those outcomes?

When we put systems into places of worship where the congregation are exhorted to hate other faiths or nations, are we to accept some responsibility for the way our systems have been used?

Alcohol is a very important solvent and has myriad uses in the chemical processes that our society is built on. Taken in small quantities, its disinhibiting effect relaxes people and allows them to unwind, but in larger quantities that same effect produces extraordinarily bad lapses in judgement and much ensuing death and misery. We certainly can’t ban it because it’s too easy to make and utterly critical to so many products and processes, so what do we do?

As audiovisual technologies are used in so many different ways to promote unbridled consumption of alcohol are they bad? As the same technologies are used to promote the safe or even non use of alcohol, are they good? Our equipment doesn’t install or operate itself. We are involved in all of these processes, and by no means unwittingly.

To put the question in a historical perspective: are the technicians who installed and maintained the railway signalling and telex systems for the busy sidings at Auschwitz, Majdanek, and Treblinka in any way responsible for the activities of those extermination camps?

History seems to think so.

There is indeed plenty for us to talk about. Post your thoughts about the audiovisual world on the AV forums, come and talk to us at Integrate 09, write an article for AV, send me an email. I promise to respond.

Get in touch with AV and share your stories of clever designs, strategies, products and installations that exploit useful technologies and equipment.

Contact AV’s Editor, Andy Ciddor on: andy@av.net.au

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ENERGY STAR® Qualified Amplifiers for Energy Efficient Buildings Extron XTRA™ Series Audio Power Amplifiers Audio amplifiers are among the major consumers of power in an A/V system. Amplifiers typically sit idle, wasting energy most of the day. The energy needed to power all amplifiers in a building can be considerable.

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+65.6383.4400

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Crew Tim Stackpool is a broadcast technical director, most recently completing the design and construction of a three-studio TV facility for IP Studios in Sydney.

After spending 10 years at Channel Nine, Tim founded and remains co-owner of production company Sonic Sight. Tim also supplements the [lavish – Ed] income he receives from AV Magazine by assuming the role of Australian correspondent for Global Radio News in London and the Canadian Economic Press.

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

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

Editor: Andy Ciddor (andy@av.net.au) Advertisement Manager: Stewart Woodhill (stewart@av.net.au) Editorial Director: Christopher Holder (chris@av.net.au)

Never taking things too seriously, Gordon has been involved in the AV System Integration industry since leaving school in 1990. These days he looks after the Canberra office of Hills SVL, but still gets his hands dirty because he really does love the job, whether it’s behind a desk or stuffed into an equipment rack. A passionate advocate of education, Gordon manages to keep up to date on all things AV, volunteering for InfoComm [and reading AV – Ed].

Publisher: Philip Spencer (philip@av.net.au) Art Direction & Design: Dominic Carey (dominic@alchemedia.com.au) Additional Design: Heath McCurdy (heath@alchemedia.com.au) Deputy Editor: Brad Watts (brad@av.net.au) Circulation Manager: Mim Mulcahy (subscriptions@av.net.au)

Currently a technical director at G1 Productions, Paul has worked in video projection and multimedia since 1992. He has been involved in video production management for events in the corporate, broadcast, exhibition, fashion and entertainment industries, and has toured extensively. He has expert knowledge of multimedia, content creation and complex live video systems. Paul lives in the Southern Highlands of NSW with his wife and three daughters and commutes daily to Sydney.

alchemedia publishing pty ltd (ABN: 34 074 431 628) PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 info@alchemedia.com.au All material in this magazine is copyright © 2009 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. 16/6/09

Pete Swanson leads Lincolne Scott's AV consultancy business and has spent over a decade in the world of AV integration including as a contractor with Electrosonic and as an AV designer in the UK. He is almost uncontrollably passionate about improving the AV industry and has found an outlet for this passion in his work with InfoComm, where he is currently Chair of the Asia-Pacific Region Council and a member of the Performance Standards Planning Committee.

Tough act to follow

Sony’s 65-inch GXD L65H1 is a super-ruggedised commercial LCD panel, built to thrive in environments where other screens simply wouldn’t survive.

Such us

MINING, INDUSTRIAL, TRANSPORT & SPORTING VENUES > IP54 rating (dust & splash proof) > Economical power consumption > 3-year factory warranty > Portrait or landscape mode > Ideal for digital signage

*Panel shown with optional VSP-NS7 Digital Signage Player and SSS-PG02 Speakers attached.

The GXD L65H1* has completely sealed terminal and cable compartments including power, as well as an internal cooling system which uses heat sinks to draw heat outwards and maintain optimum temperature, eliminating the need for ventilation holes.

For more information on this and the entire range of Sony digital signage solutions visit: www.sony.com.au/displaysolutions or phone: 1300 13 7669.

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Production Audio Services Pty Ltd P.(03) 9264 8000 info@productionaudio.com.au www.productionaudio.com.au OOTH VISIT

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Issue 5 REGULARS NEWS Highlights of product and industry news.

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ASSOCIATIONS NEWS News from the AV industry associations.

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TERMINATION There’s nothing quite like a sparkling new coat of Greenwash.

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FEATURES

24 46

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AV INDUSTRY TRAINING Is it really worth the bother?

20

BIN THERE DONE THAT What is the Right Thing to do with that ever-growing pile of redundant gear?

22

MTC’s THEATRE OF DREAMS Decades in rehearsals, MTC’s new theatres are ready for their long run.

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A MOOT POINT The University of Sydney’s new Faculty of Law has some unusual teaching spaces.

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FIT FOR APP NetApp’s new Melbourne office gets an abundance of audio conferencing options.

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INTERACTIVE CINEMA Uni of NSW’s iCinema is pushing at the boundaries of virtual reality environments.

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NATIONAL MUSEUM COMES ROUND The boring old exhibits of yesteryear are history.

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TUTORIALS UNHOLY RACKET The acoustic challenges in places of worship.

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HDMI DEMYSTIFED What lurks beneath the surface of this multimedia protocol?

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INTENTS & PURPOSES Communicating the intent of your AV design.

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REVIEWS

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COOLUX PANDORA’S BOX Bend, blend, morph, shake, dice, slice or pureé your video in real time.

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CLEARONE CONVERGE PRO PT880TA One serious conference audio controller.

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LED MICROPROJECTORS The future of projection is in your hands.

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CHRISTIE HD10K-M Christie’s three-chip HD DLP 9500 lumen projector.

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NEWS

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1/SOLID STATE PROJECTION

2/SONY SAYS NO TO DUST

3/ROBE LAUNCHES PLASMA SPOT

Projectiondesign's FL32 LED projector is designed for continuous operation, and simulation and visualisation applications. The FL32 is the company’s first solidstate LED-based projection system promising enhanced image performance, and lowered initial cost. The FL32 is available with either native 1080p or WUXGA resolution options and requires very little maintenance, thanks to a 100,000-hour expected LED-technology life. Based on the F30/F32 singlechip DLP platform, the FL32 is the first projector to use the company’s ReaLED illumination technology.

ReaLED is Projectiondesign’s implementation of highperformance solid state LED technology, paired with the optical system of the F32 platform projectors.

The FL32 uses Projectiondesign’s RealColor colour management suite for accurate calibration and setup.

Supplied with the same installation, technology, 1080 and WUXGA benefits found in the F32 series projectors, the new FL32 projector has enhanced colour reproduction and dynamic range imaging. A wide range of high performance projection lenses is also available.

Amber Technology: 1800 251367 or www.ambertech.com.au

Sony Australia has launched its ruggedised commercial LCD panel: the 65-inch GXD L65H1. Featuring an IP54 rating, economical power consumption and three-year factory warranty, the panel provides an attractive ‘total cost of ownership’. The GXD L65H1’s features make it ideal for applications where a normal flat panel display simply wouldn’t survive, including the rough and tumble of mining, transportation, manufacturing, sporting stadiums, and pubs and clubs.

The IP54 rating means the GXD L65H1 qualifies as dust and splash proof – ideal for demanding digital signage applications. It also means the display has completely sealed terminal and cable compartments including power, as well as an internal cooling system which uses heat syncs to draw heat outwards and maintain optimum temperature, eliminating the need for ventilation holes. Additionally, the internal cooling system allows the panel to be operated in either portrait or landscape mode without affecting performance.

Sony Australia: 1300 720 071 or www.sony.com.au/business

The Robin 300 Plasma Spot moving head is the first in a generation of plasma lamp-based fixtures from Robe. The Lifi (Light fidelity) lamp is an electrodeless lamp that uses radio waves to create a plasma inside a small glass bulb – emitting 95 lumens per Watt. The unit offers a perfect colour rendering index of 94, an extremely flat and even light beam of 1:1.4, and a lamp lifespan of 10,000 hours. The tiny lamp also enables the fixture housing to be very compact. The fixture has a linear motorised zoom range of 10° to 40°, and on its base, the innovative RNS2 – Robe Navigation System.

RNS2 includes a gravity sensor for screen autopositioning. The fixture can be driven by a variety of communication protocols including DMX512, ArtNet, MA Net, MA Net2 and RDM, and its auto-ranging electronic power supply works on systems of between 100–240 VAC at 50/60Hz. ULA Group: 1300 852 476 or sales@ula.com.au

BOSCH ‘N’ SPECS

Bosch Adopts Audinate’s Dante Networking: Audinate Inc, creators of the Dante audio networking protocol, has announced that Bosch Communications Systems has entered into a company-wide license agreement to implement Dante audio networking solutions into Bosch products. The agreement covers the entirety of Bosch brands including ElectroVoice (EV), Dynacord, Telex, Midas, Klark Teknik, and Bosch to incorporate Dante. According to Bill Scott, vice-president of

engineering and technology for Bosch Communications Systems: “Dante will become the foundation of our Common Audio Protocol (CAP) communications solution across the Bosch Communication Systems companies”, citing Dante’s ease-of-use, low latency and scalability as deciding factors in the agreement.

Audinate’s Dante solution provides a no-hassle, selfconfiguring, plug-and-play digital audio network that uses standard internet protocols. It

is also a scalable solution that functions on both 100Mbits and gigabit Ethernet systems.

Using Dante, many bulky cables that are typically needed to provide point-to-point analogue wiring for AV installations are eliminated. Dante also combines low latency and sample-accurate playback timing with the convenience and economy of using standard computer networking hardware.

But what makes Dante even more attractive is its automatic device discovery and system

configuration abilities. With this capability, specialised skills are no longer required to setup and manage an audio and video media network. Together, these features make AV networking with Dante a simple, realistic and attractive proposition.

Audinate was actually founded by researchers at the NICTA (National ICT Australia) research institute, to commercialise pioneering research and development work undertaken over three years within NICTA. Researchers found

most professional live audio setups have cabling absolutely everywhere. Cabling to distribute audio from instruments to amplifiers, mixing desks and speakers, and of course microphones to front-of-house and side-stage mixing consoles.

As we know, these point-topoint connections are bulky and prone to noise and radio frequency interference, and are typically logistically inflexible and expensive to install. Audinate saw an opportunity, and developed a network solution to

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4/i PHONE THEREFORE The MediaMatrix development team in Oxford has written an application for control of Nion wirelessly via an iPhone or iTouch. The application was initially put together as a ‘proof of concept’ for trade shows. Since then, a number of integrators have implemented the application into their projects. However, running the application requires Apple Developer status, so what Peavey is making available is provided purely as an example to get started. Development and customisation needs to be done by an iPhone Developer. The example software demonstrates an iPhone/iTouch controlling a Nion audio system. The application offers control over volume, source selection, mute, and a ‘panic button’. It also displays a meter. These controls can be assigned to anything the designer wants. Nions can be controlled via Ethernet using a protocol called Remote Access Terminal Control (RATC). This is the same protocol used to control Nions from Crestron or other control systems. To have a crack, contact: techsupport@hillssvl.com.au Audio Telex: (02) 9647 1411 or nsw@audiotelex.com.au

allow digital audio and video to be transported using standard data networking protocols, the established protocols in use throughout the globe such as Ethernet and TCP/IP, but without compromising performance or introducing unacceptable delay.

Applications for Dante are vast, and of course include any application where audio and vision need to be transferred over distance. Professional recording studios, PA and live playback equipment as used in performance venues, installed AV

systems for home entertainment equipment, and musical instruments. Not to mention the broadcasting industries.

The technology allows the same network to carry multiple high-quality audio channels with sample accurate timing, at the same time carrying MIDI, and general control data.

With Dante technology integrated into the array of audio products offered by Bosch, as well as its current partnerships with the likes of Lab.gruppen, Audinate has certainly established itself as

a significant industry player.

Bosch Communication Systems: (02) 9683 4752 or www. boschcommunications.com Audinate: (02) 8090 1000 or www.audinate.com

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1/ALL IN ONE

2/SLIM PICKINGS

3/CONFERENCE ON THE GO

LSC Lighting Systems has released the e24V3 touring dimmer offering a complete dimming and distribution solution. The e24V3 comes with 24 channels of both dimming and HotPower distribution, enabling you to power up to 3000W per channel of lighting, video and special effects from the one box. Retaining all of the smarts of its predecessors including CCT (current control technology), PTFD (pulse transformer fired dimming) and LSCnet networking capabilities (for both remote monitoring and remote recall of any of the 80 memories), the e24V3 can power an array of items directly, and even has an in-built fully opto-isolated five-way DMX splitter, making it a real one-box solution.

The wireless DMX option allows the e24V3 to run off cabled or wireless DMX; or both. With this option, should either DMX input signal fail, the auto-switching feature seamlessly switches to the other input signal providing complete redundancy.

LSC Lighting Systems: (03) 9702 8000 or www.lsclighting.com

Mitsubishi Electric recently unveiled its latest full HD commercial LCD display. Engineered specifically for use in digital signage and information display applications, the 52-inch MDT521S features a a bezel width of only 19.5mm. The MDT521S features Mitsubishi’s use of an built-in Cat5 transmitter/receiver pair, allowing video and control signal data to be transmitted over the same network cable. Full HD, multiple display, daisy-chain operation is also supported over a distance of 200m.

Up to 25 MDT521S displays can be combined to create a single video wall, with frame compensation taking into account bezel widths. The MDT521 also has flexible orientation support, and can be installed in landscape, portrait or full face-up positions.

Other features include twin ambient light sensors allowing the display to automatically adjust brightness to suit any environment. Mitsubishi’s optional Colour Match software, when used in conjunction with an external analyser can quickly and easily colour match any display wall with just the press of a key.

Mitsubishi Electric Australia: (02) 9684 7777 or www.mitsubishielectric.com.au

MXL Technology has the AC-406 USB desktop communicator. With simple connection to a PC or Mac USB port, the AC-406 allows telecommuters to work headset-free and experience crystal-clear audio on web-based conference calls. With a portable and unobtrusive design, the AC-406 USB desktop communicator provides a more personal web conferencing experience, particularly helpful to those who rely on internet conferencing services like Skype and iChat. The AC-406 also performs well with speechto-text software applications like Dragon. The unit incorporates a three-capsule boundary design with 180° coverage and a 16-bit A/D converter. Two minijack audio sockets are included; one for stereo headphones for private conversations, and the other for daisy-chaining multiple microphones, along with the ever-useful mute button.

Innovative Music: (03) 9540 0658 or sales@innovativemusic.com.au

TIME POOR, SUDS RICH

What a waste. All those lost minutes languishing in your bucket seats while the brushes, rotors and jets do their darndest over your metallic duco. These are the inane, yet sublimely vacant, moments spent watching as the wax is deposited over your bonnet, then blasted with what seems to be an aviation engine. What to do? Turn up the stereo and check all the drink holders for small change?

Take time out of life’s hectic schedule to soak up that feeling of actually being alone, in public!

Read the paper, or search for a wi-fi network? Maybe spend the ‘me’ time scrutinising the upholstery seams for that most insidious adversary of the committed automobile owner; the sesame seed? There’s so much one could achieve during those seemingly drawn out 7.4 minutes of a car wash. Matters

of import. But does anyone ever do any of that stuff? Nah. We all just wait for the green light and then get the heck out of there, maybe ruining the entire experience, waiting to pay by the second to use one of those those monster vacuum cleaners you wish you had at home – with a key to the coin-op mechanism of course. – BW

Westinghouse Digital Electronics introduces a powerful and costeffective way for car washes to educate and up-sell customers: The Car Wash Display. The self-contained system includes all of the hardware, software and simple-to-use content needed to easily create compelling ads and promos.

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1/HI-DEF MATRIX SWITCHER

2/SHORT, SHARP SHOCK

3/ASHLY PROTEA

Gefen announces the release of its new matrix switcher, upgraded to handle the HDMI v1.3 format with crosspoint capability. With HDCP compliance and support for all HDMI v1.3 features including deep colour, the 4x4 Matrix for HDMI v1.3 connects and distributes any one of four hi-def sources to any one of four HDTVs in a plug and play fashion. It supports hi-def video resolutions to 1080p full HD plus multi-channel digital audio, including features like lip sync, DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD, which is routed together with the video. When bringing together multiple sources and displays, the 4x4 Matrix offers control by IR remote and through the RS232 port.

Installation requires a simple connection to its four sources and four displays. Boosted by a 24V power supply, the matrix switches sources and displays in seconds, with the unit’s inputs and outputs lining the backside of the single, rack mountable enclosure.

Amber Technology: 1800 251367 or gefen@ambertech.com.au

Sharp has announced the release of the PG-F267X DLP short-throw projector for both business and education applications.

Requiring only 1.3m to project a 100-inch diagonal picture, the projector’s BrilliantColour technology and six-segment colour wheel deliver up to 2200:1 contrast ratio. The unit boasts 2500 ANSI lumen brightness and can project high-resolution images up to UXGA (1600 x 1200) and SXGA+ (1400 x 1050). It is also compatible with digital high-definition 1080p. Connections include DVI-I for digital and analogue input, D-sub terminals as well as compatibility with AV equipment, computers and video game consoles. The PG-F267X can even be managed via a LAN connection with projector control using a standard web browser. Dust resistance is achieved with a DLP sealed optical system and dust filter. Available now for $2699.

Sharp Corporation Australia: 1300 135 530 or www.sharp.net.au

Ashly Audio is introducing two speaker processors for live sound and fixed installation applications to its line of Protea DSP products. The Protea 4.8SP four-input/ eight-output and Protea 3.6SP three-input/six-output 1RU digital signal processors offer an intuitive user interface, PC control software, and comprehensive DSP that incorporates crossover, equalisation, delay and limiter functions. Gain, delay and six filters (each a choice of parametric, low or high-shelf) may be applied to every input, each of which employs 24-bit/48kHz A/D converters with 128x over sampling. Outputs may be assigned from one or a combination of inputs.

Butterworth, Bessel and Linkwitz-Riley crossover filters with up to 48dB/octave slopes are available on the outputs, along with four parametric, low- or high-shelf filters plus compressor/limiters to control feedback problems. Time delay adjustments, output gain and polarity reverse may also be applied to the outputs, which include limiters for speaker protection.

Network Entertainment Technology: (02) 9905 5997 or sales@network-et.com

NEWS IN BRIEF

Navigate Group comprises a select group of AV professionals that together form arguably the most powerful assembly of integrators in Australia – a little like the Opus Dei of AV. The group was established in 1999 by five companies seeking to collaborate their many years of experience providing audio visual services to their clients. In the last 10 years they’ve delivered cutting edge solutions to clients such as Telstra, IAG, Medicare and the Australian

Defence Force. To celebrate this milestone, The Navigate Group will be holding a 10 Year Anniversary Bash, with the support of Integrate 09 and their vendors, on Tuesday the seventh of April at the Bavarian Beer Cafe in Sydney’s Entertainment Quarter from 7.30pm till midnight. Contact Advanced Video Integration directly to receive your invitation: marketing@advancedvideo. com.au

Hitachi Software addresses Mac users in the educational community by releasing StarBoard Software 9.0 for OSX. The software offers a live desktop mode allowing users to ink on YouTube videos for example, without having to take screen shots or freeze frames.

The software also allows FX Duo board users to perform multi-touch gestures, as well as an improved multi-input pad that allows two users to write on the board simultaneously.

Hitachi: www.hitachi.com or dps@hitachi.com.au

Crestron has a swag of recent firmware and software updates available. To get your mits on the upgrades, go to the front page of www.crestron. com and select ‘Software & Firmware Updates’ from under the Tools & Resources tab.

Upgrades include; VT Pro-e v3.9.30.01, Crestron Database v20.04.006.00, Device Database v20.06.016.00, and Crestron Toolbox v1.13.325.02.

Crestron Control Solutions: (02) 9737 8203 or www.crestron.com.au

Leaf Audio has expanded its sales force with the appointment of new representation in the QLD/NT (Gordon Williams, Audioapex), WA (Peter Shilkin, Universal AV) and VIC/SA/ ACT (Terry Deacon, NRS). Ian Dalrymple has been appointed VIC Western Region Manager, with Cale Beach and Reynolds Place appointed as the VIC Eastern Region Manager. Mark Vorstenbosch will continue to service the NZ markets.

Leaf Audio: www.leafaudio.com or sales@leafaudio.com

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4/CAMERAS & ACTION Vaddio's ControlView XHD is an automated PTZ camera controller with HD, RGBHV, and SD video switching, video transitions, and camera preset trigger functionality. When used in conjunction with StepView Mats, AutoView IR sensors or other triggers devices, ControlView XHD allows instructors to focus on teaching rather than the technology. Seventy-two preset camera positions can be set between six PTZ cameras, with ‘seamless’ switching between inputs. The unit works with a variety of PTZ cameras in the Vaddio line including cameras from Panasonic, Sony and Canon.

Input trigger accessories that work with ControlView XHD include Vaddio TouchView RF buttons, StepView Mats, AutoView IR sensors and MicView, as well as other third-party contact closure devices. Simply program a trigger device to a preset camera pan/ tilt/zoom position, when an instructor walks onto the StepView Mat, ControlView XHD simultaneously moves the camera to the pre-programmed position, and switches to that camera. Sweet!

Electroboard: 1800 622 800 or www.electroboard.com.au

The ATEN VS1504/VS1508 Cat5 audio/video splitter is a cost-effective and efficient way to send high-quality audio and video content to multiple displays up to 150m. Cascadable to three levels, the VS1504/VS1508 can support thousands of displays when combined in an installation with ATEN repeaters.

Anyware: (02) 9879 5788 or sales-syd@anyware.com.au

Belden has appointed Ecco Pacific to distribute its cabling and connectivity products to the electrical wholesale market. Ecco Pacific currently represents a number of high profile brands including 3M, Wiha and Vortice and has appointed Matthew Holohan, as manager of the Belden account.

Ecco Pacific: 1300 363 148 or australia.sales@belden.com

ARX has updated its industry workhorse DI-6SM line mixer and microphone line splitter. The unit now takes advantage of the new generation of recently released audio op-amps, enabling ARX’s design engineers to increase the unit’s headroom and lower the output noise floor.

The Resource Corporation: (03) 9877 8233 or sales@trc.com.au

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1/THE PEOPLE’S LIGHT

2/AUSSIE KIDS VOTE HITACHI

3/WEATHERPROOF CONNECTIVITY

GLP has introduced the Volkslicht, a small LED moving head armed with 60 Luxeon Rebel RGB LEDs — at a lower price point than their popular Impression heads.

However, the basic colours are identical to those of the Impression 90 and the Impression XL, which makes it possible to combine the devices without risk of colour variation. The power consumption of Volkslicht is a mere 180W and in addition to the RGB model GLP has also produced a white model (with 42 cold white LEDs and 18 warm LEDs, allowing a continuously adjustable colour temperature). Volkslicht also features an exchangeable optical carrier with an 11° distribution angle (24° optional beam path), while the strobe offers between 1-10 flashes per second, with continuous 0-100% dimming.

Show Technology Australia: (02) 9748 1122 or www.showtech.com.au

Hitachi has announced the release of its interactive response system. VerdICT Plus gives students instant feedback for a wide variety of activities including multiple-choice questions, class surveys, end-of-lesson or course reviews, voting quizzes and tests. Students cast their votes using the radio frequency wireless handsets and the software instantly marks and analyses the answers. Teachers can adjust content according to the specific needs of the class or individual, thus taking a structured and responsive approach to personalised learning. They can also choose to make answers anonymous, or to enable students to see how well they’re doing in response to others. Pre-customised questions can be used, or new ones created during a session. Answers can then be transferred, collected and analysed for further reference. VerdICT Plus includes Powerpoint integration and Vista compatibility.

Hitachi: www.hitachi.com.au

Neutrik has introduced a redesigned and upgraded USB/ Firewire chassis connector for lockable and watertight digital interface connections. The new chassis connector features a sealing ring and offers optional screen-to-chassis grounding for improved shielding.

Neutrik’s USB/Firewire product line, which includes its 2.0 compliant USB A and B reversible adapters, and sixpole Firewire adapters, is now equipped with a sealing ring and optional grounding, and is available in nickel or black housing. Ideal for audio networking and the integration of computer-based equipment into audio systems, Neutrik’s line of USB chassis connectors is designed with its D-style housing. Through this latest product introduction, Neutrik offers a solution to the digital interface problems that are typically associated with audio/video networks, IT equipment and digital recording studios.

Amber Technology: 1800 251 367 or professional@ambertech.com.au

WINGS OF WAR

A new permanent exhibition at the Australian War Memorial, Over the Front, is an intriguing combination of memorabilia and multimedia. The exhibit consists of a static display of war memorabilia from aerial combat, which includes the lucky charms of pilots, war medals and the Red Baron’s (Baron von Richthofen) ‘flying boot’.

The exhibition also features five planes: three Allied types (SE5a fighter, Airco DH9 bomber, Avro 504K trainer), and two rare German fighter planes (Albatros D.Va. and Pfalz D.XII), both

originally brought to Australia in 1919.

In addition to the war artefacts is a breathtaking multimedia component. Peter Jackson is better known for directing epic elf wars in the Shaky Isles, but now flexes his chairperson position with the 1914-18 Aviation Heritage Trust to bring visitors of the Australian War Memorial a bird’s-eye view of what it was like to fly a fighter plane.

The aircraft used in the film was sourced from the Aviation Heritage Trust by Jackson

himself; these flyable replicas were used in conjunction with scale models and computer animation. Working with his production company, Wingnut Film Production, Jackson has put together an awe-inspiring piece which makes the most of the long wrap-around screen. With visual effects by Weta Digital, the instalment provides the audience remarkable insight that’s only enhanced by the audiovisual system.

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

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4/MULTIPLYING MONGEESE The Rane Mongoose and RAD panel range is turning out to be a real problem solver for a multitude of applications. Rane has increased the range by announcing an additional nine panel options. The new options include four channel panels, plus an ‘underthe-counter’ version for lecterns, boardrooms and similar. For those unfamiliar with the Rane Mongoose, the system comprises a number of I/O wall panels that can be installed throughout a venue. These panels connect to Mongoose over Cat5. The Mongoose box then links via CobraNet to your DSP system allowing small groups of remote inputs and outputs to interface with a CobraNet compatible DSP system. The RAD 1, 2, 3, and 4 panels are available now, with the nine new permutations arriving in June. Ripper!

Audio Telex: (02) 9647 1411 or nsw@audiotelex.com.au

Symetrix has released the Room Combine 788, the latest addition to its Integrator Series. The Room Combine 788 can combine up to eight microphones and four background music (BGM) sources in as many as eight different rooms. The unit allows easy assignment of microphones and BGM into various spaces in predetermined combinations.

Production Audio Services: (03) 9264 8000 or info@ productionaudio.com.au

Da-Lite Screen Company introduces the new Holo Screen for large format digital signage applications.

Engineered and designed to address the need for custom sizes in digital sign installations, Holo Screen is an upgrade from the previous holographic film available from Da-Lite.

Wilson & Gilkes: (02) 9914 0900 or sales@gilkon.com.au

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NEWS

REVIEW

AV Industry Training The risks of having a non-educated workforce.

Text:/ Gordon Anderson (CTS)

“I’m a firm believer that if you educate your staff they won’t want to leave” The AV integrator industry continues to move ahead at a cracking pace, but training isn’t keeping up. Training is often the first thing to be shelved, side-lined and put on the back burner when times get tough or when there are just not enough hours in the day to keep customers happy. Yet every AV integration firm, without fail, manages to pride themselves on the ‘training’ they offer to their employees. So if the training being provided is so good, why are companies finding it so difficult to retain staff or indeed attract them from other industries in the first place?

If you are a business owner, then your primary concern is your bottom line, and I doubt any fair-minded employee would contest that. However, I struggle to understand how many business owners are willing to use their clients’ projects as a beta testing ground. Surely the cost of sending your staff to selected training courses throughout the year is significantly less than the cost of return visits to a customer’s premises to fix up problems directly attributed to poor workmanship?

The subject of industry training has been a topic of constant argument, and it’s not something that will be solved overnight. In fact, the training debate raises more questions than answers. I won’t pretend to give you all the answers, but I have some points for you to consider.

ON THE RIGHT COURSE?

Do we have the course content that is relevant to what we do?: For an unregulated industry, I believe we have an offering to satisfy almost all requirements of an AV integration company. In the commercial arena, InfoComm has a raft of

courses covering management, design and installation. Admittedly, these courses aren’t run in Australia and New Zealand with anywhere near the frequency of, say, North America, but when the courses are run, the attendance is, quite frankly, abysmal. I know this, because the last course I was scheduled to teach had to be cancelled.

Aside from industry training, there is certainly no shortage of manufacturer-based training. Often these courses are free of charge and this often leads to no-shows because the attendee perceives that if it’s free, it won’t matter if they miss it because ‘something has come up’. Perhaps manufacturer courses shouldn’t be gratis – this is something that should probably be explored.

On the subject of relevance, there are a committed group of volunteers who have been working to regionalise (’de-Americanize’) the content of the InfoComm courses run here in Australia. These volunteers are made up of integrators and consultants who have a vested interest in the quality of work they charge very good money for. They’re guided by staff instructors from InfoComm. If you think you can make a difference, don’t be backward in coming forward!

Is there a defined career path and what is the goal?: The short answer is no, and it will be a while before you can sign up to a TAFE course to do ‘Systems Integration’. It’s certainly not through lack of effort; it’s more about lack of funds.

What the industry does have is an ANSIaccredited certification (InfoComm CTS).

At the very least, it’s a great start. I am seeing tenders being released more often with references to ‘CTS certified installers’, so whether you like or not, a minimum benchmark is better than no benchmark.

We also have a level of licensure (ACA Cabling Provider Rules) that is, in my opinion, not policed anywhere near enough.

A few more hefty fines (up to $13,200) to make an example of some cowboys might be exactly what’s required to shake us up.

The rules are very clear: if the cable being installed has the potential to be connected to a network you need to be licensed!

Benefits of training for the employer: I’ve heard it all before. Why should I spend good money on training when staff just move to another company? I can’t afford to have my guys in a classroom for three days. I can’t recoup the cost because margins are too tight; too much work on; not enough work on; the dollar has died in the arse… if I educate them they will want more money. Blah blah blah.

EDUCATE OR PERISH

I’m a firm believer that if you educate your staff they won’t want to leave. The sooner the AV industry gets behind itself and actively educates its own, the better.

So let me leave you with this thought: if you don’t want to risk losing your employees because you have educated them, consider the possible implications if you didn’t and they stayed.  Gordon Anderson, CTS is the ACT Manager for Hills Sound Vision & Lighting.

Like Gordon, all readers are welcome to pitch article ideas. Send an email to the editor: andy@av.net.au

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MEDIORNET

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NEWS

REVIEW

Bin There Done That Time to ‘do the right thing’ with electronic waste.

Text:/ Brad Watts

I’m not alone in this. Although, when my son first expressed an infatuation with garbage bins, garbage trucks, skips and recycling, my ‘significant other’ and I figured we had a ‘special’ case on our hands. Now that our son is nudging four years of age, the interest hasn’t waned even slightly. At this tender age he already knows the difference between the normal and the recycling bin, and the fleet of toy refuse vehicles has expanded to municipal proportions, with a garbage truck to suit any style of rubbish you care to mess with. We’ve now wised up to the fact there’s an entire subculture of rubbish-respecting toddlers out there. Tune into YouTube and you’ll find garbage truck and wheelie bin collections of fanatical magnitude, along with extended footage of local council collection trucks – kiddies agog as they watch their preferred refuse conveyances doing what they do best.

After considering my son’s primary interest, for some time I might add, the realisation came that rubbish removal has changed a great deal since the days of my toddling about the house.

We’re no longer talking about a few hefty blokes in footy shorts scuttling the contents of galvanised cans into the back of a truck during the wee hours. No siree. Were talking purposebuilt, highly-specialised refuse compaction and recycling machinery. Bins designed to get our waste into the rear of a compactor, driven and operated by a solitary not-so-hefty bloke (and I’m sure there’s even the odd sheila out there as well!).

Refuse and recycling is big business these days. Who could blame a three year old for taking an avid interest in the industry of rubbish retrieval.

LOAD OF RUBBISH

Think about: we’re surrounded by rubbish – there’s tonnes of the stuff out there – and one of the prime sources of this trash (and again this is something that didn’t exist during my early years) is e-waste. Electronic waste – defunct televisions and domestic entertainment systems, mobile phones, office equipment like printers and scanners. Then there’s computers and their various peripherals. Modems, routers and switches, hard drives, dead memory sticks and failed or defunct optical media. All this stuff is manufactured using a philosophy that, again, didn’t exist when I was running about

the house with some Matchbox cars and a fist full of Lego – built-in obsolescence. These things are designed to be thrown into landfill… and not all that long after they’ve been bought either. The cycle is to purchase, then use until dead. Like your dad will tell you, they don’t make them like they used to.

So how much space is this debris inhabiting?

Well, depending on which pundit you ask, global e-waste output is somewhere between 20 and 50 million tonnes, per year. That’s a lot of rubbish. To get a bit more of a handle on just how many devices this adds up to, consider these points: In 2006 there were approximately 1.6 million computers thrown into landfill, with about 1.8 million on the shelf ready for sale, with another 5.3 million sitting about in our garages doing nothing. Out of all of these, only half a million were recycled. Other than computers, Australian homes keep 22 electronic devices on average. That’s about 92.5 million devices in all. The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates we buy around 2.4 million computers a year, and that in the ensuing two years we’ll replace nine million computers, five million printers, and two million scanners. The US believes it’s stashing around 300 million obsolete computers. We really are up to our ears in this junk!

HEAVY METAL

Now here’s the clincher: e-waste is poisonous.

On average a computer is 23% plastic – most of it treated with fire retardants making it impossible to recycle. 32% is ferrous metals and 18% is non-ferrous metals like lead, cadmium, antimony, beryllium, chromium and mercury, and 12% is electronic boards containing gold, palladium, silver and platinum, and 15% glass.

Only about 50% of the computer can actually be recycled, the rest gets dumped. The toxicity of the waste is primarily due to the lead, mercury and cadmium, and if left to rot, these metals inevitably leach into the soil, the water table, and eventually us and our children’s children!

DUTY CALLS

So what do we do? As AV professionals it’s our moral duty to make sure this stuff doesn’t routinely get thrown into a skip and forgotten. AV installers are no doubt bigger culprits than the domestic market. Take, for example, the number of CRT screens that

have been replaced over the last decade and consider the fact the average cathode ray tube packs about two kilograms of lead! That’s lead that can’t be recycled into other product and could easily end up in the water table if it’s not disposed of properly. We’ve known that lead is poisonous for centuries but it still gets thrown into rubbish dumps like there’s no tomorrow. In November of last year the National Environment & Heritage Council (EPHC) calculated that if 75% of the 1.5 million televisions that are thrown out each year, the savings would amount to 23,000 tonnes of CO² emissions, 520 megalitres of water, 400,000 gigajoules of energy and 160,000 cubic metres of landfill space. Realising Australian industry is keen to take action on the issue, the council is paying close attention to various schemes for recycling of e-waste, with the intention to make an informed decision during 2009. Once the council completes gathering the economic and feasibility data, it will be known how best to tackle the issue – whether to stick with a self-regulated scheme or enforce government regulation. In industries consisting of large numbers of small players, where profit margins are relatively small, there’s little incentive to ‘do the right thing’. Perhaps it should be accepted that government regulation is the inevitable answer to this dilemma.

ANOTHER WAY

In the meantime, and even over the longer term, there are options for the conscientious operator. There are companies who will take this refuse off your hands, all the while adhering to established globally accredited standards and legislation. These companies provide assurances about the security of clients’ intellectual property and branding, provide recycling reports and analysis feedback, and will assay and extract any precious metals from the defunct products and get them back into circulation.

Equally, for the smaller operator and domestic arena there are initiatives in place set up by associations such as the Australian Information Industry Association. AIIA have instigated the Byteback scheme, so far operating in Victoria alone. Eight Byteback locations are peppered throughout Victoria – just bear in mind there is a 10 item limit at these centres.

The Byteback scheme has provided a perfect

“We’ve known that lead is poisonous for centuries but it still gets thrown into rubbish dumps like there’s no tomorrow”

pilot opportunity for the EPHC. Final announcements as to a national recycling plan are to be revealed in November of this year.

Until government-based e-waste recycling centres become a nationwide phenomenon, it’s up to individuals and businesses to avail themselves of the privateers of the e-waste recycling world. There are a number of establishments who’ll do this dirty work for us – some of which you’ll see in the sidebar. What’s important is we understand the urgency of the situation and refrain from simply throwing this rubbish into the nearest dumpster. With a bit of luck we’ll get the message that our children will clearly accept as common procedure, with the catch-cry of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ being the first option, rather than the difficult choice. Remember this isn’t about our wellbeing, it’s about leaving behind a planet that’s inhabitable by our children. They’ll grow up with this, we just have to put the processes into place.  Statistical information courtesy of UNEP/GRID-Arendal.

WHERE DO YOU BIN IT? Byteback (VIC): www.bytebackaustralia.com.au Anglesea: (03) 5263 2978 Booroondara: (03) 9278 4444 Darebin: (03) 9462 3455 Drysdale: (03) 5251 2935 Geelong: (03) 5272 2613 Moonee Valley: (03) 9243 8888 Officeworks Ballarat: (03) 5320 1400 Officeworks Dandenong: (03) 9797 4600 Ewaste: 1800 392 783 or www.ewaste.com.au TES-AMM: (02) 9756 4630 or www.tes-amm.com.au MRI Australia: 1300 439 278 or www.mri.com.au Veolia Environmental Services: (02) 8571 0000 or www.veoliaes.com.au Tic Group: (03) 9093 6600 or ewaste@ticgroup.com.au Dell Computer Recycling: 1800 465 890 or recycling_dell_au@dell.com Secure Computer Recycling and Disposal: www.computer-recycling.com.au E-Cycle Recovery: (08) 8379 4539 or www.ecyclerecovery.com.au

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FEATURE

Theatre of (your) Dreams At last, a theatre that’s thought of everything.

Text:/ Andy Ciddor

When you’ve been staging productions for over 50 years, you can’t help but have a few ideas about how your shows should go together and what facilities can make the shows easier to stage and run. Decades ago, before they left their erstwhile home in Russell Street for their long sojourn in Melbourne’s Arts Centre, the production department at the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) began making notes about what their future theatre might be. Over the years ‘The Brief’ as it became known, gradually accumulated the company’s ideas, aspirations and dreams for what would one day become their permanent home theatre. Along the way there were at least nine proposals for a new MTC theatre at various times and various locations, and although on each occasion the project eventually fell through, the experience gained in working on these proposals

was also absorbed into ‘The Brief’.

When in 1999 architects Ashton Raggat McDougall won the competition to design the MTC/Melbourne Recital Centre project, The Brief was provided as an attachment to their contract and became the de facto ‘user manual’ for the project. It was duly handed on to the project’s theatre and acoustic consultants Arup which entrusted it to their theatre consultant, the late Denis Irving, as the starting point for the theatre’s technical specification. During construction it also became the primary reference document for the builder Bovis Lend Lease and Jands as the Theatre Engineering Contractor.

Recognising that this would be their only opportunity for a very long time to get a new theatre of their own, in 2004 MTC appointed a Theatre Development Manager, Craig Gamble,

to represent them directly at all points in the consultation, planning and construction processes. His role was to ensure not only that their brief was adhered to, but that all decisions about the construction, equipping and operational capabilities of their new theatres took full account of the end user’s needs and point of view.

In February 2009 the fruits of this planning, consulting design and construction process opened its doors to the public.

The main venue, the Sumner Theatre, is a beautiful 500–560-seat performing space that, despite its size, feels and sounds surprisingly intimate, while the 160-seat Lawler Studio is a very well conceived black box studio space (although it’s actually deep maroon with adjustable black curtains).

FEATURE

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“In place of a matrix of tens of thousands of LEDs, the words were created by drilling patterns of holes in sheets of 32mm plywood”

Sumner Theatre as seen from the control room.

LESSONS LEARNED

The lessons learned from years of working in such less-than-ideal venues as MTC’s former homes at Russell Street, St Martins Theatre and the Athenaeum theatre, were incorporated into the brief to make these venues the best working theatres that could jointly be imagined.

The loading dock is directly connected to both stage areas, and at the same level. There is a stage management/props kitchen for preparation of stage food. There are storage and show maintenance areas for all departments. It’s possible for performers to get from backstage to auditorium entrances without going out into the street or parading through the foyers. There is a goods lift that offers direct access to every level of the stage house from the sub-stage to the winch room. The stage management/prompt

corner system can operate from either side of the stage, the control room or the production desk position in the house. Performance technical staff can get from backstage areas to the control rooms, spot positions and other working points without battling foyer crowds or climbing through blacked-out roof spaces. Through the use of Jands hand winches, the house lights can be maintained and re-lamped without ladders, scaffolds, bosun’s chairs, licensed riggers or trained acrobats. There are configurable and extendable work light (white) and running light (blue) systems throughout the venues. Are you getting the picture?

As you’d expect, both venues are well equipped with high quality equipment, as befits a flagship theatre company.

The Sumner’s main stage area of

approximately 26m wide x 19m deep (including 6m rear stage area) with a scenery flying height of 20m, is as capable a space as anything found anywhere in the world. A Stage Technologies Nomad system, controls some 64 motorised 500kg fly lines, coil-spring lighting cablereelers and half a dozen ASM 250kg band hoists for spot lines. The Yamaha DM1000 audio console, feeding theatre sector's favourite Meyer speakers – configured for stage sounds and sound effects – will serve as a solid base for whatever productions come along. The 4000-channel ETC Eos console will certainly take good care of the 460 IES dimmers, driving just under 500 conventional fixtures and 16 moving lights. The large number and wide selection of Selecon, ETC, Martin and Quartzcolour luminaires will never be enough

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FEATURE

(1)

(1)

(2)

(3)

(2)

(3)

Left: Not only was stage terminology and technology initially unfamiliar to the team from project builder Bovis Lend Lease, but the concept of the re-sizeable proscenium opening (that could move in so many directions at once) was hard to pick up from the engineering drawings. To make the concepts abundantly clear, the builders knocked up this down 'n' dirty, not-even-slighty-to-scale, model.

Right: A view from the stage showing what the cardboard model was actually describing: (1) The proscenium header; (2) The teaser; (3) The tormentor with its panels and Juliet balcony.

for any lighting designer; but neither would twice as many. Similarly, there is a good stock of stage drapery, but every production will still require a skip full of black tatt to finish off the masking.

This venue is as well equipped as drama gets, and then a little bit more, but that’s not why this is an amazing place for making theatre.

CURTAINS!

One of the more unusual features of the Sumner Theatre is the absence of that long-standing public health institution: the fire curtain. Provided as a safety measure to protect the audience to be from the once-fairly-regular conflagrations that would break out on stage, the concept was that this noncombustible fire curtain would be lowered in to trap the fire on stage, immolating the performers and crew, while the gentlefolk in the audience had time to flee from the auditorium.

To meet their onerous fire ratings, most fire curtains are constructed from a framework of steel beams covered with a non-combustible material such as metal, fibro-cement sheeting or even asbestos sheeting. Weighing several tonnes and occupying a slot some 150mm–300mm deep in the proscenium arch, these fire curtains are required to completely seal the gap between the stage and the auditorium. No scenery or props are permitted in the path of the fire curtain, and any mechanism to allow for adjustments to the proscenium opening must still maintain the critical fire seal.

Theatre consultant Dennis Irving sat down with the fire authorities in Melbourne and persuaded them to rethink the problem of audience safety. As the purpose of a fire curtain is to allow the audience to exit safely in the case of a fire, Irving proposed that by providing enough clear exit paths from the

theatre, and using a stage ventilation system that prevents the smoke from a stage fire from entering the auditorium, there would be sufficient time for an audience to get safely out of the building without the need for a fire curtain.

By accepting Irving’s proposal, the fire authorities cleared the way for the design of a reconfigurable proscenium frame and freed set designers from having to leave a hole in their sets to accommodate the lowering of the fire curtain.

Thus, unlike any other major theatre in the country, through some smart design by MTC and clever engineering by primary contractor Jands and Steve Conroy at ShowTrek Productions, the Sumner’s proscenium opening, complete with Juliet balconies, is variable in width from 11m to 16m, and also variable in height from 0m to 9m, while always looking like an architecturallysolid wall.

FLEXIBILITY

Because there is no such thing as a standard format for an MTC production, the venue has been designed from the outset to allow almost anything to be done, almost anywhere. While some of the possibilities for production, performance and events could be imagined and, even catered for directly in the plans, it’s clearly impossible to build in adequate facilities for the as-yet-unimagined requirements that will arise during the many decades that the building will be in use.

As the very model of a modern major production house, there are clusters of threephase power, technical power outlets, data feeds and audio tie-lines secreted in every nook and cranny of the building; from the roof to the staircase landings, and from the workshops to the offices, the ceiling voids, and probably also in

the cleaner’s cupboard.

Any place in the building where it is even remotely possible to want to hang anything – from a drape to a Christmas decoration, a length of rope, or couple of lights, to an advertising banner or a circus performer – you'll find strengthened and rated rigging attachment points. Water, drainage and compressed air lines are run to the roof, all sides and levels of the stage house, everywhere you can imagine backstage, and of course the pit and all over the under-stage area. These are provisions for the unlikely and the unusual, but the nevertheless conceivable.

What happens if you need 200 Amps of 400Hz/110V power in the greenroom or a chilled glycol feed in the control room, a satellite antenna feed in the orchestra pit, a gas flame in the middle of the auditorium or half a dozen HD television camera feeds from the Lawler Studio to an outside broadcast van in the loading dock? How can you achieve these feats without compromising public access paths, fire isolation integrity, or performing serious building works?

The answer chosen by MTC, was to install a series of resealable ‘mouse holes’ in every internal wall, floor and ceiling in the building, enabling any space to be connected to any other space, using nothing more sophisticated than a short step ladder. In the photo you can see that the mouse holes are constructed from standard plumbing pipes and access covers. Fire isolation is maintained through the use of fire-rated bean bags packed with fire-rated pellets of equivalent value to the wall material. Once a cable, hose or pipe has been run through a mouse hole, the bean bags are re-packed into the hole to restore the fire isolation.

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FEATURE

Left: The demountable stage system proposed by MTC's Craig Gamble and engineered by ShowTrek. Each removable deck module sits between two removable multi-sectioned joists supported by demountable pillars. The concept has been so well received by the industry that Jands and ShowTrek have already installed an identical system at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.

Inset: How all of the floor elements fit together. Right: The Serapid Linklift actuators that drive the three forestage lifts.

STAGE FLOOR

The stage floor of a performing venue is always a bitter bone of contention. Directors frequently want the ability to structure entrances and exits in the vertical as well as the horizontal plane.

Stage designers love to explore every skerrick of the stage volume to create the space for the production, by using staircases and putting holes through the floor. Production managers and head carpenters, on the other hand, are always under time and budgetary pressure to have the stage available for fit-up and technical rehearsals.

But making good the floor from a previous production, or installing floor traps for the next one, requires areas of the stage to be closed off for safety purposes and engages teams of carpenters and mechanists who could otherwise be involved in turning the venue around.

The solution devised by project manager Craig Gamble for the Sumner Theatre approaches the problem from the opposite direction: there is no permanent stage floor. In the manner of an IT room, the entire stage deck is constructed from easily demountable uniform modules that can be interchanged with pre-built replacement units with the necessary traps already in place. The make-good process simply involves replacing the modified floor module with a standard unit.

All preparation and construction takes place off-site, with replacement modules interchanged at the start of the fit-up. While this may seem

relatively simple, there were some stringent engineering requirements for ShowTrek during the development of the stage floor system to allow the floor to carry not only the large distributed weights of stage sets, but also the substantial point loads of self-propelled elevated work platforms, like the Sumner’s excellent 2.7-tonne Haulotte Star 10.

The only section of the stage floor that isn’t completely removable is the forestage, which consists of three independent lifts powered by Serapid’s LinkLift actuators. The lifts can be set at substage level to form an orchestra pit, at auditorium floor level to extend the seating capacity of the theatre, or at stage level to become a forestage. As the additional auditorium seating wagons are stored beneath the auditorium in the under-stage area, the lifts also serve to transport these seat units to their auditorium position.

FOLLOWSPOT BRIDGE

Although only a few of MTC’s productions use followspots, it was essential for the theatre to have followspot positions that provide both a safe working platform for the operators and a good lighting angle. Such a place is the bridge built on the level above the control rooms. In keeping with the brief for maximum flexibility in the venue, any point on the bridge can be used for followspots, special effects equipment, television broadcast or closed circuit video cameras, projection systems, musicians, or even as a performer’s entrance or balcony. Using a system developed by Jands, the

entire wall between the bridge and the auditorium can be electrically raised or lowered in independent two-metre sections to create any arrangement of portals or slots in the rear wall. Of course, this bridge is supplied with all of the usual electrical, audio and data services, and is accessible through the mouse hole network and via staircase to the control room.

There is also a series of similarly cabled slots that can be opened as required in the side walls of the auditorium, to provide positions for lighting booms, loudspeakers, alternative followspot positions, effects equipment, projectors, scenery or even performers.

HOUSE LIGHTING

In addition to the conventional Source 4 Pars used for house lighting, the architect proposed to have sections of the walls of the auditorium display quotes from famous productions and playwrights.

While the idea was enthusiastically accepted, the proposed display system – an array of addressable colour changing LED pixels spread across the upper parts of the auditorium walls – was fairly swiftly costed out of existence. When MTC were advised that the auditorium wall panelling had to be perforated in order to meet the acoustic requirements of the room, they implemented a traditional theatrical solution to create the socalled Word Walls. In place of a matrix of tens of thousands of LEDs, the words were created by drilling patterns of holes in sheets of 32mm plywood

Left: One of the vast network of low technology 'mouse holes' that enable safe, simple and firerated connections between every space in the venue. The fire-rated bean bags in the tube (no it's not an old cleaning cloth) maintain the fire integrity of the wall .

Right: Dimmer room. Although there are 756 directly-connected load circuits, and rack space for around 800 dimmers in the IES system, a generous 460 channels of dimmer and relay modules are currently installed. These plugable modules may be moved between racks to provide control on the circuits in use for any particular production, or exchanged, loaned or borrowed with the IES sinewave dimmer modules in the MRC next door .

Lighting Equipment List Lighting Console ETC Eos 4000 Dimming 756 outlets via ETC/IES Matrix dimming system to 460 dimmers 372 x 2.5kVA phase controlled dimmers 36 x 5kVA phase controlled dimmers 42 x 10A non dimmed (relays) 6 x 20A non dimmed (relays) Profile Spots 4 x ETC Source 4 5° (750W) 20 x ETC Source 4 10° (750W) 60 x ETC Source 4 19° (750W) 60 x ETC Source 4 26° (750W) 50 x ETC Source 4 36° (750W) 20 x ETC Source 4 50° (750W) 8 x Selecon Pacific Zoom 45 – 75° (1000W) 20 x Selecon Pacific Zoom 23 – 50° (1000W) 20 x Selecon Pacific Zoom 14 – 35° (1000W) Fresnel & PC Spots 40 x Selecon 250mm lens Fresnel (2000W) 30 x Selecon 175mm lens Fresnel (1200W) 30 x Selecon Rama 175mm PC spot (1200W) 20 x Selecon Acclaim Fresnel (650W) Cyclorama 12 x Quartzcolour Iris 4 cyc floods 12 x Quartzcolour 4 compartment ground rows Beamlights 80 x ETC Source 4 Pars each with a full set of lenses and reflectors (750W) Moving Head luminaires 8 x ETC Revolution with shutters (750W) 8 x Martin TW1 wash (1200W) Follow Spots 2 x Robert Juliat Super Korrigan HMI (1200W) Atmospheric Effects 2 x Look Solutions Unique hazers 2 x Rosco 1700 smoke machines Accessories 8 x Boom bases 6 x Boom trolleys 80 x Boom Arms Lighting Bars 20 x Jands JLX wired lighting bars fed via Conductix-Wampfler cable reelers

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The exterior of the MTC Theatre. The distorted, forced-perspective of the building's outline resolves into a neat set of boxes when viewed from the footpath near the corner of St Kilda Road and Southbank Boulevard, outside the National Gallery of Victoria.

Equipment List

which were then mounted over the required sound deadening voids painted white inside. The void space of each wall panel is illuminated by a Space Cannon Athena RGB LED washlight to form a lightbox.

The overall effect is virtually indistinguishable from the original concept and the colours of the words can be changed with ease. The one drawback is that short of replacing the drilled ply sheets, it’s no longer possible to change the wording.

TO INFINITY & BEYOND

Unlike its equally impressive next-door neighbour, the Melbourne Recital Centre [see Issue 4], that was built to host new productions with new requirements every few days, the MTC theatre building was built to house a specific company producing shows with complex requirements, and runs measured in weeks and months rather than days. The type of flexibility that has been incorporated into this carefully thought out building leaves MTC with a clear path forward into the unknowns of future technologies, scripts, designers and directors. ďƒ­ Dramatis Personae Client: Melbourne Theatre Company a department of University of Melbourne Project partners: State Gov Victoria, Arts Victoria Architect: Ian McDougall and Peter Bickle of Ashton Raggat McDougall Project Manager: Major Projects Victoria Lighting Design (public areas): John Ford of Electrolight Principal Theatre Consultant: Denis Irving of Entertech Theatre & Acoustic Consultants: Arup Theatre Development Manager: Craig Gamble Services Consultants: Umow Lai Builder: Bovis Lend Lease Primary Theatre Engineering Contractor: Jands Jands subcontractors: Audio Systems: Rutledge Engineering Proscenium & Demountable Floor Systems Construction: ShowTrek Productions

STAGING Flying System Grid weight load limit 30 tonnes Controller: Stage Technologies Nomad 54 x 500kg power flying lines (Jands SP650 servo hoists) at 200mm centres upstage from the setting line 6 x 500kg power flying lines (Jands SP650 servo hoists) at 300mm centres downstage from the setting line 4 x 500kg power flying lines (Jands SP650 servo hoists) as panorama bars (2 on each side of stage) 6 x 250kg ASM P250 servo high speed band hoists as spot lines.

Forestage Lift 3 sections on Serapid Linklift actuators Drapes 9 x pairs flat black wool legs 9500(h) x 4000(w) 7 x borders flat black wool 5000(h) x 18000(w) 2 x pairs flat traveller curtains, black wool 10000(h) x 9500(w) each panel 1 x white filled-gauze cyclorama 9500(h) x 30000(w) 1 x plastic cyclorama 10000(h) x 17000(w) 2 x sharkstooth gauze, black 9500(h) x 17000(w) 1 x sharkstooth gauze, grey 9500(h) x 17000(w) 1 x smother curtain, flat black wool 9500(h) x 17000(w) 4 x Triple -E traveller tracks 18000 in length 3 x cyclorama stretcher frames.

AUDIO Console Yamaha DM 1000 Speakers 7 x Meyer UPJ-1 speakers. Main front of house 9 x Meyer UPM-1P speakers Auditorium surround system. Permanently mounted in auditorium walls 6 x Meyer MM-4 speakers. Front fill 2 x Meyer M1D Sub Bass speakers, 4 x Meyer UPJ-1 speakers. Foldback and effects 4 x Meyer UPM-1P speakers. Foldback and effects

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A Moot Point A first-hand account of the AV install into the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Law Building.

Text & Images:/ Peter Swanson (CTS)

Here’s an interesting brief: Work with a large design team to produce an awardwinning building with over 30 individual AV systems. The facilities will include a Moot Court, a congress lecture theatre and a lecture theatre that thinks it’s a cinema. Of course this will encompass the usual moving targets of evolving standards within the university and the ever-quickening pace of technological change; whilst always remaining on schedule and within budget. Should be easy, right?

Well, when we started work on the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Law building, that was precisely the brief. The design process began in 2003, while the final systems were installed and completed in early 2009.

This article tells the story of what happened in those 5½ years; the lowdown on some of the main systems and the outcomes.

The audiovisual briefing and concept design work got underway in 2004 while the building envelope was still being developed. This early involvement was critical in establishing appropriate positions for lecterns, teaching desks, projectors, screens and other audio visual elements.

It also ensured that the design team had a broad appreciation for the AV requirements from the outset, rather than sneaking up as an unpleasant surprise when completing the documentation, or even worse, during construction.

Something that we often forget on projects is the sheer magnitude of the decisions our clients must make when planning and occupying a new building. While it would be nice to imagine that AV is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, the reality is that there are a huge number of other factors that must be considered and resolved. In this case, we were lucky the AV representatives were involved (both from the client and consulting side) throughout the project, so that AV was on the agenda and we could capture additional requirements as they arose during the course of the design and documentation process.

The initial concept included considerable crystal ball-gazing in an effort to establish what technologies might arise and become affordable within the lifespan of the project.

Initially, we thought that dual projection

would only be possible in the larger spaces.

But come construction time, falling prices and modified procurement methods meant that it was achieved in all generally-booked seminar rooms and lecture theatres. Likewise, the cost of a 10,000 lumen high definition (HD) projector dropped by nearly 50% between concept design and procurement!

HD cameras and videoconference systems weren’t even considered at the briefing stage, but lo and behold ­the Moot Court is fully HD capable in 2009.

Over the course of 2004–2007, the brief was incrementally revised and we put the necessary infrastructure to support the audiovisual services in place: floor boxes, power outlets, ceiling recess space for projection screens and mounting locations for loudspeakers. We also began to develop concepts and infrastructure provisions for spaces specific to the Faculty of Law as well as the General Teaching Spaces within the building. All of this came prior to the design of the final audio visual systems.

Fast forward to the present, and the Faculty of Law building stands complete: a proud addition to the main campus at The University of Sydney.

The building features a large complement of AV-enabled rooms, including: General Teaching Spaces – with a 300-seat lecture theatre, three 100-seat lecture theatres, a dedicated 100-seat congress lecture theatre and 18 seminar rooms.

Faculty Spaces – with a Moot Court facility comprising Main Moot Court, Remote Witness Room, Boardroom and four preparation rooms. Also, a Faculty Boardroom, Faculty Seminar Room, Common Room and Foyer.

Law Library – with two computer training rooms.

I feel that one of the great achievements of the team is a virtually standard Graphical User Interface (GUI) deployed to all touchpanels in the building. The University’s Audio Visual Services team has been developing a standard GUI since 2004, and they were adamant that even the most specialist systems in the Faculty of Law should incorporate this interface.

Through a lengthy process of programming

briefing sessions, involving the University of Sydney, Lincolne Scott, integrators KLM and programmers AT Controls, we developed and agreed on the functionality, philosophy and aesthetic of each touchpanel based on the existing standards. Many of the non-AV project members were tearing their hair out after 20 or 30 minutes of heated discussion over the particular application of a pause or mute button, but I believe the results speak for themselves.

BIG TICKET ITEMS

But, I hear you ask, what of the stars? What are the real AV hot shots in this building?

The Moot Court would be the standout for sheer quantity of AV equipment per square metre. A total of six flat panels (2 x 46-inch, 4 x 60-inch), five HD cameras, multiple loudspeaker zones, 15 microphones, video processors, streaming devices, HD videoconferencing and live record and playback capability for classroom critique of students’ performance. All with the option to later access stored files via the university’s network.

This level of equipment was needed to help us satisfy three very different briefs: firstly, to operate as a seminar room for teaching purposes; secondly, to facilitate a simulated court environment to assist familiarisation with a variety of modern legal scenarios; and thirdly to act as a host site for major Moot Competitions. In a typical court environment, the three most important parties (respectively) are the Judge, the Barrister (Bar) and the Witness. The relationship between these three, in terms of physical location and interrelations, is rigidly defined and highly structured. Introducing a fourth party (the students) severely challenged the design team’s ability to achieve a layout that allowed students the best possible view of events while still maintaining the traditional alignments between the three key parties.

As should always be the case, functional needs drove the system designs. We had already established by this point that dual screens would form a key part of university standards for teaching spaces, so the question became how to achieve dual screen capability for two groups of students sitting opposite

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No Objection: A barrister's-eye view of the Moot Courtroom.

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Moot Court Equipment List

100 Seat Congress Lecture Theatre

4 x 60-inch HD plasma screens (Pioneer) 2 x 46-inch HD LCD screens (NEC Multeos M46) 16 x 19-inch LCD screens (Samsung) 1 x 17-inch graphic tablet (Wacom) 15 x Microphones (13 x gooseneck, 1 x lapel, 1 x handheld) 17 x Ceiling loudspeakers on a total of five separate zones (Electrovoice EVID C8.2) 5 x High Definition Cameras (Sony EVI-HD1) High Definition Videoconference Unit (Polycom HDX9004) Video & Audio Streaming Device (Haivision) Video & Audio Professional Standard Recorder (Grass Valley Turbo) 8TB Video & Audio Server 4 Window Graphics Processor (Extron MGP 464) 15-inch touch panel (AMX Modero 15-inch) 8.4-inch wireless touch panel (AMX MVP-8400) Handheld touch panel remote (AMX Mio-R4)

2 x Video / Data Projectors (NEC NP2000) 2 x Front of House Loudspeakers (Yamaha IF2208/W) 100 x Congress System Stations (Bosch DCN with 12-inch gooseneck, loudspeaker & headphone module) 1 x Chairman Console (Bosch DCN-CCU) 1 x Congress Central 2 x PTZ Cameras (Sony EVI-D70/W) 1 x Videoconference Unit Resident PC Laptop Input Point Document Camera (Elmo P30) Touch Panel Control System (AMX Modero NXT-CV10)

Left: Moot Court. Bench (judges) on the right, Bar (barristers) on the left. Student observers sit at either end watching the proceedings and viewing data and remote witnesses on the twin 60-inch overhead monitors Right: Congress Lecture Theatre. Each of the 100 participants can take part in either local or remote videoconference proceedings via their congress station.

In addition to the local loudspeaker, the headset socket on each station allows for simultaneous translation services or a program feed for the hearing impaired

Remote Witness Room Equipment List 2 x LCD Panels with 2 x loudspeakers (NEC 4020 & SP40) 1 x HD PTZ Camera (Sony EVI-HD1) 1 x gooseneck microphone with desktop stand (Shure MX418/C)

one another across the bar table.

This challenge drove the position of two pairs of 60-inch plasma screens above the bar table, leading to a rather unique ceiling feature. The coordination became even more complex when considering cameras. To achieve the specified requirements with the minimum number of cameras, we undertook 3D modelling to identify the optimal positions and sightlines for each camera.

The adoption of HD 1080p as the preferred resolution was not without complications. The system has been designed so that any source can be routed to any display or output device – but of course not all HD sources are created equal.

Component-based cameras mixed with PC-based RGBHV sources and the odd requirement or two for standard-definition outputs to streaming devices. While all sources were routed through a main high-resolution matrix switcher, the programming management of the sub-switching through side-chained scan converters, transcoders

and scalers was a Herculean effort in its own right, ably undertaken by John Turner and the team at AT Controls.

The Moot Court also features the capability to simulate a remote witness link-up through direct audio visual interconnection between the Moot Court and the Remote Witness Room.

LECTURE THEATRE

The 300-seat lecture theatre is another space with a serious AV capacity. Two 4:3 aspect ratio projection screens are provided for lecture presentations and a single, 9m x 4.8m projection screen caters for high-definition media and movies. The sound system has full 7.1 capability in addition to providing speech reinforcement for the lecturer and stereo reproduction of nonsurround sources.

The theatre is also capable of hosting panel discussions and conference events through the provision of a central floor box and patch cabling infrastructure to the projection room at the rear.

To support this, there’s also a 3CCD camera located on a recessed lift in front of the projection room. The camera’s output can be routed to any of the projection screens, the lecture recording system or an auxiliary output on the matrix switcher.

LINKING ROOMS

With so many AV-enabled spaces, one question that arose was how many should have interconnections to enable inter-linked sessions or larger audiences for particular events. We discussed the potential benefits of a dedicated AV cabling network, but we agreed that with IP-streaming capabilities continually improving and reducing in cost, this was the preferred approach.

There are a total of four videoconferenceenabled spaces in the Faculty of Law: the Moot Court, the 100-seat Congress Lecture Theatre, the Faculty Seminar Room and the Faculty Boardroom.

The 100-seat congress theatre features a full

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Left: The 300-seat lecture theatre features dual data screens plus a 10,000 ANSI lumen HD projector, a Blu-ray player and surround sound for movie screenings.

Right: The Faculty of Law features nearly 30 touchpanels with variants of the core standard, contributing to the nearly 200 touchpanels university-wide. Testament to the success of the carefully crafted GUIs is the near zero level of system operation complaints.

300-Seat Lecture Theatre 1 x Full HD Projector (Panasonic PT-DW10000) 1 x 225-inch 16:9 Bottom Roller Motorised Screen (Screen Technics Chancellor) 2 x Video/Data Projectors (Sanyo PX-100) 3 x Loudspeakers for LCR (JBL 3632 T) 2 x Subwoofers (JBL 4645C) 8 x Surround Sound Loudspeakers (JBL 3310) 1 x Cobranet DSP (BIAMP AudiaFLEX) 1 x Blu-ray player (Sony BDPS1E) 1 x HDMI Extender (Extron HDMI 201) 1 x PTZ Camera System (Sony DXC-990P & AMX PTE300 with custom lifter) Resident PC Laptop Input Point Document Camera (Elmo P30) Touchpanel Control System (AMX Modero NXT-CV10)

Bosch DCN congress system, enabling anyone at any seat to participate in a videoconference or a class discussion. Sophisticated programming via the touchpanel control system enables automatic selection of the appropriate preset for the front pan-tilt-zoom camera based on which microphones are active.

We provided headphone outlets with each DCN station, meaning that hearing augmentation can be handled through the system with a pair of ear bud headphones rather than a separate induction loop or other system. As well as serving the needs of a videoconference for 100, we also provided the DCN system to give students the opportunity to experience this type of setup as it is a common feature in many legal/government environments.

We also discussed the possible integration of voting, but the design team agreed this was not practical given the cost and the fact the university is already proceeding with implementations of wireless voting systems around the campus.

The Faculty Seminar Room has a relatively small capacity of around 20 students, but many of those attending the faculty’s seminars are dialling in from their company’s videoconference rooms,

Project Profile Client: The University of Sydney Architect: FJMT Architects AV Consultant: Lincolne Scott Main Contractor: Baulderstone Hornibrook AV Contractor: KLM Group AV Programmers: AT Controls

so this seminar room needs to work just as well for the remote sites as the local attendees. To assist in achieving this, we placed a 50-inch flat panel at the rear of the room with a camera adjacent to it so the remote audience was (as much as possible) on an even footing with those students in the room in terms of the focus of the presenter.

The Faculty Boardroom is very much a corporate boardroom environment, with dual flat panels and videoconference capability.

All four of the videoconference spaces’ systems are connected to the university’s IP network and operate through the established videoconference bridge.

One of the toughest decisions to make was whether to push forward with digital video paths as the main connection methodology in lecture theatres and seminar rooms. Due to the lack of available, practical and economic solutions at the time of design completion, we decided that the main video paths would remain analogue, but that all spaces would have Cat6 cabling installed between racks and projectors to facilitate future digital video connections.

The 300-seat theatre already features a

dedicated HDMI link from the lectern to the projection room, enabling full digital highdefinition video display from a Blu-ray player to the main high-definition projector. A sign of the times is the fact that an HD-DVD player was originally also specified, but during the design process the Blu-ray vs HD-DVD battle was finally resolved, so this was deleted from the actual installation!

The project as a whole represents a major addition to the University of Sydney’s Camperdown campus and has dramatically improved the appearance of Eastern Avenue, where it is located. The need for audio visual systems in higher education environments has continued to grow over the life of the project and this need is mirrored by the level of audio visual integration provided in the finished building.

On a personal note, this concludes the longest running involvement I have had with a project and I am proud to have been able to share in this experience with the various members of the design and construction teams whose considerable efforts brought about the successful outcome. 

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Fit for App

NetApp was voted the ‘Best Big Company to Work For’ by Fortune… and it’s not all down to the pool table and coffee machine.

Text:/ Christopher Holder Images:/ Michael Laurie

A NetApp training room with Crestron control, Revolabs wireless mics on standby, ClearOne audio conferencing stations, and a custom Screen Technics 16:10 screen for the Panasonic PT-W5100E 5500 ANSI lumen projector.

NetApp builds big, expensive servers with some clever back-end software to manage them. If you want more detail then dive into the NetApp site and bask in manifestos such as: “Organizations reap far more benefit from a holistic virtualization project that considers not only server consolidation but also the technology’s wider potential in the data centre.”

Mmm. One thing’s for sure, NetApp – with its ‘data centre solutions’ – is a great place to work. In fact, it’s the best company in the world to work for. That’s not some bloke from AV talking, that’s Fortune magazine’s considered opinion.

I’m not entirely sure what the ‘Best Company’ criteria is, but I reckon the remuneration might have something to do with it. Oh, and NetApp’s new Melbourne office has a pool table, Foxtel and they’ve put in an order for a Wii… way cool!

More seriously, a great workplace has to function properly. And being a big multinational, the new Melbourne office

needs to function as a seamlessly integrated part of the larger whole. Meetings, conference calls, breakout areas, training areas; the site needed neat, competent audio visual integration – nothing fancy required, just a perfectly round peg for that round hole.

ON THE NET AV spoke to Steve Courtney and Sam Warburton of the KLM Group, which was responsible for the NetApp fitout.

AV: What was the brief, Sam? Sam Warburton: NetApp has a document that outlines a standard for all types of meeting and conference rooms in any new NetApp office fitout. It’s like an in-house performance standard and is fairly specific with the equipment requirements. It was a document we followed as much as we could, although some of the equipment wasn’t available in Australia.

But the idea is a NetApp employee can step out of an office in the US and step into an office in Melbourne and be familiar

with the operation of the room: be familiar with the Crestron interface, and set up a conference call or training session without recourse to any specialist help.

AV: Sounds like an install without the customary litany of late tweaks and moving goal posts then?

SW: Sure. From the onset we knew there were four conference rooms, a training room, two meeting rooms, a breakout area and the reception – nine spaces in all, and we largely stuck to the brief. There were some late additions supplied by the client.

One was a 40-inch touchpanel LCD that sits in the hallway. It demonstrates NetApp’s proprietary software – potential customers can view their products in 3D. It’s a nice interactive device and very hi-res. They also added an interactive SmartBoard at the last minute. That went into one of their training rooms.

AV: Were the Revolabs wireless microphones specified on the client’s brief?

SW: The Revolabs mics were added later. We were dealing with a NetApp representative

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A 40-inch Samsung LCD with touchscreen overlay, used to display/demonstrate NetApp's products. Grab, spin and investigate servers in 3D!

Ready to Go: Revolabs wireless mics in their cradle. Grab as many as you need and pop them on the table in front of you.

from the US and he’d seen them in action in another office over there. He described to us what he saw, and we knew immediately he was referring to the Revolabs mics.

AV: Steve, what was it that the client found attractive about the Revolabs gear?

Steve Courtney: The beauty of them is you don’t have to run cables and there’s no transmitter packs – they’re all in the one compact little device. You just pop the mic on the table. Compare that to having gooseneck mics on the table: you have to run cables to them, they get in the way of people’s faces… These you just bring out as many as you need and put them back in their cradles for re-charging when you’re finished.

AV: There’s no video conferencing?

SC: No video conferencing, purely audio.

Video conferencing was part of the NetApp’s global briefing document Sam referred to, but it was decided the Melbourne office didn’t require VC. So here, the client simply walks into the room, selects ‘Audio Conference’ on the Crestron touchpanel,

which automatically powers up the mics on and the Biamp Nexia TC teleconferencing unit. Then it’s simply a matter of picking out as many mics as you need.

AV: What in-ceiling speakers did you opt for in the conference room?

SC: They’re Australian Monitor speakers from Audio Telex. Nothing elaborate but suitable for voice reproduction and great for audio conferencing, where you don’t need full bandwidth and works well for echo cancellation purposes.

AV: Why the more traditional centre-of-thetable conferencing station as well?

SC: They’re a ClearOne audio conferencing station. The client wanted them as a backup device for when, say, only two people want to jump into a room without getting the wireless mics out and firing up the Crestron controller.

AV: The conferencing rooms have dropdown screens and a presentation projector as well?

SC: We installed Panasonic PT-W5100E WXGA projectors. The client’s brief actually

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Equipment List – Meeting Rooms

spec’ed $30k Clarity projectors, which we felt were overkill. We’ve used the Panasonics quite a bit and are comfortable with their performance. They’re a dual lamp, 5500 ANSI lumen model with the sort of clout the NetApp were gunning for, but not as pricey.

SW: The screens are from Screen Technics and are actually 16:10 aspect ratio. We’ve found the LCD chip in the projectors aren’t 16:9 and we’ve had instances where the image drops off the edge of the screens. So in this case we got the screens made up as 16:10, which makes for a neater result.

AV: Anything else to report?

SC: The boys did a really good job. We trained up a new crew, and hired a new installation manager whose racks are a work of art. All the leads are perfectly labeled so anything and everything can be pulled out of the racks for servicing very easily. It’s one of those jobs where everything went well. 

Display Equipment Panasonic PT-DW5100E 5500 ANSI WXGA DLP projector Universal projector mount (750–1150mm) ScreenTechnics ElectriCinema ceiling motorised 120-inch screen Samsung DVD-VR355 combination DVD recorder/VCR Audio Equipment Nexia TC Biamp Nexia Teleconference Revolabs Solo Executive 8-channel system Revolabs Solo tabletop microphones Revolabs Solo lapel microphones Australian Monitor AMIS120P 120W power amplifier Australian Monitor AMIS QF8 15W in-ceiling speakers Control Equipment Crestron Isys TPSI6X 5.7-inch wireless touchpanel Crestron high powered RF gateway Signal Routing Equipment Extron MPS 112 media presentation switcher Cables, Hardware & Consumables Lectrum L2001 lectern Altronics racks KLM wall plates Garland Cat5E cable Roadworx, Kramer and Turnbull cables & adaptors

Equipment List –Conference Rooms Display Equipment Panasonic PT-DW5100E 5500 ANSI WXGA DLP Projector Universal projector mount ScreenTechnics ElectriCinema ceiling motorised 100-inch Screen Audio Equipment ClearOne MaxAttach wired conferencing telephone

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Interactive Cinema A UNSW-based research group heads ‘down pit’ with amazing results.

Text: /Tim Stackpool

The use of realistic virtual reality simulations for training is not so uncommon these days, especially in the airline industry. In fact, no commercial pilot is presented with his or her licence until they have racked up hours in various simulated scenarios, separate from their actual in-sky training hours. Today, however, the technology is being reworked, re-engineered and completely overhauled to give experience to students and personnel in more hazardous and uniquely challenging environments.

One of the more impressive developments has been devised by the iCinema Centre for Interactive Cinema Research. Based at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), it has been applied to recreate surface and underground mining scenarios. Resulting from unique inter-disciplinary collaborations between various faculties, the simulator project has generated multi-million dollar sales and has attracted immense international interest across the mining sector. Head of iCinema Research, Professor Jeffrey Shaw believes “interactive cinema is a new form of cinema that integrates all forms of digital media allowing the audience to interact with and become part of the cinematic experience”.

NOT A CANARY IN SIGHT

Similar to a giant sophisticated computer game, the participant is surrounded by a stereoscopic 3D environment, and subjected to a frighteningly real, interactive virtual mining scenario where they encounter all of the hazards that exist in the real workplace.

Initial introduction to the immersion environment is reportedly an uncannily realistic experience. In an underground mine vehicle moving along a tunnel, for example, the subject can see in all directions, just as if it were a real location. You can feel as if you could reach out and touch the roof bolts. You can maneuver past static vehicles and industrial plant equipment, or walk up to continuously operating heavy mining machinery. During the experience, the subject

interactively learns operating procedures and to recognise danger signs and situations.

Similarly, in an open cut simulated mining environment, perhaps at the wheel of a giant haul truck, subjects learn to maneuver heavy loaders and be alert to how easy it is squash things (such as people… smaller trucks) from a raised driving position several metres high.

The experience is divided into separate modules, each recreating mining environments of various scenarios. These can be displayed in multiple theatre modes including a 360-degree ‘Advanced Visualisation & Interaction Environment’ (AVIE) version for group training of up to 30 students and a 180-degree version for individual training sessions, known as iDome. The AVIE experience is contained in an 80sqm space surrounded by a 4m-high x 10m-diameter circular screen. The smaller iDome offers a compact visual environment, and is configured as a 4m-diameter fibre glass hemisphere, standing vertically in front of the participant, filling their peripheral vision.

A high-definition projector, surround sound and a custom user interface completes the equipment inventory.

RICH SEAM OF DEVELOPMENT

Development of the technology started in 2002 and is constantly in a state of refinement.

Mechanically, the screen rigging system was designed in 2003, but there have since been upgrades to the truss structure to compensate for different site requirements (and the ability to reduce the shipping requirements for international trade shows where the system is demonstrated). The 3D rendering, edge blending and screen geometry correction, which incorporates the interaction engine (known as AVIEBase) was completed in 2007.

In 2009 the software now includes an audio system with basic 12-channel surround with the capacity for 24.2 surround.Marc Chee, an iCinema systems engineer, indicates that many more features are being introduced.

“Infra-red tracking follows people’s positions within the space and we’re working towards

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“One application has more than 400 video files playing simultaneously across the VR screen”

iCinema takes the viewer into an immersive virtual reality environmemt through 360-degree 3D projection Image courtesy of Jeffrey Shaw

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visual gesture recognition,” he said. “The engine includes advanced animation features, with a pipeline for importing motion capture data, high-resolution panoramic videos as well as employing various artificial intelligence algorithms to move virtual entities within the space.”

The project has run entirely within the UNSW, with three schools being involved: The College of Fine Arts, the School of Computer Science and Engineering, and the School of Mining Engineering, particularly their VR group with the development of the mining simulation modules.

The immensity of the project with its various facets is staggering, not least of all the visual aspect of the simulation. “Warping and blending, interaction with different hardware devices and media streaming all presented their own challenges,” noted Damian Leonard, Project Manager with the development, and well they might – one application has more than 400 video files playing simultaneously across the VR screen. Another major challenge has been designing a control and video preview system capable of remote monitoring and troubleshooting. “We support four sites in NSW from Sydney,” he said. “So we’ve set up systems that can monitor, troubleshoot and resolve an extended range of hardware from our Sydney office.”

NUTS & BOLTS

The system developed at UNSW was the first stereoscopic, fully cylindrical system in NSW. There are other systems which have been developed since then, but the iCinema architects believe theirs was the first of its kind to use software-based blending and warping.

In terms of projection, F20 and Cineo F30 projectors from Projectiondesign are used, with the company being a partner in the research. The control software was written entirely in-house and controls the various devices over TCP/IP, serial and DMX. The system also uses an ‘Interaction Device’ for user input that was also designed in-house.

It consists of a joystick, several buttons and an inertial orientation reference pointing device, titled the ‘Intersense Inertia Cube’.

This allows the user to move in 3D space as well as point in any direction in the virtual space.

Components such as projector mounts, screen frames, and user interaction

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devices (devices incorporating joysticks, accelerometer devices etc) were designed by the team. The virtual reality software is unsurprisingly based on an existing 3D engine, but over the years the developers have created many additional add-ons and plug-ins. This includes magic such as various artificial intelligence algorithms, improved animation engines, specific device controls and so on. One notable development is the ‘Spherecam’ system. This is an integrated audiovisual recording system capable of taking panoramic video at 14,400 x 1200 pixel resolution as well as surround-type 12-channel audio tracks.

MORE IMMERSION

As time marches on however, the development team is looking towards the opportunity of improving the visual immersion experience, especially in the realm of 3D imagery. “More feature-rich active stereo projectors are appearing on the market this year, with more lightweight shutter glasses. These may be used rather than the current passive solution”, says Ardrian Hardjono, Technical Operations Manager with iCinema. “Our AVIE and iDome systems are constantly evolving and being upgraded with the appropriate technology, as we have deployed eight AVIE systems in the last two years, which has given us the opportunity to improve on limitations of the initial system setup in 2003”, he added.

Behind the computer code running the entire experience, most AVIE installations follow a standardised deployment configuration. Namely, around 12 passive stereo pairs of projectors (being polarised and matching the participants’ 3D glasses) are arranged on a circular truss ring above and inside a 10m-diameter cylinder of a silvered projection screen. A cluster of image generators controlled by a master PC then coordinates the interaction devices and audio. Twelve speakers in a ring carry the audio around the screen. Being a learning environment, there is also a separate cluster of four PCs which capture data then correlated into usable information for review and further appraisal of the participant’s reaction and aptitude when faced with various scenarios. “The infrared cameras assist with building a virtual representation of all objects inside the AVIE space by capturing data from many points

of view and algorithmically rebuilding the live scene in a computer-based 3D model”, Ardrian Hardjono reports. “Artificial intelligence algorithms are then able to analyse this model at an interpretive layer to pick up human gestures and other crowd-based movements.” The interaction device with joystick, buttons and pointing device completes the rig.

OTHER INDUSTRIES DIG IT

This type of development opens up a whole range of industries to virtual reality training. Underwater safety training for offshore drilling rigs is one such area. In fact, any hazardous environmental training can be enhanced by this technology.

Conceivably, other types of environmental conditions could be incorporated into the experience such as heat or cold, aromas and weather conditions. Architectural planning is another sector, and even tourism, with simulators allowing access to remote areas that are too difficult to reach or inaccessible due to cultural or heritage restrictions.

“Entertainment and gaming are also two fields that could greatly benefit from our systems,” Marc Chee added.

This iCinema technology developed at UNSW is truly staggering, with attention being gained worldwide. As Professor Jeffrey Shaw notes, it is beyond virtual reality: “It plunges the audience into an immersive reality,” he said. “There are no barriers between the virtual and physical, and the narrative is created spontaneously.”

Currently four AVIEs and 12 iDomes are operating in purpose-built training sites across NSW, particularly deployed by NSW Mines Rescue Stations operated by Coal Services Pty Ltd. Between them, the systems will use more than 80 of Projectiondesign’s F20 SX+ and F30 1080 projectors.

The advancements made by the researchers and developers at UNSW have truly changed the way in which audiences will view and relate to immersive cinema forever. Apart from that, their contribution to the increased safety training in hazardous environments is immeasurable, especially when you consider that it could ultimately be lifesaving. 

FEATURE

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iDome is a single-person virtual reality environment where a single projector covers a 4m-diameter fibre glass hemisphere that completely fills the participant's visual field

Images courtesy UNSW AVIE is a spectacular multi-person virtual reality environment based on a 10m diameter x 4m high circular screen seamlessly covered by six pairs of projectors using polarisation to separate the left and right stereoscopic images. Audio comes from six stereo pairs of speakers.

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FEATURE

National Museum Comes Round Tired old museum exhibits? They're history.

Text:/ Tim Stackpool Images:/ Andrew Leiper

Gone are the days when museums were filled with ancient artifacts, preserved insects under glass with nutty curators holding casual banter with petrified mummies. The vision for the National Museum of Australia, for example, is for it to remain a world class repository of history and culture “illuminating the present and imagining the future”, while providing visitors with something new every time they visit. To this end, local AV systems engineers Wizard Projects were engaged to join the team, refurbishing the display and design of the Museum’s ‘Circa’ gallery. The gallery, so named for its circular-like visitor experience, is a revolving theatre that introduces the guests to objects they can expect to encounter during their visit. Working with Steven Fox, former Manager of Redevelopment, and local designers Bearcage, the completed project had to adhere to the main premise of being a visual journey, travelling from the Dreamtime to contemporary Australia.

Systems engineer and programmer Adam Breau with Wizard Projects recognised from the onset that, like most significant AV installations, the nature of the venue presents the first of many unique challenges. “Working in a museum environment increases the level of detail that is required when it comes to the installation

and maintenance of all equipment installed,” he said. “Time-lines and installation schedules have to take into account the installation of museum objects and artifacts. The installation process is complex, with requirements such as dust extraction on drilling equipment a must, and major works needing to be done offsite to ensure that there is no possibility of damage to these irreplaceable objects.”

HISTORY IN FOUR PARTS

The systems integrators also discovered that working with many different contractors within the gallery space also provided challenges as the installation area did not allow for multiple tradespeople to work in the same area due to the space restrictions. Project management of the installation process, while providing the museum with an excellent result, proved to be a complex task. “The specification of very large non-standard aspect ratio projection screens for example, coupled with extremely short-throw projection required an extremely innovative solution,” Breau said.

Wizard utilised products from within the AV and electronic controls industries. These products, integrated with control hardware from AMX, brought all the elements together to provide the show. Wizard conceded that the

acquisition of the hardware was not challenging in itself, but combining all the technologies into one integrated presentation took some creative thinking.

It’s important to note that the brief described Circa as a ‘transition zone’ between the world outside the Museum and the permanent exhibitions. Specifically, “its role is to conceptually orient diverse audiences to the Museum’s thematic interests in Australian history and its object-centred approach to representing Australian experiences”. [No mention of massacring the English language then? – Ed.] Wordy, yes, but the practical aspect is a little more straightforward. Circa is separated into four quadrants (or stages) providing the visitor with a chronological sweep of Australian history. Being virtually 100% multimedia-based, an AMX NetLinx system was deployed to control all facets of the rotating theatre. Some 26 NXC-COM2 and two NXC-I/O 10 were installed to expand the AMX NI-4100 to a level that allowed every device to be monitored and controlled, providing the maintenance and operations staff with feedback, both on the MVP-8400i control surface and on the museum’s new Resource Management Suite (RMS).

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FEATURE

Circa's quadrant 4

ROUND WE GO

Here’s how the visitor experience unfolds: When first approaching Circa, the museum guests are greeted by a Visitor Service operator who welcomes guests and doubles as the ‘exhibit operator’. This person oversees the presentation and ensures the show continues to operate. Primarily they also undertake an OH&S function, as visitors are required to exit their particular quadrant before a ‘clear to rotate function’ is engaged and the turntable rotates for the next session and next group of visitors to enter. Once the turntable is engaged, control is handed over to the AMX system, which then opens the load door to allow the next group of visitors to proceed onto the turntable.

Upon entering Circa, the show is quiet with a light background score that slowly builds to an announcement about visitor safety and the closing of the entry doors. Once closed, this triggers the AMX to bring the theatre to life with a presentation spread across a 6m-wide x 1.5m-high curved screen. While not a conventional format screen, two Silicon Optix Image Anyplace units are utilised to provide the edge blend and warping duties required between the four Projectiondesign F30 SX+

projectors. While the viewer is experiencing a display of imagery of Australia and its landscape, there are also nine Planar Clarity Bobcats on the roof providing similar imagery.

These in conjunction with programmed lighting prepare the audience for the rest of their visit to the museum. The turntable then rotates and the audience is transported to the next quadrant.

Quadrant 2 starts with the eight screens slowly filling with images of various objects accompanied by audio snippets from multiple locations throughout the quadrant. The EAW JFX88 speakers are powered by two QSC CX404 amplifiers backed up by QSC Basis 922uz for processing. This is controlled by the AMX system and is continually monitored to ensure that it’s online and operating. From the MVP 8400i, the operators can un-mute a microphone at the operator console and talk at any time to all or individual quadrants within Circa.

Once again at the completion of the ‘clear to rotate’, the AMX system sets-up and prepares the equipment for the entry to the next loop.

When started, the visitors are rotated into Quadrant 3, where they are confronted by another 6m-wide screen. Again, the edge blending is undertaken by the Silicon Optix Image Anyplace.

Turning into Quadrant 4 the visitors are greeted by Bruce Gyngell uttering the now famous words “Good evening and welcome to television”. Seconds after he finishes, 21 NEC plasma screens come to life with imagery and objects, all perfectly in sync. This is achieved using the Alcorn McBride Binloop. The playback system for Circa consists of three Binloop card frames and four HD DVM Pros.

Upon the timely exit of patrons from Quadrant 4 and the successful operation of the 'clear to rotate' command, the show seamlessly moves into a loop and starts the turntable again, moving the next batch of visitors into the the next quadrant, and so on.

CONTROL

While all AV elements of the show are controlled by the AMX system, mechanically the turntable is controlled by a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). The Visitor Service operator maintains control of the show via the PLC panel, with the PLC instigating all the turntable rotations and safety features.

The PLC was retained from the previous incarnation of Circa, and presented some integration challenges due to the differences between Circa version 1 and version 2. As the PLC’s previous programming was retained,

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FEATURE

EQUIPMENT LIST 1 x 19” Security Monitor 5 x Custom Stewart Projection screens ranging from 6 x 2.2m to 1.8 x 2.5m 4 x Alcorn McBride HD DVM Pro 3 x Alcorn McBride Binloops

Control 1 x AMX NI-4100 2 x NXF Card Frames 2 x NXC-HE 26 x NXC-COM2 Cards 2 x NXC I/O 10 1 x MVP 8400i 1 x Linksys SRW224P 1 x Linksys WAP54 1 x RMS Asset management licence Lighting Control 1 x Jands Vista Lighting Console 1 x ASUS 1RU Rack mount PC 1 x AIS LDS410D-1P Rack mount monitor 1 x 512 Channel dongle Video Control 1 x Extron BBG-6A video sync generator 1 x Extron DA12V/6V VDA 4 x Silicon Optix Image AnyPlace 4 x Extron HDSDI-ACR100 Display 4 x Projection Design PD-F30+SX+ 3 x Mitsubishi XD 2000U 21 x NEC P42XP 10 9 x Planar Clarity Bobcat 1CL/SN-4045WX/VNG

it only allowed for minimal communication between the PLC and AMX systems. “It was like having to choreograph a dance piece where there is very little communication between two dancers, and the time to turn is flexible and not set to a particular point in the music, it just happens when it happens and you'd better be ready for it,” Adam Breau said.

Given the amount of public immersion in the display, liability as well as occupational health and safety issues needed to be addressed. The safety features within the theatre are incorporated into the PLC system. Wizard Projects also installed secondary devices to provide further detailed information to the operators, allowing them to make a more informed decision as to whether to stop the show or continue its operation, depending on unforeseen circumstances. The installation of such sensors and cameras within a revolving theatre proved difficult, as cabling obviously cannot revolve with the turntable.

Instead, Wizard Projects utilised wireless systems to provide communications with some devices within the system.

Outside of operating hours, when the show is placed into ‘maintenance mode’ it is completely controllable via the AMX MVP-8400i wireless touchpanel. The MVP was selected for the project so that when the display was being maintained, the controller could be undocked and carried with the staff into the various quadrants. Any of the equipment in any of the quadrants can then be controlled or monitored from the panel. This includes entry and exit doors.

The design philosophy employed for Circa

was to have a single control system that could operate all AV equipment and also interface with the PLC that runs the turntable. With Circa being solely technology-based, Wizard’s challenge was to design a virtually maintenance-free solid technology backbone to provide operators and maintenance staff with information to ensure that the exhibit operates 364 days a year without incident. This system also had to be able to fault log, monitor and provide auditing on operator and system usage. “It was for this reason that RMS was installed to monitor all equipment and the current state of the show and turntable,” Adam Breau told AV. “RMS allows the staff to attach faults or logging tags to trace the entire operation of Circa, from projector lamp hours, visitor numbers or the number of times the emergency stop is operated in a day, it is all monitored and can be logged.” Being a product that integrates with AMX control systems, RMS provides real-time feedback of almost every part of the show. Status of all devices, such as automatic door positions and input settings on plasmas, are all monitored and displayed live on the RMS web user interface.

Complete logging of events can be sent from any of the monitored devices, providing the museum technical staff with the ability to diagnose faults, as well as look through event logs to see if there is a common sequence of events that could be causing a problem. It also provides projector lamp hours and visitor numbers. The RMS system further provides the ability to automatically send emails to notify technical staff about system faults and operational events.

Audio 4 x QSC Basis 922UZ 8 x QSC CX 404 Amplifiers 2 x Denon DNA7100 1 x Audio Technicia ES915/c 20 x EAW JFX 88 4 x EAW VRS 12B 4 x LM Audio 60R Hearing Loop amplifiers Lighting 4 x Smart Macs 9 x Selecon Astral 40 x dimmable fluorescents 6 metres of dimmable LED Dynalite Control System Other 1250 metres of Extron M59 900 metres of Klotz LY225T speaker cable 1300 metres of 4-core shielded data cable 400 Extron RG 59 BNC crimps with strain relief

EVER READY

Given the extent of the project and the mechanical considerations, it might be surprising to learn that the entire project took a mere four months from signing of the tender to the public launch. The revision of original concept plans to a working solution took place within a month of that timeline. Installation of equipment was completed by two people over three weeks prior to testing. The off-site rack pre-build was undertaken by a single installer over a week, with a further week onsite for the finishing touches.

The programming side was completed in the offsite lab over three weeks, with final tweaking of the code in the final week on site. The alignment of the projection screens and final commissioning was completed over a two-week period before the exhibit was ready for the public.

Since the refurbishment, content has been updated a number of times, generally every four to six month or so as to keep the exhibit fresh and contemporary. In the main, the installation has enjoyed uptime of around 95%. The downtime is usually attributed to regularly scheduled maintenance, where any software elements are often upgraded along with any mechanical issues. Local tour operators are informed of such schedules to minimise visitor disappointment.

That said, much of the maintenance work is concluded by 1:00am on the same day, allowing any tourists spending the day in the nation’s capital to experience this impressive display. 

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TUTORIAL

Unholy Racket Churches present a significant acoustic challenge.

Text:/ Andrew Steel

A variety of techniques are employed to control sound reflections in Belfast’s Church of God, Glenmachan.

In the course of my work I’m lucky enough to get involved in a variety of interesting projects. You’ll be unsurprised to hear that I don’t put road traffic noise surveys or silencing exhaust stacks in this category.

The acoustics projects I get a kick out of involve places where you listen for content, like music or speech, rather than noise.

This means I spend my time working on the acoustics in recording studios, theatres, home theatres, music venues etc, each with their own individual requirements and acoustic solutions. However, there is a type of venue that combines all the demands I’ve just listed. This venue wants more than live bands, movie presentations and recorded music playback. They also want a venue suitable for choirs, spoken presentations, group singing and slide shows. Of course, I’m talking about churches!

Churches (or ‘houses of worship’, to be fair to all those synagogues, mosques and temples out there) are very acoustically demanding simply because of the wide variety of activities undertaken in them.

This also means that if you love engineering they’re great projects to work on. Why? Good engineering is about solving complex

problems with the simplest possible solution and can be very rewarding. But, it also means they are very difficult to get right. In fact, if you want a good example of ‘acoustics gone wrong’ then you generally only have to go as far as your local church.

TAKE ADVICE

My advice to anyone building, renovating or upgrading the acoustics in a church is to be very careful about who they engage to do the acoustic design. Make sure they’re qualified, experienced, and understand all of the sound sources that will need appropriate acoustics. Get references from other similar customers and actually call them. Certainly do not leave it to the builder, the architect or a member of the congregation who has a home studio. Don’t even engage an engineer who can’t explain what the congregational experience is about. At a minimum get a brief or a proposal that explains how the acoustics will work for each type of activity.

Do not accept something that is designed by specifying reverberation times (’RT60’ or the time it takes for sound to decay by 60dB once the source of sound has stopped) suitable for certain size rooms, this ‘cookie

cutter’ approach should act a big red flashing light (probably accompanied by an air-raid siren) screaming “we don’t appreciate what a house of worship is all about”. Getting the acoustic balance right in a church isn’t prescriptive, it’s about experience and acoustic know-how.

So if there isn’t a ‘right’ reverb time to aim for and the old approach of adding absorption until you get that ‘right’ time won’t work… what to do? The first thing to understand is that the whole point of a church is to engender the feeling of community – being part of something. Distractions of any kind detract from feeling ‘involved’ and acoustic distractions are as bad as any and take many forms. Echoes, flutter echoes, uneven audio coverage, long time reflections (especially back to the stage), poor speech intelligibility and even not enough reverb can all cause a person to feel distracted and not be completely immersed in the worship experience. Sadly, this situation quite often causes people to not return the next weekend.

Ministers see the congregation thinning often without knowing why.

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TUTORIAL

NOT JUST ABSORPTION

“what works really well, is a room with no harsh, long or repetitive reflections, but one that is not too dead either”

Diffuser panels break up the reflections from the side walls of the Nambour Baptist Church

Here Endeth The Lesson When we first moved into the new building we wanted it to be as good for sound as possible, so we made sure we had an acoustic tile ceiling, carpet and upholstered seating. This however did not perform as we expected and we very quickly discovered we had a huge high-end reverberation problem. There were massive echoes and pings across the room and the snare bounced sharply back to the stage.

People actually commented on how bad it was! We looked for advice and the acoustician [Ultrafonic] was able to quickly determine the problem and tell us what we need to do to fix it – install diffusers on the side walls. After we installed the diffusers the problem was instantly solved. The sound became clear and evenly spread around the room, and no one has since complained about the sound – no news is good news… very good news in this case.

Even the pastor commented on how much the sound had been improved.

David Dixon, Nambour Baptist Church

In a nutshell, what works really well, is a room with no harsh, long or repetitive reflections, but one that is not too dead either. This may seem self contradictory because the common approach is to use absorption to fix the listed problems. As more absorption is used to reduce reflections, the room gets deader and this is usually catastrophic. It may work for the band and movies but will make a choir or congregational singing very isolated and detached.

The way out of this contradiction though, is a judicious combination of absorption and diffusion. Thankfully diffusion is very easy to apply and quite robust in terms of where you put it and how much you need. It is used to diffuse or disperse reflections, that would otherwise be problematic, without removing the energy from the room. Sounds too easy really, and it is!

The way to use diffusion in a place of worship is to identify places, usually flat surfaces that will cause problematic reflections, at the start of designing the acoustics. These surfaces are commonly the rear wall or walls (especially concave curved ones) and side walls in wide rooms. These surfaces allow reflections that return after a long delay or reflections that can travel back and forth repetitively, both of which are undesirable. (Side walls in long thin rooms are not always bad as they can offer short time reflections that can reinforce the sound for the listener.) Diffusers applied in these places will break up troublesome reflections while maintaining the acoustic energy in the room.

REMOVE REVERB TO TASTE

Once this has been done, absorption can be used in other places to bring the RT60 to a level that feels good – it does not need to conform to some formula or standard based on the room size. Even the Australian Standard for Acoustics’ ‘Recommended Design Sound Levels & Reverberation Times for Building Interiors’ (AS 2107:2000) does not recommend anything other than “specialist advice be sought for these spaces”.

At this point, absorption is used on surfaces like the floor (carpet) and ceiling (acoustic tiles) to get a comfortable RT60. This is where experience counts and there isn’t much value in complex measurements or calculations. It is a matter of knowing how much to use and where to put it since the bad reflections are gone and the energy in the room is good and probably a bit high. Just the right amount and correct placement is needed to get the energy to the right level. On the other hand, the usual practice of applying bulk absorption to

the floor and ceiling first isn’t recommended as reflections in the horizontal plane will get worse as they no longer ‘crash’ into those in the vertical plane and will sound louder. In other words, this is a final adjustment, not the initial step.

With absorption and diffusion applied in the right combination, speech, band music, choral singing, congregational singing and recorded music will all sound good in the room. People will feel involved in the congregational singing and yet talking with someone nearby will be easy. We get so many calls from ministers who can’t talk at a podium because the rear wall reflection is so bad, but if the above advice is followed, this is no longer an issue. The same goes for bands on stage – that horrible ‘slap’ off the back wall is gone but the room is still nice and lively. There may be some small problems still to fix but the major work is all done. Depending on the arrangement of the band, instruments and speakers on stage, some absorption may be needed in that local area. Absorption behind and sometimes suspended above the stage is useful for just taming the local on-stage level somewhat.

Too much absorption and you might rob the band of local feedback and the ability to hear itself so as to play as an ensemble.

HEAR THE GOSPEL

There are plenty of ways to integrate these acoustic treatments within the decor. The key, to state it again, is having a person with specific experience involved in the design from an early stage. A good acoustic consultant will appreciate the use of the space, be able to apply the treatments based on knowledge and experience, not just text book theories.

They will be good at working with the architect, builder and church board to get the necessary treatments applied in the right way, within budget and with suitable aesthetics.

The end result is the most multifunctional acoustic space possible, that affords the best possible experience to the congregation. This is clearly a job for a specialist and supports the core function of the church, so it is not one to skimp on. 

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TUTORIAL

HDMI Demystified Get to know HDMI a little better and you can be best of friends.

Text:/ Rod Sommerich

HDMI is an abbreviation for High Definition Multimedia Interface; a digital video connection standard for transmitting uncompressed digital video and audio signals for consumer and prosumer equipment.

It’s a standard created by a consortium of manufacturers, including Hitachi, Matsushita (Panasonic), Sony, Philips, Silicon Image, Thomson (RCA) and Toshiba, and began shipping around 2003. It arose as a response to the introduction of new high-resolution products for home and non-professional use.

Interoperability and consistent performance were needed for the high-resolution digital signals produced by Blu-ray, HD-DVD, computers and media centres, hard drive recorders, servers, HDTV set top boxes and other devices offering resolutions up to 10 times higher than standard video resolution. The original HDMI (v1.0 through to v1.2) carried audio and video signals up to 1920x1080 pixels or computer signals up to 1920x1200 (WUXGA) which are around 165MHz. The later HDMI v1.3 standard allowed for up to 340MHz, which caters for resolutions up to WQXGA (2560x1600), while the recentlyannounced HDMI v1.4 adds bi-directional audio and ethernet capabilities.

HDMI transmits video, audio and metadata on a single connection, with a ‘hot swap’ capability that allows it to be connected and removed without damaging the equipment or the need to restart devices. The benefits of HDMI lie in the multiple signals available

and the near-perfect transmission of the signal in a digital format. The standard also allows for different digital video formats, including RGB and component, and audio that includes formats with up to eight channels, with support for 192kHz audio, multiple language support, Dolby and other high quality audio standards. Metadata is the information associated with the video content and includes such capabilities as device control (Consumer Electronics Control or CEC), screen resolution negotiation (Enhanced Display Data Channel or EDID), content and copy protection (Highbandwidth Digital Content Protection or HDCP), and Digital Rights Management (DRM).

VIDEO

The HDMI video channel carries either sRGB (sync Red Green Blue) or YCbCrb component video, at either 4:4:4 or 4:2:2 sample rates (see the Component Video box for more information). The advantage of using digital component signals in HDMI is the quality of the reproduction and signal integrity of these technologies over short distances.

HDMI digital signals are not as susceptible to electrical interference as analogue and the picture quality does not have noise in the blacks often seen in analogue. HDMI does have some minor disadvantages, including its short signal transmit distance, connector integrity and durability , and the complexity of the cables.

The HDMI connector is similar in appearance to a USB connector, but has more connections, including a hot swap conductor to allow for smooth connection and disconnection during equipment operation.

While the connector is certified for over a million insertions, they are still susceptible to physical damage when the cable termination is flexed, run around acute angles or dramatically twisted during handling.

HDMI cable has 19 conductors which are sorted into pairs twisted at different twist ratios to reduce crosstalk – similar to Cat5e or Cat6 UTP cable. Consequently, good quality cables can be expensive and fragile. Multicore cables are not ideal for rough handling in domestic environments as they’re easily damaged and can’t be joined or re-terminated in the field.

The cable doesn’t handle acute pressure or damage from being walked on, driven over by trolleys or vehicles on a frequent (or even occasional) basis and can fail without warning after that sort of abuse.

Unlike DVI and DisplayPort, which have cable retention systems to prevent the cables falling out of devices, the standard HDMI connector has no locking mechanism.

Some HDMI cable manufacturers offer a proprietary locking system but these vary between suppliers and aren’t available on all devices or cables. One of the more popular locking systems uses a single retention point in the top centre of the connector similar to a VGA or DVI locking screw.

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TUTORIAL

At 1080i, HDMI signals can be transmitted around 10m on an HDMI cable – depending on the cable quality and the signal resolution, transmission distances can vary significantly.

At higher resolutions, like 1080p, the distance the signal will safely travel on an HDMI cable is reduced significantly. It is recommended to use good quality cable and consider using a signal extension system for runs over 10m. The choice of system depends on the application, budget and environment.

• 10m to 60m – HDMI cable booster • 30m to150m – Balun and Cat5e/Cat6 Shielded Twisted Pair (FTP) cable • 100m to 10km – Optical fibre.

STRETCHING THE FRIENDSHIP

HDMI signal boosters reclock or resynchronise the relationship between the different signals in the cable. The cable pairs are twisted at different twist ratios to stop crosstalk between pairs, but different twist ratios mean that the pairs are different lengths, causing skew between the data packets over longer cable runs. HDMI boosters are placed at the destination to resynchronise and equalise the signal levels so they arrive at the display at the same time.

The most common solution for extending HDMI runs are active HDMI balun systems that send the signal over STP Cat5/Cat6 cables. These balun systems work over runs of 25m to 150m. They change the impedance of the HDMI signals to match the Cat5/Cat6 cable, with the impedance changes reversed at the receiver end. Active or powered versions boost the signal level to allow it to be sent on longer runs. Balun systems are popular because Cat5/Cat6 cables are easy to terminate in the field during installation and are much lower cost than HDMI cable of similar length. It’s also easier to install these types of cables in conduits because of the smaller connector and ability to work over long cable runs. Cat5 /Cat6 cables are readily available from electrical or computer suppliers and can be terminated, repaired or replaced quickly and economically in the field.

Fibre optical systems are used on runs over 100m, and although more expensive, they are also more secure and are not susceptible to electrical interference from mains or other devices. These systems are available as either prefabricated cables with HDMI ends or as separate senders and receivers which accept separate fibre connections for LC, ST or other fibre systems.

The HDMI video channel is extremely similar to DVI and similar to the DisplayPort video standard. All three use similar video transmission technology and content protection systems, which allows for passive

conversion between some of these standards.

These adaptors are relatively inexpensive and simple to use. There is no signal conversion required when interconnecting the video portion of DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort once.

It is not recommended, and often not even possible, to convert signals more than once in a cable run, due to minor incompatibilities between the standards. If more than one change is required in a signal path then active conversion is usually required. As DVI does not have an audio channel, active conversion and separate audio paths are required when combining or extracting audio between HDMI and DVI systems.

One of several types available, this proprietary version of the HDMI connector retains full connection compatibility while adding a single captive screw to ensure a reliable connection.

META METADATA

The Display Data Channel (or DDC) part of the HDMI signal carries metadata, which is information about the other data (video and audio) in the signal. This includes the EDID (Enhanced Display Data) channel which was released around 1994 to support VGA computer displays and allow automatic selection of a common display resolution between a computer and a display device. The system has a table of resolutions a display and device can support, and the necessary logic to select the highest commonly supported resolution between the two devices. This system has developed and been adapted over the ensuing years, and is now incorporated into many systems, including HDMI, DVI and DisplayPort. Sometimes on long HDMI cable runs, where the signal becomes too weak or unstable for the display to recognise the signal, the EDID is not read correctly. This can be resolved either by using an HDMI booster or placing an EDID generator at the display end of the path to generate valid EDID data for the display to use.

HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) was developed as a copy prevention system for HDMI, and subsequently implemented on DVI and DisplayPort as the preferred standard for the motion picture and video game industries. It has also been widely adopted by the consumer electronics industry for video and audio devices. HDCP negotiates a connection between devices to confirm the security of the content. It will not permit HDCP signals to be sent to devices which do not support HDCP or devices which may change or record the signal. If a signal path is not HDCP-compliant from end to end, the source device will send either a black image, white noise (snow), or a very low-resolution image to avoid the possibility of copying or a breach of copyright. HDCP will not permit a signal to be sent to devices that can record or convert the signal to other formats, or to devices such as component analogue equipment that doesn’t support HDCP.

Component Video Component was introduced around 1982 in the Sony BetaCam and the JVC MII camera systems and heralded the start of high quality compact video recording and production in the broadcast industry. Prior to component, all the sync, colour and luminance information were combined into a single Composite signal. Composite has limited bandwidth, and fine detail can appear as a ‘beating’ or false colour on fine detail in an image. Component technology eliminates this type of problem by using separate detail and colour signals, thus providing a much higher bandwidth.

The YCbCr format derives its components by processing the original RGB image to remove some of its (mostly) redundant content. Y = luminance (the white or intensity part of the image), Cb = Blue minus Y and Cr = Red minus Y. This is sometimes called YUV (which is closely related but not identical).

Using these derived components, rather than the wider bandwidth RGB signals, allows a high quality signal transmission using a relatively small bandwidth. The original RGB signals are recreated at the receiving end by calculating the missing parts from the component data.

The numbers 4:4:4 and 4:2:2 indicate the ratios of samples used for each of the component signals. A system using 4:4:4 sampling takes equal numbers of samples of each component and therefore contains all of the original component information.

Using 4:2:2 sampling, the system uses four samples of the luminance (Y) component, but in the same timeframe takes only two samples each of the relatively less critical Cb and Cr components. This technique substantially reduces the amount of bandwidth required to transmit the image, but means that the colour information is only updated at half the rate of the luminance information, and thus produces relatively lower quality images. Even 4:2:2 systems carry much more picture information than the older composite video format.

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“Balun systems are popular because Cat5/Cat6 cables are easy to terminate and are much lower cost than HDMI cable of similar length”

TUTORIAL

One issue which has arisen recently is the inability of some domestic devices, such as Blu-ray players and set top boxes, to handle more than three or four displays which may be connected through a distribution amp or splitter. HDCP delivers a key from the monitor to the source to permit display. It's possible to exceed the memory allocation of these source devices, such that no image will appear on the extra displays. The maximum number of displays can’t exceed the available memory in the source device (ie. its ability to store/hold keys). This is a common problem in retail environments where multiple displays are required to display the same content, but it isn’t a direct fault of HDMI or HDCP. POWERPLAY

DDC (Display Data Channel) supplies a maximum of 50mA at 5V to allow devices to connect and communicate, even when one of the devices is not powered, and allows the EDID and HDCP information to be negotiated prior to the device starting up. While some low-cost passive Cat5 or booster extenders use the DDC to power their operation, it’s not recommended to draw too much current from the DDC, as it can damage the supplying device. It’s recommended to use peripheral devices with their own power supplies.

DEF TOUCH

In a time when manufacturers are looking for ways for us to buy more shiny new stuff, HDMI is exactly what it says it is: an uncompressed digital delivery cable for users who demand high quality content reproduction. Without doubt, some of the peripheral technologies it employs makes it more complex to use than analogue cables. Nevertheless, for all of its faults and shortcomings, HDMI is currently the most accessible and best all-round performing format available for uncompressed digital content delivery for prosumer, home and corporate audiovisual applications. HDMI does not replace professional alternatives, but it does deliver better images, sound and functionality over a single cable than that tangle of cables you may well have behind your hi-fi or equipment rack right now.

Roll on HDMI v1.4…  Rod Sommerich (CTS) is National Product Manager of Display Products for Amber Technology. Like Rod, all readers are welcome to pitch article ideas. Send an email to the editor, andy@av.net.au.

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REVIEW

Coolux Pandora’s Box Media assets will be like putty in your hands.

Text:/ Paul Collison

This car is just a matt projection surface.

Everything else you see is Pandora's Box [There's a link to a video of this launch on the AV website]

So there I was, sitting front and centre at what I thought was going to be a snappy presentation of products from a selection of lighting and video suppliers from around the world. I’d taken the ‘teacher’s pet’ seat because I wanted to eyeball the products and the presenters. As the presentation kicked off, it was only then that I discovered the next four hours was going to be focussed on yet another media playing product… Eurgh.

I was trapped. I couldn’t casually walk out.

Nor could I play with my iPhone to pass the time without drawing the attention of the entire room to myself. So, I watched and listened. Then the unthinkable happened.

After three riveting hours I’m champing at the bit to use one. Three weeks later I actually owned some. Let’s take a closer look at why.

You may have heard of the Pandora’s Box media servers and players from Coolux. In this day and age of every man and his dog peddling their own media server product, it’s a little hard to get excited about any one in particular. However the Coolux family of servers and players offers some unique variations on a relatively new technology

that can make even the most jaded of techno buffs a little excited. Hey, it’s won an Emmy, so it has to be at least a little bit interesting [well… so has Alec Baldwin – Ed.].

SOME OF THE PARTS

The range can essentially be broken down into two areas. Firstly there is the Media Player that is a software-only package that allows the user to chose their own hardware while enjoying the playback and networking benefits of the Coolux family of products.

The Player can control up to four video layers and eight graphic (static image) layers on one HD output. Both the Player and the Media Server include a comprehensive range of effects including transitions, colour and video.

The Media Servers are the flagship product of the range. They are a combined hardware and software solution that can run up to 16 layers of video and 32 graphic layers across two HD outputs. The significant difference between them and the Player is the 3D engine in the Server. Rather than working in 2D, like most media playback systems, the

Coolux Media Servers work in a 3D ‘box’.

What do I mean by that exactly? Imagine a black box in which your media server exists.

Inside that box there are two camera lenses.

Each camera is your output. The user has the ability to move the camera anywhere in the 3D box. Video or graphics can be mapped to a 3D surface within the box on any angle.

The 3D surface can be moved and rotated through the 3D space. Both the camera and the objects have X,Y & Z movement and rotation capabilities. This allows for some very complex and effective visual art. It also makes for some of the simplest.

PANDORA’S GEARBOX

One of the most powerful features of the Coolux System is the ability to map the keystone of projection from your Pandora’s Box, rather than the projector itself. For instance, as seen in the image above, a Mercedes Benz launch earlier this year in China utilised two Media Servers for projection onto a car. Using a map of the car, German video designer Andre Verleger was able to create a symphony of images

REVIEW

across the car, but within the detail of the vehicle. White lines traced the edges of the vehicle while the wheels hosted other images.

The windscreen and windows displayed reflections as if the car was hurtling down the freeway. The entire vehicle was a projection surface. It was a truly amazing display of what can be created with a reasonably small amount of kit. [There's a link to a video of this event on the AV website – Ed] Of course a project like this requires some complex 3D modelling and media creation.

For a more simple exercise, like projection on to a curved wall, cube or sphere, the process is very simple. You may think: ‘simple? What is simple about projection on to a cube?’ Using the 3D warping tool (part of the software suite), you can easily map a curved or faceted surface – so easy, in fact, you’ll probably want keep your client in the dark about exactly how you pulled it off. This facility allows for some very complex projection onto surfaces that are not just 2D planes, but complex 3D shapes that may have any number of intersections.

The process is quite simple but the results can be spectacular. It’s nice to think that in 10 minutes you could line up two projectors onto a cube and play six different pieces of media that won’t look warped or stretched.

To also do this with media that does not require any special preparation is particularly exciting.

SEAMLESS PLAYBACK

One of the first things that draws a user towards Pandora’s Box is just how smooth it is. The X&Y movement of both the cameras and 3D objects is damped to the point of making every move seemingly graceful and elegant. The most outstanding thing is how effortless it is to play media. Using the correct codec, Pandora’s Box is outstanding with its seamless playback and it’s an aspect many media servers never quite get right. The user has the option to turn frame blending on and off– not usually an option on other servers – which means you free up resources should you not require frame blending on all your clips, but wish to play HD movies.

FRAME ACCURATE SYNC

Networking is probably where the Coolux system stands head and shoulders above much of the crowd. Through its own proprietary protocol (over TCP/IP) the Servers and Players synchronise down to the exact frame across a network. This means, should a device stumble on the first few frames of a piece of media, it will ‘catch up’ to the system. This is particularly important when using multiple servers on one projection or LED surface.

You can also synchronise media to timecode. One machine can receive SMPTE

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timecode and synchronise all network Media Servers and Players. It’s important to note that you’re not synchronising the start point of the media, but actually frame locking the media to the timecode. This means when rehearsing to timecode, you don’t need to start from the same point each time. Conversely if you had a late change and timecode was restarted from a different point, the system would catch up. This is an important feature in the expo or installation markets.

MEDIA MANAGEMENT

Another less talked about part of the range is the Media Manager. This powerful product is what makes the Coolux system a serious contender in the AV world. The Media Manager ties together all of the Coolux devices on the network and allows the user to control and build a show on multiple machines from one PC interface. This allows non-lighting folk to control the machines in a more traditional way. The Manager also has a sophisticated media distribution and management system. Anyone who has ever used more than one media server knows this is one of the hardest jobs, and with Pandora’s Box the operator need not leave his/her seat to add or remove media across the network.

Neither does the operator need to leave the security of the Coolux software.

The Media Manager is the central hub of a larger Coolux system. You create your own show on a timeline – not too dissimilar to Final Cut Pro. From this interface you can blend clips with one another, align audio tracks, insert effects, as well as preview and manage your media across multiple machines.

The hardware side of the Media Manager package is the PI Engineering X-Keys control pad. This gives the operator a jog shuttle wheel, the normal Play, Pause, Stop and Fast Forward/Rewind controls on physical buttons. It’s a small and simple interface, but it gives the operator real buttons to hit – something many software applications seem to miss these days. Giving the operator direct access to the timeline, the interface can turn a standard Pandora’s Box into a vision replay device like a Doremi, RTD or EVS. Also from the control side is the newly developed Widget Designer. This small piece of software allows anyone to create a customised user interface on your network.

This is particularly ideal in tradeshow, retail or even corporate situations where the end user can interact with audio visual systems via a simple touchscreen customised with corporate logos, virtual buttons and faders.

You can even insert a preview window. In essence, it allows you to ‘dumb down’ the interface for simplicity and possibly even security.

Media Server version 4.5: a preview of the new darker user interface

Media Manager's familar timeline-based user interface is similar to that found on non-linear editors like Apple's Final Cut Pro

Setting layer properties in Media Manager

“It’s nice to think that in 10 minutes you could line up two projectors onto a cube and play six different pieces of media that won’t look warped or stretched.”

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THE FACE OF PANDORA

No matter whether you are using the Media Manager, Server or Player, the GUI interface is the same. There are no annoying changes in setup when you jump around the range. It has to be said, that the current general GUI is not the coolest of interfaces. It’s mouse-heavy and lacks keyboard shortcuts to make life easier. It does, however, have that amazing German efficiency behind it that makes programming quick and efficient, if only after a few hours of learning the GUI. The newer high contrast and darker display in the (soon to be released) version 4.5 is a significant step forward in solving some of the aesthetic GUI issues. It will be particularly good for those working in darker spaces.

Keeping versatility in mind, each Server and Player, can be run from a lighting console, standalone, or via the Media Manager.

When it comes to running Pandora’s Box from a lighting control system, you can decide between controlling a pre-configured timeline programmed on the Media Manager software, or controlling every feature available from the lighting board. This means that if you choose to use the system as part of a lighting control package, no features are lost.

We’ve looked at how to control a Coolux system, but it is also a powerful controller in its own right. From the Servers, Players or Manager, the user can trigger any number of devices via MIDI, RS-232 and the standard networking utility, Telnet You can also patch lighting fixtures in to your Pandora’s Box GUI and run them on the timeline. Again, it’s a great feature for small architectural installations that look to run for years and years, not so much for the touring rock band or television show.

REVIEW

Pixel mapping is something new to the latest version of Pandora’s Box. The interface is slightly clunky but workable. The user has the option to run the system as either a Pixel Mapper or a Media Server/Player. Output is via Artnet or a USB to five-pin connector distributed by Coolux.

BOXING CLEVER

So which product suits you? Certainly, for any serious projection work where keystone correction and versatility is a must, then you’ll need the Media Servers. If, like most of the world, all you need to do is play media, possibly do the odd bit of soft edge blending, and you’re happy to configure your own hardware, then the Media Players are for you. One of the good things about the Players and configuring your own hardware, is being able to dictate your inputs and outputs a little more. You may need HD SDI inputs but be happy to output DVI – easy when you control the hardware. One of the advantages of the Media Servers and the hardware solution they employ, is that the software is written with the hardware configuration in mind. You also get some fancy features like being able to gain limited control of the Server directly from the front of the PC. Regardless of your needs, there is comfort in knowing that if you need to expand, you can do so with the same system and protocols. No need to learn something new if you’re using 50 systems, or just one. It’s safe to say the range of Coolux products are another significant incursion into uncharted territory where lighting and video collide and become one. 

Top: A customised X-keys Jog and Shuttle Pro is used as the physical control interface for the Pandora's Box Above: Pandora's Box Media Server

Contact Details: Show Technology (02) 9748 1122 or www.showtech.com.au

Pricing ranges from $12,000 to $79,000

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REVIEW

ClearOne Converge Pro PT880TA One serious conference audio controller.

Text:/ Graeme Hague

ClearOne have been providing conference systems since 1990. And while we certainly needed conferences and concurrent open lines of talkback way back in the days pre the web and portable mobile phones, it was a niche market. The last laugh is ClearOne’s as the world has embraced the concept of one vast, interconnected network of communication, of which the domestic internet is just one part. Today we expect to be able to arrange electronic conferencing quite easily, regardless if it’s from one side of the world to the other or just between two adjacent rooms. However, those of us in the know are well aware that controlling the audio signals of multiple participants in a conference isn’t so straightforward.

When you look at a product such as the Converge Pro PT880TA controller it’s obvious that ClearOne’s experience in this field is paying off. The Converge family of devices provide variations of similar units to suit your own needs (or expansion models) so bear in mind that in looking at the PT880TA here I’m hoping to give you more of an overview of the Converge series than just this specific model.

DIGITAL MATRIXING & PROCESSING

The PT880TA provides and controls a ‘matrix’ of microphone, line and telephone inputs and allows routing to just as wide a variety of outputs. This may strike you as no big deal with the plethora of digital mixers available, but where the Converge products differ is by including the precise DSP algorithms vital to turning the kind of disparate signal sources common in conference situations into clear communication for all concerned.

I mean things like Noise Cancellation (NC), Feedback Cancellation (FB) and Acoustical

Echo Cancellation (AEC) – tools for removing the sort of delays and unwanted mess and noise associated with open table microphones, conference phones and heavenknows-what on the other end of a phone or microphone line.

The PT880TA still has all the physical configuration controls – such as a data wheel and decent LCD screen – on the front panel, but you’re better off taking advantage of the USB connection, supplied software and hooking up a PC to access all the parameters through a web browser. Not surprisingly you get a much clearer view of what you’re doing with the GUI. Mind you, the data wheel and menu tree are good, so if you were to discover something suddenly needs tweaking, it can be done quickly. I’ll mention here as well that the unit itself has a sleek, attractive look that can be safely put in plain view. It’s not an ugly black box that would be better tucked away somewhere. Some status LEDs on the front are handy, too – for instance, those displaying which inputs are active. Just in case, there is a front panel lock facility to discourage prying fingers. Front and rear rackmount ears are included, and with it coming close to the stated ‘less than 30lbs (13.6kg)’ weight you’ll need them all.

Configurations are set up and saved in a ‘site’ file. This terminology makes perfect sense when you remember that Converge units are designed to be networked with slave machines, designated as separate ‘locations’ within a single site. Taking this further, the individual inputs and outputs can be labelled according to the the room they’re in – for example ‘Boardroom’ or ‘Foyer’ – and again the overall vision of a ‘site’ is apt. Site files have to be saved on your network to be accessed whenever required. If you want to

have several different configurations that can be recalled instantly, as the PT880TA has a menu to select presets from the network site file.

HARDCORE HARDWIRING

Apart from dedicated ports like ethernet and RS232 links, all the connections on the rear of the Converge units are via mini-push on terminal blocks for you to hard-wire in your cabling. Without a doubt the PT880TA is aimed squarely at permanent installations in institutions like court houses, conference rooms and offices, where set locations for microphones are preferred and a predictable or programmed scenario is going to take place most days – aside from perhaps a roving lectern or a lapel mic, not much is going to change.

The screenshots of the Converge Console demonstrate how versatile and fine-tuned the conference configurations can be. The mixing matrix itself is completely adjustable with any of the eight microphone and four analogue line inputs being directed to any of the eight line outputs, plus on the PT880TA, four internal 35W amplifiers for driving ceiling speakers (for example). An expansion port can add an extra 18 busses. The matrix has a clever Cross-Point Attenuation setting for matching inputs and outputs before you get down to the more nitty-gritty Gain levels and any other of the DSP features. Another neat trick is ‘NOM’ or ‘Number of Open Mics’, an automatic function that adjusts signal levels going to any output according to how many sources are trying to access it.

Each input channel can have AEC, NC, and gating levels individually set; there’s a choice of filter such as PEQ, automatic gain and level control, plus a mute. Similar

REVIEW

processing can be applied to the outputs where you can also use compression, feedback cancellation, noise gates and delay.

ClearOne isn’t shy to extol the virtues of their proprietary Distributed Echo Technology and the various noise cancelling tools, but they do caution that when laid on with spades to combat difficult situations, things may get a little woolly. Fair enough.

AUTOMATION

Top Right: The back panel of the Converge PT880TA. Top Left: The channel setup screen provides extremely detailed settings for all DSP parameters and processing options.

Above: The debug utility gives minutely detailed information about the performance of each channel during operation.

DSP In The Converge Series When it comes to digital signal processing the Converge series is no slouch. To achieve clarity and intelligibility on all of the inputs, the PT880TA can be lazily processing around 384,000 fast Fourier transforms per second. Its on-the-fly processing provides features like First Microphone Priority, where the echo cancellation reference sample is employed to detect if the same signal (for instance, a person talking into a microphone) has triggered the gate thresholds of other microphones close by. If so, it only allows the closest source to open its gate.

Adaptive ambient processing uses sampling to look at variable levels of room noise and adjust the gate threshold appropriately, while the new DARE feedback elimination feature cleverly uses similar processes to prevent feedback before it actually occurs. These can all run seamlessly and automatically in the background.

Even so, don’t expect to run a conference inside a shipping container and have the PT880TA make everything sound like Abbey Road studios. The basics of correct room acoustics, microphone placement and speaker designs all still need applying to get the best results, before expecting the PT880TA to smooth out the bugs.

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FEATURE

We’ve been looking at microphone inputs and line outputs, but the Converge series can reach beyond the walls of your office thanks to the ethernet ports and a comprehensive internal dialler. Add in an event scheduler and a macro feature and things can get really clever. For instance you could use the event scheduler to run a macro that dialled and connected to another remote Converge unit, automatically setting up a weekly telephone conference between different regional offices.

All the participants would need to do is be at their microphones (or telephones) at the right time. The macro can include shutting out areas of the site – certain rooms and outputs – to maintain confidentiality and channel presets that deal with any peculiarities associated with the remote connection. This can be done on both the local unit and the slave device it dials. ClearOne’s ‘ClearEffect’ technology restores the missing frequencies shaved off by the telephone line, resulting is clear lines of communication all around.

But wait… there’s more! A String Tab gives you up to eight command strings sent through the RS232 port to control external devices like lighting and projectors. Strings can be made a part of macros and presets.

That weekly meeting can be nearly a theatrical piece… lights down, curtain up, cue one ‘go’, all called by the PT880TA. BASES COVERED

Getting back to basics, ClearOne hasn’t forgotten long-established features such as a chairman override on any given input and a master mute if matters get really out of hand. You can also assign a first microphone priority (see box at left).

The Converge Console software is at first a little daunting, but soon becomes intuitive to users who know anything about audio signal routing and applying DSP effects.

Saying that, the dialler with its potential to need IP and network addresses, and the string commands with their specific syntax will require a certain expertise.

So installing the PT880TA (or any of its siblings) will entail substantial ongoing consultation with the client unless it’s a business that has a competent IT or AV technician on the staff who can tweak configurations for themselves. A Debug console that includes a signal generator, among many things, is always going to be handy, but again only a skilled operator will get any real benefit.

This is really the only fault I can pick with ClearOne’s Converge series. While a large slice of the market will be professional businesses and perhaps government departments who will never touch the system again once it’s up and running, those who do want to take advantage of the PT880TA’s versatility will be challenged. The gap is large between just turning it on every morning and launching the Console software on a regular basis and making changes. The learning curve might be a bit steep.

But if that’s understood by the client right from the onset, then no one can complain.

They certainly won’t have any complaint with the performance of the Converge series.

Large or small, complex or simple, one of these units has every trick in the book to make the conferencing connections you want. 

Contact Details: Australian Distributor Production Audio Services (03) 9264 8000 sales@productionaudio.com.au www.productionaudio.com.au

Pricing RRP: $11,995

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REVIEW

LED Microprojectors Will the future of projection technology be in your hands?

Text:/ Paul Newton The TinyPro and Digishow handheld LED projectors are my first exposure to a technology that I see as being a major player in the future of projection. That said, this technology has a long, long way to go in a market driven by resolution and brightness.

Both are entry-level products aimed at the ‘portable’ consumer youth market. Designed to accompany iPods, iPhone, media players and PDAs, these LED projectors only weigh a couple of hundred grams and draw very little power. The main point of difference between the two under examination is portability.

The Digishow has a rechargeable internal battery while the TinyPro requires external power. The Digishow projector required less than four hours of charging and gave me two hours of projected image: just enough for a movie or a decent gaming session. Both units run almost silently.

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Tiny Pro

Contact Details: DigiShow available in late June. www.digishow.com.au Price: $399 Tiny Pro available from: ExStream Vision www.exstreamvision.com.au Price: approx $369

The Digishow projector comes with handy adjustable tripod legs for easy alignment. The TinyPro lacks a tripod, but is just as easy to setup. It’s a simply matter of ‘aim and focus’ – these devices are literally plug’n play. Both projectors are truly handheld also – the Digishow is no larger than a decent-sized mobile phone and has a neat flat design. The TinyPro is a little different and has a more ‘boxy’ shape resembling a tape measure.

Signal-wise they both only accept standard NTSC or PAL video signals and display accurately across a 640x480 native panel. There’s no way to display computer signals with these particular models. The signal input, for both models, is available via the twin RCA-to-3.5mm minijack.

Both projectors make an effort at providing audio, housing a single 0.5W speaker that’s adequate considering the units’ low operating volume. Unusually, the Digishow provides no audio volume adjustment.

Brightness is a bit of a drawback with both of these products. 10 ANSI lumens (count them: 10) results in the requirement for a totally black viewing environment to view the images properly. Even low ambient light caused major issues with a 500mm wide image. Nevertheless, a half a metre of image is quite big considering the amount of use they will get in kids bedrooms.

There is a complete absence of internal menu/operating system with both of these LED projectors – they both internally scale the signal to fill the panel. The TinyPro handled different aspect ratios better than the Digishow by

letterboxing 16:9 content. The Digishow distorted the 16:9 content I sent it by stretching it vertically to fill the panel. Image adjustment is also non-existent: brightness, contrast, chroma are all preset. That said, the image was very well balanced and clean when viewed under the correct lighting conditions (ie. total darkness). Colour reproduction was accurate with sepia and warm coloured content being faithfully reproduced across both projectors.

If I were to choose one of these based on quality of image the TinyPro would win hands down.

There is no zoom capability; the lenses on both units allow only focal adjustment. If you want a larger image, you need to position the projector further away from the screen. Projection distance ratio is around 2.5:1.

I see this style of product being a step in the right direction, environmentally, but you get what you pay for.

The fact that you need to turn the lights out to use either of these products results in a further saving of electricity as well, so the benefits are two-fold. Power draw with AV products has always attracted negative attention – economical projectors are few and far between. It will be very interesting to see how this technology progresses over the years. The projection market is driven primarily by resolution and brightness – two features that both of these products lack. Development overseas has resulted in some models displaying up to 200 ANSI lumens, but power draw and weight are increased significantly to reach this brightness.

ONE TO WATCH

At around $400, I find them a little pricey, but these are projectors after all. My prediction? I reckon that every mobile phone will have one in five or 10 years. The kids will love them. 

Digishow

REVIEW

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FEATURE

Christie HD10K-M Christie’s three-chip HD DLP 9500 lumen projector.

Text:/ Paul Newton

My previous experiences with Christie projectors have been very limited – other than playing with them at tradeshows, they are a completely new world to me. All my work has been with either Barco or Sony projectors so I was very keen to road test this particular unit.

Upon first inspection I was very impressed with the chassis design and the size of the unit. The durable, matte black finish and subtle branding would make it ‘disappear’ nicely in a flown environment, and it’s very compact for a 9500 ANSI lumen projector.

The lens installation is very straightforward. The lens initially attaches to the projector magnetically. The magnets hold the entire weight of the lens until you engage the locking arm – a very handy feature when using the heavy, high quality lenses available for this product. The lenses also offer ILS, the Intelligent Lens System, which stores different physical focus and zoom settings for different inputs. I tested this by repeatedly switching between a 4:3 and a 16:9 image and it was perfect every time, with mm/pixel accuracy.

DUAL LAMPS

Power up took well over 60 seconds, which is to be expected for a projector of this brightness. Dual 350W mercury-based lamps achieve 10,500 centre lumens or 9500 ANSI lumens. It’s a very quiet projector for its class.

I had no measuring equipment available, but its noise level is very acceptable, making it ideally suited to corporate ballroom environments.

The two separate lamp housings are located next to the control panel on the side of the projector and are very easy to access.

Lamp life is an impressive 1500 hours at full brightness – a good 50% longer than its competition. Overall power consumption is a very modest 1320W, which, again, is outstanding for a projector of this brightness.

The contrast ratio is variable depending on the iris utilisation, ranging from 2500:1 at full On to 10000:1 at full Off.

FILTER FREE

EASILY WARPED

The unit boasts a completely sealed optics engine guaranteeing a dust-free environment for the life of the product (according to the online tutorial I viewed). This enables the projector to function without the need for any air filtering at all. One less thing to maintain!

The projector’s native resolution is a full HD 1920x1080 pixels from three 0.95-inch DLP chips. It has two HD channels, both with true 4:4:4 reproduction. The signal inputs are at the rear of the unit, and use a card/slot system to enable you to vary the configuration depending on the signal requirements. The test unit was using two of the four available slots: a combined DVI-I/ VGA card and an analogue RGBHV card that can be configured for component, YC or composite. The HD10K-M currently supports a single ‘picture in picture’ capability, but multi-windowing (up to a 3x3 array) is coming soon according to Christie’s website.

The menu system is very clean and easy to read. It was easy to navigate, so my lack of previous exposure to Christie projectors wasn’t an issue and I managed to find everything I needed pretty quickly. My only criticism pertains to the depth of some of the menus: a few features were nested away in strange locations.

I used a range of different input sources and signals for this review. A MacBook Pro outputting 1920x1080 at 50 and 60Hz, a Blu-ray player outputting both HDMI and YBR flavours of 1920x1080 at 50Hz. The HD10K-M automatically (and accurately) reproduced every signal and resolution I sent it. It also internally scaled lower resolutions such as 800x600 and 1024x768 with minimal degradation. Inputting signals was intuitive, and the ‘auto’ input feature worked perfectly each time.

The physical lens shutter is easily accessed, but a little slow to respond. In my opinion a faster shutter would be more valuable in most live situations.

The projector’s image geometry functions are brilliant. Image warping and its ability to map the image to irregular shapes is very advanced. I performed some very severe warping on a 1920x1080 DVI signal and the quality was fantastic. There was very little evidence of jagged edges around the outside of the image. The internal scaler/processor does a very good job. The supplied 1.5–2 zoom lens has a very good depth of field.

This allowed me to position the projector 45 degrees off axis and still achieve a perfectly focused and reshaped image within about five minutes of playing with the menus.

The colour reproduction is outstanding. I tested some content that was very heavy with warm, sepia colours and the image was very impressive. Fast moving HD content (at 1080i) was also very faithfully reproduced. Colour manipulation is also very comprehensive – blending and balancing multiple projectors together would be very easy. The mechanical ‘Yellow Notch Filter’ is an effective, fast way of adding dynamic colour depth, and it improved the HD content that I was playing considerably.

I’m very impressed with this projector.

I was also very impressed with the Christie website. There are dozens of technical papers, instructional movies, downloadable PowerPoint presentations, manuals and photographs to help educate and support the user. 

Contact Details: VR Solutions (07) 3844 9514 www.christiedigital.com info@vrs.com.au

Pricing:

Due to currency fluctuations POA

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NEWS

REVIEW

Associations Page News from the AV industry associations.

AETM – Connecting Universities

InfoComm News

Technology Trends Affecting AETM Members in Universities Classroom technology has changed significantly over the years. While in the mid to late ’80s it was common for teachers to work with overhead projectors, transparencies, and blackboards, today this is less so (although many teachers still do!). More and more universities, TAFE colleges (and some schools) insist on having fixed data projectors in each teaching space as standard, the use of interactive whiteboards is on the increase and there is a trend to network equipment for monitoring, remote access, data gathering and troubleshooting purposes. In addition, video tapes are out, DVDs are nearly out, Blu-ray is nearly in and out, but video-on-demand is on the increase, thus possibly lessening the need for playback equipment in teaching spaces. The work of staff making technology choices, implementing and managing these facilities is significant, not to mention the cost factors involved. Here are some trends technologists need to pay attention to in the very near future: Lecture recordings: This is becoming very popular in universities. There are a number of systems available worldwide that record video, PC content and audio, but here in Australia Lectopia (Anystream) seems to have a foothold in the majority of Universities. Significant debate is occurring around the world on the need for capturing lectures. Acoustics in teaching spaces are often not suitable for sound recordings, so building standards may need to be improved.

Connectivity: PCs and laptops traditionally have VGA ports for connecting to data projectors and other displays. Today, many PCs and some laptops are rolled out with DVI connectors. Some are DVI-I, others are DVI-D. The first can be directly connected into an existing VGA display system with an adapter plug (which often quickly disappears!) or an adaptor cable. The second cannot be directly connected to an existing VGA display system, the signal needs to be processed through a scaler first! This is frustrating for technicians as scaler setup and connectivity is not always easy.

16:9: The display format for data projectors, PCs and laptops has traditionally had a 4:3 aspect ratio, but this is now changing, the industry is moving towards widescreen. These are many formats but the two most common are 16:9 and 16:10. Changing the aspect ratio in the source device and attempting to show it on an existing 4:3 display will result in drastic loss of legibility.

Therefore moving to a widescreen format will require an increase in screen size in existing venues.

HD: Upgrading the data projector to 16:9 capability does not mean it is automatically HD standard. That comes next (sigh). As HD projectors are still quite expensive, for now, this is not an issue, however in the next few years, any replacing of data projectors need to be considered carefully to see if HD is the go.

These are just some of the issues AETM members are dealing with on a daily basis.

AETM (Association of Educational Technology Managers) is an educationalbased group of Educational Technology Managers/Directors for all Universities and TAFE colleges in Australia and New Zealand. For more information on the AETM please see: www.aetm.org

Regional Roundtable Results The first round of Regional Roundtables for 2009 in Australia and New Zealand have concluded. The four meetings held in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Auckland, were attended by a total of 85 professionals from all sectors of the AV Industry.

The keynote presentation on the new Audio Coverage Uniformity (ACU) standard was well received. This has been produced by InfoComm as a Standards setting body in consultation with the industry and the 40+ volunteers from around the world that contributed to the writing of the standard. More information is available at www.infocomm.org/standards As always, the Round Table discussion was lively and produced a lot of issues for the industry to address in the forthcoming months. The list of issues and suggested actions will be put in an appropriate place within the Asia Pacific Regional e-group discussion boards, so the discussion can continue between roundtable meetings. Key issues raised were: Shortage of Skills in the incumbent and new workforce; Integration of AV and IT technologies; Raising the profile of the AV Industry with stakeholders and trade allies.

The dates for future Roundtable meetings in 2009 are as follows: Perth – 18th August; Melbourne – 27th October; Sydney – 28th October.

INTEGRATE 09, SUPER TUESDAY The InfoComm Academy Super Tuesday Seminar program at Integrate 09 is selling well. The full program appears in the Integrate 09 show guide included with this issue of AV. Please register early to ensure your seat. We have 7 x 1hr sessions being delivered on the day, followed by a Q&A session, all for the small fee of $99. To register online, go to www.integrate-expo.com INFOCOMM ACADEMY ONSITE FUTURE DATES DES 212, AV Design Principles: Environment 26–28 Aug UTS Sydney INS 211 Intl. Installation Technician Essentials 28–29 Sep – UTS Sydney EVS 212, Staging & Event Management 29th Sep–1st Oct – UTS Sydney PME 311, Project Management for Execs 26 Oct – UTS Sydney PMA 211, Project Management for AV 27–29 Oct – UTS Sydney DES213, AV Design Principles: Infrastructure 2–4 Nov, UTS Sydney DES312, Applied. AV Design/CTS-D Study Group 15–17 Feb 2010, UTS Sydney For Further Information on any of the above please contact Jonathan Seller, CTS, InfoComm International Regional Director at australianz@infocomm.org or look on the regional web page www.infocomm.org/asia-pacific

Intents & Purposes Communicating design intent: major components of the design package.

To give you a taste of its training material, InfoComm makes some selected parts of its courses available in AV. Here’s an excerpt from DES212 AV Design Principles: Environment. This course is being run at UTS in Sydney on 26-28 Aug. In the bid process, the design documents must include enough information for the design intent to be conveyed and enough detail so the bidders’ responses can be accurately and fairly compared.

In addition to the design information on the system, certain administrative contract language will form the basis of the actual installation contract.

Major Components:

I. ‘Front end’ Specifications II. Architectural and Infrastructure Drawings III. AV System drawings IV. AV System Specifications I. FRONT END OR GENERAL CONDITIONS

The front end or general conditions section defines how the contractor is to interact with the owner, what documentation is required, etc. It includes the administrative information that is more specific to the AV contract.

• Project Description • Fabrication and Installation Intent • Functional Intent • Quality Intent • General Conditions: Work conditions and project terms, materials and workmanship, permits, submittals, change orders, warranty, invoicing and payments.

• Contract Documents: Examples might include: scope of work, contractor performance requirements, insurance, building issues, duration and deadlines, exclusions, etc. Note that the AV Designer may have input into these elements.

II. ARCHITECTURAL & INFRASTRUCTURE DRAWINGS

Architectural and Infrastructure Drawings are the road maps for an AV installation. They include the project locations, types of equipment, locations of each element, and installation specifications.

• Architectural and Infrastructure Drawings describe how the space will be put together (irrespective of the AV).

• Where the system is to be installed • What infrastructure exists • What may be required for AV systems Architectural drawings provide a technical illustration of all construction details including: • Site work • Foundation • Structure • Electrical: Power and lighting • Plumbing /Sprinklers • Audio Video • Electrical • Mechanical • Finishes • Details III. AV SYSTEM DRAWINGS A. Audiovisual (AV) Facilities Drawings

• Floor plan • Reflected ceiling • AV elevations • AV sections • Rack elevations B. Audiovisual (AV) Systems Drawings

• AV conduit riser • Video system flow • Audio system flow • Control system flow

the elements of the AV system. These drawings provide a detailed description of each of the following: • Audio flow • Video flow • Remote control system connection • Simplified line drawings • Riser diagrams will depict the interrelationship of boxes and the conduit/ducting between them • Rack elevation, also called Equipment Rack Layouts, depict the layout of specific components within the system equipment racks.

• Block Diagrams show the interconnection of the audiovisual equipment IV. AV SYSTEM SPECS/PROJECT MANUAL Putting it all together:

The AV systems specifications, also known as project manual, further describes the system, the components, codes, references and other requirements, in addition to how the system should be installed and tested.

AV System Specifications include:

General: Should contain the ‘front end’ information as discussed before.

Equipment: Should include the AV equipment specifications.

Execution: Describes in text form how the equipment and system are to be installed. 

A. Audiovisual Facilities Drawings

AV plans describe how the AV system components are interconnected. These plans provide the equipment placement, interconnection schematics, and rack elevation drawings.

Floor Plans provide an orientation to the space.

Reflected Ceiling Plan is an especially important plan for AV Designer, since it depicts features included within the ceiling (i.e. Ceiling Grid, Diffusers, Fluorescent Lights, Down Lights, Sprinklers, Projection System, and Loudspeakers) B. Audiovisual Systems Drawings

Audiovisual (AV) Systems drawings depict

About InfoComm: InfoComm International is the international trade association of the professional audiovisual and information communications industries. Established in 1939, InfoComm has 5000 members from more than 70 countries. Its training and education programs, along with its separately administered Certified Technology Specialist (CTS) and corporately administered Certified Audiovisual Solutions Provider (CAVSP) company credentials, set a standard of excellence for AV professionals. Its basic general knowledge course ‘Quick Start to the AV Industry’ is available free of charge from its web site at www.infocomm.org

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REVIEW

Termination Save the green lesbian whales from deforestation.

Text: / Graeme Hague

In decades past ‘green’ has suffered a rather bad reputation. Kermit the Frog insisted that it wasn’t easy being green. Personally, as a kid I was scarred for life after watching a classic movie called The Boy With Green Hair, even though it was filmed in glorious monochrome and the plot line as well as the haircut in question was kinda grey. Then, of course, there was Soylent Green, a futurist story of a desperate human race munching on green wafers recycled from corpses. Never lift the lid of a sandwich, I always say. And one must make mention of those appalling green tights worn

by Robin Hood, although it’s questionable where Robin could even find a decent set of nylons in the 15th century, let alone a nice green little number. I note that Russell Crowe in the latest film version has eschewed the look for a more leather, Village People-style, image.

Good move, most people would agree.

Perhaps not, because without doubt green is the ‘new black’… whatever the hell that means.

Sure, Greenies have been hugging trees for years now, saving whales and threatening double dissolutions in parliament, but no one ever really took them seriously – until now.

Suddenly, appearing green, thinking green and being green is vital to a company’s public image. It has little to do with conservation and is more tied in with avoiding any responsibility for global warming and climate change (which just reminded me: put another log on the fire).

The sudden surge in eco-friendly, carbon neutral, emission trading paranoia has spawned a rather strange phenomenon called ‘green-washing’ or more simply a ‘green wash’. Read it with the same emphasis as ‘brain-washing’ or a white-wash to cover up something undesirable. The idea is to create the perception that your company has many more green credentials than it really does. It’s much cheaper to pay a public relations guru to paint a wonderful picture of corporate greenery than it would cost to convince your CEO to drive a Prius. And nobody pickets your front gate.

If that fails, simply spend your way out of trouble. The concept of emissions trading is just as weird. Take for example Bill and Ben’s Flowerpot Nursery. They don’t even come close to emitting their allowed quota of carbon into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, their neighbours, the Mobexstrol Petrochemical Plant (which

could wipe out the planet if they left a back door open too long) hasn’t a hope of staying under their carbon allowance. What to do?

Buy Bill and Ben’s unused quota, of course.

The result is the Flowerpot Men are cashed up, still don’t add any carbon to the clouds and Mobexstrol’s profit line wobbles, but never crashes and the world is saved… I think.

What does it all mean for the AV industry?

Well, the pressure is on for events, large and small, to be run with a ‘carbon neutral’ net result. This means that production, personnel and the actual talent (whatever that might be) all has to be provided in such a manner that the tens of thousands of punters attending will leave a carbon footprint exactly the same size as if they’d stayed home and listened to the wireless instead. Plainly, this could be tricky.

How tricky? For the sake of the exercise let’s examine an up-coming grand-daddy of AV shows, AC/DC’s Black Ice tour which recently sold 500,000 tickets in a single day.

Presumably, they’ll have a few cameras and projection screens around the drum kit, right?

First we have to turn a blind eye to factors that will skew the figures. Like, as witnessed on 60 Minutes, the entire band are serious chainsmokers – and all that carbon monoxide is bound to play havoc but… let’s skip that. Okay, what about the combined farting and belching of a half-million AccaDacca fans? Can that be carbon neutralised? Some people worry about dairy cows and methane gas, but that will pale in comparison to the putrid pea-souper that will develop in the mosh pit at Angus’s feet. And can I mention the millions of litres of fossil fuels consumed by the aforementioned ute-driving fans getting to and from the venue?

What can we do? Apparently the power generators can be fueled with bio-diesel, made from a kind of vegetable oil, instead of proper diesel. You could question the validity of turning vegetables into petrol, instead of eating them, but let’s not get too clever (I’ll admit that eradicating our national obsession with beetroot gets a thumbs-up from me).

Then we can… I dunno… make the projection screens from pressed hemp? Erect security fences from poison ivy? How about we give the filthy masses their beer in recyclable glass – now there’s a new idea! Will they drink beer at an AC/DC concert? Possibly. Bugger it, let’s follow the lead of the green-washing

corporations and just paint everything green.

Illusion is everything and AV folks are good at that. Get BP to pay AC/DC enough to change the name to the Green Ice tour.

All right, I’m being cynical, sarcastic and decidedly ungrateful towards those who are making a genuine effort. Believe me, I really do want the countryside outside my window to stay green, the creek down the road to stay clear and the air to stay breathable. To achieve that, we all have to pitch in and do our bit.

And that’s why those guilty of green-washing have to be exposed and held accountable. It isn’t just the farce of their pretending and the fudged results they offer that matters. They’re spoiling the credibility of those who are trying to make a difference.

Look, maybe it’s all a ruse. We’ve had Ice Ages and Warm Ages before – the planet may well be doing exactly what it always does without much consideration for puny homo sapien whinging about the weather. After all, no one’s seen a dinosaur stroll down the street lately.

But if you’re of the opinion we are at fault and going green will help, let’s do it properly and ban this green-washing double-talk. We should identify loud and large the strategies that really work without any hidden, negative impact that goes unmentioned and expose the frauds trying to pull green wool over our eyes.

Anyone with suggestions as to how to stop those half-million AC/DC fans from emitting rain forest-wilting methane, please email our editor. You’ll probably win an award presented

by Peter Garrett himself… delivered in a plastic bag.  AV welcomes insights, no matter how important or trivial, for our Termination page.

Contact the editor (andy@av.net.au) if you have something to get off your chest.

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