AV SuperFriends

Recorded October 2, 2026

Six years of questionable professional judgment have brought us to season seven, and we're celebrating with wine, undocumented processes, and an idea the panel has been avoiding for months: can digital signage pull double duty as a presentation system?

Marc makes his case with a winemaking lab where a display needs to show live fermentation dashboards to visitors, then let an instructor take over for class. Pairing Zoom Rooms sharing with the campus's existing Yodeck signage content offers a potential solution, and immediately starts an argument about what counts as signage, what counts as AV, and whether we're making things simpler or inventing another support headache.

From student services lobbies to neglected "huddle-cuddle" spaces, we explore where a shared signage and presentation setup might make sense. Could the same approach support a basic BYOD classroom without the usual pile of hardware and elaborate controls? The panel weighs wireless reliability, video performance, software requirements, licensing uncertainty, and the enduring appeal of an HDMI cable that just works. Somewhere along the way, we even find a configuration everyone can tolerate.

Plus, rogue campus signage, newspaper racks selling ads, displays on wheels threatening to escape the building, and students happily collaborating while the expensive TV behind them sits unused.

Welcome to season seven: the planning is questionable, the opinions are plentiful, and we'd still like the classroom to just freaking work.

Alternate episode titles:

• Cloaked in digital signage

• Kicking off season seven with leftovers

• Hilltopper Moonshine

• Knobs and dials and kegs and casks

• Knob and tube AV

• You have it backwards, son

• If you just do sh*t, it doesn't matter

We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com

▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀

► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com

► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends

► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends

► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends

► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social

► Email: [email protected]

► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss

Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

Recorded September 25, 2026

This week, the future of AV service apparently involves things falling from the sky. AVI-SPL is partnering with Matternet to deliver critical equipment and replacement parts to technicians by drone, which naturally has us wondering exactly how big a DSP, projector lens, or ancient 45-pound amplifier you can sling underneath one of these things. What could possibly go wrong?

Then we dig into what's actually in our toolboxes, job boxes, go bags, and assorted piles of AV junk. From basic hand tools to HDMI testers, test generators, Dante headphone amps, and other troubleshooting gadgets, what should technicians carry themselves, what should the shop provide, and what do you really need when something isn't working and you need to figure out why?

Finally, USB-C… the universal connector that somehow made everything less universal. The same little oval might give you video, audio, data, Ethernet, power, some combination of those, or basically just HDMI wearing a USB-C costume. If manufacturers aren't going to support everything, fine. Just tell us what the port actually does. Maybe we need stickers. Maybe a feature matrix. Maybe a little USB-C pain scale. At this point, anything would help.

News: https://www.avinteractive.com/news/business/avi-spl-and-matternet-partner-on-autonomous-drone-delivery-for-mission-critical-service-logistics-16-09-2026/

Alternate show titles:

• Knee replacement parts

• Tool cart is a personal thing

• Cousin carts

• Your laptop is not a test generator

• You can flap it around and it swings

• Just iron that solder on

• Hot glue that sumbitch

• I love my adapters

• I want seven USB-Cs

• Do it all or don't do it

We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com

▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀

► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com

► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends

► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends

► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends

► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social

► Email: [email protected]

► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss

Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

Recorded September 18, 2026

Where does the integrator's job end and the owner's responsibility begin? And more importantly, did anyone actually write that down?

This month, we dig into the occasionally diplomatic, frequently contentious relationship between in-house AV teams and commercial integrators. Using a real-world commissioning dispute as the starting point, we talk through scope, punch lists, handoffs, communication failures, owner expectations, integrator assumptions, and what happens when somebody shows up at the end of a project and discovers the system they're expected to support isn't quite what they thought they were getting.

Along the way, we also answer a listener question about the increasingly tempting world of giant 115-inch flat panels: when they make sense instead of projection, why they can look fantastic, and the very real logistical problem of getting a gigantic sheet of glass through doors, elevators, hallways, and onto a wall without turning it into an extremely expensive folding display.

The recurring lesson is pretty simple: document expectations, ask questions early, communicate constantly, and remember that both sides eventually have to live with the decisions made during the project. Preferably without requiring formal diplomatic intervention.

Article discussed:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/davidshriver_the-head-of-a-customers-in-house-av-team-share-7505594960058937344-PuCr/

Alternate show titles:

• This is a big giant lab, so it's OK

• Do you need bigger people?

• If "Ifs and buts were candy and nuts"

• I'm the one who's gonna punch it out

• They can distract me all they want

• Did you make up some random-ass label?

We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com

▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀

► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com

► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends

► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends

► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends

► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social

► Email: [email protected]

► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss

Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

Recorded September 11, 2026

Touch panels are supposed to make AV systems easier to use, so why do so many of them look like somebody dumped every possible control onto a screen and called it finished?

In this episode, we dig into classroom and conference room GUI design: what really needs to be on the main page, what should be hidden, what should disappear entirely, and why "just because you can control it" doesn't mean the user needs a button for it. We get into source selection, camera presets, tracking, volume controls, help buttons, advanced pages, live previews, multiple displays, and the dangers of letting AV programmers design interfaces without anyone stopping them.

Along the way, we confess our own interface crimes, argue over how many buttons are too many, uncover some truly questionable legacy designs, and arrive at one simple challenge: go look at your touch panels and delete something.

By the way, the show art for this episode is a real touch panel UI that Chris stumbled across at one of his many previous universities.

Alternate show titles:

• They're terrible templates

• What happens in big spaces…

• In a normal situation, everything is flat

• There's no hole, I'm doing it right

• It's just one quick button

• It usually never gets touched

• You're not doing that right

• It's already showing the left

• I want to ask something

• Oh, yeah, that'd be smart

• Reading words

• You just said there's nothing there!

• I've been listening to your antics

• But in the backroom, it's the matrix thing

• Whiteboard's the wrong answer!

We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com

▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀

► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com

► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends

► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends

► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends

► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social

► Email: [email protected]

► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss

Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

Recorded August 28, 2026

What does AV programming really look like in 2026? As configurable platforms, APIs, visual logic, and AI-assisted code generation make complex systems easier to build, the panel debates whether the dedicated AV programmer is becoming obsolete.

The consensus, more or less, is that programming isn't going away, but the silo around it probably is. The future looks more like a shared engineering skill focused on configuration, user experience, commissioning, and making systems work without turning every classroom into a science project.

Alternate show titles:

• We made it to the past!

• If it's coming from outside the house

• Having semicolons

• I'll crack that sh*t

• Prompting a prompt

• An entire screen of slop code

• I just want one button

• Secret eyeballs

• The little script that I need

• It's just something dumb

• We're just arguing words now

• What if we could make it worse?

• You need someone behind them

• Stop worrying about who to blame!

• We're all vehemently agreeing

• Claim your code

We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com

▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀

► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com

► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends

► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends

► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends

► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social

► Email: [email protected]

► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss

Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

Recorded September 4, 2026

Is a "kit of parts" actually a kit of parts if it contains two-and-a-half kits, a warehouse full of spares, and whatever happens to be sitting on the shelf that afternoon? We revisit one of our favorite arguments: building campus AV standards around common, interchangeable components without accidentally locking yourself into a manufacturer ecosystem. That leads naturally into HDBaseT versus AV-over-IP, inventory strategies, network dependencies, and whether simplifying systems actually lets you stretch limited upgrade dollars further.

Before all that, Harvard gives us another glimpse into the classroom of the future with AI-generated versions of faculty serving as entrepreneurial mentors. Naturally, we immediately extrapolate this into AI professors teaching AI students while everyone else stays home. Progress!

Finally, we tackle the less glamorous side of classroom ownership: what happens when something technically isn't your responsibility, but everyone knows your team is going to get the call anyway? From rooms left torn apart before classes begin to neglected spaces that have fallen between departmental cracks, sometimes supporting the teaching environment means taking ownership of more than just the AV gear—even when the organizational chart says otherwise.

News: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/22/business/dealbook/harvard-ai-faculty.html

Archive: https://archive.is/VJGXq

Marc's LinkedIn article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/week-32-space-between-installation-adoption-marc-cholewczynski-8ioyc/

Alternate show titles:

• Cooler trucks

• It's not really a class either

• Which is cool, but…

• Did they did it?

• One dude at a keyboard

• Whatever happened to goggles?

• As we embark on this twisted journey

• 600 rooms in the trash

• That's kinda weird, I wouldn't do that

• That company forces you to upgrade from time to time

• It works well enough…

• Whatever that is that shouldn't exist

• Get these three I's to that one O

• They don't have to be smart

• Which was it, transmitter or receiver? Both

• I think I bought 200 and I'm all out

• Right tool, right job

• We do not do PowerPoint training, sir

• Matcha!

• They all quit!

• Punch out and walk home

• Be responsible, be accountable

We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com

▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀

► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com

► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends

► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends

► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends

► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social

► Email: [email protected]

► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss

Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

Recorded August 14, 2026

What's the one true, correct way to build a BYOM classroom? Naturally, the AV SuperFriends all agree… and come up with several. Justin brings a real-world challenge: two teaching spaces where instructors need essentially the same conferencing experience whether they use the installed room PC or a laptop over USB-C, and expect everything to just work.

That kicks off a debate over NDI, Dante, AVoIP, HDBaseT, docking stations, camera switching, control systems, power delivery, and how much complexity should be hiding behind a supposedly simple user experience. Several workable approaches emerge, ranging from elegant network-based designs to a suspiciously compelling $900 solution that is obviously the best one.

Do they settle on the definitive higher-ed BYOM standard? Absolutely not. But we do narrow the field, spend plenty of imaginary budget dollars, argue about confidence monitors and enterprise networks, and leave Justin with several options to test, which is probably the closest this group is ever going to get to consensus.

Solutions presented:

• Jamie - Biamp EX-UBT + Inogeni IP2USB

• https://products.biamp.com/product-details/-/o/d/Tesira-EX-UBT/ecom-item/920-00443-00001

• https://inogeni.com/product/ip2usb/

• Larry - Extron DTP3 CrossPoint 42 USB

• https://www.extron.com/product/dtp3crosspointusb

• Marc - Visionary Duet-5E + Visionary XB5

• https://visionary-av.com/project/duet-5-encoder-decoder/

• https://visionary-av.com/project/xb5/

• Chris - Liberty TU-HUC42

• https://www.libertyonline.com/products/search/item/TU-HUC42-KIT

• Justin says NDI cameras via Inogeni IP2USB, but maybe Dante-AV:

• Turtle Chazy: https://turtleav.com/portfolio/chazy-4k/

Alternate show titles:

• That's going to be longer than the Bible

• I'm going to pick a winner and go with it

• It doesn't matter if it's Zoom or Teams

• That's no-go; that's not happening

• It's either-or

• You have that Kansas City money

• Don't worry about the ask, Marc!

• I'm more comfortable with my thing

• Nearly the same exact setup process

• You can't call time!

• There's some strugglebus

• I have the power figured out

• I would dabble down the road…

• We have to make sure all the Legos are the right type

• This one has a budget, but I don't know what it is

• This is why we have these shows

• 900 bucks

• I'm not throwing top dollar

• H.323 people + content crap

• What happens if I don't want my students to see my notes on the back screen

• I might be able to squeeze that in

• I don't know if I like it yet or not

• The big network

• I don't know what my heart wants

• I'm in this dirty bucket of filth

We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com

▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀

► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com

► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends

► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends

► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends

► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social

► Email: [email protected]

► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss

Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

Recorded August 21, 2026

OpenAVC is back, and this time creator Aaron Todd joins us to talk about putting the open-source, hardware-agnostic AV control platform into the hands of higher ed teams for real-world testing. We dig into what makes the project interesting, why traditional proprietary control hardware may not always be necessary, how universities can participate in the pilot program, and whether open-source control is a threat to integrators, or simply another tool they should learn to use.

Then it's time for the annual higher ed tradition of people returning from summer break and suddenly remembering they need an AV project completed before classes start. We talk last-minute requests, impossible construction schedules, scope creep, protecting your staff from constant heroics, and the dangerous precedent created when you somehow manage to pull off the impossible one too many times.

Finally, are ceiling microphone arrays actually the best solution, or have they simply become the solution everyone specifies by default? We get into table mics, ceiling mics, voice lift, room acoustics, user expectations, increasingly complicated microphone deployments, and the inconvenient truth that putting everything in the ceiling doesn't magically make the underlying audio problems disappear.

News: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/aarontoddcts-d_we-are-looking-for-university-av-teams-willing-share-7492969718262231040-Pm57/

Connect with Aaron: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aarontoddcts-d/

Open AVC: https://www.openavc.com

Alternate show titles:

• Ten-inch PoE powered

• A fork… a knife and a spoon

• They don't want that smoke

• Open = free

• Crush their hearts and dreams

• Aaron, let me tell you something

• No one cares how the thing turns on and off

• With the tools available today, we can do better

• I remove all the GUI

• Dashboarding and all that crap

• A cloud side… you don't have to use

• I'm gonna brag

• I don't work in support!

• Whatever process we want to wish-cast on the university

• They can see our dashboard of projects

• They've capitulated

• How many tickets before it becomes a project

• You can't answer this question but I want to see you try

• They have a tighter SLA

• They're just tickled shitless

• We try to squeeze in as much as you can

• No, we don't care about that…

• Construction has been the tyranny of how we're working on campus

• You can't punch out when people are moving in

• We've got you guys as our buffer

• If I'm going that route, I'm NOT happy about it

We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com

▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀

► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com

► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends

► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends

► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends

► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social

► Email: [email protected]

► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss

Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

Recorded August 7, 2026

Freshly relocated, the AV SuperFriends dig into how classroom support actually works. Ring-down phones, intercoms, Teams channels, help buttons, student technicians, remote tools, and after-hours coverage all get put on the table.

The panel also gets into the difference between a real AV failure and a perceived one, why good support is as much about communication as troubleshooting, and how student employees can become an incredibly effective first line of support when they're trained and trusted.

Then we turn to physical security and ask a simple question: why does seemingly everyone on campus have a key to the AV rack? Plus, Corsair takes a stake in Bitfocus, Companion may or may not be headed toward subscription hell, and Cameron fills in for Marc.

News article: https://www.avinteractive.com/news/business/elgato-parent-corsair-takes-a-minority-stake-in-bitfocus-03-08-2026/

Connect with Cameron: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameron-sofsky-a3866465/

Alternate show titles:

• What's Marc's mouth taste like?

• Just the tip jar

• Whenever we see this happen to a successful project, they ruin it

• Reach over and touch it / If it breaks, it's on y'all

• I had my agent do a little bit of research on this

• I hope it just keeps getting bigger

• There's a number to dial our students

• We don't support tickets

• It's a ring down!

• Night shift student group

• This may not happen with you all… but it may

• Hopefully the student on the phone is verbal enough

• That's just an extended mouse and keyboard

• This is not going to go where you think it's going to go

• A little bit of knowledge is a lot of ignorance

• That's not supposed to work like that

We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com

▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀

► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com

► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends

► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends

► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends

► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social

► Email: [email protected]

► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss

Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support

Recorded July 17, 2026

In Part 2 of our conversation about building an internal AV integration team, the panel turns from the organizational obstacles to the practical question: how do you actually justify, staff, and scale the operation?

We dig into translating outsourced labor costs into FTE requests, documenting hidden workloads, using dashboards and project data to make the case to leadership, and allowing a little strategic failure to expose where the existing team has reached its limits. The discussion also explores whether the next hire should be another technician or someone higher in the stack, such as a project manager, field supervisor, designer, or other knowledge-focused role.

Along the way, we consider how student employees can free up full-time staff, why "internship" may be a better recruiting pitch than "student worker," how good integrators can complement rather than replace an internal team, and why every staffing plan needs to be ready before a stray FTE or pile of magical, mystical money suddenly appears.

Connect with Tim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timdickson0ctsd/

Alternate show titles:

• A design apprentice, so to speak

• Don't bring up your dirty math!

• Support Plus

• I could save them $100,000 a year

• I'm going to tag onto Marc and then change

• I can take care of you and you can take care of me

• The AV consultant doesn't know how we do it on campus

• Just like a consultant would…

• That's not the way levers are pulled

• Which isn't a service we actually offer… but it's a service we offer

• This was actually a good show

• It's not like math…

We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com

▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀

► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com

► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends

► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends

► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends

► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social

► Email: [email protected]

► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss

Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support