AV SuperFriends

Recorded October 21, 2022

For Thanksgiving, the AV SuperFriends all gathered at Marc's house and stood around the kitchen waiting for the turkey to cook in the indoor deep-fryer. In addition to an assortment of side dishes, we all brought an AV Turkey to share. Marc reminds us of the nonsense of touchless AV control, Chris complains bitterly about wireless sharing appliances, Justin gives up on Stem Audio, Jamie rewinds to multi-cable digital video extension, and Larry despises digital signage. Turkeys all around!

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

Recorded September 28, 2022

In a change of pace, we've collected our scariest and creepiest tales of AV projects, equipment, customers, and support. Join the AV SuperFriends as we sit around the bonfire and share our tales of fright. Justin brings an Old Kentucky Fable, Marc recounts his end of summer waking nightmare, Larry reminds us that our worst fears can come true during the Year of Good Enough, and Chris visits the Twilight Zone to recount the Needs Analysis of Terror.

Happy Halloween, y'all!

Recorded September 16, 2022

We had a different news story selected for this week but given the recent public email exchanges between Aurora Multimedia and Crestron, we had to discuss it. Is Crestron being the bully or getting taken advantage of? Marc raises the possibility that this is all a staged act to generate publicity and we all like the idea of a Crestron - Aurora conspiracy!

Then, we're joined by Dean Heckler of Heckler Design to talk about his company's novel approach to AV-friendly furniture, mounts, brackets, and finding the niche products that make life easier. Dean talks us through Heckler's earliest days making iPad mounting brackets, to custom pieces for large universities, to the process of re-thinking the classroom lectern, to ADA wall panels— all with an eye on making everything feel like it's from the future.

Finally, Chris is going to replace every projection screen on campus with direct view displays, regardless of size and appropriate viewing height. Well, not exactly, but we discuss the concept of doing so and the price delta between large monitors and small projection screens. Seriously, though, why are we installing 105" projection screens?

Heckler: https://www.hecklerdesign.com

Recorded September 9, 2022

The AV SuperFriends kick off Season 3 with some announcements of upcoming changes and a new show, AVSF: Live! Yes, live-- on video, that is-- but live! With video and you! We want you to join us! The link is below.

Then we return to our Twitter poll from a few weeks ago to share the results. With equipment lead times continuing to be a challenge, what are other schools doing? We hash out the three most common approaches— waiting for preferred gear, looking around at alternatives, or implementing new equipment.

Marc then shares his thoughts from a recent tour to Biamp's headquarters in Portland, OR. It sounds like it's well worth a visit if you're in the area.

Finally, we dig into the mailbag and respond to a listener email about control system automation. Our discussion gets pretty heated!

AVSF Live!: https://avsf.live

Twitter poll: https://twitter.com/AVSuperfriends/status/1562109314923237376

This month's topic is software AV and we couldn't decide between software AVoIP content, software AV control, or software management platforms, so we'll cover all three! We start with an article about a semiconductor manufacturer widening software (and hardware) support for SMPTE 2110, which gets us one step closer to HDBaseT-style interoperability… in theory.

Then, it's a whirlwind tour of software AV content, control, applications, and more. Why are we using legacy thinking when building our networks? Will we ever fully trust the PC to be a true AV endpoint? After all a huge amount of current content originates from or is delivered to the classroom PC, so why can't we (reliably) leverage that for multi-protocol high bandwidth content?

Article discussed: https://www.ravepubs.com/macnica-new-software-hardware-smpte-2110/

Recorded August 12, 2022

We fire up the AVSF time machine and travel back to 2010… to talk about HDBaseT. It's all in good fun, but it's a weird article to see in 2022.

Then, what's your threshold for standardization? That is, are you looking to broaden you AV equipment portfolio or just waiting out the on-going equipment delays? What happens if that wait becomes six, eight, 12, 16 months or more? Jamie is always game to try new gear, Chris is re-engineering systems from the ground up, Justin is stuck between a rock and a hard place, Larry is concerned about staff support, and Marc is staying the course.

Finally, how are we responding to the increasing commoditization of AV integration? In addition to structured cable contractors, there are new service providers who want to help you offload some of your repetitive work (and make money, of course). It's an interesting concept…

Article discussed: https://www.avnetwork.com/features/how-hdbaset-simplifies-av-installs

Recorded August 5, 2022

Panopto is buying Kaltura! Sorta. The investment firm who owns Panopto also wants to own Kaltura. While this could mean we'll see a really cool platform come from this "merger," most likely it'll be bad for all of us. Look for your license fees to increase dramatically.

Then, what do you mean by "AV design?" What does it mean to be an AV designer? How much time are you spending doing documentation? How much is too much? Justin just wants to avoid questions, Larry would rather think of cool concepts than create drawings, Jamie hates CAD, Marc hates all documentation, and Chris loves all documentation (in fact, he's working on a reflected ceiling plan right now).

Finally, what do we all think about eliminating traditional AV cabling and equipment just because we can? Sure, it might not be best practice, but could it be considered "good enough practice" for our spaces?

Articles discussed:

• https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-panopto-bids-to-buy-israeli-video-co-kaltura-for-383m-1001419838

• https://www.avinteractive.com/news/business/panopto-raises-its-bid-to-buy-competitor-kaltura-to-383m-01-08-2022/

• https://old.reddit.com/r/CommercialAV/comments/wefc3x/av_systems_designers_of_reddit_how_much_time_do/

Recorded July 15, 2022

It's Back to School season! What will the 2022 - 2023 school year bring?

We start with an article from EdSurge about schools who put massive student CRM systems on hold and are now restarting those massive projects. Regardless of how many times we've all been through this process, the end result seems to be the same: a litany of complaints, nostalgic stories of the previous system, and plans for the next upgrade.

Then, plans for our Fall terms to start in just a few weeks. Setting expectations based on un-finished projects, mitigating standards to make something work, and delays delays delays. We also prognosticate on what we think will be our top help desk tickets this fall. But, if nothing else, fresh Trapper Keepers for all!

Article discussed:

• https://www.edsurge.com/news/2022-06-21-higher-ed-is-investing-in-student-success-tech-is-it-a-new-golden-age-or-just-vague-talk

We start with an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education that asks why colleges and universities are constructing so many new buildings, but leaving older facilities to rot? We're all guilty of focusing on the new hotness and ignoring the old and busted, but what will happen now that enrollment is set to drop?

Then, active learning rooms. Do they really need all that stuff (no) or all those options (no) or all those displays (no) ? Larry explains active learning as a food analogy, Marc suggests we focus on the students and avoid all the "stuff," Justin uses software rather than hardware to avoid monstrous AV budgets, Jamie bemoans the lack of pedagogy and overspending of technology, and Chris has built way too many of these spaces all over the country.

Finally, AVIXA wants feedback on the CTS programs. We review the survey for the general CTS and share how we think the CTS holders on our teams leverage those skills.

Article discussed:

• https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-overbuilt-campus

• https://archive.ph/XDGwT