AV SuperFriends

Recorded May 8, 2026

This week on Off the Rails, the gang celebrates finals week the only way higher ed AV/IT knows how: by watching a major cloud platform wobble and quietly whispering sweet nothings to the on-prem rack. The Instructure Canvas mess kicks off a discussion about cloud dependency, LMS integrations, sketchy APIs, cyber insurance, and the comforting lie that "hosted" means "not our problem."

Then it's on to upcoming NWMET and InfoComm sessions about building local AI tools for AV design, documentation, math, and workflows… because sometimes the best cloud strategy is "don't."

The main topic tackles higher ed media production studios, virtual production spaces, visualization labs, esports rooms, and all the other shiny innovation boxes campuses love to build before remembering someone has to staff, fund, maintain, and explain them. The crew digs into automation, realistic expectations, revenue potential, student involvement, and why your $3,000 LED volume is adorable.

Finally, a listener's question about HyFlex classroom audio leads to ceiling mics, Catchbox, lectern mics, Dante, and the timeless truth that microphones are happiest when they're disappointing someone.

News story:

https://www.kcur.org/education/2026-05-07/hackers-hit-university-of-missouri-system-and-9-000-other-canvas-schools

AVSF Presentations:

NWMET Conference: https://www.nwmet.org

• "Weaponizing AI for AV and IT Design"

• Weds May 20, 100p

InfoComm: https://www.infocommshow.org

• "From Prompt to Project: Applying AI to Higher Ed AV Design"

• Thurs June 17, 1000a

RDL Dante Headphone Amplifier: https://rdlnet.com/product/av-nh1/

Alternate show titles:

• It's just text / and 9,000 other schools!

• Find me every vulnerability

• This is real; it could happen

• It's a really cool concept

• There's so much leakage that can happen

• What is happening in North Carolina?

• There's a few variants of this strain that goes around

• We call that Bro-Jo

• We gotta fill this hole

• The secret word is…

• Public-Private Partnerships

• The bottom people get it shoved in their face

• We're not building these spaces for good enough

• Magic with a Pac-Man button

• Braggart…

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 April 17, 2026

In this episode, the crew turns a simple question about classroom speakers into a full-blown AV theology fight. Should small classrooms use ceiling speakers, front-wall point-source speakers, voice lift, program audio, or whatever happens to be lying around in the warehouse? Naturally, the answer is "it depends," followed immediately by 35 minutes of everyone insisting their version of "depends" is the only sane one.

The discussion gets into the real-world mess of higher ed classroom audio: even coverage, voice lift thresholds, ceiling lay-in speakers versus cans, front-of-room program speakers, accessibility systems, bad acoustics, noisy HVAC, amplifier/speaker mismatches, and the eternal question of whether "good enough" is actually good enough. Along the way, the panel debates physics, budget, installer convenience, student experience, and how many speakers it takes before a room becomes less of a classroom and more of an ersatz municipal warning siren.

In short: if you've ever looked at a classroom audio system and wondered, "Why did they do it that way?" then this episode provides several answers… all of them wrong, all of them defensible, and most of them louder than necessary.

Alternate show titles:

• It's diapers… it depends

• Do we still do speech just from the cans

• SAR method: sounds about right

• How many rooms do you have like this?

• Could they add a column in the middle?

• They can hear all the accounting numbers, they just can't see 'em

• Not the EASE software, but ease of install

• I had to throw them away

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 May 24, 2026

This week, the AV SuperFriends rummage through the NAB grab bag without actually attending NAB, because nothing says "industry analysis" like judging announcements from press releases and email blasts. But first, the crew starts with Marc's field report from Biamp's 50th anniversary event, including factory tours, anechoic chamber weirdness, voice lift demos, ClearOne gear being reborn in Biamp boxes, and the very real threat of an electric Hummer rental becoming a police chase subplot.

Then it's on to the blurred lines between production AV and presentation AV: Blackmagic going hard into SMPTE 2110 and software-based audio mixing, BirdDog adding Dante AV-H, NDI inching closer to classroom viability with HDCP support, Bitfocus Buttons making control systems nervous, and Rode trying to make podcast production less like a punishment for student media studios. Finally, Sony's camera-level content authenticity tools send everyone into the AI-content-verification weeds before the show ends with the obvious NAB Best in Show: a rolling mobile studio robot cart that looks like Johnny Five joined the AV department and got trapped in a furniture catalog.

News and announcements discussed:

• Biamp's 50th

• https://www.biamp.com/company/biamp-50

• Blackmagic Fairlight Live

• https://www.mixonline.com/technology/news-products/blackmagic-design-launches-fairlight-live-mixing-system

• https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fairlightlive

• BirdDog Dante AV-H

• https://birddog.tv/whatson/

• Ikan Studio Rover

• https://ikancorp.com/shop/mobile-studio-solutions/portable-broadcast-av-studio-cart-19-teleprompter-ndi-ptz-camera-motorized-lift-poe-led-panel/

• Bitfocus Buttons

• ​​https://bitfocus.io/buttons

• https://ravepubs.com/bitfocus-buttons-wins-nab-show-product-of-the-year-award/

• Sony content protection

• https://authenticity.sony.net/camera/en-us/

• https://www.cined.com/sony-ap-test-in-camera-authenticity-technology-for-non-ai-images/

• Rodecaster Studio

• https://studio.rode.com/

• https://www.newsshooter.com/2026/04/20/rodecaster-studio-built-with-ai-for-editing-podcasts/

Alternate show titles:

• How I became an esteemed guest, I do not know

• It exposes itself

• It's OBS for audio

• Going deep into 2110

• I'm not shipping you food

• I'm sitting on one right now

• Just to bust Justin's onion

• I was the only tech person

• Let me ask this stupid question

• It's IT with cameras

• Fool enough people to make them believe

• A Raspberry Pi and a Global Cache

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 April 17, 2026

AV SuperFriends goes global!

In this quick episode, the gang chats with Darryl Krall about the new Global Higher Education AV Technology Day, a joint event uniting ETC, AETM, and SCHOMS for a worldwide day of higher ed AV conversation.

There is talk of presenters, time zones, sessions, time zones, topics, time zones, and the hope that this turns into a long-running annual tradition, plus the usual AVSF nonsense about naps, calendars, and making the whole thing just a little worse in the best possible way. Also, time zones.

Join the event on April 29: https://golive.on24.com/event/5294820/en/EF9316096C24E87EC35FC900DCED381A/registration

Join your regional group (or join all of them!)

ETC: https://www.etcollaborative.org/

AETM: https://www.aetm.org/

SCHOMS: https://www.schoms.ac.uk/

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 April 10, 2026

In this episode, the goon squad takes a swing at the AI gold rush, the made-up drama of "AV-over-IP 2.0," and the growing industry tradition of rebranding the same old nonsense with shinier buzzwords. If you've ever wondered whether cloud creep, interoperability promises, and subscription pricing are solving real problems or just creating newer, dumber ones, this one's for you.

Then the panel gets into one of higher ed AV's favorite recurring fights: why everyone thinks classroom tech should cost about $600, why "just throw a TV on the wall" is never the simple solution people think it is, and how furniture somehow always gets approved before the technology that makes the room actually work.

Along the way, they also wander into lecterns, teaching stations, and the usual AV nerd arguing over boxes, desks, and support standards like civilization depends on it.

News: https://www.avinteractive.com/news/avoip-news/there-is-no-av-over-ip-2-0-the-label-does-not-match-reality-09-04-2026/

Alternate Show Titles:

• HDBaseMrT
• Mis-interpreted from the AI bot
• I don't see a problem with this
• Shopping for a Buick, like I do
• There's been a bit of a culture change
• The new leadership regime
• Justifying your costs by others failing
• I didn't hope that this would happen
• You have to fail to go forward
• You guys just make this too complicated
• The math is sound

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 March 13, 2026

This episode of On Topic tackles "Spring cleaning" by focusing less on tidy closets and more on the grime higher ed AV teams create for themselves. The panel trades stories about delayed refreshes, inherited programming messes, legacy systems that refuse to die, rushed project deadlines, and the temporary fixes that somehow become permanent. Before you get clean, revel in the filth…

It's a funny, brutally honest look at technical debt, bad design choices, and the institutional rot that keeps old problems hanging around far longer than they should. If your campus has mystery cables, aging systems, and one room everyone's afraid to touch, this episode will feel painfully familiar. Let's get filthy!

Alternate show titles:

• Budgets are optional

• Those are sticky weird situations

• Normally I'm shady and gross

• I wasn't a pro, so I used two plusses

• Good luck, I'm sorry

• Museum of AV decisions

• It did what it did

• Be here when the tree falls on the house

• I feel like the whole university is guilty of this

• Just everybody calm down!

• It's gonna be… not bad

• If y'all didn't take an entire month off for Christmas…

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 March 20, 2026

In this episode, the panel tackles one of the most overdue conversations in higher ed: AV network security. The regular panel is joined by the founding members of AV Trust, Doug Schaefer, Colin Birney, and Frank Padikkala.

The news segment focuses on cybersecurity education pipelines, exploring how earlier hands-on exposure and employer partnerships could help build a more prepared workforce for technical fields.

The main segment discusses the newly launched AV Trust initiative and the broader challenge of securing AV systems that increasingly live on shared enterprise networks. The conversation covers everything from outdated firmware practices, rebadged hardware, and weak manufacturer documentation, to IoT risk, cloud-connected devices, and the need for AV professionals to better understand the language of IT and cybersecurity. Rather than treating security as a niche or optional concern, the panel argues that AV must mature into a more transparent, standards-driven, and collaborative part of the larger technology ecosystem.

By the end, the episode lands on a clear takeaway: AV is no longer separate from the network, and security can no longer be someone else's problem. With AV Trust aiming to bridge gaps through education, standards work, and community participation, this episode is a candid, funny, and timely look at where the industry needs to go next.

News article: https://www.edsurge.com/news/2026-03-18-what-happens-when-employers-co-design-the-cybersecurity-classroom

Connect with our guests:

• Colin Birney: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-birney/
• Doug Schaefer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-schaefer/
• Frank Padikkala: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankpadikkala/

AV Trust:

• https://www.avtrust.org
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/av-trust

Educause HECVAT: https://www.educause.edu/higher-education-community-vendor-assessment-toolkit

ISC2 Certified in Cybersecurity (CC): https://www.isc2.org/Certifications/CC

Alternate show titles:

• You know what pays really well? Ransomware!

• Ain't no mountain high enough

• You can't stop me, but I'd love for you to participate

• A security-first mindset

• Security updates are tied to feature updates

• What's a risk profile?

• I have no idea what it does

• I'm clueless as far as security is concerned

• Security by obscurity

• The most miserable, hateful devices you can put on your network

• We do this really well with everyone other than IT

• Manufacturer X Model Y

• We have no idea what's on your switch

• The AV industry is way out over our skis

• I'm going to say something controversial

• A marketing company that will mail you a box

• I can probably tell if it's alive

• No amount of remote monitoring tells me that

• It can get to something, but it's not my network

• Security doesn't have to be a taboo topic that we all avoid

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 March 6, 2026

In this episode of Off the Rails, the panel opens with a conversation about AV Trust and what it means for cybersecurity, standards, and the growing expectation that AV systems have to be treated like serious networked technology, not mysterious boxes that somehow get a pass. Join us on March 20 when we'll have the whole team from AV Trust on the show to talk network security.

From there, the crew turns to a much deeper discussion on design drawings and schematics. Where different designers start, how they think through a system, what belongs on a drawing, and how documentation shifts from rough concept to something another person can actually build, wire, label, and support.

The back half turns into a familiar higher ed therapy session about the campus departments that try to "help" by buying their own gear, setting things up themselves, and only calling AV once the whole thing has gone sideways.

So you get cybersecurity, design philosophy, workflow nerdery, and just enough support-tragedy storytelling to make the whole thing feel painfully relatable in the best AVSF way.

News story: https://www.commercialintegrator.com/news/av-trust-cybersecurity-commercial-av-industry/146270

Connect with AV Trust: https://avtrust.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/av-trust/

Alternate show titles:

• This is a big deal
• Come on, do better!
• Almost as the mediator
• I told y'all
• Sports Bar Classroom
• I fill in the guts
• I kinda understand how this goes together
• It's just a lot of one-offs
• You must have gobs of network ports in your classrooms
• Eh, I have what I need…
• Most of my drawing drawings are in AutoCAD
• No, I just hate people screwing sh*t up
• I want one channel of mono
• There are times where that is the answer
• Welcome to my entire campus
• They're only calling because they want to be able to continue to call
• Your Layer 1 is solid as sh*t

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 February 20, 2026

The panel this week is full of guest voices. The news segment examines AI-driven collaboration tools, particularly automatic recordings and transcripts, and the governance risks they introduce. The focus isn't hype, but ownership, confidentiality, consent, and what happens when institutional policy lags behind platform features.

Then the panel explores storytelling as a leadership skill. The discussion centers on intentional framing, timing, and how AV professionals can better communicate impact to stakeholders beyond technical specifications.

The final segment discusses furniture development for learning environments. The conversation highlights how intentional furniture design influences pedagogy, flexibility, and long-term scalability, balancing showcase spaces with sustainable campus standards.

News article:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2026/02/11/unc-admin-can-now-officially-secretly-record

Connect with Eric Gleske: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-j-gleske/

Connect with Chris Kolavo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriskolavo-cci/

Connect with Atkins Fleming: ** LINK REMOVED **

Computer Comforts: https://computercomforts.com/products/av-hub/

Alternate show titles:

• Be on your best behavior

• The invasion of privacy because of technology

• The potential to be virtual

• I'm a story teller

• We've had a fascinating journey

• Your COVID was longer than mine…

• That's great, Dr. Scientist!

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 February 13, 2026

It's March (yes, March– deal with it), the AV SuperFriends gather to lay down the law… higher ed AV law, that is. This month's On Topic tackles the Top Ten Commandments of AV: the rules you should follow, the ones you sometimes break, and the ones you pretend you've always believed in.

From protecting audio at all costs and designing for serviceability, to avoiding 4K hype, over-automation, USB abuse, and unlabeled cables, the panel debates what actually matters when building and supporting campus systems. It's a fast-moving mix of standards, safety factors, lifecycle thinking, and a healthy dose of "why are we still doing this?"

Opinionated, practical, and just irreverent enough, consider this your stone tablet for smarter AV design… subject to revision next month, that is.

Alternate show titles:

• Sometimes you find yourself walking around thinking a lot
• Today's commandments are…
• Do you want to disservice half the room?
• How do you get away with that?
• Is that in your scope to check?
• The university as a whole…
• Yes, if you're touching the wall

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