by Steve Alexander | Jul 26, 2018 | Pro Audio, Uncategorized
These days, video conferencing is a daily activity. What was once the prevue of only “C suite” executives is now available to everyone in the organization. Conference rooms are becoming ubiquitous, and come in all shapes and sizes. Small, medium, or large – each size conference room has its own set of challenges that require different types of AV integration products and solutions.
Let’s break this down a little:
- Let’s start small—AKA the huddle room. It’s estimated that worldwide, the number of huddle room installs will be in the six-figure range over the next few years. Huddle rooms are smaller spaces where AV/IT infrastructure is minimal and BYOD is the norm. It’s a collaboration environment. Folks need the ability to easily connect their computer and share content locally as well as remotely. Biamp has the solution for the huddle space environment, the Devio. A one cable connection from your computer to the Devio is all that’s required. The heart of the system is its’ beam –tracking microphone, which follows the conversation around the room.Crystal clear audio anywhere in the room is possible, thanks to the auto-setup feature which calibrates the mic and audio with the acoustics of the room. Connect a USB camera to the device and HDMI output from the Devio to a monitor and you’re all set. Two models provide interface capability with existing phone systems via the rooms’ phone headset output. The Devio even has a Bluetooth enabled version. AMX also has a player in this space, the Acendo Vibe. Included are JBL speakers and mics and a wide-angle camera to see everyone in the room.
Did you know that Almo Pro A/V offers a SOUND OPTIONS audio sourcing and engineering group? SOUND OPTIONS gives accessibility to favorite audio brands and technical expertise all through a single resource. Learn more here.
- Medium sized rooms, AKA the “GRANDE,” are the perfect candidate for the Phoenix Stingray. This distributed array auto-mixer features mic-line inputs and can be configured as a stand-alone SIP client. The unit can be daisy-chained to add additional mics. The device can bridge two audio calls from different interfaces, has direction-finding and beamforming software which provides the ability to steer the directionality of the devices’ microphones. Speaking of mics, Phoenix has a number of mics certified to work with the device, such as the AKG CHM 99 hanging mic and the Beyer Dynamic Revoluto RM 30.
- Large rooms — AKA the “big boy/executive conference room,” requires products like the BSS Soundweb London family of DSP processors is the way to go. The unit can come in a fixed I/O configuration or as a chassis, with a number of signal processors and I/Os in a variety of networked-audio configurations and slots for a variety of input/output cards. Available protocols include Cobra-Net, Digital Audio Bus, Dante, and AVB. The units are configurable through HiQnet London Architect.
Conferencing Taiden, AKG, and Beyer Dynamic are designed specifically for the conference room space that requires chairman/delegate assignments, remote mic control, voting, and can incorporate simultaneous interpretation as well. These systems are found in the conference rooms of Fortune 500 companies worldwide.
Small, medium, large…got a project in the works? Ring me up! We’d love the opportunity to help out!
Steve Alexander, CTS, PCVE, CCNA
Business Development Manager
888-420-2566 x6648 | [email protected]
by Steve Alexander | Jun 29, 2018 | Pro Audio, Uncategorized
An integrator came to us asking a familiar question. His customer, a small church, was asking for a way to live stream their services to homebound parishioners. After a site survey, the integrator priced the project, which came in way over budget, mainly because AC power had to be run to the camera positions, needed a code inspection after the AC was run, etc. He came to us looking for an alternative solution. We introduced him to Panasonic’s new NDI cameras, which provide all connections via one cable. The integrator re-worked his numbers, came in under budget and won the job.
Integrators are becoming increasingly familiar with audio over IP networks and offering it as a solution for their customers. Audio buses like Blu-Link allow devices to talk to each other over local area networks. It’s a great way to transport audio across the campus or enterprise. With the introduction of New Tek’s NDI (Network Device Interface) in 2015, getting video across the network has become much easier as well.
Why NDI?
NDI is a flexible solution that supports low-latency, high-quality frame accurate video over standard Ethernet networks. Multicast support was added in 2017, allowing group communication to many destinations simultaneously. Multicast is a bandwidth-friendly solution.
Let’s geek out for a minute: To deliver high-quality video, NDI relies on its own proprietary compression algorithm that reduces streams at a 15:1 ratio. Measurements in the lab show 16 video scan lines latency, while most real-world implementations show one field of latency. The NDI encoding algorithm is resolution and frame-rate independent and supports resolutions up to 4K and beyond. Gigabyte Ethernet is required to successfully implement NDI across the network. More information can be found here.
NDI Technology… now in PTZ cameras.
Panasonic has included NDI technology across their line of PTZ cameras. Models include the AW-HN38,AW-HN40,AW-UN70 and AW-HN130. The cameras are available now. With NDI, the cameras are automatically detected to become available for use in NDI-based production environments, negating the need for additional configuration.
Delix Alex, Product Manager for PTZ Camera and IP Networking Systems says, “A single cable enables simplified video production without sacrificing quality or feature-set, in addition to the inherent features of Panasonic’s PTZ line-up including a family of controllers, image quality and smoothness in movement.”
Three key benefits of NDI:
- NDI will transform video workflows.This technology will enable the integrator and end user to do more on a smaller budget. For the integrator, that means more budget can be allotted for additional AV products or services to support those products and provide ongoing revenue opportunities.
- New equipment is not necessary. Customers who already own Panasonics’ lineup of PTZ cameras can visit New Tek’s website (tk/ndi_panasonic) to upgrade and enable NDI functionality.
- Only one cable is needed. One cable connection is the gold standard and with a POE switch—no AC power is required. Control over IP is possible with NDI. One can connect to a control room’s switcher or control and monitor PTZ operations via PC, MAC or mobile terminals. This allows for control across the campus or across the world. NDI also carries multichannel uncompressed audio and bi-directional metadata.
Interested in NDI? Contact me at [email protected] for more information or join us at our fall E4 AV Tour coming to Boston in September and Nashville in October. Panasonic will have NDI cameras and the new AV-HLC100 switcher on display.
Steve Alexander, CTS, PCVE, CCNA
Business Development Manager
888-420-2566 x6648 | [email protected]
by Steve Alexander | May 14, 2018 | Pro Audio, Uncategorized
Sound Options, our new pro audio division, debuts in Dallas during the E4 AV Tour.
Goin’ to the big “D” and I DO mean Dallas! The second stop of ALMO’s E4 tour rolled into Dallas April 24. Integrators and resellers brought themselves and their customers to check out the latest offerings from ALMO’s partners, earn AVIXA RU’s and participate in our many training and product workshops. The event was bookmarked on both ends with Gary Kayye from Rave Publications starting the day speaking about AV over IP. The great Randy White, Dallas Cowboy icon, closed out our day with shared stories and insights on life and football.
New on the floor at Dallas was our Sound Options booth, showcasing the ever-growing number of audio manufacturers partnering with ALMO.Sound Options is the single source you need for all of your favorite audio brands, along with the kind of technical support that only ALMO can provide. To help us launch this exciting new initiative, we had a great talk with Gary Kayye —you can watch it here.
Other folks stopping by the Sound Options booth had the opportunity to test drive Beyer Dynamic’s Classis RM30 and MPR 210 array mics and Phoenix Stingray auto mixer while listening to them through Beyer DT-770 and AKG K240 MKII headphones. The AKG HP12U handled headphone audio distribution with aplomb.
In addition to our live demo, the Taiden HCS-4338ND/50 wired gooseneck conferencing mic and HCS-5300DE/80 infrared wireless mic were both on display. Revolution Acoustics’SSP6 multiducer had a lot of folks asking questions about this technology; bending wave physics creates a planar wave front that radiates evenly throughout the room, allowing the multiducer to turn many materials into a speaker. Neat stuff!
Ashly’s PEMA 4125.70 amplifier and FR-8 network remote were also available for attendees to check out. The FR-8 and FR-16 are the answer to facilities that host live performances but don’t have a dedicated audio engineer. Max levels and mutes can be programmed per channel, keeping it simple for the amateur operator.
Attendees also had the opportunity to enter a raffle to win a set of Beyer Dynamic DT-770 headphones. Our lucky winner was chosen and the 770s are on the way to their new home in the Dallas area!
Another highlight of the show was “The Ultimate Conference Call Experience.” It featured Biamp’s Devio huddle room solution, allowing attendees to see and—more importantly—hear the Devio in action. Calls were made to Biamp’s Beaverton, Oregon headquarters, and folks in Dallas could hear the Devio beamtracking mic in action as Biamp engineers walked around their conference room. Avocor provided their VTF-6510 interactive touch screen monitor, mounted to a Chief PRSU portable flat panel stand. The Vaddio ConferenceShot 10 PTZ camera delivered crisp, clean video while wireless connectivity was provided by the Barco Clickshare CSE-200.
To those who missed the show, you’ll have two opportunities in the fall. We’ll be in Boston on September 21 and Nashville on October 26. I look forward to seeing you there! In the meantime, I’m available here right now to answer all of your audio-related questions.
Steve Alexander, PCVE, CTS
Specialties: Installed Audio, Professional Audio & Video Production, Broadcast, Video Conferencing, Projection, Audio Recording, IP Signal Distribution, Networks
Steve has over twenty five years working in the professional audio, IT and video conferencing space. He has witnessed first-hand the convergence of audio visual, computer networking and control technologies. Steve is available to answer questions regarding system design choices and to help you ensure industry best practices are followed.
If you’d like more information on any of the featured product, please feel free to contact me using the contact information below.
888-420-2566 x6648 | [email protected]
by Steve Alexander | Apr 3, 2018 | Pro Audio, Uncategorized
Everyone has a story, and when you’ve been around professional audio as long as I have, you’ve heard them all … from headphone distribution system failures just as the clock starts with a room full of studio musicians to a client who thought that the female end of an XLR connector was the microphone. That’s right, I actually had that conversation years ago with a wannabe news stringer who was putting together their first ENG rig.
The point is, audio applications are varied, wide and deep. Some audio professionals spend their whole careers working with 70-volt installed sound and understand the challenges involved, whereas someone doing live sound or coming from a studio background may not have the knowledge and skill set to successfully design, build and install a system (and vice versa). Whatever your area of expertise, it’s critical to partner with a distributor who has the experience to deliver exactly what you need to get the job done.
A trusted resource has gotten even better.
A good mechanic has the correct tools for the job, and it’s the same with the audio professional. Audio design involves many choices, and we know that many times these choices boil down to the preference of the designer or engineer. That’s why Almo is expanding YOUR audio options through our new dedicated audio sourcing and technical support group, Sound Options.
Pack your toolkit with all of the brands you want.
Through Sound Options, we’re partnering with audio vendors to provide the tools you need to complete your project, your way. You’ll also receive the legendary sales assistance and technical support that’s helped make Almo the premier provider of exceptional audio solutions.
Ashly Audio–amplifiers, mic/line mixers, DSP processors
Taiden–wired and infrared wireless microphone conferencing and simultaneous interpretation
by Steve Alexander | Dec 28, 2017 | Pro Audio, Sound Engineering, Uncategorized
Hello Almo Customers!
As the New Year begins, I thought I’d take a moment to introduce myself, as I am one of the newer Business Development Managers here at Almo.
My name is Steve Alexander, I came on board with Almo in July of 2017 to help grow the audio offerings we provide to you, our customers. I’ve been involved in professional audio since the early 1980’s, graduating from the music business program at Belmont College in Nashville, Tennessee.
Like many of you, while in school I did various jobs to supplement my meager student existence. My first “real” job in pro audio was working in a Music Row recording studio making cassette (you remember those, don’t you?) tape copies for songwriters and publishers wanting to pitch their songs to artist to put on their next release.
I eventually made my way to the control room, wrapping cables, setting up mics, and observing everything I could in order to have a chance to sit in front of the mixing console. During my tenure, I managed to work in various studios around town, eventually making my way up to chief engineer.
A number of years later I am still in love with audio. I’ve had gigs selling equipment to broadcast facilities, did some IT work as a Cisco engineer, and ran a team of AV pros supporting AV & VC technologies at the World Bank in Washington, DC.
I eventually married and settled in beautiful Annapolis, MD. Annapolis is blessed with a great number of talented musicians I got to know over time and thought, what’s an audio guy with an unfinished basement to do other than make the basement into a studio! Now remember, this was twenty years ago. So with a small budget I got to work. I triple-walled the control room and performance space to ensure as little noise as possible, made it into a performance space and built out the control room and vocal booth.
I decided to stick with a tape based system as a full blown Pro-Tools system was out of my financial reach at that time. So I decided on three Tascam DA-38’s synced together using their RC-848 transport remote, a Behringer 24×8 console was my recording desk, and I had a good bit of outboard gear to supplement what the Beheringer didn’t offer sonically, a Focusrite mic-pre & EQ, a number of dbx compressor/limiters, urei leveling amps, a Hafler audio amp, JBL monitors and Auratone’s for my car audio mix. All this was tied together using Whirlwind TTL patchbays to route signals. Over the years I had assembled a nice collection of microphones, from Shure SM57’s, to Sennheiser 421’s, and AKG D10, C391B’s, 414, etc.
One of my favorite projects was a compilation Christmas CD featuring local Annapolis artist. That CD provided the impetus for the still running two night live show of “An Annapolis Christmas” that occurs every December at our local music venue the Rams Head on Stage.
I’ve included a mix of “This Christmas” as performed by the Annapolis based band, Majesty 12.
No, it won’t sound as if it was recorded at Capital Studio A, but it ain’t bad considering it was recorded in my basement… ahh, my salad days…
Twenty years later, the technology is exponentially better, just to say you don’t need a million dollar budget to put together a decent sounding recording facility. This translates into the install and integration markets as well. With the convergence of AV and IT, the possibilities are truly endless. It’s an exciting time to be an AV professional. Almo ProAV is dedicated to helping our partners provide the best in class solution to their end users.
I hope you will allow me to assist you with any upcoming projects you have that involve audio.
by Brian Rhatigan | Dec 16, 2016 | Events, Pro Audio
Each Spring and Fall Almo’s E4 Tour swings through two major cities and brings along with it an entire day’s worth of CTS accredited educational courses and gets roughly 40 of the top manufacturers in the professional audio video industry all in one room showcasing their newest product offerings.
As a technology professional and a self-proclaimed “AV Geek” these events are always exciting to me as I am often one of the first people to see new and emerging technology. Sometimes it’s electronics, or perhaps software, or even bent metal making the installation of said technology easier and more efficient. There were a handful of stand-out products that were featured at our Fall shows this year that are worth checking out.
1.) ATEN VM3909H – 9×9 HDMI HDBaseT-Lite Matrix Switch: Remember way back when where the number of hot dogs in a package did not always match the number of buns in a package? I realize it is a silly reference, but try doing a 3×3 video wall with an 8×8 matrix switch. The folks at ATEN were mindful of this when they introduced this 9×9 HDMI matrix switch earlier this year. An addition to the 9 HDMI outputs it has 9 HDBaseT Lite outputs allowing the switch to be located up to 70m away from the video wall using the appropriate HDBaseT receivers. A simple front panel control and GUI interface to create simple video wall layouts round out the feature set of this Red Dot Award winning product.
2.) Chief SYS Projector Mount System Series: The engineers at Chief really did their homework on this one keeping the installer in mind with features not found in other mounting systems. This system not only saves time on the install but is aesthetically pleasing. Installers will love the fact that the mount and column come pre-assembled and even the box is designed so that the parts needed first are packaged on top. Micro adjustments for perfect alignment can be made without any tools and the 0”-12” adjustable column has separate cable management channels for both high and low voltage cabling.
3.) tvONE ONErack – Universal Rack Mounting System for Small Devices: While small devices such as HDBaseT transmitters, format converters, small audio products and more are convenient because of their size they can quickly make a mess of your equipment rack since in many cases they are not specifically designed to be mounted or secured into a traditional 19” rack space. Not only that, but they also generally have large wall-wart type power supplies which can clutter power distribution units within the rack. Available in 4RU, 5RU, and 6RU chassis models, this system converts randomly sized small AV devices into slide-in modules while consolidating power for all devices within the system. An optional active cooling system is available for situations where you are populating a large number of devices.
4.) Atlona AT-UHD-HDVS-300-KIT – Soft Codec Conferencing System: As more and more companies adopt PC-based conferencing codecs like Skype, WebEx, & GoToMeeting in place of traditional hardware based codecs for smaller conference rooms and huddle spaces the need for external USB microphones and cameras has increased with the desire for quality meetings. In order to accomplish this typical systems require AV extenders, USB extenders, USB hubs, multiple remotes, plus all of the required cables. Atlona’s system accomplishes this with just two devices and a single category cable. This unit also is a 4 input auto sensing AV switcher and provides automatic display control via CEC, IP, and RS-232 allowing users to start meetings quickly and easily.
5.) Almo CONTROL – Control System & DSP Programming Services: Almo got into offering services two years ago with the introduction of digital signage content creation and since then have added services for installation as well as telecom services. Almo CONTROL is the most recent introduction and was launched at the E4 Fall tour this year. With Almo CONTROL integrators can potentially take on more projects with access to additional programming resources, or where they have expertise in one system but need resources for another. Our programmers have been providing outstanding control system programming and system commissioning support services since the year 2000.
With all of the changes in our industry and constantly evolving technology I look forward to see what lies ahead in 2017.
