Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/109465
Digital Progress Wireless and integrated technologies have arrived and audio visual firms are taking full advantage by Jerry Eberts H al Clark, Commercial Electronics��� director of design and engineering, and residential systems integration group, has a quick answer to the question of how this year compares to last: ���Everything is wireless now.��� Commercial Electronics offers homeowners everything necessary in audio-video, integration, automation and control, increasingly without wires. ���Our professional development group asks, ���What is the appropriate technology for a room? How can we integrate all the technology into a home?��� If, for example, there���s no way to wire the master bedroom for a TV on an outside wall, we can use small wireless devices to connect the television and anything else that needs connecting if the wiring isn���t there. We use that specialized wireless technology in many of the systems we design. Really, we create residential systems from the bottom up,��� says Clark. The company is also the sole distributor of Danish electronics giant Bang & Olufsen. ���By the end of the decade, according to physicist and futurist Dr. Michio Kaku, computer chips will cost one penny each,��� says Clark. ���The entire living room will be covered in chips, serving every sort of function imaginable ��� right up to telling you the state of your health.��� Clark says that trends indicate the old brick-and-mortar stores are diminishing, with large businesses closing and small, flexible boutique-style shops growing, where consulting and service are ever more vital for the customer. Another area that can only increase in importance is energy management and savings. ���That is a hot topic,��� says Clark. ���People want and ask for controlled lighting, such as motorized shade systems for their homes. These systems are now being sold with other electronic integration. It���s a great idea that offers several advantages: security, comfort and protecting the property from sun damage both inside and out. These innovations go way beyond audio and video. These are more toward affecting the whole environment in which people live.��� Sharp���s Audio Visual Ltd. has been involved recently in ���a trend in which we are producing a number of very large enterprise projects,��� says Tim St. Louis, vice-president of sales and marketing. Among these projects is one in which Sharp���s partnered with a local IT company to complete the Edmonton Remand Centre. Sharp���s also completed one of the most sophisticated Emergency Operations Centres (EOC) in Canada, what St. Louis calls ���an incredible command and control environment.��� ���It has large, multi-screen video walls so those in the EOC can see an enormous amount of content at one time,��� he says. ���Systems such as these can be used to display just about anything emergency personnel would require, including media feeds and mapping or satellite imagery.��� As well, large-scale digital signage continues to be a large focus of Sharp���s business. Such signage can be used for advertising, staff or visitor updates, or as part of an emergency management and safety system, providing Audio Visual Systems p24-27AudioVisual.indd 25 direction during a crisis. ���Other trends include the continued growth of wireless technology,��� says St. Louis. ���With unified communications being linked to wireless devices, such as an iPad or other personal device, you can use distance collaboration technology ��� such as SMART Bridgit, possibly connected to Microsoft Lync ��� in a boardroom, over multiple desktops and to other wireless devices, all in real time.��� St. Louis says another ���growing Real Presence Group series Polycom videoconferencing, as shown in a classroom trend that we are involved in is wide setting. Photo courtesy Applied Electronics Ltd. standardization of audio-visual products within global organizations. These are clients that want to have the same moved to mercury-free systems that are therefore more experience in every meeting space no matter which country eco-friendly. they are in. Organizations such as the Global Presence ���Projectors are being replaced by display panels, both Alliance enable these very large customers to achieve this." in the commercial and home markets,��� she says. However, Antoinette Modica, general manager of the display Mitsubishi���s home theatre projectors are state-of-the-art, and imaging solutions division for Mitsubishi Electric turning a family room into a virtual theatre with widescreen, Sales Canada Inc., says customers are demanding bigger, high-resolution and high-definition pictures. lower-priced display products. ���Consumers want largerWallworks Acoustic Architectural Products Inc. is an size display televisions at a very low cost,��� says Modica. international company that works hand-in-glove with media Products that provide the best value include ���technologies installation experts to create ���complete acoustical solutions that incorporate WiFi and are easy to integrate with other for residential, commercial and industrial applications.��� The electronic devices.��� company���s products include such top brands as Fabri-Lok, ���The company���s environmental aim is to become a global Barrisol and Tapavan. ���We can work in conjunction with leader in the manufacture, marketing and sales of electrical audio-visual guys from the start,��� says Lyle Fuller, general and electronic products and systems used in many different manager for Wallworks. ���Or we can come in afterwards to applications,��� says Modica. treat the space acoustically. A seemingly small thing such as New products from Mitsubishi include home theatre and business projectors, public display panels Residential energy management: lighting, shades and HVAC systems. Left: touch panel image depicts what the homeowner sees on a touch panel or iPad to monitor and control for commercial use, display wall energy usage. Photos courtesy Commercial Electronics. products and the Diamond Vision screens for indoor and outdoor use ��� such as those gigantic screens used in sports stadiums. Modica points out that Mitsubishi���s new products include solid-state technology for business projectors with a longer lifespan and good cost of ownership. The company has also february 2013��� ��� /25 13-01-22 3:14 PM