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FEBRUA RY 2018 | 23 Audio Visual Systems The changing face of the audio visual sector by ROBIN BRUNET Picture Perfect T he underlying theme of a December 2017 webinar staged by the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association rings true to everyone connected to the AV world: that professional audio- visual (Pro-AV) technology is changing faster than ever before. So fast, in fact, that remarkable breakthroughs quickly become the norm (as evidenced by home movie lovers who already take 4k resolution for granted), and new ways to do the same thing result in instant obsolescence (such as the mountains of enter- tainment discs now relegated to retail bargain bins – and largely ignored). But the velocity of change accompanied by steadily diminishing costs means that opportuni- ties to improve efficiencies in the home, boardroom, hospitality and other sectors are greater and more mind blowing than ever. Mike Chorney, president of La Scala, has distinguished himself by providing the best and most up-to-date AV components, media rooms, and related components (such as security and surveillance) to customers, and he notes that his business "has rapidly moved from centralized to integration to automation, with integration loosely defined as having elements of a home such as lighting and temperature, controlled by a single panel. "By contrast, in an automated home, I walk in, and my home knows I'm home. Knowing the time of day and day of the week, it will go through a predeter- mined sequence. My home raises or lowers the room temperature, turns on the lights, opens the blinds and does anything else I've configured it to do. This is the type of house I currently live in and have been for roughly two years. This has been relatively easy to achieve with technology such as Alexa interfacing with our cloud-based network." Chorney, whose company is providing automation to new condominium projects as a way to enable the developers to distinguish themselves from the com- petition, points out, "voice recognition went from nine million to 17 million users in the U.S. in just three months, and it's estimated that it will be in 58 percent of all households within five years. Despite our com- petition being what I would describe as confused at present, automation is fundamentally changing the way we interact with our physical world." As with anything that impacts lifestyles so quickly, AV advances are not without challenges. "So much of the advances are of the do-it-yourself, over the counter, 'Internet of Things' variety, and they are growing by leaps and bounds," says Hal Clark, certified designer and director, residential design/ engineering, for Commercial Electronics. "Moreover, the rise of over the counter devices has been made possible by organizations such as Amazon – CEDIA partnering with third party firms to provide good, better, and best cookie cutter commodity solutions. But all this is pushing out custom professionals who provide comprehensive integration services, and it renders end-users enormously susceptible to hacking and other problems." Commercial Electronics develops tailored home networks from the ground up. "We take it from the set top box modem output onward," says Clark. "This is a strategic quality process but necessary if the cli- ent wants secure and trouble-free performance." While Clark is concerned by the cookie cutter con- trol of AV, he is just as amazed and delighted as any end user by the sheer velocity of change in this indus- try. "While 4k video resolution may be hot, in Japan 8k resolution is already in the works," he says. "And yet, it's still challenging for many end users to enjoy a genuine 4k viewing experience due to simple misap- plications, such as feeding a 4k Blu-ray player into a standard 2k AV receiver and causing the receiver to automatically downgrade the image." Clark adds that of all the brands that best deliver advanced sight and sound, it would be hard to beat Bang & Olufsen, whose BeoVision Eclipse features the latest 4k HDR OLED screen technology and the Bang & Olufsen BeoVision Eclipse available from Commercial Electronics.

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