InfoComm 21012 Review

[museav]

Although it also encompasses audio, lighting and even some rigging, I thought this was probably the best place to post any comments and reviews from InfoComm 2012 that was held last week in Las Vegas.

I found that some of the buzzwords this year were "HDBaseT", "AVB", "4k", "wireless" and "BIM".

• HDBaseT is a method of transporting HD media, control and Ethernet over UTP/CAT cables. It is being used by companies such as AMX, Crestron, Extron, Gefen and Kramer for their digital media routing and control products. HDBaseT also has the backing of companies such as LG Electronics, Samsung and Sony Pictures. In theory, and increasingly in practice, one could potentially run an HDBaseT device output to a HDBaseT input on a device from another manufacturer and be able to transmit HD video, multichannel audio, control, data and PoE over a single CAT cable.
• AVB or Audio Video Bridging is an IEEE effort to create standards for networked audio and video. The goal is to support HD video, multiple audio streams, device control, etc. in a standard network architecture (although with specially designed bridges). It attempts to define a network that automatically address the related bandwidth, synchronization, etc. associated with transporting media to and from multiple endpoints. The AVnu Alliance is a supporting group that includes major network related companies like Cisco, Broadcom, Intel, Marvell and Texas Instruments as well as pro AV manufacturers such as Audinate (Dante), Avid, Harman, LOUD Technologies, Meyer Sound, Peavey, Sennheiser, Shure, TC Group and Yamaha. However, Barco is currently the only video related member of the AVnu Alliance and all of the presentations and demonstrations of AVB I saw at the show were addressing only audio. Most people I spoke seem to be looking at AVB as it currently stands as being promising for networked audio but not addressing video or multimedia.
• 4K is addressing the next step in video source and display resolution with 3840x2160 and 4096x2160 resolutions. It seemed a common theme due not to current sources and displays but rather in supporting it in both systems being installed and in related technologies, such as HDBaseT and AVB discussed above.
• Wireless was prevalent in terms of wireless video transmission. Lots of new products and many producing nice HD pictures. However, all that I saw also had limited range and desired line-of-sight transmission paths.
• BIM is Building Information Modeling and is most associated with Autodesk Revit. BIM is a way of creating a virtual building with all the 'stuff' in it being objects with defined characteristics rather than simply visual representations of those objects. While most relevant to system and venue designers, this will affect others. For example, product manufacturers are already being asked to provide Revit files for their products. And I can see lighting and set designers having to work with Revit models. This also gets into the many legal unknowns with an approach that relies on a single, comprehensive model being created and modified by multiple parties throughout a project's life. Many of the previous delineations of who did what and who was responsible for what are not feasible with BIM and some early cases have shown there to be areas that could have a significant impact on many aspects of building design, construction and operations.

Two topics conspicuously absent from the above are 'the cloud' and 3-D. "The cloud" was certainly a topic but seemed to relate more in how content may be stored and delivered. And 3-D seemed to generally be seen as something everybody wants until they get it, after which few find much practical use in professional AV applications other than specific entertainment applications.

Speaking with several people, there is apparently a growing dilemma in the pro AV world of supporting new technology while also accommodating useful life spans. Many corporations, educational institutions, houses of worship, etc. may be able to benefit from some of the latest technology but at the same time cannot afford technology that may be obsolete or unsupported after a few years. This is also relevant in the technologies AV systems support and the people I talked to are wary of trying to 'keep up with the Joneses' in terms of expecting AV systems in such venues to support all of the latest and greatest technology. Many seem either be finding this an impossible task or have been bitten by investing in supporting technology that was quickly obsoleted or never widely adopted.

iPads were everywhere and it seems like everything has to have a related iPad app. However, my impression is that this seems to potentially be one of those areas where people are sometimes applying a consumer application perspective to professional applications. For example, many such applications seem to be predicated on having an app downloaded and configured for that specific room/system, which may not be practical if part of the related goal is outside parties using their own iPads. And one manufacturer bragged about how with their system and app a professor could walk into a room with their iPad, select the room and control it but had no answer when asked how to avoid the associated results of a professor choosing the wrong room or forgetting to change the room selected (imagine an instructor trying to turn up the volume and nothing happens so they keep turning it up meanwhile across the building the volume in the room they were last in keeps going up regardless of what the people there do).

There are several new(er) display technologies that seem to be getting very close to practical implementation. Laser and hybrid projectors with 20,000 hour plus life for just about every part, the ability to turn on and off instantly and so on. Thin and/or flexible LED/OLED displays. Transparent (well, currently more translucent) LCD displays. A 145" diagonal, 7680x4320 resolution plasma display.

Some interesting smaller trends I noted in audio were less focus on line arrays and several manufacturers addressing the horizontal pattern aspect of line arrays, being able to address not just varying vertical coverage but also varying horizontal coverage throughout an array. Currently this is being handled with different pattern boxes but there were rumors of steerable Bessel arrays looming in the near future. And a big surprise to me and just about everyone else was Bose's dramatic change in regards to pro audio that was reflected in both some new products and a completely different attitude and approach to product support. It takes a lot for a manufacturer to pretty much publicly apologize for talking the talk without walking the walk and to show a commitment to changing that.

Also on the audio side, Behringer still does not seem to get it. When asked how I as a system designer could get technical support I was told to contact their general product tech support group. When asked how I could get pricing I was told to contact their distributor or a dealer. When asked how to demo the product for a client I was told to go through a dealer. Behringer apparently wants to be accepted in the pro AV world without actually doing anything to support that market.

 

[JohnHuntington]

Thanks for the great write up! you caught all kinds of things I missed--just too much to see on such a big show floor.

John

 

[MNicolai]

Don't know your experiences Brad, but ours in Wisconsin have been that BIM will become popular for state construction jobs only when required. Private jobs are another matter. The problem being that when the state requires BIM as-builts to be provided, a huge mess develops because contractors have to find and record all of the changes on a job site that happened at the discretion the various installers and contractors. Once found, the changes then all have to be made to the model. Per project it would represent additional weeks worth of labor to update all of the drawings.

What we see a lot of architects doing is modeling jobs in SketchUp (almost every architect we deal with), who then port their models over to AutoCAD and Revit. While Revit is increasingly becoming more popular, the demand for as-builts generated to an almost-exact level of precision and accuracy will stunt its usage. My suspicion is architects will use Revit for their modeling and for generating drawings, but that they'll be very careful about commitments they make to maintain as-builts give them to the clients when they are done.

Overall, BIM's only going to become more popular, but it's also going to add new levels of complexity to construction projects that in many cases could mean a lot more work for architects/designers/contractors. For private jobs it doesn't matter so much because then architects and contractors can negotiate via their contracts to what level of detail they'll continue updating their models throughout the various stages of a project. For state jobs it could mean a lot more labor going into a project's record drawings to fulfill the state's requirements for a job.

Another recent topic of conversation in the office has been how Extron's absence from Infocomm 2012 has been especially curious.

What has most irked several guys in our office was that there were not more (any?) courses offered about HDCP handshaking through AV switchers and about EDID. Those are a couple topics they want to know a lot more about before much longer.

 

[museav]

Ironically, Wisconsin was used as a specific example where state projects required communications systems design documents to be done in BIM. As far as overall use, a project I am working on and one I just proposed on are both being done in Revit and both are private entities (one college and one church). The Architects on both projects are making exceptions for AV and performance lighting. And the presentation for the Consultant's Council meeting was on BIM with the majority of those present, and just about all of the firms with more than a few people, indicating they currently have BIM based work.

The push behind BIM has several facets. One is being able to use functions such as collision detection during design where the software automatically identifies objects that physically intersect or overlap during design. Another is the shared model meaning that everyone is potentially always working with a current version and that allows relating items from different trades, for example you could relate a flat panel display to the wall to which it is attached such that if the wall moves then so does the flat panel (you could also relate the associated junction boxes and power to the display so that if it moves then those move with it). Revit also makes it very easy to create sections, elevations, details, etc. as you are simply looking at information that is already present. But perhaps the primary goal is eventually tying the model to product documentation, related calculations, etc. Imagine the facilities people being able to select an air handler in a model that then links to the related equipment schedule, product data, submittals, engineering calculations, etc. That is the "Building Information" aspect, you are theoretically potentially documenting all of the relevant information in a coordinated and organized manner.

One of the related legal aspects is that since BIM is intended to be a single model that is refined throughout the design, construction and operation then that would often mean different parties revising and modifying the work of other parties. If an AV designer models a certain projector and the Contractor uses something else and modifies the model to reflect that change then have they modified the design and thus would assume liability for the resulting design? Does the original designer have any liability to look for and review any such changes? Or what about several years from now when there is a renovation or addition, what liability do different parties potentially assume related to the original model and any changes made to it? Another aspect that apparently already happened was where the model indicated everything would fit in the space provided and it would have, unfortunately installing it all required that the work being performed in a certain squence and/or more space than the finished product. Where it may be a factor is the designer responsible for identifying and perhaps even defining the 'means and methods' of installation? If so that would be a major departure from current practice. Overall, there are a number of potential liability and other issues related to BIM for which there are not yet any case law or precedents so nobody knows how they may be interpreted.


Extron has stated that they were not present this year in order to invest the money they would have spent on the show on additional regional training facilities and events. They are opening such facilities but based on various sources and information, I believe that there may be more to it than just that.

I did not look at classes like those you note as I attended multiple classes on those digital video, which included addressing EDID and HDCP, just last year, but I would be surprised if there were not some offered.