Classroom AV Control
Aug 3, 2010 9:55 AM
Listen to the archived webcast.
The academic AV profession has seen a sustained collision of shrinking budgets and growing enrollment, forcing technology planners to look all the way down into the nuts and bolts of their present and future classroom AV systems for solutions. Balancing the economy of in-house installation against the expertise and manpower call-up of contractors has become a significant talent. The critical place in this highest-up-time AV environment is the point where machines and users meet: the classroom AV control system. Operational success rests on the balance of flexibility and simplicity. Keeping pace with solid technology trends requires modular upgradability in design.
This webcast will examine the basic configurations of AV control system design including control processors with integrated and nonintegrated user interfaces and will cover matching these to the appropriate classrooms and users. We also explore serial, infrared and contact-closure control, device drivers, tips for in-house installation and programming, and mutual support between AV and IT staff. Peripheral devices such as motorized screens, remote AC controllers, and lighting interfaces are also examined. In the presentation are centralized AV system monitoring and management, sound systems, troubleshooting, and future-proofing classroom AV systems. The webcast is intended for anyone in a position of selecting, budgeting or maintaining classroom AV control systems in K-12 or university learning environments.
Topics covered by the webcast will include:
- Options in classroom AV control design
- Mutual AV/IT support
- RS-232, infrared, and RF control links
- Signal extension
- Sound systems
- Minimizing trouble calls
- Control system troubleshooting
- Repurposing replaced equipment.
Listen to the archived webcast.
PRESENTER:
Bennett Liles is a contributing editor to Sound & Video Contractor and a longtime AV technician and former television engineer. Bennett is a veteran of both the broadcast and AV industries with more than 35 years of combined experience in these fields, centered on production and engineering. He holds a full time position as the sole AV technician on a university campus with over 100 AV-equipped classrooms where his duties include video production and managing an IP network that connects most of the AV resources in those classrooms. He holds IT certifications from Novell, Microsoft, Extron and Crestron.
