Adam Holladay of Harman’s System Development and Integration Group was gracious enough to give me a quick demo of the new version (2.0) of Harman HiQNet’s System Architect Software as the show floor was shutting down tonight when the discussion evolved into a larger look at the arrival of, and Harman’s support for, the new AVB (IEEE Audio Video Bridge) audio networking protocol for standardized ethernet, developed by the IEEE 802.1 Audio Video Bridging Task Group–a consortium of engineers from a wide range of major technology companies, including Harman and many other AV players, as well as from other industries. Adam was raving about the concept and the rise of the protocol as having the potential to inexpensively, and seamlessly, become an industry standard ahead of many well known and respected networking protocols already on the landscape, and soon, maybe within a year or two. more…

Andy Stadheim demonstrated the master controller for the Barix IP intercom system on the show floor today, and it became immediately apparent that one of the strengths in this system is the fact that it can be installed using exising IP networks without adding a significant amount of traffic. The Barix system of intercom over IP is an example of a system that was designed by a genius to be run by … a nontechnical person. IP is everywhere now, and Barix has designed its hardware to put voice communication on the IP wave.

You won’t find a more passionate evangelist for Crestron’s new DigitalMedia initiative than PR chief Jeff Singer, and he presented an interesting case to me that the history of Crestron’s development of the initiative, and resulting family of products on display this week at InfoComm with more coming shortly thereafter, represents a mission to be on the bleeding edge of the industry’s current paradigm shift into the digital universe. more…

Aidan Williams and his crew have their own booth at this year’s show, and they expect big thing to be coming up soon for Dante, their audio networking protocol. Yamaha will be marketing mixers with a new Dante card than enables 16 audio channels on one Cat-5 cable, and the price is surprisingly low… very entry level cost. Bosch has included Dante networking, and the list of Audinate partners continues to grow. July’s Networked AV Podcast will feature a conversation with CTO Aidan Williams discussing how Dante works and what’s coming up for their Austrailian company.

Day One at InfoComm…

Despite a less-than-wonderful economic climate, InfoComm 09 opened decently at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. The organization predicted 28,000 attendees visiting 850 exhibitors over three days. Randal Lemke, InfoComm International’s executive director, estimated that two-thirds of the attendees are systems integrators and the rest are technology managers and end users, following a pattern that’s developed over the last five years.

Some good news came early in the day. At Harman International’s morning press conference Michael MacDonald, Harman Professional Group executive vice president of sales and marketing, told reporters that the professional products group’s revenues had stabilized and that the end of fiscal year 2009 would show a profit, with the fiscal year 2010 budget on a solid footing. MacDonald also hinted at possible merger and aquisition activity in the near future, but the comment that drew the most notice for this audience was that expectations of increased revenues would increase advertising and marketing budgets. Because of its size and sector diversity, Harman is considered a bellwether on the pro audio side of systems installation and integration, so MacDonald’s comment suggests the industry might see growth returning before the end of the calendar year. more…

As InfoComm 09 launched this morning, I immediately ran into an old friend, Marc Lopez of Yamaha. Marc pointed out how big a deal digital audio networking is to a manufacturer like Yamaha, and said as of InfoComm 09, that most new Yamaha hardware is now networkable with Audinate’s Dante protocol. A formal press conference at the Audinate booth (5842) Wednesday will have more details, but Yamaha will start distributing a new Dante nework format card in September. It’s a format Marc says Yamaha “sees a lot of potential in. We are now fluid in the langauge of Dante.”

As is Yamaha with all other legitimate network protocols. And Yamaha has a variety of other software news going on this year, such as its new DME software update (DME v. 3.5). The boys in Yamaha’s labs, he admits, spend much of their time these days on software design and development even though the company will always be known first and foremost as a hardware manufacturer. These days, those two missions are hopelessly, and permanently, intertwined. more…

Once again this year, at InfoComm 08 in Las Vegas, SVC’s editorial team fanned out to find some of the most important, leading-edge AV-related products debuting at the show, investigating if they might be deserving of our annual InfoComm Pick Hit awards. Read on at The Briefing Room

For Wideband Solutions, five is the magic number at this year’s InfoComm show (Booth C4540). WideBand Solutions is celebrating five years as one of the leading providers of high-end audio conferencing technology, by offering its dealers at InfoComm a unique sales opportunity. Dealers who purchase five SimphoniX Si-400+ Bundles or five WC301 Universal Bundles will receive an additional Si-400+ or WC301 Universal Bundle for FREE. Read on at The Briefing Room

More InfoComm 08 news from The Briefing Room

Planar Systems (formerly Clarity) booth (N6332) is showing its rear-projection alternatives to those 103in. plasma giants. The Clarity x100HD is a 100in. HD DLP flush-mount rear-projection display is a unit designed with conference rooms in mind. You really wouldn’t know it was a rear-projection system with the flush-mount design, which could be a little more problematic of a build for older rooms. Like other rear-projection system in the Planar line, the display is serviceable from the front. The x100 HD will be shipping in Q4. more…

Over at the Rise Vision booth (N7341), fellow Contributing Editor Bennett Liles and I talked digital signage shop with VP Ryan Cahoy. The digital signage area in the North Hall is staggering—and more than a little confusing to some.

Cahoy says what it comes down to is achieving the content goal. That is, content is in an age where it is expected to be continually be updated. Cahoy says that often times users and integrators get hung up on the display systems, when really they should be focusing on content development and deployment. When you buy a computer, that system is already almost obsolete; the same is true of displays. Although users are always going to want display their content at the best quality possible, Cahoy says it’s a moot point if the content is stale. Which is why he points to Rise Vision’s Display Network web-based monitoring system. more…