AV SuperFriends

Recorded March 18, 2022 We immediately derail the show with an in-depth discussion of blockchain and educational credentials. Larry and Marc have been looking into this and it seems to be the future of education… sort of. Then, we cover campus support structures. That is, how is your support team staffed? Is your install team your support team? Do you have your own support desk or do all the calls...

Recorded March 4, 2022 Marc brings an article about the commoditization of IT skills as organizations mature. It spurs some good discussion for our next topic about hiring staff. So, is it better to hire an IT person who then learns AV or hire an AV person who then learns IT? Larry put a similar question out on Twitter related to hiring or growing programmers. Finally, Marc wants to know what out...

Recorded February 18, 2022 If we're discussing emerging technologies in learning spaces, we're obviously going to talk about the metaverse… but not the one you're thinking of. Marc brings an article and associated study from Forbes and JP Morgan that reveals the plans that that the financial world has for the future. And no, it's not goggles. Larry also references an article from 2012 that raises...

Recorded February 11, 2022 QSC divides into two divisions, focusing on their pro audio products and burgeoning control and AV transport lines respectively. Is this a good move? Time will tell, but they certainly have the metrics to show what website visitors are looking for. Oddly enough, after this announcement, QSC held an event where they announced products in both lines. It was… weird. Then we...

Recorded February 4, 2022 In the AV news, we review Kramer purchasing UC Workspace, best known for their Quicklaunch software. I find this intriguing because as PCs become the center of conferencing systems, Quicklaunch provides a customizable unifying interface regardless of platform. Then Chris demands the rest of the AV SuperFriends help him determine the "best" method for integrating multiple...

Recorded January 14, 2022 This month's topic was supposed to be about the return of Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) and the upcoming HETMA Spring conference, but in light of ISE cancelling their show (again!) and "rescheduling" to May, we figured it was time to satirize the constant cancelling and rescheduling of large tradeshows and conferences by writing them an obituary. So, in loving memory… a...

Recorded January 21, 2022 It's a lecture capture spectacular! The AV SuperFriends are joined by two guests, Michael Quinones and Raul Burriel, and with our powers combined… we are still unable to identify the perfect lecture capture system. Heck, we can't even really define lecture capture. But that doesn't stop us from walking through the earliest days of ITV systems, camcorders, VHS & DVD record...

Recorded January 7, 2022 With enrollment decreasing, some schools are looking to specialized learning spaces to match their specialized academic programs. Is this a harbinger of university learning spaces to come in the future? (Yes) Then, we cover a topic that has been rattling around in all our heads in different ways: the gap between pedagogical development and physical operation of a hybrid le...

Recorded December 10, 2021 It's a prediction show! Educause suggests 10 IT-related trends we should all be aware of and we decide they're not in order, so we're starting with number 6. As with anything from Educause, it's highly-researched and detailed, but often just a little too milquetoast for our tastes. Then the SuperFriends each has a prediction for 2022. Some of us are suggesting general te...

Recorded December 17, 2021 Have y'all heard of this Metaverse thingy? It's exactly like Second Life from 2003, but… uh… new? And people want to live in it for some reason? I don't get it. No one does, but we're all playing along. So, we have a news story about a recent poll that says people want to work in the Metaverse because it'll… uh… increase… productivity… somehow? Then we introduce a new se...

Recorded December 3, 2021 Are your AV devices secure? Probably not. Is your campus network secure? Fingers crossed! We start with some recent non-AV news about campus network security and ransomware that forced two entire community colleges to simply close temporarily. Then we discuss the current state of AV network security. How many devices do we all have out there on the network running firmwar...

Recorded November 17, 2021 It's the 2nd Annual AV SuperFriends Holiday Show! Yes, we're recording this in November, even before Thanksgiving, which just feels weird, but such are the necessities of podcast publishing schedules. In return, we've added some additional production to the show in the form of not-at-all annoying sound effects and background music! For our Holiday Show, we couldn't decid...

Recorded November 19, 2021 Have you ever wondered why you work in AV? Well, here's the Top Ten reasons. It's a listicle and we love that. Oddly, it says you don't need an advanced degree but that AV is challenging. Weird. Then to the larger topic at hand: Metric AV. Wait, no. The metrics of AV. That is, how do we measure success? Jamie kidnaps people. Larry spies on them from the bushes outside. M...

Recorded November 12, 2021 Two of the AV SuperFriends have been to two large trade shows and conferences and lived to tell the tale.  Larry and Chris were both at InfoComm in Orlando and EDspaces in Pittsburgh and, while both shows were smaller than in previous years, there were still large crowds, lots of people to talk to, and plenty of AV and learning spaces discussions.  It was also a bit weir...

This month we dive deep into the world of AVoIP.  It's a thing.  The cost-delta is over point-to-point transmission almost nil, the technologies and products are maturing, and it opens an entire new world of finger pointing and shirking responsibility!  We first discussed AVoIP last October on Off the Rails Episode 4, so please give that a listen for more on how we're leveraging it at our institut...

Recorded October 21, 2021 If you're reading this, the AV SuperFriends have been to InfoComm 2021 and lived to tell the tale.  Well, at least two of us have (Chris and Larry).  Everyone else skipped it and have been removed from the will. Speaking of InfoComm, we start with a listicle from rAVe Pubs about five trends to watch for at InfoComm 2021.  Were these accurate predictions?  As someone who a...

Recorded October 1, 2021   Hey, Classroom: Turn on projector.  Turn ON projector.  Hey, Classroom: Turn projector ON.  Darn this voice control!     On this episode, the AV SuperFriends share their current frustrations with supply chain issues causing delays in projects.  We also share some solid suggestions on how to mitigate those challenges.  Justin is Frankensteining systems out of whatever he...

Recorded September 17, 2021 Fire up your RGB LEDs, put on your headset, and get caffeinated!  For this month's episode of On Topic, the AV SuperFriends are joined by Josh Kell, CEO of Horizon AVL System Integration, to talk about eSports. Josh has been working with Larry on a new eSports arena at UNCG and he provides a fascinating look at developing an eSports program holistically and not just pil...

Recorded September 10, 2021 It's the season finale of Off the Rails! We did it— an entire year of shows… and no on air fights. A lot of swearing by text (Chris), complaining about things (Chris), and getting frustrated at people not reading emails (Chris). Wait a minute… For Season 2, starting in a few weeks, or whenever we get around to it (Chris says "the first week of October"), we'll have more...

This month's topic is "Time for Change," which we interpreted as "how do we think of classroom AV systems in 2021 as opposed to the same systems in 2019?"  The technology hasn't really changed, but the tasks in those classrooms most certainly have changed, which means we now select the technology differently. But before we get into all that, we cover some recent news from QSC—or at least leaked fr...

Recorded August 20, 2021 One of the things we all love about our jobs at colleges and universities is working with students. They're a fantastic resource, eager to help, keen to help, and willing to hop on a bike and race across campus at a moment's notice. On this unusual episode of Off the Rails, we stay on topic and focus entirely on our interactions with student staff in our departments. We're...

Recorded August 13, 2021 We're back! It's been a weird couple of weeks with some of the AV SuperFriends moving across town, some moving across the country, and others staying right where they are. Summer is full of vacations and travel… and so many AV installation projects! And what better way to close out summer than with a discussion of digital signage on our campuses? We first try to define dig...

Recorded July 7, 2021 It's Back to School season, so get some new shoes, a nice shirt for the first day, a new Trapper Keeper and pencil bag, and let's all take an awkward picture by the front door on the way out to catch the school bus. And, we have some survey results to discuss— and we love our surveys! — from Classroom Technology on the ways Online Learning (whatever that means) is changing po...

Recorded July 9, 2021 In AV news, Sharp/NEC announces a new display with support for an insertable module (SDM, the replacement for OPS) that has NDI and Dante onboard. While that sounds as exciting as burnt toast, it could be a harbinger of things to come— displays (and general AV devices) with support for multiple AVoIP transport protocols on a single NIC. It's clearly the way of the future, so...

Recorded July 2, 2021 Biamp buys Neets and presumably looks to get into the larger ecosystem of AV control.  And that raises some interesting questions about control systems.  Aside from the big two, Crestron and Extron (AMX no longer counts), we're seeing a ever-increasing number of smaller companies introducing solid control options, often at a significant savings.   We've tried a few from Atlon...