In the digital signage market, there has not been major disruption over the shift to IP, AV over IP that is. The move to IP is pretty dramatic in the larger installed AV world (the classroom, boardroom, meeting room, etc) if not a complete retooling at this point, even as moving AV signals (even industrial-strength video) over IP has moved from bleeding edge to mainstream, the industry still has a long way to go. Depending on your perspective, that involves either A) wringing out even more latency and other image quality glitches, and improving security features, for a better AV over IP package delivered to the user, and/or B) educating both the AV integrator and the end user that sure, we need to do more of A, but we now have some robust solutions that solve a lot of our challenges today, with today’s gear.
OLED is a dramatic addition to the display landscape. And anyone who has been to any major trade show this year has seen a lot of new direct view LED products. More than competing with LCD panels, direct view LED opens new markets for AV integrators. Direct view LED products now make it possible for integrators to sell entirely new solutions in a variety of applications that need larger, higher brightness, higher dynamic range, more energy-efficient displays. Yes, they are not cheap. Which is why they are poised to open new markets not cannibalize the LCD flat panel market. It’s about growing the market, on the upside.
Traditionally, larger AV systems were built around a matrix switcher. Integrators counted up the inputs and outputs to determine the switch size, with maybe some scalers to account for VGA or composite video signals. From there, you added a custom programmed control system to manage everything. Today’s AV/IP systems leverage existing network infrastructure, routing AV input signals through an encoder that takes, for example, an HDMI signal and sends it over ethernet to adecoder that converts the signal back to an HDMI signal. Ethernet switches are bi-directional, so any port is an input or an output. This dramatically reduces the underlying infrastructure (and cabling) required to install and scale your AV system. One IP cable can replace many point-to-point connections, reducing costs, complexity and labor. These new connections are also managed with an easy-to-use control system, eliminating the need to manually change each connection at the source.
Ethernet switches are scalable. As your AV system requirements grow, you simply add another ethernet switch and encoder/decoder pair to the network and configure things as needed. An AV/IP system can accommodate thousands of devices without blinking an eye. You can send data anywhere you like, giving your system unparalleled scalability. It’s no secret that the consumerization of IT is changing user expectations, and we have to keep up. High-quality video streaming and content sharing is a basic user expectation, and traditional AV systems simply do not perform with any reliable consistency. AV/IP can improve the user experience across the board, including corporate messaging, video conferencing, collaboration and distance learning. With higher bandwidth, network AV is designed to reduce latency while preserving image resolution and sound quality. Connection interfaces also are intuitive, allowing users to walk in, plug in and instantly transmit video and other data.
It’s important to follow security best practices, such as deploying your system on a dedicated IP network, VLAN tagging on AV switch ports, and disabling USB and ethernet utility ports on encoders and decoders deployed in public spaces. In the unlikely event of unauthorized access to your dedicated IP network, AV-over-IP encryption also prevents eavesdropping and hijacking. Yes there are challenges associated with any technology transition, but the future of AV is now clearly network-based. By employing the right IT partner in your migration, the advantages will far outweigh any disadvantages.
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