I assume that many here are visiting Infocomm now.
Anyone care to share his impressions from the show?
Anyone care to share his impressions from the show?
Infocomm?
- Thread starter eytan gidron
- Start date
Re: Infocomm?
Greetings Eytan, long time. Too many digital signs and ceiling speakers.... :0 Finally a good Meyer demo of DMitri with all the features, the CAL boxes are pretty trick. New smaller Studer Vista surface that interfaces with the other engines. The digital Cadac stuff is outstanding. The Yamaha M series is interesting, 72x24 for US$44k, small footprint. Yamaha is all in behind Dante. Audio Pavilion and AVnu Pavilion larger than I expected. It's all about AVB, or at least getting AVB a solid spec. I hear, but have not seen that it can't do 3D nor will it be able to do anything higher than 1080P and it's having a difficult time with that. Protools 10, they're killin' me, we just got 9 last year. Most of the usual suspects were there. I missed some things (like my Crazy Uncle Kenny and Jimbo's new speaker line) but one full day was enough for me.
Greetings Eytan, long time. Too many digital signs and ceiling speakers.... :0 Finally a good Meyer demo of DMitri with all the features, the CAL boxes are pretty trick. New smaller Studer Vista surface that interfaces with the other engines. The digital Cadac stuff is outstanding. The Yamaha M series is interesting, 72x24 for US$44k, small footprint. Yamaha is all in behind Dante. Audio Pavilion and AVnu Pavilion larger than I expected. It's all about AVB, or at least getting AVB a solid spec. I hear, but have not seen that it can't do 3D nor will it be able to do anything higher than 1080P and it's having a difficult time with that. Protools 10, they're killin' me, we just got 9 last year. Most of the usual suspects were there. I missed some things (like my Crazy Uncle Kenny and Jimbo's new speaker line) but one full day was enough for me.
Re: Infocomm?
As of right now, AVB looks like a great option for networked audio but the 'V' or video aspect as well as the control side seem seriously lacking, in fact in the presentation I saw at the AVnu Alliance booth I don't recall them even mentioning, much less demonstrating, any video or control aspects. And given the focus of many video related manufacturers on 4k video, it seems a bit limiting to develop a signal distribution standard that would not support those higher resolution images.
The biggest surprise to me on the audio side was Bose. They're not ready to challenge the established pro audio names or make a mark in the tour and production world, however they seemed to actually be presenting products and support that make sense for some of the pro audio market. Time will tell but it seems a big step to readily admit to having talked the talk without backing it up and to commit to changing that.
Speaking of the Bose products, as well as those shown by other manufacturers such as Renkus-Heinz, there seems to be a trend toward 'line arrays' that also address the horizontal pattern. Right now it seems to be a matter of mixing and matching boxes with different vertical and horizontal patterns, but there were also rumors of steerable Bessel arrays in the near future.
I have to say that I experienced iPad overload. iPads have their place but it was almost as though people might not consider a XLR connector or cable unless it came with an associated iPad app. The ironic aspect was how many of the intended applications seemed so impractical - look at how someone walking in a room with their iPad could control the room, all they need to do is configure the iPad for the wireless network, download the app, install it, configure the app for the network, download the room control file, load that file and now they can do the same thing they could have done by flipping a switch or turning a knob on the wall, but they did it on their iPad (unless it lost connection).
Consider the intended markets and applications covered by InfoComm, there are a good number of attendees who probably don't even look at audio products or that are more interested in commercial rather than pro applications. I actually think InfoComm did a better job this year of organizing the floor so that people with specific interests weren't having to run all over the place, they even had the speaker demo rooms right outside the audio section of the floor. However, listening to speaker demos was difficult as they are arranged so that half of the rooms have demos on the odd hours and the other half on the even hours, meaning one could easily spend several days just at the speaker demos.
As of right now, AVB looks like a great option for networked audio but the 'V' or video aspect as well as the control side seem seriously lacking, in fact in the presentation I saw at the AVnu Alliance booth I don't recall them even mentioning, much less demonstrating, any video or control aspects. And given the focus of many video related manufacturers on 4k video, it seems a bit limiting to develop a signal distribution standard that would not support those higher resolution images.
The biggest surprise to me on the audio side was Bose. They're not ready to challenge the established pro audio names or make a mark in the tour and production world, however they seemed to actually be presenting products and support that make sense for some of the pro audio market. Time will tell but it seems a big step to readily admit to having talked the talk without backing it up and to commit to changing that.
Speaking of the Bose products, as well as those shown by other manufacturers such as Renkus-Heinz, there seems to be a trend toward 'line arrays' that also address the horizontal pattern. Right now it seems to be a matter of mixing and matching boxes with different vertical and horizontal patterns, but there were also rumors of steerable Bessel arrays in the near future.
I have to say that I experienced iPad overload. iPads have their place but it was almost as though people might not consider a XLR connector or cable unless it came with an associated iPad app. The ironic aspect was how many of the intended applications seemed so impractical - look at how someone walking in a room with their iPad could control the room, all they need to do is configure the iPad for the wireless network, download the app, install it, configure the app for the network, download the room control file, load that file and now they can do the same thing they could have done by flipping a switch or turning a knob on the wall, but they did it on their iPad (unless it lost connection).
Re: Infocomm?
The ceil speaker thing was a joke, son.... We have an 4 zone distributed system backstage, a couple of zones in the lobby and a 16 zone, 3800 plus seat speaker system.
Technically it's the CL series, the new flagship. It's not officially replacing the PM5D but it can do most of what the 5D does. Yamaha is hosting M7 and LS9 training this week and had two half day sessions yesterday on the M5. The lit on the site calls it a CL5 but the screening on the desk I was using called them the M5.
Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems | News | | US & Canada
The ceil speaker thing was a joke, son.... We have an 4 zone distributed system backstage, a couple of zones in the lobby and a 16 zone, 3800 plus seat speaker system.
Technically it's the CL series, the new flagship. It's not officially replacing the PM5D but it can do most of what the 5D does. Yamaha is hosting M7 and LS9 training this week and had two half day sessions yesterday on the M5. The lit on the site calls it a CL5 but the screening on the desk I was using called them the M5.
Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems | News | | US & Canada
Re: Infocomm?
I've been impressed with the new Iconyx stuff from Renkus Heinz lately, although they are going to face some stiff competition from Meyer with the CAL and EAW's re-introduced DSA250i.
Yeah, I attended the all day marketing powow on AVB on Tuesday, they still have a lot of work to do before video is viable on AVB, but as the years progress and 10G and 100G networks become more commonplace, perhaps we can squeeze a few HD video channels on the network. But video broadcasters are a finicky bunch, and they will have to be dragged kicking and screaming before widespread adoption will occur with network video. In the meantime, I wouldn't risk my projects on hopes for interoperability between manufacturers until they start testing and certifying devices, hopefully next year it will be ready for prime time, but until then only single manufacturer AVB solutions may work. I know, they said that last year..... Keep in mind, pro audio is just a tiny market segment of AVB, we're used to being ignored by the big boys, and I find the silence from Cisco re: AVB to be disconcerting...
Colour me unimpressed with the Bose demo. Horizontal coverage control in vertical arrays has been around for a number of years, it's nothing new that Bose would like you to believe. Take a look at the stuff Nexo and Outline have been producing for a number of years. I'd like to give them a benefit of the doubt with the constraints of a small demo room, I'll reserve judgement on the voicing of the system until I hear it in a real world situation, but I've heard better, particularly in the vocal range. Looking at the interior of the box up close, I wasn't thrilled with the plywood top and bottom that I could bend with my thumb, along with the sloppily glued-on waveguides. Yeah, it's a permanent install box, but for what they are asking for in price, surely they could have done better with box construction. I'd hate to think that the waveguide could be flapping around with all the vibration close by...
I've been impressed with the new Iconyx stuff from Renkus Heinz lately, although they are going to face some stiff competition from Meyer with the CAL and EAW's re-introduced DSA250i.
Behold the way of the future. With the exception of really complex high end control interfaces, I'd say the days of $5K+ Crestron and AMX 8 bit control systems are numbered. Everything is trending towards apps that run on iOS or a web browser on touchscreens for a fraction of the price, using 3rd party network controllers capable of outputting IR, serial, GPIO, relay, etc. The tools are out there, available now. If you ever have a chance to sit in on Frank Gonzales training seminars with Lectrosonics, you'd be blown away with what can be done with inexpensive software tools.