Four major issues arise in the control and operation of even a modest audiovisual room fitout (for more sophisticated environments, see Prestige & Complex AV Control):

• The number and complexity of controls
• Projectors and other equipment being left on or turned off inappropriately
• Loose items such as remote controls disappearing
• Help desk support and scheduled maintenance

All can have significant cost implications, and all have implications for equipment usability and availability.

These are the steps required to watch a DVD in a meeting room or classroom and the required four remote controls are shown on the right:

1. Turn on projector
2. Wait for projector to warm up
3. Select correct input on projector
4. Lower screen
5. Turn on amplifier
6. Select amplifier to correct input
7. Turn on DVD player

This then is a significant deterrent to use of the audio visual equipment, a potential waste of all participants' time and a potential source of difficulties and problems in getting equipment to work.

If, on the other hand, a wall panel controller, such as the CommBox Joey Lite displayed here, is programmed and configured, a single button (the one labeled DVD) performs all those seven steps...

and the staggering number of buttons over five remotes (there's another for the VCR in this Joey example) has been reduced to just 18 with 6 extra buttons being assigned to control room lights and fans! Note, the black dots are red LEDs that turn on when the button is depressed.

 

Controllers can be complex or simple

Wall panel controllers can be configured as complex or simple as required. The CommBox Joey Micro on the right has just six buttons to control a meeting room projector, amplifier and drop-down screen.

 

Handheld Universal Controllers

Where clients seek the flexibility of a handheld solution that can be moved around the room, from table to lectern and back, there are programmable solutions from RTI (T3) and Phillips (Pronto TSU9600) depicted below. Each:

• has fully programmable colour touch screens
• communicate by radio frequency rather than infrared, so they don't need to be line-of-sight or point directly at a receiver
• docks to a battery recharging cradle.

If projectors are left on when not in use, valuable lamp hours can be burnt up quickly. Conversely, if projectors are turned off at the power point, lamps do not cool properly and lamp hours are reduced. Similarly, the life of plasma and LCD screens is reduced when they are left turned on.

A wall panel controller provides a clear and obvious point for turning off the projector in a way that cools the lamp properly, and likewise for other equipment. When combined with an inexpensive movement detector, the control panel can be used to turn off all audio visual equipment in empty rooms...

And a wall-mounted control panel is unlikely to disappear. So the necessary control is there when you need it, participants' time is not wasted and the costs of rescheduling are not incurred. A moment's reflection shows how much of an organizational saving this can represent.

First a little back-gound on control communications protocols... There are primarily three ways that audiovisual devices are controlled remotely:

• Infrared - an IR transmitter is placed over the IR remote receiver of the device and IR codes are used to control the device
• RS232C - many devices allow for a serial data connection to be used to control the device
• Network - some devices allow for control over an IP network via a browser interface and may even support SNMP - Simple Network Management Protocol
• Additionally, some controllers themselves can be controlled over the IP network.

This network control enables...

Many IT Help Desks use a browser or SNMP to interrogate remote devices about their status, and to remotely control them. So for example, network-enabled projectors allow the Help Desk or other central point to:

• Identify fault conditions
• Help users by remotely configuring the projector correctly
• Identify when lamp replacement is due and take corresponding action
• Identify when filter cleaning/replacement is due. (If filters are not cleaned regularly
• The projector can overheat and will intermittently shut down
• Lamps will overheat shortening lamplife
• Dust can enter the optical pathway, irreversibly degrading picture quality.)

Thus, wall panel controllers and network-enabled equipment save money while improving the usability and operational reliability of your audiovisual equipment

The cost of a wall panel controller is typically less than the cost of a lamp - its installation, depending on complexity, roughly the cost of another lamp. So save two lamps, let alone disappearing remotes and improved help desk management, and you've recovered your investment as well as vastly improving the usability and operational reliability of your audiovisual equipment.

Contact us to arrange for a site inspection and discussion on your Control System needs.