Designed for special needs like temporary events, live broadcasting, and recording in tight spaces, MAXHUB introduces a portable recording solution. Featuring a Portable Capture Host, wireless pan-tilt cameras, and wireless microphones, this solution enables quick setup with flexible deployment, easy operation, automatic tracking, and intelligent directing. Free from environmental limitations, it meets diverse live and recorded broadcasting needs for school performances, sports competitions, and large-scale events.

A complete system in one carrying case –

• There’s a PTZ wireless camera
• a wireless microphone
• an integrated touch screen video production system
• a fitted carrying case

The system supports up to 3 PTZ cameras and the base unit touch screen allows you to control everything.

You can control the PTZ cameras.

You can cut, wipe or fade between cameras and set up multicamera views.

You also have full control over the audio.

On top of all that there’s a streaming output so no other hardware is needed.

You can arrive and be ready to broadcast in minutes. This system is so versatile, anyone who runs events and wants to stream them live or record them could use this. Ask us for a demo.

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Modern hearing aids, especially those that sit in the ear canal, can not receive induction loop audio.

The solution is Auracast.

Auracast uses a dedicated version of Bluetooth to broadcast your audio signal. This broadcast can be received by hundreds of people at once. You need either an Auracast capable hearing aid, or a dedicated receiver. Some mobile phones and some headphones are also able to receive the signal.

At present I suggest Auracast is installed alongside an existing induction loop system. Auracast will not transmit to the older hearing aids that are designed for induction loops.

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AURI IN HOUSES OF WORSHIP

COMMON CHALLENGES

• Reverberant acoustics and inconsistent sound coverage: Traditional worship spaces are often beautiful
  but acoustically challenging, with high ceilings, hard surfaces, and long reverberation times.
• Lack of awareness around assistive listening options: Many attendees simply don’t know that help is
  available or assume it’s outdated or hard to use.
• Complicated or intrusive systems: Older technologies often require special equipment or visible
  headsets that feel cumbersome or stigmatizing.
• Limited adoption due to complexity: Congregants may avoid using assistive listening because it draws
  attention or requires staff intervention.
  AURI ADVANTAGES
• Simple to connect: Attendees can access audio instantly using their own smartphone, Auracast-enabled
  hearing aid, or a dedicated Auri receiver.
• Discreet and dignified: People can use their personal devices, making accessibility seamless and private.
• Supports multi-channel audio for overflow rooms and language translation: Stream different languages,
  live interpretation, or coverage for overflow spaces without extra infrastructure or visible equipment.
• Easy for staff and volunteers: Simple setup and support make it practical for smaller teams and
  volunteers to manage.
  USE CASE SCENARIOS
• Worship services: Every sermon, scripture reading, and announcement delivered with clarity and reach.
• Choir performances and events: Ensure music, readings, and performances are accessible to all attendees,
  even in large or acoustically challenging spaces.
• Small group spaces: Bring the same high-quality, inclusive audio to classrooms, fellowship halls,
  and breakout rooms.
  KEY DIFFERENTIATORS
• Broadcast audio for everyday worship: Auri brings the power of next-generation Auracast broadcast
  audio into the heart of spiritual gatherings.
• Flexible, future-ready streaming: Auri complements existing systems while adding the convenience of
  wireless, device-based access, ideal for venues looking to expand or modernize their assistive listening options
  without replacing everything at once.
• Enhance outreach and community support: Make your worship services more accessible to visitors,
  multilingual audiences, and people with hearing loss.
• Developed by trusted leaders: Created by Ampetronic and Listen Technologies, recognized worldwide for
  delivering assistive listening systems that ensure clear, inclusive audio in demanding environments.

The post Help for people with hearing problems appeared first on Drake Audio-Visual.

Here’s one solution from Joan. It has a big advantage in that there is no hardware to set up, no wiring, no configuration, no installation. You have to buy a license and set up your room plan marking the available desks. Then users simply download the App, and log in. They can see who else is in the office, check in when they arrive and of course book a place in advance.

You can set up a regular booking for your desk every Wednesday if that suits you.

Just book a desk when you want. You can use the web booking system from your laptop or use the App on your ‘phone.

You can use the same system to book a parking place, or a meeting room.

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Hybrid events mix in-person events with a number of virtual attendees. This is the new normal. Here’s a simple guide to help you nail your next hybrid event.

1. Know your audience
   Think about your local audience and your online audience. Do they both want the same things
   
2. Know your goals
   Figure out what you want from this event. Are you aiming to teach, to network, to entertain or to promote something?
   
3. Pick the right platform
   Choose a tech platform that’s great for streaming and look for interactive features. Q&A, polls, breakout sessions all help to create variety. Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Hopin are good and all have different strengths. Be sure to check it can handle the number of people you expect. You may need some advice from an AV specialist here.
   
4. Make your content lively
   Make sure there’s something for both the in-person and the virtual attendees. Mix live and prerecorded stuff. Use interactive bits like polls and Q&A
   
5. Use good AV gear
   Quality matters. Invest in good cameras, microphones and don’t forget lighting. Hire an AV team to handle the tech stuff. You have to focus on delivering the message.
   
6. Practise and Test, then do that again
   Do several test runs to make sure everything runs smoothly. Check the internet, the audio and the video setup. Run through the schedule with your speakers. Check the laptops and the cables.
   
7. Keep everyone engaged
   Remote people especially can drift away. Run breakout rooms, live chats and polls to keep them involved.
   
8. Have a Plan B
   Even if you have tested everything, the tech can go wrong. Have a support team on hand and a plan ready to go.
   
9. Encourage networking
   Use the technology to help in-person and virtual attendees to connect. Use virtual netwroking tools, breakout rooms and social media interaction.
   
10. Get feedback and improve
    After the event, ask attendees for feedback through surveys and polls. Analyze this to see what worked and what didn’t, so you can make the next event even better.
    
11. Stay engaged
    Send thank-you emails, share recorded sessions, and offer extra resources. Keep the conversation going on social media to keep the momentum alive.

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Poly are catching up .....

For years Yealink have had an advantage in Microsoft Teams Rooms with their use of network cabling to connect microphones and the Teams control touch panel.

The previous Poly Teams Room panel connected to the teams PC over an optical USB cable. In many installations this could be challenging. This could mean having to run the cable on the floor if there were no alternative routes available.

The new G9+ from HP/Poly changes that. It now adds the local loop network connection for the TC10 touch controller. On top of that, if you add a small POE switch you can run up to four touch controllers at the same time. that will be a real help in large room systems.

The G9+ starts off as a very well specified PC with i7 13th gen compute. This should be able to run Teams for several years as Microsoft continue to add features.

Another really neat addition is that you can set up and configure the PC from the TC10 touchpanel. You don’t need to have a keyboard and mouse any more for the initial PC set up.

The G9+ comes as a ‘base kit’ with the TC10 touch controller. so this would be a simple and smart upgrade for existing Poly Teams Rooms. Just connect to your existing USB soundbar and you are done.

Another new feature for installers is the wall mounting plate – The G9+ has magnets in the base so the PC simply attaches itself to the wall plate.

I have to say the collaboration between Poly software and HP hardware is really creating some excellent products.

Of course there are new cameras as well and a new replacement for the G7500 Android system. We’ll update you on those some other time.

Please do ask us for a demonstration or more information. We will always be pleased to suggest the best combination of equipment for your particular requirements.

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Intelligent Meeting Rooms

I am really impressed by the Yealink SmartVision 40.

As usual you can choose the mode of the camera but our favourite is the IntelliFocus setting. The SmartVision 40 uses its two cameras to accurately frame the people in the meeting. It chooses up to four people who have spoken most recently. At the same time it insets a view of the whole room so you can see when everyone throws their hands up!

We have two very high resolution cameras each able to zoom up to 6x. Those cameras combined with AI mean that you can see everything you want to see in the room.

I was really impressed when there were just two of us in the room. I was sitting down. The second person got up and started walking back and for. Without any hesitation my section of the screen stayed static while the other section smoothly tracked my colleague as he walked about.

The intelligence doesn’t stop there. Audio coverage is equally impressive, with intelligent noise reduction and echo cancellation.

When you add the services of Microsoft CoPilot in your Teams Room, taking notes and summarising the meeting, you really do have an intelligent meeting room.

Please do ask us for a demonstration.

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Which way should I look?

Probably the best meeting layout would be a round table, everyone can talk face to face easily. The challenge is how to reproduce this when some people are not in the room but on  a screen instead.

What if your boardroom table were square, with screens in the middle?  Then you could talk around the table and see and talk to the remote people all without turning your head.

If you are working at home, its easy. You look at the screen, and that’s where the camera is, so you are looking at the people you are talking to.

Now you are at a boardroom table. You talk to someone opposite you. Easy.

 

Now there’s a big screen at the head of the table and you want to talk to them as well. you have to keep turning your head back and for beween the two places.

 

One approach is the MS signature room where you have a curved desk facing a large screen with an array of people along it. That’s great for the far end people and the people in the room. The obvious downside is that your room has to be much larger to fit the same numbers of people. That is not always easy to achieve.

If the table is long and narrow like most boardroom tables. Then you can get a similar effect by putting large screens on the walls on both sides of the table. This works best with cameras on both sides of the table as well. That way everyone can face the camera and face the people they are talking to.

Contact us for more details.

The post Which way should I look? appeared first on Drake Audio-Visual.

Did you say Enid?

Sometimes images don’t behave the way you want them to. For example you can take the output of one device, perhaps a BluRay player, connect it to a distribution amplifier and then to two monitors.

The picture appears on the one monitor but not the other. Even more weirdly if you disconnect the monitor that is working, then the picture appears on the other screen.

What is going on? Did I hear you say Enid? Not quite.

EDID – Extended Display Identification Data. Whenever you connect an image source to a display there is a dialogue over the HDMI cable. The display says its resolution and other details to the source, the source says OK, I can do that and sends the correct signal to the display. So far so simple.

Once you try to connect two or more different display screens then things get more complicated. The source can only send out one format at any time so if the displays ask for different specifications the source will only get one of them right.

At the time of writing the MS Teams Room app has a maximum resolution of 1920×1080. So if you use a PC connected to a 4k resolution screen, the PC may try to send a 4k image. This is most often an issue when there are two screens and it can even be intermittent making it a difficult problem to trace.

How can you fix it?

Sometimes you can go into the PC settings and tell it what resolution to use on the output. This can fail if the PC has to be reset or reconfigured in some way. The most robust solution is to use a little hardware device called an EDID manager or EDID emulator. This sits in the cable connection between the PC and the display screen and forces the PC to output a 1080p image.

The post Is Enid the problem? appeared first on Drake Audio-Visual.

Design your rooms for hybrid

The world has changed. In every meeting now, some people will be in the room and some of them will be at home.

What we want is for the meeting to be productive for everyone, wherever you happen to be. Because of that, the traditional room design is no longer suitable. We do not need so many seats in the meeting room, and we need a bigger screen, so the remote people are big enough.

Microsoft have thought about this and come up with the Front Row screen layout and room layout.

The aim is to have the screen big enough so that all the people in the meeting are as close to life size as possible. The camera system in the meeting room uses AI to identify the individuals. It then generates a personal image for each person. The result is that whether you are at home or on the meeting room you get the same priority on the meeting display.

Apart from the technical requirements for microphones, cameras and displays it is important to consider lighting and acoustics. Soft, even light on the faces will look best. Carpets and acoustic treatment on at least two walls will contribute to a calm quiet environment.

Glass walls, though attractive, can lead to a very reverberant acoustic that makes meetings unpleasant.

Furniture and Equipment

There are several ways to lay out a room for a good Front Row experience.  one of the best is to use a custom designed desk with an integrated projection system.

This example uses an Epson projector with a 152″ Supernova Infinity ambient light rejecting screen.

Another approach is to simply use two LCD screens side by side, although there are now a few 21:9 format screens becoming available.

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Live events in the time of Covid

Event organisers are becoming more confident a little more ambitious with their events. More and more of the standard Virtual Events are changing into Hybrid Events….

The definition of a Hybrid event is simply mixing in a bit of live with a bit of virtual event.

For example….

A couple of weeks ago to announce the start of the construction work on the new Fitzlan High School we live filmed FM Mark Drakeford including a speech outdoors on the new Fitzalan High School site.

In order to limit the guests on site the live footage was broadcast through a Microsoft Teams meeting.

This meant the FM and a couple of socially distanced presenters could present live from location to the invited guests via a normal virtual Teams Meeting.

In order to run the live event from an empty field we used mobile phone technology and our live stream AV kit to make the link through to the virtual event.

Effective Events

Don’t forget that we offer a superb service for all kinds of events – this can include lecture capture, streaming and recording training presentations, awards ceremonies and more.

Wherever there’s an event you want to capture we can record simultaneous video, audio and presentation slides. We can stream this live or store it for publication later. Buy the equipment or hire the service, it’s your choice.

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