Video Walls, Who Needs Them?

Video Walls, Who Needs Them?

We recently started stocking high definition video walls. We are using Planar, professional, commercial TV displays for all configurations up to 3 x 3. 3 x 3 is 3 displays down and 3 displays across.

When friends of mine heard of our new video item they immediately thought, “wow we can watch the Eagles games.“ 

…Or they think, “we should have a fight party.” ...Not exactly why we decided to bring video walls in-house.

 My first thought was “Ooh, we can watch Game of Thrones.” Coincidentally, not the reason either.

What ever the case, my business mind eventually ran through appropriate uses for such a professional video product. The applications at ‘top of mind’ are conferences, trade shows and digital signage for varied industries. Medical, Education, Government and Technology, leading the charge and private events landing way at the bottom of the list.

In reality, a video wall has a place at ANY convention. As you may have noticed if you have attended any convention in the last 5 years or so. They are often placed at or near entrances providing convention information, welcome videos or venue maps. They can also be found at booths, large and small, displaying specific product information, images or promotional videos.

I often attend audio visual conventions, in the AV world they are used commonly to run product videos, run promotional videos, Instant Magnification of Live Video (IMAG) and/or demonstrate and exhibit video quality of auxiliary video equipment.

 

In the end, regardless of how a video wall is utilized, it brings with it a ‘WoW’ Factor that cannot be substituted.

Our most common configuration has been the 3 x 3 grid, using nine HD TV Displays. Nine Displays with uniform bezels for the smallest grid between and largest viewing image. Additionally, we stock a mobile cart that moves easily with locking casters.

For more information contact Bruce Johnson with A.V.Rental Services, Inc.

PH: 800-695-5943

bruce@RentAVHere.com

Sound Advice: How Many LoudSpeakers Should I Use?

Sound Advice for Best Conference Audio!

Sound Advice, Polite behavior is normally best practices. What polite behavior may not get you however, is a great seat at the conference.

When it comes to sound advice, many of the questions and rental RFQs we see are for 1 to 2 loudspeakers. I almost never see an event planner requesting a four speaker sound system. Many times people believe one speaker will be sufficient. In the other instances people believe two speakers is the most you could ever need in any given situation. Early on in my A/V equipment rental career I was advised to use surround sound systems. This meant, put a speaker in every corner. This was applied in order to achieve full coverage.

We now operate under the premise that single speaker rental request are basically rental suggestions  demanding our professional experience and recommendation.

Unless a client is blatantly demanding a single speaker set up I will never supply an estimate for a single speaker rental. Having so said, I will always recommend a four speaker sound system for groups of 50 or more.

Sound Advice: 50 is the cut off?

In my experience, that is where side conversations start to have a devastating effect.

Side conversations are what happens when some conference attendees are engaged wholeheartedly and some attendees are less than engaged.

What happens in this situation, is the attendees that are less than engaged will start to have a side conversation discussing anything but what is relevant to the conference. The engaged conference attendees, being polite, will not say anything, will completely be distracted and completely miss out on what could be valuable information pertinent to their careers, education or personal life. The engaged attendees would like to hear what the presenter is saying but the nearest loudspeaker is too far away to penetrate the side conversation occurring at their table.

This situation is dire to the overall conference experience of each and every attendee. This is important because as an event planner or conference organizer, your attendee feedback will be mixed.

Your conference reviews may include negative comments, impacting the conference’s future attendance.

For this reason I have developed a chart to assist in deciding the appropriate sized Sound system for speech and music applications.

– Factors that should also be considered; exterior applications, concert level sound, extremely high ceilings and extremely large ballrooms.

Sound Advice Guide

Please use tables as a guide and not in place of consulting your AV professional for advice. Comparable powered speakers can be used in place of passive speaker sound systems in the above tables.

This last tip is written in jest but can still be somewhat useful. In an attempt to make the guidelines scale-able, I present a very casual rule and I use the word ‘rule’ very loosely. If your events are larger than the above guidelines reference, then for every additional 100 people add 4 more speakers and about a 750-1000 watt amplifier or better yet call or email me for more advice. bruce@RentAVHere.com

Reference: http://audiovisualrenting.com/audio/sound-advice/

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Projectors

 

But Were Afraid to Ask

So the big event is tomorrow and you just find out your client neglected to mention they need an LCD projector to display there PowerPoint slide shows. You think, "this should not be that hard." You call a few local AV companies and are bombarded with questions by the AV rep who appears to be talking in tongues; From Lumens, Resolutions, Aspect Ratios to Throw Distance and Front or Rear Projection. Now that this AV guy has you feeling less than intelligent you try not to sound too defensive and say, "just bring me a regular projector." When the "regular" projector arrives and your client arrives also, with his Mac laptop you discover the Mac needs an adapter and the PowerPoint has high definition videos that look horrible through the "regular" projector. If this world is still a bit of a mystery let's venture into the ins and outs of projectors.

Lumens: The Fancy, Glorified Word for Brightness

Note: Movie theaters, while almost completely dark, use between 15,000 and 30,000 Lumen projectors.
One of the most important aspects of a projector is its brightness. The brightness of a projector is determined by the amount of Lumens the projector's lamp produces. Simply put, the higher the amount of Lumens the brighter the projector. Early on In the AV rental business I was taught when buying projectors buy the highest Lumen projectors, or brightest you can afford. In other words, you can always substitute a lower Lumen projector with a higher Lumen projector but not the other way around. On the lower end of the spectrum are projectors rated between 1000-2500 Lumens. In a completely dark room or a room totally absent of light, a 1000 Lumen projector may be sufficient. The issue then becomes the amount of light your projector will have to battle to reproduce the image it is being provided from the laptop, DVD Player, camera, etc. The more light introduced into the space between the projector and the projection screen means the more Lumens required to achieve a satisfactory image on screen. The size of the projection screen is not as important as most would be led to believe until you get into screens 12 feet wide and larger. Mid sized projectors are projectors rated between 3500-5000 Lumens. These are satisfactory for the amount of light within a well lit office conference room or hotel meeting room. In most cases you will be dimming the room lights slightly anyway during the actual presentation. Large event projectors are rated between 7500-10,000 Lumen and are used for bright rooms or rooms with windows where sunlight may enter. Large event projectors are also used for bright rooms with larger projection screens, such as 16 feet wide and larger.

High Definition is in Cahoots with Resolutions and Aspect Ratios

High Definition video is technically any video content recorded at a resolution of 1280 x 720 (WXGA) or higher.

Photo is Standard Definition, Low Resolution 600 x 400

Photo is High Definition 2592 x 1768

Common Resolution Table
Format - - Resolution - - - - Aspect Ratio
SVGA - - - - 800 x 600 - - - - 4:3 (Standard Definition)
XGA - - - - - 1024 x 768 - - - 4:3 (Standard Definition)
WXGA - - - - 1280 x 720 - - - 16:9 (High Definition)
WXGA - - - - 1280 x 800 - - - 16:10 (High Definition)
FHD - - - - - 1920 x 1080 - - - 16:9 (Full High Definition)
WUXGA - - - 1920 x 1200 - - - 16:10 (High Definition)

Room, Space and Throw Distances

In the event industry you almost never have enough space. You start your floor-plan mock-up; drop in your tables, chairs, riser and projection screens but almost never account correctly the space between the projector and screen. This is where short throw projectors and front or rear projection come into play. Front projection is placing the projector in front of the projection screen, with the projector visible to attendees and rear projection is placing the projector, hidden behind the screen. Rear projection gives the most professional and clean look between the two but is not always possible, due to lack of space. For this reason I recommend, when ordering your AV, request a projector with a short throw lens. A lens's throw distance is measured by a throw distance ratio. In this case the lower the number the shorter the throw. Projectors with interchangeable lenses come standard with a lens about 1.65:1 but can accept lenses with a throw ratio as low as .8:1 (varies by zoom and manufacturer).

For example, using a 10ft wide screen, a lens with a 1.65:1 throw ratio will require 16 feet of space between the projector and screen. On the other hand, a projector using a .8:1 lens only needs 8 feet between it and the 10ft wide screen.There are also ultra short throw projectors. While these projectors can achieve a throw ratio of as low as .48:1 they often do not have a zoom feature and do not offer interchangeable lenses.

Tip for Connecting Projectors and Laptops

When connecting a laptop to an LCD projector for an event, movie night or any occasion, for best results and to avoid any failure in communication between the two devices follow these simple rules.

1. Always power up the projector first.
2. Connect all cables before powering up the laptop.
3. Laptop should be off, not sleep.
4. 90% of the time, as the laptop boots up it will automatically connect to the projector.
5. When presentation has ended power off the projector but let the internal fan run about 5 minutes before unplugging, to cool the lamp.

If you enjoyed the post, please leave a comment and let me know!

Bruce Johnson

A.V. Rental Services, Inc.

4039 Comly Street

Philadelphia, PA 19135

PH: 800-695-5943

FX: 215-904-8503

bruce@AudioVisualRenting

Quick Tips for Podium Microphones

Once you have overcome the fear of public speaking...if you ever really do; Then you worry about projecting your voice, annunciation and content. 

www.AudioVisualRenting.com

 

If your AV vendor is 'worth his salt,' you should not have to worry about the microphone quality as well. 

Microphone Choices:

If  a sound (no pun intended), decision is made here you could avoid a number of pitfalls during the event. A 'no-brainer' microphone selection for a podium is the industry standard, Shure SM58. We use the SM58 everyday and on almost every job. 

Pro: The SM58 will allow you to crank the volume before feeding back. (Good for presenters who do not project.)

We do however try to stay away from the SM58 when it comes to podiums because of the con...

Con:  When a presenter turns their head, looks down or moves off slightly to the left or right of the podium, the SM58 will not pick up their voice well, due to the limitations and range of the pickup pattern.

Our 1st choice in podium microphones is the Shure MX Series, with heavy windscreen. The MX Series comes with a 12" or 18" goose neck and your choice of omnidirectional, cardioid and super cardioid cartridges. 

 

Pro: These microphones are ideal as podium mics due to there sensitivity. Your presenter can stand to the side of the podium and still be heard.

Con: Sometimes the presenter may want to remove the microphone from the podium and walk around; can't do it.

 

 

User Training:

After selecting the microphone you need to know about placement and how to use it properly. When using the Shure MX Series podium microphones your presenters should speak, keeping about 6 inches from the microphone element. 

 Always use the appropriate windscreen, to avoid the popping 'P's". Human beings expel air when annuciating certain letters. This air will be heard as a loud 'Pop' from the microphone. The goal is to not let the microphone catch any air from the mouth. To that end, be sure not to push the windscreen all the way down; touching the mic head. This will leave yet a little more air between one's mouth and the mic.

  

Whether using the MX Series or an SM58, mic placement is key. Keeping the mic below the height of the presenter's mouth or to their left or right side will also help eliminate unwanted breath and air from being amplified.

Bruce Johnson 
A. V. Rental Services, inc.
Philadelphia, PA 19135
www.AudioVisualRenting.com
bruce@AudioVisualRenting.com

Last Minute Event for the Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain Postage Stamp

Dedication Ceremony for the Wilt Chamberlain Postage Stamp

Late Afternoon Call, the day before had us working for USPS

We had the pleasure of working with the US Postal Service yesterday, in Philadelphia at Overbrook High School.  

Wilt Chamberlain's alma mater, Overbrook High was the venue for the dedication ceremony for the new Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain postage stamp. In addition, the over sized stamp was unveiled in the minimally occupied school auditorium. (Probably should have let the students attend). There was a large number of press on hand, as well (I wonder why they did not order a mult-box?)

Wilt Chamberlain's sister was among a host of celebrities, school officials and athletes that spoke during the almost 2 hour event. A local celebrity, Sonny Hill, founder of the Philadelphia Sonny Hill basketball league gave a motivational speech that could very well have been recorded and played to students all over the world. His Philadelphia basketball league was founded in 1968 as a safe haven from gang warfare and other violence. 

Famous NBA basketball player, World B. Free spoke of his first time meeting Wilt Chamberlain and the effect Wilt had on his own life. In short, not making basketball your only strength and preparing yourself for when your basketball playing days cease.

Thank you Post Office for letting us be a part.

Bruce Johnson

bruce@audiovisualrenting.com

www.audiovisualrenting.com

800-695-5943

NY Comic Con DJ Reel

This is our latest video!
The video highlights the Disc Jockeys that spun at our 2013 New York Comic Con booth.

Includes footage of Grandmaster Caz, Hot 97s "Big Spanish" DJ Enuff, DJ EA ONE, DJ Monster, DJ Get Live, DJ IGNISHUN, DJ Schott Free — at Jacob K Javits Convention Center.

2013 New York Comic Con - Start to Finish

2013 New York Comic Con - Behind-The-Scenes Video

NYCC Video of Oct. 8-11 2013:

2013 New York Comic Con - Start to Finish

Booth before set up

Booth Up-And-Running

I met Tramp Daly through a childhood friend Quanzilla (A.Waymaker, Saddler Ward) Tilman. Tramp and Quan are both expert artist with strong hip hop influences. It is the summer of 2013 and Tramp has a dream and a partial vision for exposing Sureshot, his company, at a booth inside 2013 NY Comic Con. Sureshot is a hip hop inspired company producing art pieces, graphic novels and television cartoons; all hip hop influenced. Based on my audio visual experience and owning A. V. Rental Services, Inc., my Philadelphia based audio visual equipment rental company, Tramp enlisted me for scheduling, booking, planning, assistance in booth design, AV, Stage and Lighting equipment rental and equipment set up & breakdown.

Quanzilla w/ Inspector Gadget

From the start it was made clear, the scope of my work was everything non creative. This was to be the case right up until day 1 of set up. Up front it was a good feeling to be solely responsible of the entire logistical planning of the 2013 New York Comic Con booth. When it comes to Comic Con planning and booth rental experience however, I had none. My first order of business was contacting the Comic Con Organization and becoming acclimated with doing business as well as working within the Jacob Javits Center. 

The event budget was never revealed to me. I thought it would be necessary, at the least helpful to have this information. In retrospect, it would only have been important if the budget was unrealistic, which it obviously was not because there was little quibbling over pricing. A welcomed change in my line of work. Bear in mind the invoice was HEAVILY discounted based on my personal vested interest and friendships involved. In addition, I planned to throw in extra equipment and my personal on-site tech services, at no extra charge.

Tramp, DMC & Bruce Johnson

The New York Comic Con, if not all of the Comic Cons, is ran by the ReedPop Supply Company. In reference to my email correspondence with ReedPop, email responses from ReedPop staff was horribly slow and obtaining Comic Con booth, floor maps proved to be challenging. Tramp and The Sureshot Company pockets were deep enough to secure an ample sized corner, peninsula booth; which was unexpected and indeed impressive. Unexpected because Sureshot's primary focus was showing and bringing awareness to the hip hop inspired artwork and television shows, which alternatively positioned selling Sureshot merchandise as the secondary focus.

Creating a scratch design drawing of our awesome booth was the next item on the menu. This included determining how and where we would highlight Tramps artwork, which equipment we would use to draw attention to our booth, and which back line equipment we would use for the rotating disc jockeys. In detail this included L.E.D. lighting, pipe and drape, lighting truss, two 60 inch television, sound system, turntables, microphones and a stage. I mocked up a CAD drawing for visualizing our booth and to help with any wanted changes of adding or taking away equipment.

Our numerous design meetings resulted in decisions on artwork placement and adding couches, carpet, tables, bookshelves and merchandise cabinets to our booth vision. This highlighted my next duty which was securing a furniture rental company. The merchandise cabinet was a must but furniture rental would take us over budget due to the added union labor charge we would incur after the furniture reached the Javits loading dock.

The carpet was later cut for the same reason, in addition to even higher charges to have the carpet installed within the booth. In the end we brought our own inflatable couch, area rug and custom Sureshot logo, vinyl floor covering.

With a soft booth design complete it was time to attack union scheduling. This meant determining which unions we required (Shipping and Receiving, Carpenters, Electricians, etc.) and estimating the hours needed for the union to build our booth. We teetered with the idea of having an analog telephone (for credit card transactions) and/or hard wired internet at the booth. Both were subsequently nixed based on budget. 

The first union to tap our wallets would be the labor department. Their overpaid duties would be unloading our van. I was mentally preparing my verbal delivery, to Tramp, of inflated quotes for union labor we were sure to receive. Little did I know Tramp obviously heard similar rumors and was expecting high numbers from the unions. However, in addition to rumors, Tramp also heard stories of being able to sneak/load equipment in the front door, bypassing the union shipping and receiving charges. This is where Tramp and I had our first disagreement. Minor in retrospect, but a disagreement all the same. Tramp wanted to sneak all of our equipment in the front door. Lighting truss, 60 inch television cases and all. My concern was angering the union and ruining a relationship with the Javits center I was developing since starting the booth planning. When I possibly return to the Javits center for future rental jobs, I want to return to smiles and a pleasant atmosphere. Moreover, my company had to increase our insurance to satisfy the Javits center's insurance requirements. This added insurance cost has to stay on our policy for 1 year. I would like to have more than 1 invoice carrying this insurance increase. Finally we decided to play it by ear, using the union for big equipment cases and loading in smaller items through the front door. I must say Tramp was correct, we probably could have loaded everything in through the front door. I say this is the case because at the end of Comic Con we loaded everything 'out' through the front door. Having so said, we pissed the union off in doing so.

At this point in my life I had only heard rumors from non-union companies, of the nightmare of dealing with the unions in New York. The preconceived notion of future headaches were looming in the back of my mind. During the planning, my casual thoughts were full of vsions of union reps yelling at my guys for connecting a microphone or my workers being reprimanded for carrying a box. 
As October neared, my anxiety increased, which is normal for me with jobs of this size and larger. The same holds true for all jobs in which I have a personal vested interest, large or small. The equipment we would deliver from our Philadelphia location was finally written in stone. The equipment list/invoice ended up including some unorthodox items such as bookshelves (to be assembled on site) tables and custom artwork support clamps, designed by me. Most new items were never added to the invoice; they were thrown in at no extra charge.

Javit's Center Receiving

Alright so all the planning is in order and the time is HERE. It is 8am of October 8, 2013 and time to drive to New York and initiate booth assembly. There is no time for procrastinating and no time for altering the ultimate plan; only time to implement everything we strategize for the past 3 months. Thomas TJ Curry, one of my guys drives our van up the turnpike, northward; Philly to Manhattan. I follow close behind, anxious and eager to complete load in…anxious and eager to meet these union guys. I sent one guy from my staff based on the understanding everyone would be joining in for set up and breakdown. Teamwork makes the dreamwork! We are Family…like Sister Sledge said, right. Well folks, have no fear, it was that way. Thank goodness because my guys work for a living and TJ has no investment in what I have been doing for the past 3-4 months and nor do I require this of him. Anyway, we arrive at the Jacob Javits Center and I schedule a time with Freeman Labor to unload the van in the loading dock off 12th Ave. In the meantime Tramp and Quan are doing everything they can to start unloading through the front door on 11th Ave. We grind and hustle and manage to unload all of our equipment through the front door, except for the truss and large screen TV's. Freeman called once to let us know we were to approach the dock and unload. I told them my guys had a flat tire and would enter the dock when the van was operational; that is if we did not just change our minds and go home…a total lie. The second time they called we only had the truss, stage and TV's left in the van and we agreed to throw the union a bone and let them unload the remainder. Honestly, I feel we could have unloaded every damn thing through the front door but the dock appointment was scheduled with Freeman loading and I have a thing about honor. 
All of our equipment, at this time is in the building and we are prepared to commence setting up the booth. We are approached by the union numerous times during the set up process to be reminded of our  limitations in performing our own labor. I must say, while we were able to slip by the union bringing in equipment, performing manual labor of any seriousness (operating power tools, hanging TV's, climbing up and down trussing , etc.) was not going to happen. Often my anxiety is my driving force; wanting to be in the end zone pushes me to work fast most of the time. With that being said, the majority of our audio visual equipment was set up by the end of day, October 8th. Much to my surprise, we were even able to stand up the truss goal post. The remainder of the equipment; TV's hanging on truss, speakers hanging on truss an large banner sitting on top of the truss, we were being forced to hire the union to set up and hang; so my hands were tied. I clocked out around 8pm.

The next morning I arrived to the TV's and speakers hung in their perfect position. The only thing left was hanging the humongous 'Badlands Movie' banner on top of the trussing. Guess why the banner was not set up…because the TV's and speakers were hung by the electricians and the banner had to be set up by Carpenters. Yes the vinyl banner, aluminum pipe and velour drape had to be set up by the masters of woodworking.
Now it all makes sense doesn't it?
I had to schedule an appointment with the Carpenters union to have this done. It was a speedy process thank goodness and they had the banner set up less than 3 hours later. I spent the entire day at the booth, setting up alone and hit 95 South about 5pm when all AV equipment was set and I could not find anything else I could do on my own. It was a load off my back having all of the AV equipment set up.
Day 1: October 10, 2013, of 2013 New York Comic Con is here and we are ready. With all of my AV duties completed and Comic Con doors opening at 3pm, I expected to slide in to town at my leisure...Oh I don't know, 1, 2, 3 O'Clock. Not a chance, my phone was ringing at 10am! No problem, fuck breakfast…my favorite meal of the day. New York here I come. I sure wish Tramp and I established a schedule during those August meetings. Then we would have known ahead of time, who would man the Comic Con booth each day and for how long. Take a note for next year.

Oose

With our second argument recorded in the history books, Day 1 started slightly rocky but it was surely sweet…not smooth, sweet sailing from there on. I say not smooth because this was our 1st Comic Con booth and hiccups and speed bumps were to be expected. One of the Day 1 speed bumps were a shortage of Comic Con badges for our guest DJ's to enter. Comic Con uses an efficient tracking system and is very strict about only allowing 1 person per badge. While I unsuccessfully tried to finesse and flirt with the ladies at the entrance to get our DJ's in; all hail the king Oose who bum rushed his way through the gates each day. Each day we had different DJ's and special guest appearing at our booth. On October 10th, Con Day One, Hot97 Radio DJ, DJ Enuff appeared and spun music for hours. We drew large crowds, Con goers danced in the aisles and DJ Enuff socialized with the audience. DJ Ignishun also spun and had the Cosplay crowd sweating in their costumes.
Day 2 - Day 4: NEXT BLOG - STAY TUNED