Technology

From its inception video conferencing was supposed to allow participants to see non-verbal communication, yet systems to date haven’t quite delivered the feeling of the other person being in the room. The limitations of the technology have been exposed, perhaps because conferees remain trapped inside small, multiple displays and with…

According to Bosch Security Systems, the security technology market in the UK and Ireland is already worth around £1.2 billion a year. Sales are now picking up post-recession, and even before the riots Bosch was forecasting modest growth over the next five or six years. Traditional analogue CCTV is being…

“It’s very simple to explain the benefits of visualisers,” says Colin Messenger, senior consultant at Futuresource Consulting. “Show one to a teacher and they ‘get’ it within 30 seconds.” Visualisers come in all shapes and sizes (see p26), but the principle is much the same: A high-quality digital camera mounted…

It’s always been the sound engineers dream gig to stand behind a big console, mixing a large rock band or orchestra. Few jobs in audio are as important and for every type of event or presentation, getting things mixed properly is a real skill. Many small AV installations use signal…

So much noise has been made around 3D in tv and cinema entertainment that it can obscure the humble penetration the technology has made into personal or professional use. The noise is being made by consumer electronics manufacturers which have a vested interest in promoting 3D production as a means…

Remember the ads for a combined shampoo and conditioner called Wash & Go? “Why take two bottles into the shower when I can wash my hair and go?” In recent years similar sentiments have emerged in the av world, where the slogan might run: “Why carry the overhead of installing…

When you buy a microphone the model will say what directional properties it has. There are two main types: Omnidirectional microphones pick up sound evenly from all directions. Cardioid or unidirectional microphones pick up sound predominantly from one direction. The most important thing to know with these microphone types is…

Among the many quotable scenes in David Fincher’s  Fight Club movie is one in which the lead character walks around a room in an Ikea catalogue with prices and information displayed on each piece of furniture. The overlay of text, and in particular the context of retail or product placement,…

In its simplest term, a projection system is a projector, a screen, a stand, a PC (or other input device) and a screen (or a white-washed wall). But there’s a whole world of projection and image management systems which both allow multiple images (and multiple projectors) to be used on…

'The days of the £5,000 touchpanel are over.' This sentiment is all the more surprising, coming as it does from a company that has spent the past 25 years selling just that. But for Jonathan Mangnall, UK sales director at AMX, this is the emerging world order in control systems.…