Corporate AV Blog

My Favorite Smartphone App

Every once in a while, something comes along and changes my life and hopefully for the better.  For me, I can’t say enough great things about the Slingbox app that I use on my iPhone.  For a one time $30 charge I was skeptical on how much would I use it.  Add in the fact it costs $200 for the unit and you have to have cable service and internet service.  Is it worth it?  For me I say Yes!!!

I can’t say how much it has saved my investment into the sports packages I purchased.  I can now watch them anywhere and anytime.  Regardless of commitments that keep me from vegetating in front of the tube. Even still, my son likes to be around me at all times and if the TV is on, its playing kid programs.  So I can quietly watch my favorite team on my iPhone while he watches the big TV.  Both happy, problems solved.

I can see Netflix’s new app being good competition for it, but during football/baseball playoffs it is no competition for me.

My thoughts on Twitter and business

So we’ve been twittering on Twitter for 9 months, and I’ve come to some conclusions to what works and what doesn’t work for business.  The early results were very deceiving as Google gave high relevancy to Twitter but as more and more businesses have jumped on the boat it has factored in less and less.  Now I’m realizing that some businesses work on twitter and some do not. So while Google relevancy has its own effect, its not the only reason to go or not go to Twitter.

So what kind of businesses work on Twitter?

Retail works real well.  People have the desire to consume and the ones that like a deal will search them out.  Try it.  Type your favorite major retailer and promotion code.

Travel works well too.  Flights, hotel, car rental and restaurants.  I guess anything with a promotion code.

Entertainment, isn’t that what we all went to twitter for?  To be entertained?  Businesses that focus on media and entertainment do well.

Advertising sites that provide information seem to be flourishing such as news sites and blogs.  Although Twitter is replacing the blog in some respects.  Nobody wants to read somebody drone on and on about the same topic for too long.  Oh wait.

The real power of Twitter is information.   It increases the word of mouth for business.  Nothing does more wonders for business like real world referrals from reliable unbiased people.  In the age of information, people can find what they want, when they want it.  Our job is to be there when they are ready for us.

103 inch Televisions and Beyond

So I’ve been thinking about this 103 inch plasma that costs 70,000.  Not to buy, heavens no.  More as a concept.

How big can plasmas get before they have zero choice to be modular?  I mean doors and transportation is limited even with this plasma that has an approximate 4 foot by 7.5 foot dimension without case.  With case they are huge and unwieldy.  The only sensible choice is that they will have to either be custom built onsite or assembled onsite. Custom builds won’t work for the rental market, so a solution will have to made for those in the rental market.

I don’t see much of a future for projection.  It takes up space to throw an image and its technology is dated.  Plus you have the limitation in that the sun kills anything projected.

So where do we go from here?  Personally I think a flexible fabric is the next innovation to rock the AV world.  But when? Anybody know?

What do 3D televisions have to offer the AV rental market?

I was thinking to myself and considering my own opinions on the 3D television market and whether it will have an impact on the AV rental market.  As most of us AV owners are, we are skeptical when a new emerging technology arises and forces us to buy the latest and greatest equipment to satisfy our new is best clients versus our need for a return on investment.

The question is, what type of clients will this serve?  Home consumers throwing parties featuring movies in 3D; Gaming events featuring 3D video games; trade show booths featuring 3-D specific media?  I’m not sure how 3D will catch on.  HD won the general public over with its constant barrage of advertising HD is better.    Will 3D have the same success?  I just don’t think so.

The main problem I have with HD is not the gimmick of it all because I think the idea of 3D is fantastic, but the idea that you need to alter the image of the consumer by forcing them to wear glasses to enjoy the content.  You as the consumer must consciously put on a pair of glasses to fool yourself of the optical illusion.  This to me, is self defeating and distracting.  The same way when people watch CGI get taken out of the movie when too many laws of nature are broken.  I’d be interested to hear from glasses wearers to see if they have that same problem with the unnatural awareness of the 3D.

At the moment, 3D content is rare but is slowly being embraced by the movie industry and by sports.(Recently a Yankees game was broadcast in 3D) Will this translate to the business world?  Will we see graphs, diagrams and powerpoint in 3D?  Not anytime soon.  To be honest I don’t see that ever happening unless the big boy of Microsoft decides to integrate 3D functionality into their industry standard Office product.  At this point, HD content hasn’t yet been embraced by most slide builders and I see that happening well before 3D.  So unless Microsoft decides to make a product that makes 3D content for people who don’t think in 3D, it will not happen.

In the end 3D will always have limited application in our industry reserved for limited application.  The upside is that 3D technology will be integrated as a standard feature in our televisions for those that need it and eventually it will no longer be a premium feature.  So enjoy the ride tech fans and hold on for the smell o vision TVs.

The New Corporate AV Blog

Our new blog will cover a variety of topics. From events, to tech talk, to cool gadgets or whatever we at CAV might find interesting related to AV, we’ll post it here. We’ll try not to bore you by droning on and on like a robot.

Welcome to the new Corporate AV Site

Why a new site?  We wanted to bring a reason for people to come here to check in.  (continue reading…)