^{Blog series on AVoIP (AV Over IP)}

There is a well-known saying about "old dogs learning new tricks"...

I don't often think of myself as old, but if experience and wisdom have taught me anything, it's to keep it simple.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it". 

I love technology, but early adopters usually end up paying a price; more to the point, their customers ultimately pay the price. AVoIP has been around for more than a few years, but in the last 18 to 24 months, we have seen more manufacturers jump on the crazy train. Prices have decreased, and various tiered products have become available. Earlier this year, I found myself making that all-important evaluation between traditional video distribution and the new decentralized approach. 

This conversation for me starts with price (if this doesn't make sense, there's no need to go further), but evaluating functionality and reliability are top priorities. There's also ease of installation coupled with a paradigm shift in the hardware delivery approach. Finally, service consideration and the customer experience are foundational to any system we turn over.

Getting "any source, anywhere at any time" sounds like something I am into, so when I priced my traditional Crestron DM installation against the newer NVX, I found the value proposition compelling. I had a project with four standard HDMI sources, two HDMI cameras, and three displays. Sounds simple enough, no DM switcher, no cards, just encoders and decoders. You bump up to a managed switch and bingo, "Bob's your flippen uncle".

I conducted some due diligence and found a lack of straightforward information. I'm a busy guy, I don't have time to wade through War & Peace or take an extended certification course in a product I may or may not even want to sell. Perhaps the age of the "internet in our pocket" has made us all a bit lazy, but I am just referring to some short videos. I was looking for product reviews that covered general applications and the basics of getting them up and running. If someone shared some insight on the pitfalls, shortcomings, and practical experience, I could have shaved some time off my personal journey.  

I haven't written anything all summer, but in fairness, the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the above project was held yesterday. With a benediction from a Cardinal and some 400 guests in attendance, I am happy to share 100% mission success. Utilizing Shure Microflex (Dante) for speech lift, AVer PTZ cameras for overflow video, and Crestron NVX for presentation & content distribution, MSNY provided the type of quiet, appliance-like functionality that won the day. What was appreciated most was not just the overall functionality, but the lack of distraction from the event and festivities. 

For me personally, this provided some much-needed closure on the installation process and a collective sigh of relief as we moved into the warranty phase and on to the next project.

While this job was active on our installation board, we had two other smaller projects running concurrently that were interesting use cases for AVoIP. 

The first project involved a local hospital, where we provided for the distribution of GE cardiac telemetry data, which was then redistributed to several wall-mounted digital displays. We took the output of some local GE monitors that provided information on patient vitals and rebroadcast the content to several displays conveniently arrayed around the units. This solution enabled nurses to monitor the status of multiple patients simultaneously while working on the floors.

The second opportunity was more service-related, as we needed to replace an older point-to-point AVoIP solution that we had installed four years ago (had recently lost audio). This application was deployed within a large hospital environment, where we were responsible for the  RF distribution to hundreds of rooms. The use case was to transmit HDMI video/audio from a chapel on the 2nd floor to an RF injection point located on the 23rd floor.  

These are two very different use cases from the project I originally shared, and they certainly required different grades of AVoIP hardware. We implemented the first Telemetry project for that hospital system about 3 years ago, and at the time, we used a product from Tripp Lite that has since been discontinued. This time around, we utilized a cost-effective solution from Bluestream that included both encoders and decoders, facilitating a straightforward network setup. For the chapel installation, we used a higher-level product made by ZeeVee. We have used ZeeVee modulators for years and always found them to be a reliable partner for broadcast-quality equipment. After some troubleshooting onsite with their tech support, we decided to upgrade the gear to their current product offering(sadly, this didn't really help).

Having gained some perspective on these experiences, I believe it would be helpful to create short videos that expand on these three projects, discussing the products and process as I have experienced them. I will review the applications, hardware, and implementation process. My goal is to release one video at the end of each month to close out 2025. I may also include a supplemental video on AVoIP Netgear switches. Netgear's M4250 product line is a staple for AV installers, as it provides profiles for various use applications and manufacturers. They also offer a simpler, lower-cost product line, which they term "Easy Smart Essentials Switches," that provides some of the same managed switch functionality without the added complexity. If you're looking for IGMP and the ability to create some simple VLANs, they can be a great cost-effective choice. I wish I had found a short video early on to help familiarize and simplify the process (Iceberg Ahead).

If you're interested in these topics, please don't hesitate to reach out to me scottl@msnyav.com . I'm not sure if I will post the videos to the blog site immediately, but if you're on my email list, I will make sure you are updated when they're released.           

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