Gary Kayye, founder of rAVe Publications, is one of the most prominent personalities in the audiovisual industry. He has been a contributor to WIRED magazine and a technical advisor and columnist for Sound & Communications magazine as well as an opinionated columnist for rAVe [Publications] since 2003. In addition to his writing and market analysis, Gary has been a product, marketing and business operations consultant to dozens of AV companies in the U.S. and overseas. Clients have included companies such as Sony, Sharp, Epson, Lutron, InFocus, Sanyo, Mitsubishi, NEC and Philips.
Gary, who has been involved with the audiovisual market for over 20 years, was the recipient of the InfoComm 2003 Educator of the Year Award and the 2007 NSCA Instructor of the Year Award. Over the years, he has donated much of his time as an active volunteer in the AV industry’s trade association and served as chairman of InfoComm’s Professional Education & Training Committee (PETC), chairman of the ICIA Design School Committee and chairman of InfoComm’s Installation School Committee. In addition, he has served on the InfoComm board of governors. He also helped grow the InfoComm Projection Shoot-Out as the premiere AV industry trade show special event serving on the committee from 1991 through 1997, and was instrumental in launching the Shoot-Out in the European market at the Photokina Expo in 1994 and 1996 as well as the Asian market at the 1995 and 1997 INFOCOMM Asia shows.
Prior to founding his own company, Gary was vice president of sales and marketing for AMX Corporation (www.amx.com), a manufacturer specializing in professional AV and residential AV control systems. Prior to AMX, Gary spent nine years at Extron Electronics (www.extron.com), rising to the position of vice president of sales and marketing.
Gary earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1987 from the University of North Carolina and is currently Adjunct Faculty at UNC in the School of Journalism teaching a class on how future technologies will affect the future of advertising, PR and marketing.
He is also the founder of Swim for Smiles, a non-profit that raises money for the N.C. Children’s Hospital through swimming and other fitness-related events for kids.
You can contact him at [email protected]..
…LOADING….. I’ve always been a HUGE Blu-ray fan! I even touted the benefits of Blu-ray during the heat of the HD-DVD v.Blu-ray format wars, something that drew great criticism from many readers who clearly though HD-DVD was a better format. …LOADING… So, I think I am justified and, to be totally frank, maybe in the best possible position to now say: […]
I don’t ever really pay attention to new hire press releases except if (1) the person is a big name making a move in the industry, or (2) I know the person. However, I’d been hearing how Crestron hired a “buildings guy” also known as David Wilts, Crestron’s new director of integrated building technology (see the announcement here.) This buildings […]
It’s time once again to ask that age old question: “How do I plan for the future without a Crystal Ball?” Most everyone has been teased with quality 3D by means of the runaway 3D hit Avatar, and some have seen killer demonstrations of 3D on flat panels or via the state-of-the-art performance of DP’s […]
Six months ago, a group of very smart economists and mathematicians proclaimed that the Great Recession was over. Well, maybe, but it didn’t feel like it at the time. Today is a different story. I’m hearing from some integrators that business is picking up, new inquiries are coming in more regularly, and that customers seem […]
rAVe readers, especially home AV installers, are reminded that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule goes into effect April 22, 2010. The deadline is coming fast, especially for anyone who has not completed the certification. To quote the EPA’s requirements: “Common renovation activities like sanding, cutting, and demolition can create hazardous […]
Installers, hold onto your hats because Behringer is the new name in town for installed products. According to Audio Pro International, the line includes “microphones to speakers and everything in between,” as well as the creation of a new department within Behringer, the Behringer Install Group (BIG). (The line is so new that there is no mention of the new product […]
Some of you may remember back in 2005 when retail giant Walmart stopped its struggling effort in online DVD rentals with the excuse that they wanted to concentrate on DVD sales. Rival and category creator NetFlix absorbed its operations and both went on their merry ways. Fast forward five years and now comes news that Wal-Mart has purchased Vudu , an online high […]
Since THE DAY that Apple launched the iPad, I’ve received at least a handful of emails every day asking my opinion on the iPad and its potential impact on the control system segment of our market – most specifically, the touch panel segment of the control market. Let’s get this out of the way: I’m […]
If there’s anything I know about rAVe readers, it’s that you all have opinions – and strong ones. Now is your chance to exercise those opinions and add comments to the FCC ruling that bans wireless microphone systems that operate in the 700 MHz band after June 12, 2010. The comment period is open until March 1, 2010. Microphone manufacturer Shure recently petitioned […]
There were lots of happenings this weekend that garnered attention – the Olympics, bad weather in the South, and school vacation week activities to do with your kids. The national and local news were focused on these subjects and reporting from every angle. But in theTwitterverse, Southwest Airlines and actor/director Kevin Smith were in a […]
I promise that, after today, I will stop geeking out about the Olympics. Yesterday I posted about the 3D tie-ins, but today’s focus is on the massive fiber network that serves as the backbone to the event. The 2010 Winter Olympics is a showcase of the AV/IT and social media convergence that is a reality, not a […]
The 2010 Winter Olympics start tomorrow and that alone may not excite you. Yes, there is drama and competition and achievements of the human spirit. *Yawn* But there’s also lots of 3D tie-ins that are happening with the Games this year. First is that Panasonic will open its Full 3D HD Theatre where visitors can watch 3D footage […]
NEC, Christie, Sanyo and Digital Projection all took bold steps to become more than just also-ran “projector manufacturers” in 2009. NEC, in fact, created a totally new market segment for the ProAV Integrator with VUKUNET by allowing us to tap into the huge revenue streams created by digital signage. Instead of simply sitting back trying to figure out how to make their […]
No question that social media is a part of today’s modern life, but who has enough time in the day to check Twitter, Facebook,FriendFeed, chat, Foursquare, texts, news links, and email?!?! Some of us try to do it all, but it takes work. To address this problem, Google has announced Buzz, a tool to help […]
A post on the Live Audio Board (LAB) was brought to my attention today, and I hope its contents aren’t true. In it, it says that Harman has announced that manufacturing will cease at the Northridge, CA facility in June. I’m working on confirmation of this from their PR agency as I type this blog post. But […]
So I hear that the recession is over and that the economy is slowly improving. I don’t know about you, but I’m not seeing signs of that in my own community. Many small businesses have closed in and around my town. Those that are still surviving are struggling with tight credit and lean inventory, the […]
DSP company Biamp Systems made a global launch of their new networked media system called Vocia (pronounced vo-chia) via several webinars today. Launched in conjunction with trade show Integrated Systems Europe (ISE), Vocia is aimed at the paging and voice evacuation market. Instead of centralized processing, the Vocia system takes a modular approach that (according to them) makes it easy to expand […]
Unless you live in a cave, you probably heard that Apple announced iPad, their long-awaited tablet computer, this week. The iPad’s pre-announcement buzz was a work of art but the not-so-fine print is that you can’t get your hands on one of these for another 60-90 days (depending on the model.) As a news service, we get […]
Everyone’s used component video for HD. Everyone. In fact, some surveys find that as many of 85 percent of ProAV installations using HD are still being integrated over component video. Who cares? Well, did you know that as of December 31, 2010 analog outputs decrypted (AACS) content will be limited to 480i and 480p (maximum […]
Everyone’s used component video for HD. Everyone. In fact, some surveys find that as many of 85 percent of ProAV installations using HD are still being integrated over component video. Who cares? Well, did you know that as of December 31, 2010 analog outputs decrypted (AACS) content will be limited to 480i and 480p (maximum resolution)? The date is referred to […]
In light of the rapid evolution of the large-format LCD monitor, LED-backlit LCD TVs and the rise of the giant-sized LCDs, it’s time to ask the question no one in the ProAV market really wants answered: Is the projector dying? Since the dawn of the video projection market in the late 1970s, it’s dominated, albeit in different iterations, the presentation landscape […]
By Gary Kayye, CTS First things, first: Thanks, Ron! Thanks for all the ways you supported me and your dealers!!! In the ProAV market, I am perceived as a manufacturer’s rep-hater. Interestingly enough, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. I am, in fact, a manufacturer’s rep supporter – at least of the good ones! […]
What’s the ROI? CEDIA’s Registered Outreach Instructor program enables CEDIA members to provide continuing education to their local design and build industry partners. CEDIA members who take and pass the ROI “Train the Trainer” class can present CEDIA-developed courseware to industry partners within their geographic regions. This grassroots member benefit will impact the member’s ability to develop new business relationships without the […]
This week marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. I guess to most Americans this is somewhat of of a monumental occasion, but for a few AV Geeks (me included) this week brought me memories I’ve never forgotten. You see, the day the so-called WALL came tumbling down in Berlin, there were a […]
Today, NEC launched what apparently was a four-year, top-secret project within the company to develop something that, although aimed at the Digital Signage market, will ultimately help ANY ProAV or DS integration firm that will admit that the future of their company is selling services, NOT gear. Being a DS hardware manufacturer, it is, quite honestly, hard to believe […]
I remember back when there were no “real” distributors in the commercial AV market. There were some high-end production video distributors in and around the industry – mostly sending Sony and Panasonic gear, illegally, to South America. Oh, and, back before Belgium-based projector company, BARCO, had US-based dealers, there was a very creative distributor here in the […]
By Andy Marken, Marken Communications What a world of difference there is in the way “organizations” handle problems when they are caught with their hands in the cookie jar. While usually relatively minor, from a national media standpoint, almost every organization encounters major or minor problems each year as they have “run-ins” with the media. This is especially […]
About 25 years ago, somebody gave me the following letter, which is one of the funniest I’ve read in the industry. Can anybody tell me who wrote it, or where it was first published? JRR Mr. Paul Begosh, Producer Brightstar Productions 73040 La Cienega Blvd. Los Angles, CA 90023 Dear Paul: First, thank you for engaging us to provide AV […]
By now, I’m sure you’ve all heard about DirecTV’s new SWiM (Single Wire MultiSwitch) “feature”. Basically, the short-version of the biggest feature (or FIX as I think of it) is that you can now run one RG6 coax line into your DVR-based DirecTV receivers and actually keep both tuners active. So, with one RG6 run from the dish, you can record two […]
If you’re a Sony Blu-ray user, you know exactly what my title is referring to. What the heck? Hey, you, Sony, I’m talking to you. I’m wondering what’s going on with my Blu-ray player. You invented it, it has your badge on the front of it – so I know you know what I am talking about. And, YES, […]
I’ve seen this before – over and over and over. When consumer electronics manufacturers drop their price for no reason at all (meaning, the product is selling well even though it’s been on the market a while) that means a new version is on the way. So, DO NOT run out and buy the AppleTV of the […]
While we were at CEDIA, we “officially” got word from the ProAV magazine publisher that they were going to start publishing bi-monthly (every other month). We sort of thought something was up as there were some combined months earlier this year, but now it’s official. You may have seen our Tweet from the CEDIA show when we got the news. Soon after, ProAV’s Editor, […]
