If you’re a small business and hang in there long enough, at some point you face burnout. A down economy like the one we’re in now feels like a rollercoaster, customer requests sound more like complaints, and the motivation needed to keep innovating seems far and away. Maybe it was because I’ve had some pretty downer conversations […]

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 […]

Here’s an interview from a British meetings and events tradeshow – it gives an interesting (and somewhat devastating) opinion on what the various industry groups have failed to do in defending meeting expenses during a time of cost cutting… JRR Click here for the video

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 […]

I’ve just read the latest rAVe Pro, with Gary and Bob’s well-written take on the possibilities of the Cisco-Tandberg acquisition. The smiling “we’re all one family now” video was great, as were the encouraging words on the possibility of the commercial AV market having some input on where the 800 lb. gorilla sleeps in the future. Everybody […]

Last week, I had one of those rare moments. One of my employees called me very early and told me Tandberg had been acquired by Cisco. He did it because (and there are lots of witnesses) I’ve been predicting it for about three years, as loudly as I could. I did it because there are […]

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go down to the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta for Sanyo’s 3-millionth projector event. In celebration of their 3-millionth projector coming off the line, Sanyo donated a PLC-WTC500L to Georgia Tech. The projector was sold through AVI-SPL, and they were on hand as well. Sanyo specifically chose Georgia Tech to be the recipient of this projector […]

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, […]

Since Day 1 of our rAVe HomeAV publication, CEDIA’s been a partner with us. Every step of the way we have enjoyed an alliance that allows us to help them disseminate important information to their members and high-end audiophiles and videophiles and they help us keep a pulse on the evolving high-end consumer technology space. However, I have never been more excited […]

I’ve written columns in the past decreeing (more like begging) the virtues of selling services over selling gear. There’s been one on selling design services – sort of like design consultants do for big clients and big systems out there.  There’s been one on selling integration services – basically installing other people’s systems regardless of […]

Infinity. That’s what the time period between Infocomm and CEDIA brings to mind. As in, an enormous number of pundits writing an endless number of columns. Also, as in the old  “infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters” proposition. You can look it up on Wikipedia, or you can take my word for it: […]

I think it’s great that you iPod-toting, Hulu-watching home theater addicts like Gary are all excited about CEDIA. But take the white earbuds out of your ears for a minute and listen, because I’m not as excited. For the Rental and Staging guys out there, much as we love the gadgets, CEDIA is a pain in the ATSC. Every year, following CEDIA, one of […]

As we quickly head towards another CEDIA Expo, it’s a time to reflect where we’ve been and where we’re, hopefully, headed.  We’ve had a very tough year – in fact, it’s being called by most CI’s the worst HomeAV economy ever.  Expo 2008 was really the beginning of this economic downturn as we headed into a contentious, divisive presidential […]

Some 15-years ago, the first touch-panels debuted for the meeting room market – and the control system market has never been the same since.  Touch panels are slick, cool and have the capability to give you complete control of every function you can possibly imagine you’ll ever need in a room. Yesterday, we released our […]

By Gary Kayye, CTS The ProAV market is slow.  Sure, it’s picking up a little, but it is no where near where it was in 2005 and 2006.  And, it’s now clear that we’re not going to see major movement in this market until at least Q1 2010.  Design consultants in the ProAV market are slow.  Some will hide this […]

rAVe [Publications] is proud to introduce the newest FREE way to get instant updates on news in the AV industry – the rAVe NOW iPhone App! With an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can read any of our news on the go. The iPhone App will get you instant access to the stories featured in all of our […]

If you are a frequent reader of my columns, you know that I have been – for years – saying that the AV business is quickly moving towards a commodity where we will need to focus on services as a profit model.  The good thing is that service is WAY MORE PROFITABLE than selling gear, […]

Why is is that every time I go to the gym – no matter what time of day or what day of the week – there are a few people who are ALWAYS there working out? And, no, they don’t work there – I checked. What do these people do?  What sort of jobs do […]

I am sure everyone out there reading this has purchased gear from Best Buy a time or two.  AV systems sometimes call for consumer-grade gear and Best Buy actually set up a group a few years back, called Best Buy for Business, to handle such relationships. But, if this is their M.O. now, beware! I received […]

Yesterday, at a reception for the press sponsored by one of the industry’s largest display manufacturers, we overheard a conversation that perfectly demonstrates why WE (at rAVe) do NOT want to be called aProAV magazine. What did we hear?  Well, the manufacturer was “guaranteed” more editorial coverage and news stories by the print publication if they would […]

One thing that’s consistent year after year, show after show about the day before a show opens – it looks like it’s far from being ready to open. Crap everywhere! TO walk from the front of the Hall (Da-Lite/Extron) to the Back (Lighthouse), it took me a freakin’ hour. Crates everywhere, fork-lift drivers that just drive […]

Hey, we realize that budgets are tight – tighter than ever, in fact – and that this may be the year you don’t go to InfoComm:  BUMMER!  But, if you can’t make it to the “Ultimate AV show” this year, then we’ve come up with something just as good as being there!  It’s called rAVe NOW and you’ve gotta come […]

If you’ve been following rAVe DS, you know this is our fourth issue.  As you also probably know, there are more than a few “other” DS publications out there.  But, unlike those, we are picky on which stories we run and what we choose to send to you each month – in other words, just because we […]

Using a PC as a content transmitter and receiver for Digital Signage networks sucks. Microsoft and their myriad problems have bled all over the DS market too. And, everyone’s been screaming for non-PC based solutions since the beginning. But, there haven’t been many that have, well, not sucked too. At least Microsoft Windows-based PCs are […]

AVAD, well known in the HomeAV market as a distributor of high-end consumer electronics gear, is capitalizing on the ProAV market’s loss of Electrograph last week and is rumored to be jumping into the ProAV market.  But, talk to them at your own risk. Why?  Well, simply providing gear to the ProAV dealer is not the same thing as truly being a distributor.  For example, […]