- Northern Arizona University (NAU) recently embarked on a journey to upgrade the multi-purpose Cline Library Assembly Hall. The plan centered on embracing new digital audio, video and control technology to better inform, instruct and entertain students, staff and the general public.
- The facility is heavily used for lectures, multimedia presentations, meetings, and movie showings. NAU officials wanted the ability to use new digital video formats and to enhance the existing surround sound capabilities.
- The Assembly Hall AV system is operated by students, professors, instructors, and the general public. As a result, NAU needed a simple, yet flexible control system, easily configurable to accommodate multiple users and changing needs.
- NAU utilized the services of Intent Digital, an AV technology firm based in Phoenix, AZ, to develop and install the system upgrade. Intent Digital delivers AV system design, engineering and control systems for government, medical, house of worship, and institutional clients.
- For this project, Intent Digital created a state-of-the-art AV system using a combination of digital audio and video equipment, all managed by the company's "Energize" Configurable Control System. The video system encompasses multiple video signal formats from computers, DVD & Blu-Ray players, video recorders and document cameras. Campus cable TV and video conferencing connectivity is also designed into the system. All of the sources are displayed on an Eiki theatrical video projector through a TV One C2-8130 seamless switcher controlled by Energize. In addition, Magenta Research Infinea HD transceivers transmit HDMI video from three TV One 1T-VS-658 video scalers to the TV One C2-8130 seamless switcher.
- Energize touch panels at the podium and in the control booth feature graphical buttons laid out logically to offer operators and presenters intuitive system control. The 15-inch control booth touch panel allows overall system control, while a 10-inch podium touch panel enables presenters to simply select sources, adjust audio levels, and control AV equipment. Extensive configuration tools permit users to easily modify system control configuration to fit changing operational requirements.
- Bob Ginger, Intent Digital Technology partner, said, "Every environment has different needs, so we bring a creative approach to designing systems that fits each unique project. For NAU, we evaluated digital transport systems from several manufacturers and found that interfacing TV One 1T-VS-658 scalers to the TV One C2-8130 seamless switcher was a straightforward, robust and extremely cost effective solution. The C2-8130 switcher platform is a very flexible tool in the designer's toolbox. With the numerous multi-format sources, including SDI, combined with windowing capabilities, it gives us incredible flexibility in designing sophisticated presentation systems such as the NAU Assembly Hall."
- After the first highly successful semester with the new system, NAU decided to begin using TV One's C2-8130's picture-in-picture functionality. The feature allows multiple images to be simultaneously displayed on the screen, enabling presenters to reference material from various sources during a presentation. The end result is an efficient and user friendly system, tailored to the Assembly Hall needs.
