AVT Question: Please share insight and best practices for designing the higher ed classroom for today and the future.
Thought Leader: Taft Stricklin, Sales Team Manager at Just Add Power
Today’s higher education classrooms present a robust video distribution application that must support a much richer and more sophisticated remote learning and meeting model. With the remote trend, many classrooms are installed with many new devices, high-res video sources, and other endpoints that will be necessary for providing a superb remote experience. The video distribution system will be paramount.
AV/IT managers will need a system capable of transmitting 4K60/4:4:4/36-bit color video over a 1GB managed network using existing Cat X cable, or over 10G fiber cable. Another key piece of the video distribution puzzle will be supporting today’s increasing USB-C-based devices, such as web cameras, and providing KVM control for ease of use. We had this application in mind when we engineered the Just Add Power MaxColor Series 2 transmitter and receiver; it features KVM support, a fiber port connection, and an audio return channel (ARC) while natively supporting 4K60Hz in and out. Instructors can play HDR video, including Dolby Vision and HDR10+ formats. It also boasts power over USB-C—supporting, for example, a USB web camera signal over IP. With the ARC feature, the audio from a TV connected to a MaxColor 2 receiver can be sent across the network to another MaxColor 2 receiver—connected to an audio-video receiver or other ARC-enabled amplifier—making project design even easier and more flexible.