Code3AV and our strategic partner IRC have completed a new audio system for the Ny State Assembly chamber. Code3AV worked with Audix to design a custom microphone solution just for this project, and now it’s available for everyone. Check out this article about the mics Audix designed for our project at the NY State Assembly.

Code3AV is working with the Virginia House of Delegates to refresh the technology in the chamber and committee rooms. Code3AV, has developed a solution using Ross, Taiden and Crestron to allow the Virginia House of Delegates to host remote and hybrid chamber sessions and committee meetings through zoom and teams.

Code 3 AV and strategic partner IRC completed two new camera systems for the Iowa State Legislature. These fully automatic systems switch to members automatically based upon who is recognized to speak by the IRC voting system. Click to see them in action!

Congratulations Steve Payne! Steve has been with Code3AV since we started. He manages our service department and is responsible for quality assurance and integration standards. We are excited to announce that he recently upgraded his CTS certification and passed the CTS-D exam!

3 techniques for keeping things simple:

At Code 3 AV, our focus is always on keeping things simple and easy to use. Many of the conference rooms we have built recently have had no need for a user interface of any kind. By installing occupancy sensors and detecting video sync from a laptop input, we have been able to make some of our more basic systems operate intuitively without any user interface at all. Devices power up, route signals and power down as they detect the user’s presence or actions. But, If your organization has a conference room with more than a couple of inputs, it probably has some type of interface for choosing which input to view or what level the volume should be. One of the most popular choices for conference room control is the touch panel. In my experience there are really three key elements to making sure a touch panel is easy and intuitive enough for anyone to walk in and use

Keep things familiar:

My first stop when I’m working on a touch panel for a new client is to look at any existing control interfaces they have for other conference or training rooms. If you already have a standard “Dashboard” for your conference rooms that you are used to, there’s no need to complicate things with something entirely different unless you are unhappy with what you have been using. Use your existing interfaces as examples of what you would like. If you are unhappy with what you’ve been using, use them as examples of what isn’t working for you. This might be a good time to talk about having those interfaces redone to match the new style being created for this new system. My next stop when designing a touch panel interface is always your web site. This will give me most of what I need to know regarding the style and aesthetic I should be trying to achieve. Most clients spend a long time making sure that the web site is a strong reflection of themselves. Keying off of these design ques is always a step in the right direction. Your existing web site often makes for a great example of the graphic design style you like, and you’ve probably already spent time making it easy for people to navigate it. Your touch panel has similar goals.

It’s been over a year since I shut down our office for a “few weeks” last march. I had no idea at the time how long this would last, or what it meant for our small business. We had a lot of questions at that time. We have a lot of questions now, but we’ve also got some answers. Here’s what we’ve done so far, and here’s what’s been working and not working for us and the clients we serve.

Down time:

We had some serious down time in the beginning of the pandemic. The first issue we had to solve was how to keep the team busy when everyone shut their doors. No one was letting us on site. All work was stalled or cancelled. We needed a way to make some kind of progress and be accountable for hours. We offered hours for specific certifications, and let the team pick what they wanted to go after. Show the cert – claim the hours. We divided and conquered every certification we could complete online. We focused on turning our company down time into opportunity as best as we could, which was only possible because of the PPP program. The biggest struggle we had here is that working and learning from home is hard when the kids are having to learn from home as well. Families with school age kids have had a tough year.

Code3AV has been working with Michael and Carrie Sands on the new Sandman Comedy Club. For this installation, we integrated state of the art lighting, audio and video systems for this brand new performance space. The club opens 4/29, and tickets are available now! come check out this fun new entertainment venue in Richmond, VA! Who’s ready to get out there and have fun again?

Check out this article about one of our latest projects! – https://www.livedesignonline.com/news/versatile-elation-rig-covers-acts-and-more-at-sandman-comedy-club

Virginia’s newest entertainment venue, Sandman Comedy Club. Located in a roomy 1940’s bank building complete with bank vault, the new venue houses an Elation lighting system of WW Profile HP™, Fuze Spot™, Colour Pendant™ and SixBar 1000™ luminaires that will be used for much more than just comedy.

When should your organization engage a streaming service provider?

So you want to stream on Facebook or YouTube –

Can Code3AV help with that? We sure can. We have helped many organizations get started with streaming. As integrators, we install and configure your hardware and software production systems (cameras, microphones, graphics creation, etc), and usually we also integrate them with your new or existing conference systems, legislative systems, presentation systems, classrooms or houses of worship. We provide training and make sure that the audio and video leaving your site looks great. Our expertise and focus is on making sure that the equipment you have on site is easy to use and allows you to produce the content you want to share.

How does that content get online?

The audio and video content you create is sent to what’s called an encoder. An encoder is a device or software package which turns your local audio and video into a network stream, which can be sent over the internet. Once that stream leaves your site and hits the public internet, it’s treated just like any other network traffic. Video traffic usually gets a higher priority over other traffic, but most of the internet traffic today is video. Your stream leaves your building and travels through the public internet to Facebook, YouTube etc, and probably (usually) it gets where it needs to go. Sometimes it doesn’t.

Code3AV just spent over a year working with our clients to make sure they could all meet remotely, but now many of our clients are vaccinated and coming back to the office, and so are we.

Code 3 AV has made the shift back to the office, and many of our customers are doing the same thing. I think that some of the shine of working from home has worn off for a lot of folks. Obviously, there are a lot of benefits to working from home, but I think we have also found that there are a few downsides as well. Google “Zoom fatigue”. I am surprised by how much I want to get back to the office.

Google “Zoom fatigue”. I am surprised by how much I want to get back to the office.

I really thought that the hybrid model might be here to stay, and in some ways, I think it is, but not as much as I thought previously. I think we can all appreciate the flexibility, right? There is an understanding now that meetings can be as easy or even easier to do remote as they are in person. Personally, I work well at home. I can focus at home. I can get more done faster, and because of that, this year I also learned to speak Spanish, I took up bike riding every day, I lost 40 pounds, and my lawn is amazing – But, after a year of meeting exclusively online, and working solo – Coming back to the office now, I’ve noticed a few things. Now that we’re all seeing each other face to face again, I don’t really know how to describe it, but I feel fully engaged. I feel like I’m firing on all cylinders again. Work is fun again.

We are currently working with a client to integrate some SIP phones with their new VOIP system. It’s surprising how complicated this can be. Many VOIP services have a short list of supported devices. The process got me thinking – I don’t even remember the last time I got an invite to a regular conference call. I get invites to Teams calls, Zoom calls and Webex meetings, but I never get invites to conference calls anymore. Even if no one on the call is using video, every call I join lately is still technically a “video call.” Along these same lines, my wife asked me yesterday – Are there still phone companies? I really had to think for a minute because there aren’t. Not like there was. A phone is generally an add-on to your internet service now.

I don’t even remember the last time I got an invite to a regular conference call.

So the question becomes – do I still need a “conference phone” in my “conference room?”

If I join every single meeting that I have scheduled via a Teams, Zoom or Webex app, why do I need a conference phone? I don’t.

What I do need is a simple way to join a video call or a simple way to connect my own laptop or phone to the camera, microphones, and speakers that are already in the room.

Videoconferences used to be held in very expensive rooms dedicated to making video calls. These rooms required hardware known as a CODEC in order to join or make video calls. CODEC is shorthand for Code/Decode. This big, expensive piece of hardware would encode your audio and video and send it over a network to someone else with a similar piece of hardware, which would then decode your audio and video. The ability to do this quickly in both directions gave us the ability to make video conference calls.

One of our most common projects lately is removing old videoconference codec hardware and replacing it with BYOD (Bring your own device) connectivity or even dedicated Zoom or Teams hardware.

Now that this functionality is built into everyone’s phones, the need for such expensive hardware is often a thing of the past. While phones work well for personal conferences, when we meet as a group, we need a few helper devices.

when we meet as a group, we need a few helper devices.

There are so many options now that it can be a little daunting to decide how to even begin. Here are some important questions to help you get started:

• Do you always meet via zoom or maybe teams instead – do you need both?
• Do you want to be able to call from your laptop or macbook?
• Are your users comfortable choosing USB devices before connecting a call?
• Do you need a wireless option?
• Do you want a simple “one button” solution?

Well.. What is a system?

Generally – a system is “a set of things working together, dedicated to a task – an organized framework or method.” In audiovisual terms, a system is some combination of equipment integrated together to allow for a space to be used for communication purposes. That purpose might be meeting, teaching, training, entertaining, informing, warning, performing or any number of other purposes.

This “combination of equipment” that is supposed to work together is usually made by several different companies and manufactured in several different countries. As integrators, we choose the best or most cost-effective devices and integrate them into a cohesive, reliable and easy to use system for the customer. But what makes a system easy to use?

Systems that are easy to use have a well defined purpose.

Systems that are easy to use have a well defined purpose. As noted above, a system should be performing a dedicated task. Just because a system CAN do something, doesn’t mean it should. The more precisely a task can be defined, the easier the system becomes to use. The more you can narrow down that definition, the fewer choices anyone needs to make. If you can limit choice, you can keep the interface very simple.

Welcome to our site! We are in the process of building our blog page and will have many interesting articles to share in the coming months. Please stay tuned to this page for information to come. And if you have any questions about our business or want to reach out to us, we would love for you to stop by our contact page.

Thank you!