NSCA 2006:流媒体入侵会议室

Sometimes the best way to judge a vertical market is by the products its key players produce. 这是美国国家系统承包商协会(NSCA) 2006年博览会, 于3月14日至18日在拉斯维加斯举行, 有什么迹象吗?, streaming media is fast becoming firmly entrenched in various conference rooms, 会议室, 和遍布全国的教室.

The NSCA Expo is a gathering of audio-visual (AV) product manufacturers, 系统集成商, and end users; the focus has traditionally been audio products (speakers, 麦克风, 和录音设备), but recent shows have expanded beyond audio into the broader AV field. 最后两场演出, 特别是, have introduced data-centric products into a traditionally analog world.

This year’s show was important for the consistency of streaming media products. Not only was there a sizable increase in the number of multi-track uncompressed streaming audio products using technologies such as CobraNet or Digigram’s EtherSound, 但流媒体也进入了数字标牌领域, 教室, 以及无线视频替代产品.

LANtasm，由前AT创建的新公司&T, Northpoint, 英特尔高管, seeks to leverage a patent-pending multicasting process to the digital signage space. Digital signage—which typically uses vertically mounted plasma or LCD displays to provide customer 信息 in airports, 酒店, 餐厅, and retail establishments—is one of the fastest-growing verticals in the AV industry. LANtasm的产品, 哪些是为了反馈而展出的, 利用千兆以太网交换结构, allowing up to 100 channels of content to be moved across a wide network of display devices.

"Our key strength is a varied network topology," says LANtasm CEO Steve Blasingame. "In many instances, installation of digital signage using a star topology is impractical and costly. LANtasm’s patented system can be configured in a traditional star topology but really excels when numerous devices are daisy-chained together. 是否可以在设备之间创建环路, our switching fabric is smart enough to correct a user-created break in the loop, so that unplugging one digital signage device doesn’t result in the loss of content displayed on the remaining devices."

在无线流媒体视频前端, avocent——更出名的是它的键盘, video, mouse (KVM) switches—showed off its second-generation wireless streaming device. In early 2005, Avocent introduced the LongView family of devices, which utilized the 802.11a radio spectrum to stream low-latency VGA and XGA content across a 100-foot range. 新产品线, 被称为出现, 播放全动态视频最多1,000 feet and was awarded an NSCA 2006 Innovations in Technology Award.

“在源头方面, the transmitter connects directly to the repository files located on a computer, DVD播放器, 录像机, 或有线电视接收机,马特·尼尔森说, Avocent’s director of strategic business for wireless technologies. “在远端, 接收器直接连接到输出设备, 可能是录像机, 等离子屏幕, 投影仪, 或监视. The Emerge EWMS1000 is capable of transmitting up to 1366x768 WXGA signals."

The Emerge system can be used for point-to-point video extension or for point-to-multipoint broadcast applications, meaning that multiple device types can be connected to a single transmitter.

在H上.264 front, Montreal-based HaiVision Systems was showing off its CPU-based H.264编码器和解码器. According to VP Peter Maag, the company plans to release DSP-based H.264 D1编码器很快, both in a standalone small form factor as well as a high-density multiple encoder "blade" form factor. These products are expected to mimic HaiVision’s current MPEG-2 small form factor and blade encoders.

A similar product line was noted by a representative from a company that wasn’t showing at NSCA but plans to showcase a similar product at NAB in late April. 远见解决方案公司副总裁Will Bakewell., said that interest in high-density blade encoder systems was high, 由于目前的市场解决方案主要集中在电信提供商, 为MPEG-2和H留下了市场空白.264 high-density encoder systems aimed at the mid-range corporate and AV markets.

Two other well-known streaming product manufacturers were also showing updated systems at NSCA. Sonic Foundry showed off an updated version of its Mediasite recorder system, 而accord发布了版本2.0 of its lower-priced equivalent to Mediasite, the Accordent Capture Station. IBM支持, this second-generation all-in-one capture device improves processor speed and includes a 3-year onsite warranty. In a sign that remote encoding is becoming more common in 教室 settings, Capture Station 2.0 allows administrators to remotely provision resources such as 教室s and encoders, as well as automatically stop and start the presentation capture process from a centralized location with Accordent’s Event Scheduling & 通知模块. Accordent has also announced integration with VBrick’s EtherneTV product line, 它利用了VBrick的MPEG-4编解码器.

One final area in which streaming was prevalent at NSCA was the area of building paging systems. While paging might be considered a mundane application for streaming, the ability to modify paging zones on the fly during conferences or important meetings has attracted the interest of several product manufacturers. 有一个特别的, TOA电子, won an NSCA 2006 Innovation in Technology award for its N-8000 series IP Network Intercom Systems.

"The new IP Intercom products occupy minimal network bandwidth for station-to-station calls,TOA市场总监史蒂夫·马特说. 通过软件或网络浏览器进行控制和监控, the system includes the ability to program up to 160 paging zones and time-based call forwarding."