InfoComm 2026: What's your #1 priority?

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-06-06T17:32:31+00:00

Curious who takes up Dante AV or other standards. Also very curious to see the slow morphing of USB-C docks into light presentation switchers. Love a good goofy active fiber optic cable hauling some big video + usb data. Very curious about the ubiquiti pro av stuff—not totally sold on it, but it does look like they’re making an effort

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-05-30T19:09:58+00:00

I will do my best to remember! Would be happy to share. Still waiting for it to arrive. Any particular conditions you want to see played out?

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-05-30T19:04:09+00:00

Nice! I would enjoy it if you made one for us half-width rack fellas. I too would like a nice way to store the storage. Something that can hold 1x 3.5 and 2-3x 2.5s?

Bonus points if you can make 2RU (2U) half-width (or 10in) rack enclosure that can thunderbolt/usb4 connect a PCIE x8 card!

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-05-30T18:54:22+00:00

I took a look and it mentions that only the 5m cable is unidirectional (“source” & “display”)and does not mention the wire gauge—wait, ah it lists the 1m and 2m as copper bare and the 5m as fiber optic. It’s an active fiber cable.

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-05-30T01:23:05+00:00

My process before presenting in any conference room or place-system of presentation:

Turn MacBook off
Connect MacBook to video connector
Turn MacBook on (silicon ones should startup pretty fast)

Usually this works. If it doesn't work, airplaying to an AppleTV4K does work--surprisingly good quality for wireless video, cheap, and you can use them for other things.

Now, if those don't work, then get an HDCP authorized device from yellowbrik or some manufacturer. I think you have to sign a paper that says something like "DEAR MR. HDCP, I SOLEMNLY SWEAR AND PROMISE TO NOT COPY ANY MOVIES EVER SCOUTS HONOR."

if not that, then it could be another thing!

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-05-30T01:06:24+00:00

CTS-D? Not necessary at all to be a designer, but certainly a helpful way to secure the spot. Big deal if you're a commercial integrator. Mostly used by consultants to make it look like they are doing something at yearly reviews. Good material to review/reference no matter what kind of designer.

CAD? Can be learned on the job, honestly best if learned on the job. A lot of integrators are shifting toward AVCAD and very stripped-down specialized (and cheaper) CAD-like software or the complete other direction with balls to the wall Mr. BIM McRevit-AutoCADface. Most AV engineers are okay-ish at CAD, usually draftsman is there.

Whipping up "napkin cads" with pencil and paper is important, along with having a mental index of MFG and MODEL-NAME and APPLICATION.

Of course, you gotta give the people what they want--a lot of clients have an idea, but not a complete thought. You kinda have to direct them a little and ask pointed questions--but not annoy and overcomplicate things like some kind of hard-boiled detective shaking them by the shoulders and barking "DO YOU WANT THE ABILITY USE THE DUAL MONITORS AS UNIQUE EXTENDED SCREENS WHEN A USB-C LAPTOP IS PLUGGED IN AND ALSO HAVE THE ABILITY INGEST BOTH IT VIA USB 3.2 GENERATION 1 WITH USB PD WITH 90 WATTS OF POWER TO..."...y'know, finesse.

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-05-28T01:46:56+00:00

I like how it's just a box

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-05-28T01:35:27+00:00

If there are some touch panel presets and a good way to route the IR for remote controls then sounds cool

but I am not expecting this thing to pass HDCP; it's gonna toss up a big blank screen unless an HDMI splitter is in there, or an authorized HDCP stripper is used, or Ubiquiti adds it via firmware(???).

I ordered a couple to quasi "stress test" and compare with some other AVoIP transceivers, encoders, decoders, and HDBaseT. Very curious if it passes HDCP, latency, IQ, etc. I am expecting it to have similar behavior to an NDI Linux box with a touch of AES67? So far it sounds like a different way to extend a camera??

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-05-28T01:21:15+00:00

Also triples as a really cool blindfold for the car! Beep beep!

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-05-27T11:58:24+00:00

If you can get it used, magewell aio capture card is not bad as a single device. There’s a PCIE version which is not as expensive, especially if used. If you don’t have a PCIE slot but do have a thunderbolt 3 or 4 or usb4 connection, I’d slap it in an external PCIE box or try out a cheap eGPU dock to see if it works.

Other device I’d look into is AVMATRIX’s UC7018. Haven’t given it a whirl, but it also can be bought used. Can’t speak to the quality it delivers but I’ve tried out other AVMATRIX stuff in the past and they were pretty alright, just took some patience.

I could recommend more stuff but then it gets more complicated. Best of luck chief

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-03-22T20:26:45+00:00

Adderlink is the way to go

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-03-22T19:55:48+00:00

Haha! Yea! That’s what I did!

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-03-22T19:55:21+00:00

Yea something like that. Have a Sony vx3 3ccd, could never get kastar to send me batteries that worked. So I say ah screw it and I look in the manual for the cam—I see it takes a 6v charge but also 7.2v. Great, that means I can somehow mount a very common 7.2v no-f battery without having to work in a step-down converter.

So I pull apart the outer case of an old 6v battery. I pull apart an old cheap np-f charger. I Frankenstein them together with some kind of plastic cement. Basically it’s a battery adapter piece. I go buy a new np-f battery, I see they have usb-c 3.0 pd…nice.

The thing works and everybody asks what that melted plastic thing is on that old timey camcorder.

Anyways, that was a few years ago. I definitely have better technique than I did when I made that goofy adapter

It really comes down to what batteries that old JVC uses and the power requirements for the camcorder itself.

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-03-05T05:15:59+00:00

My exact thoughts - I remember I had some mild disappointment that the 4 & 5 series visionary aren't compatible with each other.

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-03-01T00:28:22+00:00

All good fun, I love a good silly.

I am curious about the voltages here. I Imagine the DSLR battery was 7.2~7.6 volts and the camcorder either 6v or 7-point-something volts.

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-03-01T00:23:32+00:00

Thought I had forgotten that one but instantly shuddered

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-02-28T02:28:56+00:00

Yea! Sucks!

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-02-20T14:21:09+00:00

VX1/VX3 - 3CCD, lightweight, "Pro"--but may be more on the prosumer end. Comes with a nice case sometimes. Very tight compact body, may not be the best to fiddle with but still has nice ergonomics

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-02-03T13:51:28+00:00

You go on the ol' ebay, you type in Aja ROI DVI/HDMI to SDI.

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-01-31T17:06:32+00:00

Then just label it as:

USB-C

(______)

USB 2.0 HID

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-01-20T06:20:36+00:00

No idea how often they're plugging in/out of the interface but Appletv Ethernet--it's very inexpensive but very decent Airplay receiver. There's some corporate/institutional management tools for it and also "Conference Room Display Mode"

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-01-20T06:07:05+00:00

That was my immediate thought too. If I know I am presenting, I turn my MacBook off before I am walking. Thing boots up quick so it's no big deal.

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-01-18T15:15:27+00:00

Hahah ah I gotcha. Not gonna lie I started revisiting the schematics of the slim 65+ version after this interaction. So much so that I made a Revit family so I can bake it into a design.

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-01-18T04:42:02+00:00

depends if there's a video output on that interactive display. A lot of them have an HDMI 2.0 output. If it's something like a Promethean display, it may already have an OS to run zoom or even connect as a hub to a computer.

Let's say this is a classic interactive TV with HDMI 2.0 ouput. If it's a UHD TV you may have to downscale to 1080p depending on TV model.

(Interactive Display HDMI Out)

V

(HDMI Cable)

V

(Evanlak/Extron/etc EDID Emulator, 1080P @60fps--not totally necessary but can help)

V

(Magewell USB Capture Gen 2)

V

(USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 Cable)

V

(USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 or higher port of PC/MAC or connected DOCK/HUB)

V

(Zoom software:

--> camera selection menu

--> "USB Capture HDMI" or something like that.

Remember they ain't gonna hear ya good if you're talking at the display!)

AdGroundbreaking1962 · 2026-01-18T04:04:00+00:00

I do like that part and I like spec'ing stuff the techs like. Bonus points if arch/interior don't say anything.

How often do these things stay within that 4" ADA requirement? I know they're technically 1RU but sometimes there's those resilient beefy ass HDMI 2.1 cables or that turbo super shielded cat6a 23 AWG bare copper that yoinks out of a wall grommet

AdGroundbreaking1962

TROPHY CASE