ISE 2024 reflected many ascendant trends in the commercial AV industry: sustainability, command and control, the software revolution, etc. Among the hottest topics was the transmission of AV signals over IP-based network infrastructures. Indeed, this subject has become so hot that it inspired a new Commercial Integrator Deep Dive report! We’re excited to announce that, next month, our AV-over-IP Deep Dive will comprehensively tackle how integrators are leveraging standard network equipment to transmit AV data. One of our interviewees, John Richards, CTS, VP of engineering, AVI-SPL, told us that AVoIP “…has [already] become the primary signal transport in systems needing more than point-to-point extension.” Perhaps it’s unsurprising, then, that so many booth discussions centered on the network.
Here, we’ll recap five booths that CI visited during ISE 2024 that showcased new network-centric solutions. In the coming days, we’ll do more bundled booth recaps, highlighting large-format display and signage innovations, sustainability initiatives, audio-related updates and advancements in command-and-control operations.
At ISE 2024, Crestron announced that its DM NVX AV-over-IP platform is officially on track to hit one million units sold this year. Photo by Dan Ferrisi.
Crestron at ISE 2024
During a visit to the Crestron booth, I had an opportunity to chat with Sam Kennedy, senior director product marketing, about the company’s biggest ISE 2024 stories. “What’s most important for Crestron is that we bring unified communications and AV together as a single vendor,” he says. “We provide the full set of devices and solutions that tie [together] all the needs that a customer would want from unified communications and AV.” A perfect example of this is arguably Crestron’s biggest headline from the show: Its DM NVX AV-over-IP platform is officially on track to hit one million units sold this year. The solution is a standout for a variety of applications. These include powering mission-critical control rooms and high-traffic sportsbooks, serving as the backbone for frictionless workplaces and classrooms, and enabling seamless home entertainment.
Crestron also gained attention for three other newsworthy items during ISE 2024. The company announced a set of new 1 Beyond cameras that can both stand alone and work with Automate VX, Crestron’s multi-camera speaker tracking solution. Kennedy also highlighted that the Videobar 70 — Crestron’s all-in-one Android device — would begin shipping imminently after ISE. “And,” he adds, “we’re announcing room controls for third-party devices. So, bringing Crestron control to Zoom Rooms, to Cisco Rooms and to Google Webex Rooms.”
Audinate Embraces Platform Approach
At ISE 2024, Audinate announced a major milestone, celebrating 50 video partners. Photo by Dan Ferrisi.
Showgoers might be very accustomed to seeing “Dante Spoken Here” booth placards, but, these days, Audinate and Dante represent so much more. It has evolved from being an audio company, to being an audio and video company, to being an audio, video, monitoring and control platform company. When CI caught up with Kat Taub, product marketing manager – networked video, she expressed real enthusiasm about how strongly Audinate has established itself on the video side. “At this show, we’re announcing 50 video partners,” Taub states, highlighting a remarkable milestone. In fact, she said, video partner signups have been so strong that, in the runup to ISE, the company had to print stickers to add new additions to its partner wall. “We’re about double from where we were last year at ISE.” She adds, “We’re hearing customer stories, which is super exciting for us.”
Even more noteworthy is that ISE 2024 saw 17 new products launched for Dante AV. “I think, really, what I’m looking forward to is the products that are launching today hopefully being on the market and being able to be purchasable by InfoComm,” Taub explains. “Because that’s going to expand the Dante ecosystem hugely.” Last InfoComm, Audinate announced its software-based Dante AV-A, which delivers high-quality video up to 4Kp60 4:4:4 resolution and two channels of Dante audio, all instantly compatible with Dante audio product. “Those products coming on the market is going to just expand the Dante ecosystem,” Taub says. “They should definitely be available by InfoComm — some of them should be available way sooner than that!”
Snap One at ISE 2024
Snap One had one of the most prominent booth footprints at ISE 2024, highlighting its range of offerings from across its brand portfolio. CI caught up with Eric Harper, SVP, product marketing, who highlighted the company’s Control4 and extended offerings. He added that, this year, Snap One is focused on helping its partners build better businesses through its products and related platforms. “Every Control4 product has what we call OvrC built in,” he explains. “OvrC is our remote-management platform that makes every project more efficient to deploy and makes remote management and service even easier.” From that OvrC backbone, networking, surveillance, audio and IP-based power all connect into the same cloud management tool, enabling every hour spent by technicians to be more efficient. “This delivers better experiences and higher reliability,” Harper declares.
Of course, Snap One complements that with a host of other connected products, the prime examples being Media over IP (MoIP), which, using the network as the backbone, enables the sending of 4K HDR10 content from any number of sources to any number of displays. This creates a solution that is completely scalable. If you ask Harper, though, Snap One’s real differentiator is its commitment to delivering cohesive solutions. “That’s something we do that is very unique in the market,” he observes. “We’re in all these otherwise-disparate categories but bring it together in a way that is managed through one plane of glass for the partner and delivers a great customer experience.”
Genelec Brings Studio Sound to AV
Turning to audio, CI visited the Genelec booth to uncover the company’s efforts to bring studio-quality sound to AV. We chatted with Howard Jones, PR director, who highlighted a noteworthy range of networked active loudspeakers. “We’re here at the show previewing a new member of our Smart IP network loudspeaker family,” he explains, citing a new PoE subwoofer. “This is a range that we introduced back in 2019, and it’s a growing family of networked loudspeakers that combine exceptional sound quality with single-cable network convenience.” All models in the family operate off a single standard Cat cable, which provides PoE, audio-over-IP and access to Genelec’s Smart IP Manager for sophisticated loudspeaker management.
Returning to the topic of studio-quality sound, Jones propounded the idea that ever more people in the AV space with discerning quality standards are looking for a higher level of premium audio performance. “And I think, with our studio heritage, we’re able to deliver that with all the network convenience that Smart IP brings to our customer base,” he explains. Jones especially highlights the scalability, flexibility and reliability of the Smart IP network loudspeaker range. “So,” he concludes, “an investment in Genelec AV products is a secure, long-term investment in a product that will last for decades and give reliable service.”
Matrox Video Captures Attention at ISE 2024
Matrox Video is, of course, a longtime leader in the AV-over-IP category, leveraging popular video codecs such as H.264 for a number of years but steadily increasing its stable to include H.265, AV1 and VP9 in recent times. Matrox Video is known for its support for interoperability and standards-based approaches — and, thus, for its involvement with the Internet Protocol Media Experience (IPMX) proposed set of open standards and specifications. ISE 2024 was particularly exciting, as it marked the movement from draft to final on seven of the core standards in the IPMX family. This could mark an inflection point for channel partners and their designs.
When CI visited the booth, Kimberly Brown, manager, marketing and communications, highlighted one of the biggest attention-getters at ISE 2024. She pointed to a demonstration of Matrox Video’s ConvertIP ST 2110/IPMX-ready converters in a live production environment with Panasonic’s KAIROS live video production platform. The setup featured side-by-side displays. The left side showed ST 2110 uncompressed content, whereas the right side showed content that ConvertIPs had converted to visually lossless 1Gb IPMX. “People are really interested in IPMX,” Brown enthuses. She adds that, in particular, channel members seem curious about product releases and their related roadmaps as the open-standards initiative gains steam.
More to Come
In the coming days, keep an eye on CommercialIntegrator.com for more content as we wrap up the ISE 2024 experience. If there’s something you’d like to see us cover, please email me (dan.ferrisi@emeraldx.com).
And don’t forget to check out our ISE 2024 hub page, which is a central repository for all the content we published in the runup to the show, during the event and afterward. It’s your one-stop shop for all things ISE!
