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AV Systems
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Talk to the projector
Network connectivity saves time, money, and resources
Mar 31, 2005
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by Carolyn Heinze
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It’s an all-too-common scenario in government agencies and educational facilities: An official or faculty member is preparing to make a presentation, and when they try to turn the projector on, nothing happens. A harried call to the AV department sends a technician running across campus to fix the problem — an issue that is often so minor that it seems hardly worth the stress and effort.
Until recently, that is how things had to be. Thanks to the inroads being made in networking, however, this is no longer the case. Like many other technological systems, projectors now have the ability to connect to facility-wide networks, enabling engineers and technicians to monitor and support these systems without leaving their offices.
“Network connectivity has really become a necessity for companies or facilities that have a large number of systems, especially if these systems are in different buildings,” said Bob Guentner, product manager at NEC Solutions America.
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| Network connectivity is becoming a standard feature in Sony’s newer installation projectors. |
“In most facilities now, there is IP-based connectivity in virtually every room,” added Sony’s Sander Phipps, product manager, B2B front projectors. “It’s very easy now — many of our models have an Ethernet connection built into them — to tie the projectors into an existing network and control those projectors over the network.”
Technician Efficiency
Typically, for an organization with projectors in multiple rooms, network control gives one technician the ability to monitor all of the projectors from one location. “That saves a lot of running around and prevents user issues regarding setup,” Phipps said.
This capability also enables AV technicians to keep better track of the equipment they are charged with maintaining. “One of the driving forces behind networking projectors is the ability to monitor the projector for errors — say, if a lamp died — proactively,” Phipps explained. “In many cases, the projector can tell you if the lamp is almost at its end of life by sending you an e-mail. It’s a proactive response to problems rather than a reactive one.”
Plus, networked projectors can be put on a timer. At the end of the day, they can be shut off automatically, which saves lamp life and manpower. And a network connection also provides an additional layer of security, as a technician can see when a unit is no longer attached to the network.
The software that makes all of this possible is built into Sony units. “All of the control and monitoring capability are already on board, there is no additional software needed. If you want to create a program that monitors the projectors for security reasons, we sell a program that will do that [PJNet!], but you don’t necessarily have to do that,” Phipps explained. “Things like e-mail functionality are already on the projector.”
Presenter Advantages
Network connectivity also makes life easier for presenters, particularly for guest speakers. All the presenter needs to know how to do is plug in their laptop; there is no need to train them on projector usage. “By virtue of the fact that the projectors are networked together, someone from a remote location down the hall or across the street can access the projector and send it to the correct input,” Phipps said.
Some projectors also allow users to send content over the network. “For example, if I need to make a presentation to somebody who may be at another facility, I can, over the LAN, send the presentation to the projector,” Phipps explained. “I can present and not necessarily be in the same room, or I can present in that room and not bring my PC because the information will already be there.”
As is the case with most technology, the projector market has seen decreasing costs in presentation technology. Because most new AV systems are equipped with IP capabilities, network connectivity is becoming standard. All of Sony’s newer installation projectors, for example, feature IP-based control. “It’s really not an add-on or an option,” said Phipps, “it’s what we consider to be standard now.”
“Organizations are not spending $1,000 to put a projector into a conference room. They are still spending $4,000 or $5,000 for a good projector that is designed to be installed and integrated with a control system, such as Crestron or AMX,” observed Greg Boyd, executive vice president and COO, AVWashington, a systems installation firm based in Sterling, VA. “And you still need a fairly medium to high-level projector in order to have that connectivity.”
Easy On The Infrastructure
Still, the cost savings in man hours and maintenance these units can deliver make network-ready projectors an attractive investment for many institutions. “If you can save one lamp change a year per projector, you are talking about $300-$500,” explained Phipps. “Most people that are tasked with the in-house AV of a typical building, government or otherwise, will tell you that much of their day is spent running over and showing somebody how to use a projector or switching it to the right input. The ability to monitor everything from one point does result in savings.”
More good news: Facilities need not concern themselves with implementing complicated infrastructures. “These systems are capable of running over Ethernet, Category 5, and RS-232 cables,” Guentner said. “Bandwidth isn’t really a concern.”
As a result, funds can also be saved at the installation level. “From an installation perspective, you can do anything control-wise that you could have done with a serial, RS-232 control,” Phipps said. “If the room has a third-party control system — Crestron, AMX, or whatever — a lot of these are IP-based as well. Category 5 cable is much less expensive versus RS-232 cable. For long cable runs, it can save a few hundred dollars per installation as well.”
When bandwidth increases, users will have the capability of sending more content down the pipeline. “As far as networking, you will see more and more content delivery — streaming video, multimedia presentations, or the ability to use wire or wireless to deliver PowerPoint files as well as streaming video,” Phipps predicted. “In general, in projection technology, you will start to see an increase in resolution. With the advent of digital television and high definition permeating the world of AV/IT, the resolution will start to increase.”
University Of ROI
In facilities where equipment is difficult to install or projectors are hard to reach, organizations are turning to wireless projectors. “I think you are going to see an increasing number of projectors that have wireless capability in non-secure facilities,” Boyd said. “They will walk in with their laptop, type in the IP address of the projector, log into the projector, and all the information that they have will be fed from the laptop to the projector.”
Such is the case for the University of Illinois-Springfield, which recently installed a large number of NEC LT 265 projectors with wireless capability. The new building features a combination of 39 smart classrooms and labs.
“We wanted projectors that had the capability of being wireless,” explained Albert Whittenberg, the university’s associate director of educational technology. “We have a program on campus called the Capital Scholars Program, where each student gets a laptop that is wireless. We wanted them to be able to show their presentations on the projectors without having to physically get a cable there because it is on the ceiling.”
The university was already outfitted with a wireless infrastructure, which made the installation relatively smooth. “In terms of the software that the projectors needed to access through the wireless network, we had that built into the image of all of the computers that were going into that building, and also built into the image of all of the laptops that the students were getting,” Whittenberg said. “We didn’t have to download anything.”
Whittenberg noted that he is already seeing results from the network connectivity feature. “If you install a projector that does not have network capability, you are still talking about $1,000-$1,500 per projector,” he said. “For the extra $1,000 that we paid for this particular model, I think we do get a good return on investment — one is the ability with the users, but also from a support perspective.
“Since we have multiple buildings on campus, what would frequently happen if someone was having trouble with a projector, they would call, we would have a technician run over there and play around with it, and then run back. Now it can pretty much be done right over the phone, because usually the fix is very simple.”
This not only makes Whittenberg’s department look good, it saves time. “This way, I don’t have to have technicians running back and forth,” he said. “It saves manpower.”
Carolyn Heinze is a freelance writer/editor. Contact her at carolyn@carolynheinze.com.
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