Extron equips JB Duke hotel with sophisticated audiovisual capabilities

The Glaxo and Executive classrooms of this hotel and conference center have been completely renovated and have been equipped with a complete audiovisual system based on Extron NAV Pro AV over IP for signal switching and distribution.

The hotel and conference center JB Duke a Durham (North Carolina), property of the Duke University, has hosted executive MBA students and faculty from the university's Fuqua School of Business, as well as travelers from all over the world, from 1989. During the latest renovations carried out at the hotel, the Glaxo classroom and the Executive classroom, plus adjacent collaboration spaces, received important updates to the audiovisual system, based on Extron NAV Pro AV sober IP for the switching and signal distribution.

“We specified NAV Pro AV over IP for its flexibility. Extron validated our design, checked the configuration of the network switches, checked the firmware and confirmed that the NAV encoders and decoders were configured correctly”, says David Johnson, CHTP, Information Technology Area Director of the JB Duke Hotel. “Besides, they put the system into operation remotely, which meant a great saving of time”.

Aulas Glaxo y Executive

The Glaxo classroom and the Executive classroom are identical spaces of 136 square meters that have 65 seating at different levels, with optimized acoustics for events with speakers. Fuqua Business School conducts executive MBA classes in these classrooms for students who typically stay at the hotel for the weekend or one to two weeks of the courses.. The rooms also hold business meetings and discussions.. Adjacent to each room is a reception area with informal seating, work surfaces, café y snack bars. Several small AV-equipped meeting rooms are located just steps away..

These rooms serve as hybrid learning centers for the Fuqua Business School and also host events booked by third parties. Both have a behind-the-scenes technical cabin that houses the core functions of the AV system.

These include a 8x DXP HD 4K PLUS matrix switcher×8 and the main components of the NAV Pro AV over IP network, composed of HDMI NAV E encoders 101 for video and audio distribution, HDMI/Ethernet/USB NAV E encoders 501 for KVM keyboard and mouse extension, NAV SD upscaling decoders 101, un switch Ethernet de 48 ports and a NAVigator system manager.

He control del sistema OFF is performed using an Extron control processor. The main audio functions are also located in the technical booth, including AES67/Dante compatible audio amplifiers, and audio DSP processor, Dante AXI audio interfaces 22 AT y AXI 44 AT, and an HAI HDMI audio embedder 100 4K Plus.

“We specified the NAV Pro AV over IP based on its flexibility. Extron validated our design. They launched the system themselves remotely, which was a real time saver. They checked how we configure network switches, checked the firmware and confirmed that all NAV encoders and decoders were configured correctly”, explains David Johnson, CHTP, area director, Information Technology.

Integration of display and audio devices

At the front of each room there is a motorized projection screen that goes down on the white boards, with a laser projector mounted on the ceiling and directed towards the screen.

Accompanying the projection screen are two flat screen display devices of 85 inches. Two computers on the lectern provide interfaces to Duke University's Panopto video content management platform for recording and streaming to remote participants.

Each display device and both Panopto computers are equipped with a NAV SD scaler decoder 101 to provide HDMI content from the AV Pro NAV over IP. Panopto computers are also interconnected for redundancy through the DA2 HD 4K Plus distribution amplifiers.

The Fuqua Business School and JB Duke Hotel data networks connect to two computers in the Glaxo and Executive classroom technology booths that accept AV content delivered over the data networks and output it as HDMI. The content is thus distributed through the NAV Pro AV over IP to the display devices in the room and to the video content management platform Panopto of the Duke. A third computer in the technology booth provides AV content from the classrooms.

Each room is equipped with PTZ cameras in the front and in the back. The front camera, mounted on top of the lectern, is controlled manually; while the rear, directed towards the lectern, has AI-assisted automatic tracking, handwriting recognition, focus area cropping and gesture-activated zoom. Los DTP transmitters and receivers connect the rear camera to your controller. Both cameras are AV over IP remote points, allowing the images they capture to be displayed on any of the display devices and streamed to Panopto for remote participants.

For those who bring their own portable media, and digital media player is one of the HDMI sources that power the NAV of professional AV over IP. The player accepts video files from USB flash drives and SD memory cards and has a remote control. A wireless screen mirroring receiver allows room occupants to cast from their BYOD portable devices to the AV over IP network to display their content on the big screens.

The lectern houses a AV over IP subnet Built around your own network switch 16 ports. HDMI AV content originates from the dual-screen laptop and lectern document camera, and delivered to the network switch through the NAV E encoders 101.

Three video monitors are available to display AV content from the music stand. Two are mounted on the lectern and one is on a mobile cart. All three connect to the lectern's AV over IP switch using the NAV SD scaler decoders 101. This switch connects to the main AV over IP technology booth via Ethernet, allowing you to display content from the lectern on the large screens in the room or stream it to Panopto.

The Dante audio network and audio DSP adapt the sound of Glaxo and Executive classrooms to accommodate all meeting formats. A gooseneck microphone allows presenters to speak from the lectern. Presenters who prefer to move around the room use two wireless handheld microphones connected to a receiver inside the lectern.

Ceiling microphones capture audience voices. The computers, Media players and wireless screen mirroring access points also send audio to the Dante network through Dante AXI audio interface units 44 AT y AXI 22 AT and HAI HDMI Audio Embedders 100 4K Plus. High-power amplifiers drive a variety of ceiling- and wall-mounted speakers. Audio is also streamed to Panopto for those listening remotely.

Control del sistema OFF

The AV control system is centered around an IPCP Pro 555Q xi control processor in each room. Control processors regulate the operation of all third-party and Extron AV equipment over Ethernet, serie, IR/serial and relays.

NAV E encoders 501 Provide USB KVM extension between multiple room computers and a keyboard, a mouse, a remote presentation controller and a USB connection dock on the lectern. Each room is equipped with two TouchLink Pro touch screens 12-inch ultra-panoramic dessert table″ allowing user control from the backstage technology booth or lectern. Touchscreens include an HDMI input that provides motion video preview from the NAV of professional AV over IP.

“End users need very little help using the system. We design the user interface with specific scenarios that predetermine correct audio/video connections for different types of events. We prototyped the touchscreen GUIs in Photoshop and Recursav implemented them. Since the development, we have modified the GUIs ourselves based on user input. GUI Designer and Global Configurator Pro give us the ability to take care of these updates”, clarifies William Turner, JB Duke Hotel and Conference Center Network Administrator.