Extron NAV Pro powers AV services at the Anderson Center of the WSSU

For the refurbishment at Winston-Salen State University (WSSU) switching solutions have been used, distribution, Control and audio of Extron.

In the McNeil Banquet Hall at Anderson Center, belonging to the Winston-Salem State University, A remodeling has just been carried out that includes the installation of an audiovisual system that has had the solutions of Extron. Thanks to the improvements carried out, Paid bookings have gone up and allowed the party hall to become a major profit center for the university..

This center is the headquarters of different academic departments and serves as a conference center.. Small meeting rooms available, another large one for parties and an auditorium with 400 Seats equipped to hold professional theatrical productions. The conference center can be booked by the campus community, Government Agencies, enterprises, Non-profit organizations and business associations.

For the new AV system, Chris Screen, Technology Support Analyst de la WSSU, worked with the professional AV integrator of Winston-Salem Recursav to respond to the challenges posed by the center. Although they had an empty room to start from scratch, had to develop an AV design that could be installed with minimal alteration to the existing walls and ceiling, but that met the need to use multiple screens on each wall to offer good viewing angles to attendees seated around the dining tables in the room.

The project also included additional video screens in the lobby area., At the entrance of the party room, which required drilling over existing concrete structures for cable routing. To simplify cable installation through existing construction, AV over IP signal distribution via cable Ethernet CATx was the chosen option. Recursav selected a series of switching products, distribution, Extron audio and control to meet system design requirements.

the professional AV over IP NAV encoders and decoders of Extron form the centerpiece of the video signal path, using the Ethernet cable infrastructure of 1 Gbps to send 4K video signals and RS-232 control to Anderson Center conference centers, including McNeil Banquet Hall, the Dillard Auditorium and its lobbies.

The existing Ethernet cable plant also distributes audio, based on network connectivity dante. The AV over IP system manager Navigator configures the remote points of the NAV encoder and decoder, in addition to managing matrix switching between AV inputs and outputs through an IP network switch.

Signal Distribution with Extron

NAV Pro provides different advantages that make it the right choice for the Anderson Center. Carries video signals, audio and control over standard CATx Ethernet cabling using available Ethernet network switches, saving installation time and cost, and allowing AV content to be routed from any source to any destination.

The university intends to add more remote points to the AV over IP network of the building in the future. NAV Pro will make those expansions become a seamless process.

Projectors and display

The party room has five ceiling-mounted laser projectors that point to two screens on the south wall, two in the north and one in the east. The latter, with a single screen, It is considered the front of the room, But event organizers have the flexibility to make any of the walls the focal point based on the number of attendees., Arrangement of the dining tables or when there are two screens necessary for the presentation.

Projectors receive HDMI content and RS-232 control signals from NAV set-top boxes mounted on each projector.

The lobby corridor at the entrance of the party room serves as a waiting area, where attendees can socialize, Register and collect your cards before entering the lounge.

Two flat-panel monitors 65 Inches on the lobby wall offer informational messages, Entertainment, Real-time displays of room presentations or images of what's going on inside, captured by two cameras placed on the north and south wall. NAV set-top boxes mounted behind each monitor provide HDMI content and RS-232 control signals to the monitors.

To maintain the concept that the design of the room is flexible for all types of events, a NAV encoder has been placed on a wall plate next to each of the five projection screens of the party room.

No matter which screen the presenter chooses as the primary, there's an encoder nearby where you can plug your laptop or other source of HDMI content. The wallplate NAV encoders are also located near the two chambers on the north and south walls., allowing cameras to send their HDMI content to the AV over IP network.

AV and streaming connections

The party room also has bidirectional connectivity of NAV AV over IP with the Dillard Auditorium, increasing the capacity of an event with 400 seats. The content displayed in this space can be sent to the auditorium monitors or the auditorium can provide content to the party room.

One streaming media processor with dual SMP recording 352 receives HDMI from two NAV set-top boxes, as well as from two channels of analog audio with DSP. WSSU uses SMP 352 to record and stream events from both the party room and the auditorium. This allows events and conferences to be disseminated to larger audiences beyond the boundaries of the two spaces..

Remote participants can also join events interactively through web-based software codec applications such as Zoom.. Software codecs work on the AV system computer, which is connected to the AV over IP network via a NAV encoder and decoder.

Clear, powerful sound

The IP network also distributes the audio, based on Dante and AES67 network connectivity. Sources include program sound from presenters' laptops, shipped via NAV encoders on wallplate.

Eight microphones provide audio from presenters and attendees. Sixteen ceiling speakers SoundField In the dining room they work with a four-channel amplifier NetPA with 100 W per channel.

A NetPA amplifier with two channels of 100 W operates six SoundField speakers in the waiting area. Both amplifiers receive their inputs from the Dante audio network. Hearing aid transmitters on the north and south walls connect to the Dante network via Dante audio interfaces on wall plate AXI 22 AT D and Provide complete room coverage for attendees with portable hearing aid receivers.

Touch screens

Event organizers and presenters control the AV system with five touch screens TouchLink Pro of 10 Inch, Placed the walls of the party room, next to each projection screen.

Intuitive GUIs control AV system power on/off, Raising and lowering projection screens, route any AV source to any display and set up streaming and Zoom sessions.

When entering a keyword on the home screen, AV technicians access a number of technical GUIs to carry out advanced system configuration. Touchscreens work in conjunction with an IPCP Pro xi control processor, an IPL EXP expansion interface and AV system manager over IP Navigator to control AV system functions.

Using Extron Control for iOS, Control system mirrors touchscreen GUIs via WiFi to an iPad, Enabling wireless control from anywhere in the room.

Recursav designed and implemented touch screen GUIs using Global Configurator Professional and the software GUI Designer.

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