Design...
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
- Robert Heinlein

The design of a multimedia, AV or video system always starts with a determination of what the system will need to do, support or accomplish; how many people the system will address; the constraints one will have in designing a system into a facility. As these parameters are considered and determined, the best design can be obtained.

Various Issues
Over the years, General Projection has published a number of articles of either a technical or design-issue perspective.

We hope that one or more of these essays will be of assistance to you. Should you have questions that are not addressed through these notes, please email us at Solutions@genproj.com or fill out our "I have a question" form and we will get you the answer!

Design Note 1-"Getting the Information Super Highway Into Sync"

Design Note 2 - "Seismic Considerations for Mounting Equipment and Racks"

Design Note 3 - "The Superhighway Comes Home"

Design Note 4 - "Government In The Sunshine"

Design Note 5 - "Projection Lenses - Scheimpflug: Exotic Delicacy or Angle Correction?"

Design Note 6 - "Controlling the Video Conference"

Design Note 7 - "Acoustic Echo Cancellation"

Furniture
Furniture for the AV environment plays a very essential role in the success of the system. During many of our projects, we have been tasked with designing and providing:

• Video conferencing tables.
• Smart lecterns.
• Teaching workstations.
• Large collaborative command center tables.

In order to ensure that the furniture integrates to the overall system design, each element of the part it plays is assessed.

Click here for a full overview of these concepts and considerations.

Keynote Speech-"Designing Your Multimedia Facility"
On December 3, 1999, Drake Wayson, President of General Projection Systems presented the Keynote Speech for the Government Video Technology Expo in Washington D.C.

You can view the Power Point presentation given during that keynote speech by clicking the link below. This presentation is an excellent "check list" of things to be concerned about when designing either a new facility or an upgrade to an existing one.

Click here for the Keynote Presentation

Once you have review this information, if you have additional questions or a project you would like for us to help you plan and execute, simply fill in our Information Request form and we will get back to you quickly.

Design Resources

While many of these and more can be found on our Vendor Support resource page, we include some of the most helpful ones from a design perspective. If you find this information handy, please feel free to peruse our vendor's site as well for even more design reference information.

Our focus here is in four basic areas:

• Video
• Video Conferencing
• Audio
• Remote Control
• Miscellaneous

While there are many other areas that require exploring, these should give you a feel for the most important in the AV and conferencing environment. Should you need additional resources or information, please fill out our Information Request form or email Solutions@genproj.com

Some of these require Adobe's PDF Viewer (Acrobat Reader) which you can download for free from Adobe by clicking here.

Video

Digital Television Resources - Start thinking about DTV now because your infrastructure will need to support new formats very soon!

Da-Lite Screen's Guide to Screen Selection - Great information regarding screen size, material and type for different projection applications.

Autopatch's Bandwidth Calculator (requires Shockwave - which installs automatically when you run this application) - if you are designing a video system and trying to determine the minimum video bandwidth needs, this is a great application!

Video Conferencing/Collaboration

Microsoft's NetMeeting Web Page - A place you can download, learn about and use NetMeeting.

Video Conferencing Cookbook - A compendium of video conferencing issues, standards, self-help, etc. compiled by a number of educational institutions.

Cable Systems

3Com has an excellent white paper on Category 5, Category 5E, Category 6 and Category 7 network cabling for higher bandwidth applications (this includes streaming video, video conferencing, etc.).

West Penn Wire offers some excellent information on high-bandwidth coaxial cable systems and coax selection for certain applications.

Sound System Design

For information on the benefits and design need for automatic microphone mixing, Lectrosonics offers an excellent but brief white paper.

JBL Professional Sound System Design Manual -- 1999 edition: (1.46 mb - .pdf)

ASPI Digital (now Polycom) white paper on Audio in the Distance Learning Classroom...applies to regular video conferencing as well.

Remote Control

AMX resource for step-by-step planning and understanding the importance of control in today's complex AV, presentation and video conferencing environment.

Crestron offers a wonderful "Design Center" that we use regularly when planning a control system.

Multimedia Furniture Design

Nova Desk - Manufacturers of a variety of workstation typedesks, Nova has done extensive human factors research.

Bretrord White Paper for VTC Room Design - while this document is primarily aimed at promoting Bretford's excellent furniture designs, there are many nuggets of design wisdom and helpful hints.

Miscellaneous

ADA resource page - Whether you are concerned about the size of a projection screen, Assistive Listening Requirements or how low a monitor can hang, this is the place to start. We have done a lot of ADA research for clients, don't hesitate to contact us at Solutions@genproj.com with questions.

DVD information - As a new source to our systems, DVD's and all of their "brethren" (VCD, compressed video, etc.) are not always fully understood. Here is a great FAQ with links that should answer those questions.