There’s a common saying about products and services, “Better, faster, cheaper. You can pick any two, but you can’t have all three.”
But, times are changing. Take “AV over IP” for example. That stands for audiovisual signals running through a company’s IT infrastructure (IP = internet protocol).
Audiovisual signals have always been analog. IT infrastructure has always been digital. They don’t go together.
But a shift is underway as audiovisual manufacturers begin offering digital audio and video components that can plug right into a company’s IT network — giving us “AV over IP.”
It’s a step in the right direction, but of no practical value unless the AV equipment sending the digital audio signals can connect and communicate with the AV equipment that is supposed to do something with those signals…like make a sound or display an image (or both).
Which is where industry standards come into play.
And, it’s why Dante from Australia-based Audinate is quickly becoming a name to remember.
Based on industry standards, Dante is a digital media networking technology that enables interoperability between digital audio equipment anywhere on a network.
It’s important to ExhibitOne because it means we can provide you with uncompressed, multi-channel digital audio with nearly unlimited scalability, near-zero latency and no signal degradation.
It’s important to you because we can do this AND eliminate the costs of AV cabling, related labor and dedicated routing/switching hardware. All the routing and rerouting of audio streams that would take weeks to complete can now be done with a few mouse clicks. We’re talking minutes here.
A large and rapidly growing segment of audiovisual component manufacturers is signing on to Dante (Click here and see them). It’s estimated there are already more than 1,500 Dante-enabled audio components out there, including amplifiers, audio monitors, commentary systems, conference systems, digital recorders and players, digital signal processors, encoders and decoders, external clocks, I/O interfaces, intercoms, matrix switchers, mic preamps, microphones, mixing consoles, personal monitors, sound cards, speaker management processors, stage boxes…just about everything audio.
With all the advantages Dante brings to an audio implementation, it’s hard to imagine it not being a part of an overall solution.
The same can now be said for legacy audio systems as well.
Over the past month, Audinate began shipping the Dante family of adapters. They allow your legacy analog audio equipment to get onboard the company’s IT network and produce all the benefits of networked audio. Just like the new digital equipment, your legacy audio components can seamlessly transmit/receive high-quality, uncompressed audio streams over long distances without the noise and ground issues common with analog connections.
Whether you’re looking at a new audio system or keeping the one you have, the times have definitely changed. Take “AV over IP” for example. With technologies like Dante, you no longer have to pick from better, faster, cheaper. You now get all three.
And what about video? Stay tuned!
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