These AV integrators represent the heart and soul of the pro AV industry–small- to medium-size companies doing $1 million to $30 million a year and working in a breadth of vertical markets. A handful say they focus primarily on corporate projects, but overall their specialties vary.
Forget rankings. We asked AV companies to tell us what makes them great and picked the 60 that stood out.
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When we asked AV firms about themselves, we asked for a little insight into their business prospects. Of all the companies that submitted information for the PRO AV 60, more than half said they expected to close out a brutal 2009 with more revenue than they had in 2008.
If anyone in this industry can be said to be ahead of the curve on green AV issues, it's consultants. This is in large part because of their frequent interactions with building architects, who, as you might imagine, think about things like LEED certification and sustainable design almost around the...
Much has been made recently about commercial AV professionals crossing over into residential work and resi installers competing for commercial work. And indeed, several of the PRO AV 60 that identified themselves as residential installers said they also work in other markets.
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If they had to pick one market as their primary specialty, these PRO AV 60 companies said house of worship was their main area of expertise.
Sample work from the PRO AV 60.
Barco's FLM HD20 projector offers an option for low-lumen output and low power consumption, so a user can increase or decrease the brightness and power consumption according to the presentation venue.
Unlike the building community, which has LEED, or the consumer appliance market, with Energy Star, AV pros don't yet have a comparable green seal of approval for their least power-hungry systems. Energy Star, for instance, doesn't account for the extended operation and brightness required of many...
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Built on dual mercury lamp platform. Feedback systems determine the number of lamps and power level required to keep the system cool.
The Titan's CoolTek engineering delivers the highest lumen performance at the lowest thermal (BTU) and noise-level (dB) output offered by the company in a recyclable chassis.
Hitachi officials say they employed environmentally conscious materials when constructing the CP-X10000, complying with RoHS 6 restricted materials standards and using unleaded solder and less harmful hexavalent chrome for screws or sheet steals.
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The NP4100 and NP4100W have built-in Eco mode technology, which saves power consumption through a 20-percent reduction in brightness.
The FL32 LED from Projectiondesign is a customizable front projector based on LED lighting and high-resolution DLP imaging technologies. Projectiondesign's ReaLED technology provides 100,000 hours of light output and low power consumption.
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Through their dual-lamp design, users can run the XG-P560W and XG-P610X with both lamps or run one lamp at a time, for reduced output and energy. Users can also operate the units in a low-brightness Eco mode, extending lamp life and reducing power consumption and fan noise.
Black Box's new ACS2004A DVI-D single-link fiber extender extends high-resolution DVI-D video up to 1,312 feet over a single 50-micron fiber, says the company, suiting it to digital signage applications. DDC is also transmitted transparently along with 1080p and 1920x1200 video.
Lutron's new RadioRA 2 system provides control of lights and shades, as well as AV devices and thermostats. Using RF control, the RadioRA 2 features a main repeater with built-in astronomic clock, RS-232, and IP integration;
The new DigitalMedia Card Interface (DMCI) from Crestron is a compact, rack-mountable enclosure designed to house a single DM input card for accepting any AV source signal (including analog, digital, computer, HDMI, DVI, and DisplayPort signals) and outputting it as HDMI.
The new MB1500 UPS from Panamax is designed to be used with other power management products to protect home theater equipment. It also includes surge protection, RS-232 control, Automatic Voltage Regulation, Linear Filtering Technology, and the company's new BlueBolt feature, which allows...
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The latest additions to Extron's Xtra series of audio power amplifiers include the two-channel XPA 2002-70V for 70-volt speakers, four-channel XPA-2004 for 4- and 8-ohm speakers, and the three-channel XPA 2003C-70V with two channels for 4- and 8-ohm speakers and a third channel for 70-volt...
The improved version of Gefen's Extender for HDMI v1.3 over One Cat-6a cable delivers HD video at full 1080p with support for up to 12-bit deep color as far as 175 feet over one shielded Cat-6a cable.
Lutron now offers DMX control (pictured), a DALI bus, and RF communication with its Grafik Eye QS Wireless System. The DMX Control Interface allows control of lighting that uses the DMX512 protocol, such as energy-efficient LED light engines, strobes, fog machines, animated characters, and...