Advanced Technologies for Home Theater to Hollywood Studios

When you’re watching a new film from 20th Century Fox, chances are that much of the technology within the movie comes as a result of one of our partners, AMX Control Systems. AMX hardware and software solutions simplify the way people interact with technology. Its award-winning products span control and automation, system-wide switching and audio/video signal distribution, digital signage and technology management.

But AMX is not only active in film production. Its systems are implemented worldwide in conference room audio visual, homes, classrooms, network operation / command centers, hotels, entertainment venues, broadcast facilities, among others.

With the increasing number of technologies and operating platforms at work and home, our partner AMX, solves the complexity of managing this technology with reliable, consistant and scalable audio visual systems.  Today’s fastest growing media affiliates and largest film studios incorporate AMX technology as a way to maximize the return on investment by optimizing their time in such rapid-fire, pressure-packed environments.

When you are viewing a live newscast, listening to the radio, or watching a movie, the advanced control and automation features of AMX are used to manage every second. Powerful AMX Control Systems and user-friendly AMX Touch Panels facilitate peak efficiency and achieve broadcast quality without compromising overall production or creativity. Within the walls of the media control room and film screening/editing/dubbing stages, AMX makes a significant contribution that can be reflected in Nielson ratings and box office results – two areas in which AMX control has assisted in yielding big numbers.

The next time you marvel at the special effects and animation of a high-budget production, consider all the work that went into creating these amazing visuals. Hours upon hours of computer graphic development. A variety of post production equipment designed to review daily filming. And, of course, AMX integration to bring it all together to quickly and effectively analyze each frame and edit audio. This kind of emphasis by the directors and producers on giving the audience something new and jaw-dropping requires leading control technology behind the scenes from Day One. The amount of media formats available can be mind-boggling.

Daily television newscasts and radio broadcasts, as well as movie releases throughout the year, represent a conglomerate of digital, video, tape, satellite, print and Internet media. What’s great about AMX is its way to provide easy-to-understand control capabilities to effectively manage the consistency of all content plus the seamless flow of different video and film. In a nutshell, AMX takes sophisticated electronics and lessens the learning curve.

We’re excited about our work with AMX. Its products are available domestically through CCS Presentation Systems, who sell, install and service the products.

Adding Digital Cinema Projection to Your Business

Today’s movie theater operators must feel like they are in a version of Moore’s Law, the famous idea generally describing the rapid (every 18 months) overhaul of computer technology. With the advancements of digital film technology, it’s imperative for movie theater operators and other large venue screen projection facilities to stay abreast of this fast-changing technology.

There are choices between the types of projection technologies, two approved pixel formats (resolutions), and technologies for 3D, a high value add-on for digital cinema projection. And lastly, there is the choice of an audio visual consultant and vendor.

Our partners at Christie Digital Systems USA detailed some of the options open to large venue theater operators in a recent white paper.  Choosing the right projection technology has the greatest affect on image quality, as well as on other factors important to theatrical exhibition, including functionality, reliability and cost of ownership.

“For instance, a 4K image has twice as many pixels in both the horizontal and vertical directions as a 2K image, which results in four pixels in the space a single pixel occupies in a 2K image,” wrote the white paper’s author. “Since the pixels are half the size in each direction they are proportionally harder to detect. This becomes more important for wider screens, since the increased width of the theater places more seats closer to the screen.”

One argument made for 4K is simply that it has far more pixels than 1080p high-definition televisions. Why would patrons come to a theater to see almost the same number of pixels they can watch at home? One reason is that digital cinema images are far better than even the best home video formats (e.g., Blu-ray Disc™). Compared to Blu-ray Disc, digital cinema images have a wider color gamut, four times the color information, up to sixteen times finer gray shade resolution and have been compressed far more lightly with a compression scheme that inherently creates less visible artifacts (JPEG 2000).”

If you are seeking digital projection for your business or theater operation, contact CCS Presentation Systems for insights, consultation and installation. We will work with you to determine your needs, the ideal setup and the appropriate price points.

Upgrading classrooms with Interactive Whiteboards

As Arizona students return to the classroom this month, some will see a change in their classroom setups. Instead of old-style chalkboards, they will find interactive whiteboards, developed by leading technology manufacturers across the US and installed by CCS Presentation Systems.  

Schools in districts across Arizona are purchasing interactive whiteboards due to research that supports their positive impact on learning. Interactive whiteboards are also a cost-effective way to bring advanced education technology into the classroom.  

Our manufacturing partner, Smart Technologies, offers the industry’s best interactive whiteboards with its patented, award-winning SMART Notebook software – the engine behind all of SMART’s interactive whiteboards. With it, teachers and students can:

• Control any computer application
• Write in digital ink over applications, Web pages or even moving video
• Save all your work to a single Notebook file
• Convert handwriting to text
• Record synchronized audio and data files 
• Access a Gallery of more than 6,000 images, videos, sounds, Macromedia® Flash® movies and backgrounds  

SMART’s multiple free services and resources, including software upgrades and technical support, eliminate many ownership costs, making total cost of ownership very affordable. K−12 educators have made the SMART Board interactive whiteboard the most widely purchased and widely standardized interactive classroom whiteboard in the world because it offers the best quality, ease of use and value for both the short and long term.

Ask us for more information on the SMART whiteboards, or general digital display solutions, questions to ask, costs involved and more.

Digital Signage Solutions for Specialty Retailers

If you’re a specialty retailer, then you know that getting your customers’ attention is a tough task in today’s multimedia rich world. Having interactive solutions and a digital signage system for your connected customers can be a tremendous bonus to your business. When you work with top manufacturers and CCS as your audio-visual equipment systems integrator, you’re working with the best.  

There are numerous benefits to bringing in state of the art digital signage:

• Digital signage can power your brand’s image and reinforce your identity, look and feel of the brand attributes to customers. The color and accuracy of LCD screens in your stores’ retail environment far surpasses quality printed signage.
• Digital signage improves your customers’ in-store shopping experience. Entertain your customers in checkout lines with promotional material, information feeds, news feeds and more. Or during the holidays, screencast holiday music and imagery.
• With touchscreen kiosk technology, customers can
  search your inventory and store environment for specific products. The screen can also pass along sales events.
• Moving to digital signage can save on costs by eliminating the production step in the overall process – your outlet can move from design stage to live display. No more shipping costs, no more print production costs.
• Digital signage can be set up and controlled from a single point of access, whether it’s multiple screens from one location, or screens across multiple franchises. Store owners can program the display units according to location, times of day and much more.  

Our manufacturing partner NEC offers the following solutions in a terrific case study. Learn about general digital display solutions, questions to ask, costs involved and more. For your free copy, please click here to download the case study.

Accelerating the Learning Process

The Orange County (FL) Acceleration Academy is a high profile high school of about 500 students. In late 2010/early 2011, the school administration team for the Academy had a goal: to create a more data-driven classroom environment for each teacher, by incorporating the use of technology already in place within the school. In this instance, that meant better utilization of the interactive whiteboards for learning.

Better use of the whiteboards would help provide teachers with the ability to consistently monitor student progress throughout the school year, by bringing into the classroom a daily assessment activity and RTI opportunities for use by teachers.

To meet these goals, the school worked with The LearningStation team to install and operate the Insight School platform for all teachers and administrators within the school. Early trainings with teachers went great, and after additional practice, another program to assess professional development for teachers was implemented to increase proficiency in the use of the Insight platform, as well as assessment tools in general.

The new classroom technology benefits teachers at the Acceleration Academy in several ways:

 

• Teachers are using Insight to integrate textbook and end of course exams with their learner response devices.
• Teachers are also using Insight to deliver bell work to their class – students are logging into their Insight account and answering questions set up as a daily assignment.
• Lead teachers are building their own question banks inside of the Insight Platform in order to create custom assessments.
• Teachers at the Acceleration Academy are printing out their Test Reports from the Insight Assessment Platform for their data notebooks (data notebooks are required in the district).  Teachers in each department collaborate during their bi-monthly meetings to discuss the contents of these data notebooks.
• School administrators have created and delivered school-wide benchmark assessments in preparation for the FCAT test every April.
• The administration team is using FCAT practice tests using content taken directly from the Florida Department of Education website and delivering these FCAT practice tests through the Insight Platform.

 

Read here about technical systems integration projects in the K-12 education sector or click over to our blog to find out more how CCS is changing the ways classrooms use Smartboard technology.