- You get what you pay for… low-cost = low quality.
- You’re always looking for the best deal. Why pay more?

If you’re shopping around for an audiovisual installer, whether it’s for your new home theater system or for your restaurant, nightclub or corporate boardroom commercial AV installation, you’re probably entering your search with one of those two thoughts in mind. But this all-or-nothing approach can hurt you, whichever side of the argument you’re on.

Three Estimates, Three Choices
When you’re shopping for an audiovisual systems installer, it’s wise to get three estimates. Here in the New York tri-state area, there’s no shortage of audiovisual integrators to choose from. (We hope you’ll make JD Systems one of your calls!) But, when you make your final decision, there’s a lot more to consider than price. Talking with three integrators gives you enough of a selection without overwhelming yourself with choices or wasting a lot of your time.

Choosing Your Audio Video Contractor
Here are a few tips to get the information you need quickly and easily to make the best choice.

1. Make sure the AV integrator is selecting brands you can trust. You don’t want to go with the lowest price if he’s going to buy the TV screens for your sports bar, nightclub or retail location at a big box store. If you have a strong preference for specific brands, let him know. If he doesn’t carry those brands, you might be wasting everyone’s time… including your own!

2. Make sure the firm has the experience necessary to complete a project like yours. Ask to see examples of other work or ask for references. Check with the Better Business Bureau. But most importantly, trust your instincts. Does the representative sound like he knows what he’s doing? Sure, some people can talk the game and then leave the job site looking like, well, a construction zone, but you’re a smart New Yorker. Your instincts will rarely fail you when you get a good feeling (or a bad one!) about a contractor.

3. The typical rule is to go with the bidder in the middle, who’s taking your budget into consideration while providing you with the best bang for your buck. But remember, larger audiovisual firms can get better bulk pricing on some equipment. Smaller guys may not be able to come down a lot on equipment like monitors and speakers, but they might be able to offer you more value for your money or find other creative ways to work within your budget. If you go with the lowest bidder you might (not always, but sometimes) be sacrificing the personalized service you’ll get with a smaller company.

Find out exactly what is included in the price quote, but, most importantly, go with your gut instincts: Who do you feel is going to treat you right? Who’s going to be there in the middle of the night if you have an issue with your audio video systems? Who is listening like they understand your needs?

Whether it’s the highest bidder, lowest bidder or the one in the middle, that’sthe audio video installer you want to choose for your most important project.

You certainly can and if that’s what you have to do to get the system of your dreams within your budget, we understand. (Although we might be able to recommend other options.)

But we would want to let you know about the differences between consumer and commercial HDTV screens before you make the choice.

About Consumer HDTV Screens

An article in Sound & Communications magazine noted that 80 to 90 percent of HDTV displays shipped through commercial channels are actually consumer screens. For some applications, consumer screens can actually save you money.

For instance:

• If your screens won’t be on 40 hours a week or more, you might be able to get away with a consumer screen. (For instance, in a corporate boardroom where you only use the displays a few times a week, for a few hours a day).
• If you don’t need additional options, such as RS232 capabilities or the option to place the displays in landscape or portrait mode, consumer screens might fit your needs.
• If you’re willing to take the chance on a shorter warranty, then go ahead — save money with consumer displays.

But before you take the plunge and plunk down your cash at the “big blue,” we’d like you to consider another option.

Another Money-Saving Option in Video for Commercial Applications

You’d like the peace-of-mind of that extended contract on commercial screens, but all those monitors are just about killing your budget, right? There’s another choice that your AV contractor should share with you. (And just in case your current contractor doesn’t — well, that’s why we’re here): Hybrid HDTV screens.

These HDTVs have a commercial warranty of two to three years and RS232 capability, but not all the other added features you may not need.

Keep in mind: using a consumer display in a commercial venue can void your warranty. But a hybrid HDTV can give you the peace-of-mind of commercial warranty protection and many of the settings you want in a public display, for just slightly more than the price of the consumer screens you see at your local warehouse club or home electronics store.

But if you’re evaluating HDTV screens for a video upgrade in your venue, you might be confused by the different levels of quality available. Let JD Systems help you out before you make an HDTV purchase for your commercial space.

Consumer Screens

Consumer screens have limited connectivity options. You can program a universal remote for any consumer screen, but you may not be able to use a commercial grade RS232 controller or something like a commercial Crestron system.

Consumer screens include a built-in tuner and often speakers that provide decent sound quality for home use (although true audiophiles setting up a home theatre system will want to consider 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound, instead.)

Most consumer screens come with a one-year manufacturers warranty, and very few come with a service agreement after the sale, although you might be able to spend more and get an extended warranty.

Commercial Screens

Most commercial HDTV screens, sometimes called monitors, do not have a built-in tuner. Instead, you connect a cable box, DirecTV box, PC, digital signage system or other input via HDMI or Ethernet over the network in order to display content on the screen. This enhances the capabilities of what you can display.

You can also change the display settings to optimize the picture quality based on the source.

Commercial screens all include RS232 control capabilities, but may have additional control options, too.

Commercial screens have advanced cooling capabilities and anti-burn-in features that make them capable of running 24/7/365 when needed. The 2-to-3-year warranty also supports this kind of extended use.

Hybrid Screens

A money-saving option when you need some, but not all, of the features of a commercial HDTV monitor for your hospitality venue, hybrid screens have RS232 control capabilities and an extended commercial warranty, but sell for less money than true commercial HDTVs.

If you’re in the market for new AV systems, you should select a video installer you can trust to recommend the best plasma, LED or LCD displays for your venue.

Home LED screens are, in fact, LCD screens with an LED backlight. What does this mean exactly?

Both LCD and consumer LED displays use a Liquid Crystal Display. In the case of LCDs, they are lit by florescent lighting behind the screen. LED-backlit LCDs — the kind of LED-HDTVs you can buy in stores today — use LED lights behind the LCD screen. These LEDs use less energy and have faster refresh rates than LCDs, and they’ve dropped in price to become affordable enough for most consumers.

The jumbo-trons and Diamondvision screens we see at major sports stadiums, on the other hand, are actually a collections of millions of tiny LED lights that each show a different color (Red, Green or Blue, which gives us the name RGB-LED) and, together, form pictures. There is no Liquid Crystal Display involved in these mammoth screens.

OLEDs work in a similar way, with a series of LED lights on a thin layer, and organic (carbon-based) material behind it. When the phosphorescent material lights up, the red, green and blue pixels light up to form pictures.

At CES, Sony launched another technology that is closer to the “true” RGB-LED screens we see at stadiums. Sony’s Crystal LED uses 6 million RGB-LED lights to form pictures. It’s a jumbo-tron, scaled down for your living room.

Who knows what’s to come next in LED screens — or maybe some other display technology entirely? Samsung and LG are poised to release 55-inch OLED screens for home and commercial use that may blow LED and backlit LED-LCD screens out of the water.

One thing we can expect is more energy efficient, brighter, thinner, lighter displays, which will certainly raise the bar on the Wow factor in digital signage apps, retail stores, sports bars, restaurants and more. Doesn’t it make you want to stay on the cutting edge? We know we do!

There are two types of loudspeaker failure. Let’s talk about them and some of the warning signs, so you can recognize failure before it happens and line up a spare part in time. Because we know even a few minutes without your sound system is too long.

Thermal Speaker Failure

Thermal speaker failure is the most common, and it occurs when the speaker’s internals overheat and stop operating. This can be caused by a number of factors.

• Audio signals outside the speaker’s capabilities, leading to excess energy converted to heat which burns out the speaker’s internals
• Amplifier clip
• Excessive EQ at high frequencies, generating too much heat and causing thermal failure
• Too much input power driving the speaker too hard for too long

To prevent thermal speaker failure, pay close attention to the signs of amplifier clipping, speaker distortion, or higher-than-usual average power levels on your speaker system. Use high-pass and low-pass filters to ensure the speaker is only receiving signals it can convert into sound effectively.

Causes of Mechanical Speaker Failure

Mechanical speaker failure occurs when the speaker cone is moving too much, causing the voice coil to exit the gap. The speaker coils rub together and may short out or open. To avoid this, use high-pass and low-pass filters and make sure your amplifier has the correct power output for the speaker.

Sounds pretty easy, right? If you’re not sure if your sound system is properly installed, with the right filters and amplifiers, talk to a professional AV installer for a sound check-up before the next big event.

First our fruits and vegetables were organic. Then we wanted organic beef, free of pink slime. Organic milk with no growth hormones. Organic eggs from free-range, grain-fed chickens. Now even our HDTV screens are on a health kick.

Okay, not really. But we can explain. Organic Light-Emitting Diode screens are made from organic materials — typically, carbon. Unlike an LCD or a backlit-LCD (commonly known as an LED screen in consumer applications), the OLED display needs no backlight. It displays deeper black levels for maximum visbility and higher contrast ratios in dark rooms (like home theatres, sports bars or nightclubs).

Other benefits of OLEDs include:

• Lower power consumption than other flat panel displays
• Faster refresh rates, for blur-free motion even during fast-paced sporting events
• Wider viewing angles
• Lighter weight than plasmas, LEDs or LCDs

OLED screens, considered the cutting-edge in display technology (for now, at least), are also commonly found in smart phones, tablets, and eReaders.

OLED technology can also be used to make flexible flatpanels and transparent flatpanels, perfect for retail window displays and other areas where eye-catching technology is desired.

If you’re thinking about techorating in your hospitality venue — making the technology a seamless part of the decor — you might consider OLEDs because they can curve around support poles and fit in spots that other HDTV monitors may not.

How an OLED Works

Here’s the Cliff Notes’ version of exactly how an OLED works.

OLEDs are made from organic (carbon-based) materials, usually phosphorents. That’s where the name comes from. (No, they aren’t grown without pesticides; that’s the other kind of “organic.”)

An OLED contains a cathode, which injects electrons into the emissive (carbon-based) layer, which then emits light behind the screen. The anode removes electrons to turn off the light. In front of the emissive layer is a very thin layer of Light Emitting Diodes, which create the picture you see on the screen.

Today’s OLED Screens: Do You Want One?

LG and Samsung introduced 55-inch OLEDs at this year’s CES, but don’t expect them to ship until mid-2012 or later. As with anything new, you’ll pay a premium for this technology.

Companies like NanoLumens are manufacturing flexible LED screens very similar to OLED technology, and may be suitable if you need an LED screen of a different shape (like a triangle or circle) or a flexible LED to wrap around a curved wall or post.

As with any home theater and commercial video technology, expect OLEDs to drop in price and add more features as the technology advances. (We’re not necessarily looking forward to the first 3D OLEDs, to be honest.)

If you’re the type who wants to have new technology before your neighbors, you might want to jump on the new LG or Samsung OLEDs as soon as they launch. And if you’re looking for a super-thin display to fit a specific commercial application, it might be worth it to spend the extra money.

Otherwise, we’d recommend waiting until OLEDs, like other flat screen technology, drops in price before you drop the big bucks.

Having the right audiovisual technology can make or break your corporate board meeting. Like any form of communication, the message is important, but so’s the delivery. (And coming from the mouth — er, fingers — of a blogger, you know that’s true.

Fortunately, with a few easy steps, you’ll find that leveraging your audio video systems to run a successful board meeting or teleconference in your conference room is even easier than maintaining your corporate blog. (We know a little about that, too…)

So, here’s JD Systems’ quick-and-easy guide to corporate conferences that make ‘em say “Wow.”

1. Familiarize yourself with the system controls before the event. Learn how to switch projector inputs from your laptop to a document camera, DVD, Blu-Ray or anything else you might need. If the audiovisual contractor who designed and installed your systems offered training to anyone in your company, speak to that person to get the inside scoop. More and more today, the IT department works hand-in-hand with the AV team to get the audiovisual systems running. Someone in IT might be able to give you a crash course before the big meeting.

2. Do a trial run. – Plug in your PC, surf the Web, run a PowerPoint. Load up a DVD and make sure it plays when you hit play. Test sound levels. (Remember, sound echoes more in an empty room so if you sound loud and a little spooky, it’s probably okay.) Find out where all the equipment you might need is stored. In other words: Dress rehearsal! (Suit and tie optional.)

3. Know who to call if something goes wrong. – Again, this is probably someone in your IT department. Let that person know you’re running a big meeting, give them the date and the time, and let them know (nicely, of course) that if you need them, you will need them right away. Then, put the direct extension for the IT department in your phone and, if something goes wrong, don’t panic. Play it off with humor and grace, get the right people on the phone, and proceed as planned.

In this article, we’re going to talk about 5 ways you can prevent speaker failure, so your guests are sure to hear everything from the roar of the crowd during that final touchdown to the tense silence in the last minute of the game.

But first, a few words for non-technical users regarding how amplifiers work to keep you from blowing speakers.

How Speakers and Processing Work Together

Along with your speaker boxes and amplifiers, your audio integrator will also install system processors. It’s the sound systems’ processing limiters that protect speakers from signal levels that could cause failure or degeneration. A properly calibrated system will react to signal peaks before they can damage the loudspeaker.

In the past, when this occurred, users would hear and see a number of cues that the system was being driven too hard.

Amplifier clipping would cause distortion

• The speaker would sound distorted
• Various displays on the amplifier would signal that something was not quite right

However, today’s digital signal processing is so effective at limiting peaks silently, you may not realize the speaker’s being driven too hard until the amplifier or loudspeaker blows. A speaker on overdrive for prolonged periods gradually increases its average power levels. If this goes on too long, the speaker’s transducers experience thermal damage and the speaker stops operating.

How can you prevent this with digital signal processing?

1. Turn down the drive level when you see peak limiters repeatedly activated. Play close attention to the high-frequency limiters, since these are more likely to activate.

2. Talk to your audiovisual contractor to make sure your software, firmware and presets are up to date. Using the latest firmware and its accompanying software not only ensures better performance for your speaker system, it ensures you have the latest technology for peak limiting to protect your speakers from thermal failure.

3. Use the right limiter thresholds for your amplifiers. – If you update or upgrade an amp, make sure the limiter thresholds are changed, too. Your audiovisual specialist can make sure the thresholds are set properly for your sound system.

4. Aim your speakers properly. – Improperly aimed speakers may cause your operator to drive the system to hard to reach the desired SPL. If you’ve recently moved seats in your venue or made renovations and speakers are no longer reaching the spots where you need sound, call your audiovisual installer to make the appropriate changes.

5. Make sure you have enough speakers and amplifiers. – If you don’t have enough speakers, it stands to reason that you’ll turn up the SPL to cover the space at the volume required. Rather than risk blowing your speakers or amplifiers, make sure you have a big enough system to cover the room.

Ideally, you don’t want to think about the speaker systems in your venue, but it’s important to be aware of situations where you could be over-driving your system and risking thermal failure. If you’re not sure if your speakers are performing properly, call an experienced audiovisual contractor and have the pros check it out.

We can’t tell you how many times we hear this, especially during the months of November through January, and again in March and April, when home electronics are typically on sale. And for our home theatre customers, we often tell them, “Go ahead. Buy the screen and we’ll hang it, run the wires and program the remote for a reasonable price.”

But we wouldn’t give that advice to a sports bar, nightclub, restaurant or retail customer. Commercial displays offer capabilities you won’t find in consumer flatscreens that help them stand up to the constant use and abuse in a hospitality, retail or corporate venue.

Take a look at seven of the features you get in true commercial displays from manucturers like Samsung, LG, and NEC, that you won’t get on consumer models, even from reputable manufacturers.

1. Commercial displays have advanced cooling mechanisms that permit screens to run 24/7/365 without overheating.

2. Advanced anti-burn-in technology on commercial plasmas provide added peace of mind when your screens are on day and night, especially if you’re displaying artwork or digital signage content that doesn’t change frequently.

3. Commercial flatscreens are designed hang in portrait or landscape mode and still operate properly without overheating or other issues. This is great for areas where space is tight, for digital signage applications or to fit your techorating requirements, so the flatscreens can truly blend in to the architecture of your space.

5. A commercial display offers easier control with RS232 capabilities, which permits you to control multiple displays on one control system and also offers daisy-chaining capabilities. A multitude of connectivity options, including Ethernet, HDMI, HDMI-2 and DVI-D makes it easier to ensure that all the components on your network will work together.

6. Commercial HDTVs are optimized not just for television broadcast but digital signage or boardroom applications. Refresh rates and the color spectrum is tailored to a variety of input devices to show PowerPoint, slideshow photos, digital signage content and more. Not all consumer flat panel displays are optimized to display content from a PC or Mac. A commercial display will also give you more options to change display settings based on your inputs and the type of content you’re displaying.

7. Most importantly, commercial displays typically come with a 2- to 3-year manufacturers’ warranty and possibly even an extended service contract. When you’re running a nightclub, restaurant, sports bar, or a store, you can’t afford downtime. When you buy a commercial HDTV display, you’ll get the service you need as a business owner, and representatives who understand the importance of rock-solid operations. If you put residential displays purchased in a retail store or warehouse club in your commercial hospitality venue, it voids the manufacturer’s warranty and if something goes wrong, you’re not covered. Now that $500 screen doesn’t sound like such a good value for a venue owner, does it?

There’s just one thing we’re going to suggest. Shop (or surf) for the best price. Get the HDTV of your dreams. But call JD Systems for the best deals on installation of your new LED, LCD or plasma. You can trust us with quick, clean, professional installations and competitive prices. We can’t match the big box stores on product — that’s just not how things work — but we can offer you the friendly, neighborhood service and installation you deserve at low prices. No hype, no sales. Just friendly guys with a passion for home theatre. How does that sound?

Read on to find out how to get that flat screen at a low price.

Three Tips to Save on Your New HDTV

1. Buy soon, but not yet – According to the website Lifehacker, which shares the best times to buy virtually anything, April is one of the best months to buy home electronics, including HDTV screens. That’s right. You didn’t miss anything if you skipped the Black Friday and Superbowl sales. (Except a few months with a new HDTV.) In March, the Japanese fiscal year ends, so many of the HDTV manufacturers clear out product lines in April to make room for new models, which means lower pricing on 2011 HDTV screens. Samsung, LG, Toshiba, Panasonic — you can get deals on all of them.

Additionally, stateside retailers take advantage of everyone getting hefty tax refunds with sales on electronics equipment at the end of March through April. The timing works out nicely for consumers, so you can take your tax refund, splurge on a home theatre system, and know that you’re getting a good deal.

2. Buy your HDTV early in the week. – If you want a new flatscreen for a weekend get-together, it pays to plan ahead. HDTVs are at their lowest prices on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. So today might just be your lucky day. Manufacturers offer sales and rebates to retailers on Mondays, and, feeling generous, retailers pass the savings on to you. (P.S. In most cases, we can offer next-day installation of your HDTV, so you won’t have to wait until the weekend to enjoy your high-def, larger-than-life viewing experience.)

3. Shop online, but only from reputable dealers.
You’ll find some excellent deals online whenever you shop, but we highly recommend buying an HDTV from a name you can trust, like B&H, which has a retail location in New York City, or even the e-commerce divisions of big box retailers. You may find a larger selection and lower prices than you find in their stores.

We’d recommend steering clear of bid sites or online-only stores. You don’t know what you’re getting and you may not have the customer service to back it up.

If service-after-the-sale is especially important to you, shop locally through a professional AV integrator who can supply your audio video components, including your HDTV, and also install the system.

Now it’s your neighbors’ turn to be jealous of you when you invite everyone to your house to watch the Mets or Yankees opening day on a big new screen.