April TechBlog
Lets help each other out: If your firm is hiring, email us a description of the position to post on Twitter to help spread the word and help our much needed friends in the Industry. If we all stick together we can ride this "wave" together.
Friends of Sapphire (F.O.S.) installation: Check out the following article from Sound and Video Contractor featuring 5 of Sapphire's lines: Crestron, rp Visuals, Salitek, Magenta, and Cybertouch. Do you have a F.O.S. installation you want featured in our Blog or PR Mags--let us know about it!
Sapphire is High Tech Baby!: We have settled into our new digs in Woodcliff Lakes, NJ and invite you to check out our State of the Art High Definition Conference Room featuring Crestron, DNP, Vaddio, Polycom, Revolabs, Digital Projection, Bay Audio, and Amina Technology. We look forward to hosting many demos in our new facility--please visit if you are in the neighborhood.
Infocomm Booth information: It's almost Infocomm time-Let us know if you are attending. Here is a copy of the floor map Download Infocomm floor plan 2009 and Sapphire booth numbers:
Your Sapphire Marketing Sales rep will contact you to set up booth tours as the show approaches. Why not be proactive and email your rep a listing of the booths you want to visit and schedule a date now! Show dates/times are: Wednesday, June 17th 9:00am-5:00pm Thursday, June 18th 9:00am-5:00pm Friday, June 19th 9:00am-4:00pm For those of you that can't make the show this year, we will be scheduling post Infocomm visits right after we return from Florida.
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Housekeeping
New Pricelist available! Please contact your Sapphire Marketing Rep for the April 2009 Pricelist
Programs
New Opt-In Benefits Program: What are some of the benefits for joining the Opt-In Benefits Pricing:
- Special pricing on Bay Audio Products
- Companion Selling Consulting
- Discounted Companion Selling events and cruises
- Free Engineering drawings
- Design your own speaker system
For more Opt-In information: http://www.bayaudio.com/dealer/optin_main.htm
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Housekeeping
New Pricelist Available! Please contact your Sapphire Marketing Sales rep for the new May 2009 Dealer Pricelist. The Infocomm EZip version of this price list will be available in July and the PDF version will be available in September.
News
Digimic goes Wireless! Digimic stands for digitally controlled microphone management system. Now, you can get Digimic wired, wireless, or both ways! To convert a wired Digimic to wireless simply replace the cable with the docking unit; if a wireless system is not the best solution for your application, simply re-connect the cable. It is as simple and versatile as that! Review the following document Download SYDMIC02_wireless_B_E for additional information and be sure to visit Brahler at Infocomm (Booth 6553) for a hands on look at the Wireless Digimic.
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Housekeeping
New Pricelist available for download: Visit "MY CRESTRON" and download the recently updated Pricelist (dated April 2, 2009). Make sure you are logged in first!
Social Networking
Tweet Tweet! Follow Crestron on twitter now--click here to check out the page. Soon to come-an official Crestron Blog- tweet back some Blog name suggestions.
News
Crestron Takes Home Four CEA Mark of Excellence Awards: At the recent EHX expo in Orlando, Fl, Crestron won four Consumer Electronics Association Mark of Excellence Awards across a broad range of categories. A finalist in seven of 16 categories, Crestron won Platinum for the TPS-6X touchpanel, the CLS-C6MRF wireless iLux Integrated Lighting System, and CEN-ISERVER; the AMS-AIP won Gold for Best Control System. Congrats Crestron!!
Have you gone Crestron Mobile? The Crestron Control App for iPhone and Crestron Mobile puts a professional-looking Crestron touchpanel user interface right on the popular Apple iPhone or iPod touch, enabling all kinds of customizable control capability. Click here to download it from the iTunes App Store. Be sure to check out Crestron's Answer id 4873 for additional information regarding your first time use of this App.
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Programs
Special Offer Rewards: Special offer Reward values are valid for the specific products and serial numbers on the Specials List only, and are offered on a first come, first served basis. Click the following link to view the Special Offer Rewards list (pdf):
http://www.digitalprojection.com/news/misc/Special_Rewards_CAV.pdf
Important Note: You need to include the serial number of each specific projector when placing your Purchase Order for Special Offer Reward Projectors.
News
Recyclability: Digital Projection has an absolute dedication to creating the world's most powerful, efficient and responsible projectors. Click here to get an overview on DPIs CoolTek efficiency. While statistically impressive in it's own right, DPI wanted to add a bit of extra insight into their company wide efficiency focus. Check out this document that summarizes the recyclability of the materials of both DPIs TITAN and LIGHTNING projectors. Download Recyclability of Digital Projection TITAN and LIGHTNING. Make sure you mention this information to your clients that have GREEN initiatives to follow!!
Portrait Orientation Abilities for Titan Projectors
The TITAN HD 600, sx+ 700 and 1080p-700 models have completed full qualification for portrait use in either dual or single lamp operation. By simply rotating these models onto their side, DP customers can project content in portrait orientation, creating impactful imagery through aspect ratios that are taller then they are wide. For more information, visit the DPI press release.
TechTip
EDID Technology Overview
EDID stands for Extended Display Identification Data, a standard published by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). Used as part of an interface between a source device and a display or television set, EDID supplies the necessary technological handshake needed for video display. An EDID ROM chip is required to be present in all display devices that include HDMI support. Its inclusion in HDMI is part of a host of intelligent features that the standard offers. Using the DDC channel and EDID, a blu-ray player or other source device can request and learn the display limitations of a TV set or a video projector.
EDID contains basic information about a display and its capabilities, including manufacturer information, maximum image size, color depth, factory pre-set timings, frequency range limits, and character strings for the display and serial number. This information is stored in the display, and then used to communicate with the rest of the system.
So...here is the techtip: If a monitor or a projector is not properly displaying a source that is otherwise known to be working, it is possible that the EDID handshake was interrupted. This can happen when the connection between the display and the source is momentarily interrupted. For example, a bad cable, or a momentary loss of power to a distribution accessory could cause this interruption, as would moving the DVI/HDMI source cable from one display to another.
The simplest way to solve the problem is to reboot the source , making sure the hardwire connection to the display is restored before powering the source back on. On power up, the source submits a renewed EDID query to the display, and upon receipt of the requested data, commences providing a properly formatted signal to suit the display's parameters.
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Housekeeping
New JBL Synthesis & Lexicon Pricelist Available for Download! Please contact your Sapphire Marketing representative for the April 17th, 2009 pricelist.
Updated Terms: Please review the following revised HPAV Terms Document for updated Terms, Freight, Demo, Accomodations. Download HPAV Terms Doc 4 1 09. Please contact your Sapphire Marketing representative for additional information.
News
Important Product Announcement: As you are aware, a brand new generation of exciting new Mark Levinson products have started shipping and as they start queing up for future amplifier models, Harman is announcing the end of life for the No. 432 amplifier. Due to an unexpected shortage of material, the No.432 is going end of life a few months earlier then anticipated. Also, No. 433 and No.436 are scheduled to be discontinued in the near future. Harman expects supply of these units to last another 3-4 additional months. Please contact your Sapphire Marketing Sales rep for additional information.
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News
Single UTP 1080P HDMI Audio & Video Extension- HD-1: Traditional HDMI over UTP products require a pair of CatX cables (typically with at least one shielded cable required) in order to remotely send video, audio and HDCP signals from a transmitter to a receiver. HD-One passes 1080p resolution video, audio and HDCP signals to 150 feet/46 meters and 1080i/720p to 200 feet/61 meters, all on one Cat6 cable.
Key Features
Please contact your Sapphire Marketing Sales Rep for additional information.
Who is Nexus?: Clients that are interested in communicating a message, enhancing the aesthetics of an interior space or making a process more efficient- technology is simply an enabler of these goals. Nexus seeks to enhance and innovate the total content experience by enabling the creation, management and delivery of digital applications under a single unified platform. Consider Nexus in the following Market Verticals: Commercial Real Estate, Corporate Communications, Higher Education, Retail, Hospitatlity, Out-Of-Home Media, Transportation. Contact your Sapphire Marketing Representative for additional information.
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News
Polycom HDX 9001 Notification: Due to decreased market demand and an increase in production costs, the Polycom HDX 9001 will not be available for sale after June 30, 2009. This includes the Polycom HDX 9001 and Polycom HDX 9001 XL products. Per Polycom's policy, the Polycom HDX 9001 will be supported by their service organization for five years after the end-of-sale date. If you have any questions/concerns regarding this policy or this notification, please contact your Sapphire Sales Rep.
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Worksheets to help with Design: Check out rpVisuals website for a variety of worksheets to help plan out your next rp Design. Click Here for a direct link to those worksheets.
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Housekeeping
New Pricelist Available! Please contact your Sapphire Marketing Sales Rep for the May 2009 pricelist which includes pricing on Vaddio's hot new ClearVIEW HD-18 Robotic PTZ Camera!
New Website: Check out Vaddio's "smoking-hot website"--gosh, everything is so easy to find! Thanks Vaddio for making life so easy for us!
News
Vaddio Announces First Affordable Single CCD, High Quality HD Robotic PTZ Camera, ClearVIEW HD-18 Robotic PTZ Camera: The ClearVIEW HD-18 is equipped with a 1.3 megapixel CCD imaging sensor, a glass multi-element wide dynamic zoom lens (18x optical), a tally light and a 1.8-lux rating, providing superior images in a wide range of high-definition video applications. The HD-18 is the only multi-format PTZ camera that delivers component HD in 1080p, 1080i or 720p and simultaneous SD video. Control runs via VISCA command protocol or the IR remote that is supplied. The HD-18 is compatible with any Polycom or Tandberg videoconferencing codec. We should be getting our demo system by the end of April, so get ready for us to schedule some "hands-on" demos.
Vaddio Expands ProductionView Line with New HD-SDI Camera Control Console, the ProductionVIEW HD-SDI: Due to the increased demand of Serial Digital Interface (SDI) in live broadcast, Vaddio created the ProductionVIEW HD-SDI multi-camera control system with an integrated 6x2 HD/SD-SDI seamless video switcher. Because the majority of robotic PTZ cameras currently available on the market offer HD-SDI or SD-SDI cards, the ProductionVIEW HD-SDI is designed to connect easily via a single coax cable for video. ProductionVIEW HD-SDI includes the 3 Gigahertz HD-SDI standard (SMPTE 424m) for 1080p video, as well as SMPTE 292m (SD-SDI). For more information, check out their Tech spec: Download ProductionVIEW HD-SDI Tech Spec
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