Passengers using the moving walkway in Terminal A at Brussels airport, the underground network that seems endless, need distractions and they are the perfect audience.

As you approach, a hidden camera (behind the screen featuring the Deloitte name and logo) is activated. In front of your eyes, as if a special show just for your passing, the on-screen image shatters into 30,000 tiny pieces, releasing atmospheric sound from overhead speakers.

It’s a stunning acoustic accompaniment of orchestral proportions, all synchronised to a vivid cinematic display. And it’s all for you… (Unless of course there are 200 other passengers on the moving walkways but still, it’s a cool trick and catches you out.)

This is the first interactive screen installation to appear at Brussels airport, commissioned by Deloitte not only as brand-building but also to emphasize their depth of IT capability.

Because IP networks are growing in speed and capability (and so are video signals), we need new standards for interoperability that will allow video producers, broadcasters and distributors to transport HD and other uncompressed video signals using equipment from a wide variety of suppliers.”

That’s why The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and the Video Services Forum (VSF) announce the latest two standards in a series that creates a standardized framework for the transport of video-over-Internet-Protocol (IP) networks.

The latest additions are known officially as SMPTE ST 2022-5:2012 Forward Error Correction for High Bit Rate Media Transport Over IP Networks and SMPTE ST 2022-6:2012 Transport of High Bit Rate Media Signals over IP Networks (HBRMT), are available via the SMPTE digital library.

The inaugural Smart Building Conference @ ISE lines up international experts familiar with the latest trends in integration, energy management, intelligent building, working and living.

With the promise of a day full of industry insight, opinion, practical design advice and business intelligence, the Conference will take place at the Amsterdam RAI on Monday 28 January – the day before ISE 2013 opens.

A joint venture of ISE’s co-owners CEDIA and InfoComm International, the Smart Building Conference programme will attract architects, design consultants, developers, electrical contractors and other key stakeholders in the construction sector, along with the electronic systems integrators, distributors and manufacturer channels from ISE’s core audience.

“While other events have taken a star-gazing approach to the topic, the Smart Building Conference @ ISE promises a practical look at how intelligent buildings are already being designed, built and used,” comments Mike Blackman, Managing Director, Integrated Systems Events. “Delegates will learn how emerging technologies offer them new possibilities today, not just in the future.”

The Conference programme includes expert case studies illustrating the different possibilities available in specific technology areas, along with bigger-picture presentations from some of the industry’s pre-eminent educators and consultants.

By Tim Kridel

[Editor’s note] This column was reprinted with permission from InfoComm International (link below).

Pro AV is increasingly about IP networking, with everything from audio to video surveillance traversing Ethernet. If you’re not running power over that cable, too, you’re missing an opportunity to reduce the cost and complexity of your installations.

From Wikipedia:

“Power over Ethernet, or PoE technology, describes a system to pass electrical power safely, along with data, on Ethernet cabling. The IEEE standard for PoE requires category 5 cable or higher for high power levels, but can operate with category 3 cable if less power is required. Power is supplied in common mode over two or more of the differential pairs of wires found in the Ethernet cables and comes from a power supply within a PoE-enabled networking device, such as an Ethernet switch, or can be injected into a cable run with a midspan power supply.”

In practical terms, AV integrators can use Power over Ethernet (PoE) products to eliminate the need for running a separate electrical line to each camera, touch panel or other AV device. And depending on local building codes, PoE can reduce or eliminate the need to hire an electrician. (Caveat: Some states, such as Connecticut, require a license to do low-voltage installations, including those involving PoE.)