Encore Broadcast Solutions worked with Lee University in Tennessee, USA to deploy AV streaming systems in one of its popular teaching spaces to support remote learning.
Extron AV switching, distribution, control and streaming equipment forms the backbone of the AV system in the hall that was constructed for the university’s School of Nursing in 2016.
The space is used for lectures covering nursing procedures, biology, and life sciences. It has soaring ceilings, tiered desk seating for more than 120 students and an extensive AV system.
To meet the challenges of Covid-19 and support remote learning, AV streaming capabilities were retrofitted into the AV system in 2020. The hall reopened to students and faculty in spring 2021.
Lee University’s information technology lab manager Mark Mong and pro AV integration firm Encore Broadcast Solutions worked together to handle AV system design and installation. The Encore team was led by Glenn Bradley, sales manager at Encore’s Bridgeport, Alabama office.
Mong praised Extron’s support throughout installation, commissioning, and daily operation. He said: “If I ever need something, I just call. They have an engineer on the line to help you immediately, no matter when you call.”
Lecturers can load presentation material onto the PC contained in the AV operator desk, or they can bring a laptop containing presentation material. Guest connections for power, HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C cables are available at a Cable Cubby 202 cable access enclosure in the AV operator desk and a TLP Pro 320C Cable Cubby TouchLink Pro touchpanel in the podium. Lecturers can tap, write, and draw on their presentations through a touchscreen at the podium that links to an Annotator 300 annotation processor.
Teaching materials are displayed on a large projection screen at the stage, and on four flat panel displays located on the front and back walls of the hall. A DTP CrossPoint 84 4K scaling presentation matrix switcher performs AV signal switching and video scaling. AV content selection and other AV system functions are controlled by a TLP Pro 1025T 10-in TouchLink Pro Touchpanel at an operator desk, or by the TLP Pro 320C 3.5-in flip-up touchscreen at the podium. The room’s speakers are driven by the switcher’s integrated 100-watt amplifier. An SMP 351 streaming media processor, added during the 2020 retrofit, records and streams lectures for remote learners, and enables “capture and carry” lecture storage to memory sticks via a USB port on an RCP 101 EU remote control panel.