In addition, all five models of Biamp TesiraFORTÉ X and Devio SCX audio processors — the TesiraFORTÉ X 400, 800, or 1600 and the Devio SCX 400 and 800 — are now certified for Microsoft Teams using either Parlé Beamtracking ceiling or tabletop microphones. As a result, they offer multiple channels of AEC for further flexibility and customization in medium and large conference spaces.

Features of New Microsoft Teams Certified Solutions

“The Microsoft Teams certification of our complete line of conferencing bundles and audio processors notably expands our portfolio of Microsoft Teams certified solutions,” says Joe Andrulis, executive vice president of corporate development at Biamp. “Our TesiraFORTÉ X and Devio SCX audio processors are at the core of these solutions, providing excellent performance and innovative technology, including AI noise reduction and Biamp Launch, so that integrators and end users can be assured that their conferencing solutions will be easy to install, easy to use and result in extraordinary audio quality that is validated to work seamlessly within the rigorous standards of the Microsoft Teams platform.”

Medium and large room conferencing bundles from Biamp contain either a TesiraFORTÉ X 400 or a Devio SCX 400 processor, as well as Parlé Beamtracking microphones. These  track conversations from around the room — enabling remote participants to feel just as present as those in person — and are available in tabletop or ceiling models. They also include Desono C-IC6 ceiling loudspeakers, Biamp’s PoE-powered amplifiers, along with all necessary mounting accessories and category cabling to complete the installation in medium or large meeting spaces.

Advantages of the Biamp Solution

The newly certified Microsoft Teams bundles offer customers the advantages of a complete Biamp solution, including integrated Acoustic Echo Cancellation and cutting-edge AI noise reduction to suppress distracting sounds, as well as Biamp Launch automated system deployment and configuration. Biamp Launch identifies and configures every device in the system, performs a tuning cycle, measures acoustic characteristics of the room, applies recommended signal processing, echo cancellation, speaker tuning, noise reduction, and Zoom Rooms settings, then generates a dashboard highlighting performance settings before-and-after optimization.

Installers also benefit from Biamp innovation that extends far beyond superior audio, including minimal cable requirements with zero termination, zero network setup, automated EQ, and more. The Biamp bundles’ design feature plug-and-play installation, resulting in significant time savings for integrators. They also provide a consistent, high-quality audio experience for users across all conferencing spaces within a building, says the company.

Another version of this article originally appeared on our sister-site Commercial Integrator on October 22, 2024. It has since been updated for My TechDecisions’ audience.

The post Biamp’s Conferencing Bundles Earn Microsoft Teams Certification appeared first on My TechDecisions.

These requirements have given the all-in-one conferencing bar more importance in enterprise meeting rooms, which need bring functionality, ease of use and intelligent features that support hybrid meeting scenarios. These devices typically include a camera, microphone and speaker that offer intelligent framing, speaker tracking, noise suppression and a host of other AI features.

That is exactly where Biamp wants to play with the Parlé VBC 2500 Conferencing Video Bar, a new all-in-one camera, microphone and speaker bar designed to take the complexity out of setup, management and use.

The company says this device goes beyond others in its category by offering a premium AV experience for small and medium conference rooms. Based on our testing, we have no reason to say otherwise.

Setup

The Biamp Parlé VBC 2500 Conferencing Video Bar is bigger than some others in its category, but since it is designed for medium-to-large rooms, the form factor shouldn’t be an issue.

The device comes with three mounting options: table, wall and display, so it can be tucked away on a wall or simply installed on top of a conferencing display.

Along with a power cord, the bar can be plugged directly into a UC system with a single USB-C connection, but it can also be paired with a Devio SCR-10 for a bring-your-own device system, the company says. For our purposes, we plugged it directly into a laptop running Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

The device comes with the company’s Launch feature, which automatically analyzes the acoustic performance of the room and optimizes the audio. After one press of a button, the process only takes a few seconds to complete.

Read Next: 10 All-in-One Videoconferencing Bars For Huddle Spaces and Small Meeting Rooms

Audio

Just pressing the Launch button will give users a sense of the powerful audio capabilities of the Biamp Parlé VBC 2500. The bar’s speakers can handle anything thrown at it, from loud music to speech.

Two smart speakers use distortion compensation and dynamic bass enhancement technology to create room-filling audio with superior speech reproduction, the company claims.

Like others in its category, the bar uses AI and noise reduction algorithms to eliminate unwanted noise and focus solely on voices. In my office, my dogs’ nails on the wood floors and moving my chair around the room was not picked up at all. Only when I spoke did the bar pick up any audio.

The company says this is done with integrated Acoustic Echo Cancellation and AI Noise Reduction features, as well as a 27-element microphone array and Biamp Beamtracking technology to actively track and intelligently mix conversations from around the room.

Video

Speaking of AI-enabled features, the wide-angle 4K camera is specifically designed for conference room environments, using auto-framing technology to identify meeting participants and to adjust the focus and zoom to keep them in view.

The bar was simply placed at the far end of my desk, and it adjusted and framed me as I rolled around the room in my chair and walked around. Most of these all-in-one conferencing bars do this, but I found the Biamp Parlé VBC 2500 Conferencing Bar to be a bit quicker at reframing speakers and participants.

While nice to have in a home office, this feature is designed for conference rooms, helping to reframe participants as they enter or leave the room, or as they move around the room.

The camera also comes with an automatic privacy shutter, so organizations can be rest assured that video won’t be captured when the bar isn’t in use.

Bottom line

In an era when organizations are calling for all-in-one devices that are designed simple to deploy, easy to use and packed with features to support their hybrid meetings, the Biamp Parle VBC 2500 Conferencing Bar fits the bill. In fact, Biamp even goes a bit further than its competitors with the Launch feature and the powerful audio capabilities.

The post Review: Biamp Parlé VBC 2500 Conferencing Video Bar appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The company’s release of small conference room bundles adds to Biamp’s existing conference room bundles that include solutions for both medium and large conferencing spaces.

According to Biamp, the bundles provide options for other unified communication-controlled rooms leveraging Google Meet, Zoom or Microsoft Teams, as well as bring-your-own-meeting (BYOM) scenarios in which users can manage meetings on their own devices.

Biamp’s new BYOM meeting room solution for small rooms starts with the Devio SCR family of devices for PCs running Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Cisco Webex and other conferencing platforms. The Devio SCR devices support a single USB connection to a host computer for audio and video media using DisplayLink USB graphics technology the company says.

The company’s BYOM bundles include a range of options, such as pairing the Devio SCR-10 with a Vidi 250 camera as an entry-level solution, along with Parlé table mics, Parlé ceiling mics, or pendent mics featuring Parlé Beamtracking technology to intelligently track and mix conversations from around the room.

These systems can also be paired with the Vidi family of 4K conferencing cameras, the company says.

In addition, Biamp says the  Parlé VBC 2500a and Parlé ABC 2500a all-in-one conferencing bars will be compatible with assistive listening systems beginning this month. The bars feature a new dedicated 3.5-militeter output connector with a mono balanced line level output for users requiring hearing assistance.

Included in the room kits is the Biamp Launch software that analyzes and tunes the acoustic performance of the room, including ALS. The Parle bars can be controlled via a BYOM device or through a dedicated UC host device, the company says.

The post Biamp Launches Small Conference Room Bundle appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Among the many things that have been impacted by COVID-19 is the global workforce. Other than blue-collar trades, many people who work in office environments have been forced to work from home or split their work time between their home and the office. 

Over the past couple years, with more people communicating with their peers from some form of remote environment, and with either all or some of their colleagues working from home, the workforce is discovering that working from home presents challenges. 

Of course, there are the normal distractions of working from home, including the kids and the lure of knocking out a few household chores. More relevant for the MyTechDecisions audience, however, is how the quality of remote workers’ audio and video can affect their ability to participate in meetings and work efficiently. 

Collaboration System Manufacturers Meet the Challenge 

Responding rapidly to the changes that have taken place in the workplace, manufacturers have diversified their product lines to accommodate a wide range of usage scenarios. 

Today, there are a number of collaboration systems for office workers (e.g., traditional conference-room-type components; headphones; compact, all-in-one systems) that can be used in small spaces, including home offices, to improve the collaborative experience, regardless of where it is taking place. 

The category of collaboration also encompasses some of the biggest names in professional audio, including Shure, Sennheiser and Yamaha. And, naturally, the category features companies that focus exclusively on collaboration and communications. Those companies include Poly and Clockaudio. And that’s not to overlook the video side of collaboration market, which includes manufacturers such as AVerMedia, Barco, Kramer, Crestron and Logitech.

To keep up with the changes in the workforce and the collaboration market, including its manufacturers and technologies, consult with the non-profit industry trade group the Interactive Multimedia & Collaborative Communications Alliance (IMCCA). The IMCCA’s purpose is to grow the unified communications category through thought leadership that includes education and information. 

Let’s look at some of the latest collaboration systems for the office from some of the top manufacturers in the field. The content we share represents just a sampling of the conferencing solutions currently available. 

Click “Video Slideshow” to learn more about some of the latest collaboration solutions for workplaces.

This originally appeared on MyTechDecisions’ sister-site CommercialIntegrator.com.

The post 18 Collaboration Systems that Backbone the Modern Workplace appeared first on My TechDecisions.

A Biamp room emphasizes the user experience—not just with the technology itself, but also with how people interact with it. That’s why we give people the ability to move around the room as they see fit, not as the microphone dictates.

While each element is powerful in its own right, the combination of all three devices inside a self-contained Biamp ecosystem is what sets our AV experiences apart for the end user. Choosing this combination provides the following benefits to the integrator:

• Reduced programming time
• Reduced installation time
• Equipment cost savings
• Exceptional conferencing experiences for your customers

Learn more about these new products:

Microphones: Tesira TCM-1, TCM-1A, and TCM-1EX

• No setup or adjustments to beamtracking settings are required
• Each mic only uses a single channel of AEC
• Three 120-degree zones for 360 degrees of coverage
• Multiple mics can be daisy-chained (2 with Devio, 3 with Tesira)*
• Suitable for use in air handling spaces, such as drop ceilings

Amplifiers: Tesira TCM-1A and AMP-450P

• Powered by PoE+, with internal power draw protection
• Burst power mode to handle peak signals
• Fanless operation
• Software-selectable power versus channel count
• Suitable for use in air handling spaces, such as drop ceilings

Digital Signal Processor: TesiraFORTÉ AVB VT4

• All the DSP power of a traditional TesiraFORTÉ, without the unused I/O cost
• 4 analog inputs and 4 analog outputs
• Fanless operation
• 4 channels of AEC
• VoIP, POTS, and USB in a single chassis

What Is Beamtracking Technology?

Beamforming microphones are arrays of microphone elements with “beams” (polar patterns) that can be controlled and shaped via DSP, allowing the beams to be “aimed” at specific areas of the room. While the development of beamforming microphones has been a significant advancement for professional AV, the fact remains that the beams determine where people should be. We think this is the wrong way around. Instead, we think people should determine where the beams are directed.

Beamtracking technology differs from beamforming in that it allows a single microphone to cover a wide area with little to no setup, since the microphone identifies and locks to a signal source—even if the person speaking is moving around. Our beamtracking microphones also intelligently mix conversations from around the table, allowing far-end conference participants to experience a more natural-sounding conversation. The patented interactions between our AEC and beamtracking algorithms dynamically adjust the output in real-time to ensure far-end echo is minimized.

The post Conferencing Simplified by Biamp appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Simply by capturing new content each year, faculty can develop an archive of material that’s available to students as reference. As a result, students can watch past as well as current lectures, which helps provide the extra information needed to grasp a difficult concept. With so much information to absorb and so little time in class to assimilate it, many students benefit from the ability to download the recorded lectures and review the sections that require additional clarification and understanding.

System Design Guide: Lecture Capture

There are often a multitude of video sources to account for in effective lecture capture. From document cameras, to spreadsheets and presentations, to live or streaming video, the lecture capture system must be able to accommodate a broad swath of bandwidth and resolution requirements. In this scenario, Tesira provides the audio and video processing for both the lecture hall and overflow room. TesiraLUX facilitates streaming the video sources to the monitors in the lecture hall, overflow rooms, and lecture capture server. TesiraFORTÉ provides the sound reinforcement for the lecture hall and advanced audio processing for the video streams as needed. Low latency lip sync is crucial for the monitors in the rear of the lecture hall. By controlling the entire signal path, Tesira is able to provide integrated lip sync management without the need to add audio delays to the loudspeaker runs.

Tesira Features

• Audio and video processing and routing throughout the lecture hall and overflow room
• Automatic gain control for dynamically adjusting the gain/volume on all microphones
• Integrated lip sync management for displaying instructor camera feed in the rear of the lecture hall
• Interfaces with lecture capture server

Equipment List:

• TesiraFORTÉ AVB CI: Provides dedicated DSP to the lecture hall and overflow room.
• TesiraLUX IDH-1: Acts as an AVB talker. Processes video signals from cameras, laptops, and media players.
• TesiraLUX OH-1: Acts as an AVB listener. Outputs networked video to displays.
• Tesira AMP-4350R Provides amplification to ceiling loudspeakers in the lecture hall.
• Tesira AMP-4175R: Provides amplification to ceiling loudspeakers in the overflow room.

The post How You Can Use The World’s Only Integrated Audio And Video Platform For Lecture Capture appeared first on My TechDecisions.

CHALLENGE:

Recognizing the importance of technology in the classroom, Boston University School of Law looked to provide students with a state-of-the-art educational experience. To achieve this, the university built the new Sumner M. Redstone Building in 2013. Located at the base of the Charles River Campus’ Law Tower, the building was intended to provide a new entrance to the law school and house most of its classrooms, and its practice courtrooms and seminar rooms. Each space would be outfitted with the latest AV technology to enable webcasting for remote learning, and would include record-and playback capabilities to help students sharpen their presentation skills in the courtroom. In a second phase of the project, the university’s Law Tower itself would be completely renovated, with its classrooms, courtrooms, and interview rooms receiving high-tech upgrades.

SOLUTION:

To realize Boston University’s vision, system integrator HB Communications installed a building-wide AV solution built around Crestron’s DigitalMedia and control products for AV switching, control, and monitoring; the Echo360 Active Learning Platform for recording and webcasting; with audio capabilities provided by Biamp’s Tesira platform. Tesira provides extensive audio processing; including signal routing and mixing, equalization, filtering, dynamics, and delay; as well as control, monitoring, and diagnostic tools. In addition, Tesira offers highly flexible and scalable networking capabilities by utilizing AVB/TSN. “When we were awarded this project, one of the first things we recommended was an upgrade from the older DSP that was originally specified to Biamp’s Tesira,” said Michael Dodge, senior systems design engineer at HB Communications. “For an AV system of this magnitude, we wanted to utilize the latest and most advanced technology. We’ve worked with Biamp for years and knew that Tesira would deliver impeccable audio quality. Plus, its ability to run AVB/ TSN over fiber was a crucial feature as the scope of the project expanded.”

SYSTEM SPECIFICS:

Each of the 18 classrooms, three courtrooms, and numerous seminar rooms is equipped with Echo360 technologies and a Crestron DigitalMedia matrix switcher, allowing instructors to capture their lessons and make them available for students via their mobile devices. Audio and video signals can be sent to a control room, where AV operators at four workstations monitor and record classes and facilitate video conferencing capabilities. The control room headend features four Cisco Codecs for live remote teaching and video conferencing, an additional Echo360 recording device, a 128×128 Crestron DigitalMedia matrix switcher, and a 128×128 Kramer HD-SDI switcher. Initially, analog audio signals were being distributed to and from the control room over fiber, tying into a 128×128 Kramer audio switcher in the headend; this audio switcher was nearly full by the end of the building’s installation. When the renovation of the Law Tower began, many rooms were not originally intended to connect to the control room for monitoring and recording capabilities. However, the scope of the project expanded, resulting in the need to equip them with this functionality. With the originally specified switchers full, the decision was made increase the capacity of the Crestron DigitalMedia and Kramer HD-SDI switchers and to take advantage of Tesira’s extensive AVB/TSN channel count capabilities.

The post State of the Law Meets State of the Art appeared first on My TechDecisions.