AV SuperFriends: InfoComm 2026 - We are all God's SuperFriends
Release Date: 06/18/2026
AV SuperFriends
Recorded August 7, 2026 Freshly relocated, the AV SuperFriends dig into how classroom support actually works. Ring-down phones, intercoms, Teams channels, help buttons, student technicians, remote tools, and after-hours coverage all get put on the table. The panel also gets into the difference between a real AV failure and a perceived one, why good support is as much about communication as troubleshooting, and how student employees can become an incredibly effective first line of support when they’re trained and trusted. Then we turn to physical security and ask a simple question: why does...
info_outlineAV SuperFriends
Recorded July 17, 2026 In Part 2 of our conversation about building an internal AV integration team, the panel turns from the organizational obstacles to the practical question: how do you actually justify, staff, and scale the operation? We dig into translating outsourced labor costs into FTE requests, documenting hidden workloads, using dashboards and project data to make the case to leadership, and allowing a little strategic failure to expose where the existing team has reached its limits. The discussion also explores whether the next hire should be another technician or someone higher in...
info_outlineAV SuperFriends
Recorded July 17, 2026 Building an internal AV integration team sounds simple enough: hire a few people, buy some tools, and stop paying an outside integrator to discover that the display was unplugged. In reality, it means navigating staffing models, capital projects, facilities partnerships, student labor, service agreements, institutional funding, and the mysterious process by which everyone agrees an idea is excellent while still refusing to provide an FTE. Special guest Tim Dickson joins to discuss Clemson’s effort to expand its internal AV capabilities while supporting more than 300...
info_outlineAV SuperFriends
Recorded July 24, 2026 How long should classroom AV systems actually last? The panel revisits refresh cycles and quickly discovers that the answer ranges from a carefully planned five or six or seven or eight years to “whenever the last surviving input card finally catches fire.” We compare full-room replacements with increasingly modular upgrades, debate which components can remain in service indefinitely, and examine what happens when departments treat technology as a one-time purchase rather than something that must eventually be funded again. We also check in on Auracast, the...
info_outlineAV SuperFriends
Recorded June 26, 2026 Freshly returned from the show floor at InfoComm 2026, the AV SuperFriends gather for a full-length roundtable on trade show regrets: the booths they missed, the sessions they skipped, the demos they should have recorded, and the party they may never emotionally recover from missing. This episode wanders through the aftermath of a massive conference week, including arguments over who should really be explaining AI to the AV industry, what happens when AVIXA TV is more networked than expected, why show-floor “hidden gems” are still somehow hidden behind the wrong...
info_outlineAV SuperFriends
Recorded July 10, 2026 Who owns the classroom, and who pays when the technology inside it breaks, ages out, or needs to be replaced? This week, the AV SuperFriends compare the very different ways their institutions classify, schedule, fund, refresh, and support academic spaces. What sounds like a simple split between general-purpose and departmental classrooms quickly turns into covered spaces, shared rooms, temporary surge spaces, competing service levels, one-time grants, and departments that may not even want the rooms they have been assigned. The panel explores how those ownership...
info_outlineAV SuperFriends
Jamie visits the Vanco booth at InfoComm 2026 to learn about the EVO-IP AV-over-IP lineup, from full-featured systems with Dante, USB, control, video walls, and digital signage to simpler plug-and-play options. The conversation also gets into Vanco’s Dante adapters, including USB-C and ARC tools that solve some very specific, very annoying higher-ed audio problems.
info_outlineAV SuperFriends
In this Perspectives episode, Jamie stops by the Telycam booth to check out the new Explorer PTZ camera family, including larger Sony 4/3 sensors, better low-light performance, brushless motors, 12G-SDI, HDMI, NDI, and onboard recording. They also dig into the Mix One, Telycam’s all-in-one PTZ controller, switcher, and streaming device that might be doing just enough to make Jamie’s camera hunt finally end.
info_outlineAV SuperFriends
In this Perspectives episode, we stop by the Inogeni booth at InfoComm 2026 to dig into the IP2USB and its ability to turn IP video streams, USB cameras, and Dante audio into a clean USB conferencing source. We also get a look at CamTrack, a tiny box doing big-room camera automation tricks without forcing everyone into a whole new camera ecosystem.
info_outlineAV SuperFriends
In this short Perspectives episode, we stop by AVPro at InfoComm 2026 to learn about the ConferX AC-CX42 Pro, a compact conferencing switcher with dual USB-C DisplayPort alt mode inputs, KVM switching, bidirectional USB data, and power delivery. It’s a quick look at a device that may solve some very real classroom and conference room headaches, especially for higher ed spaces juggling resident PCs, BYOD laptops, USB peripherals, and “why doesn’t this just work?” workflows.
info_outlineRecorded June 17, 2026
Live from the Q-SYS booth at InfoComm 2026, the AV SuperFriends sit down with Mike Brandes and David Maksa to talk through what’s new, what’s practical, and what might accidentally become a future entitlement.
The big topic is Q-SYS NVM, the new network video distribution platform aimed at larger-scale deployments where ultra-low latency is less important than getting lots of video to lots of displays without melting the network… or the budget. The panel digs into bandwidth, latency, PTP timing, frame lock, USB bridging possibilities, sports books, cruise ships, theme parks, and why programming an entire demo system in under two minutes is either impressive or deeply suspicious.
They also take a look at the new Q-SYS meeting room options, including the MTR-on-Windows conference bar, modular room kits, light-touch provisioning, QR-code onboarding, Cheetos mode, and the eternal danger of throwing away the box too soon. From there, the conversation wanders into performance audio, free design services, questionable speaker arrays, and the higher-ed pain of walking across campus just to plug HDMI back in.
It’s part product discussion, part therapy session, and part live proof that “single pane of glass” remains both the dream and the punchline.
Connect with our guests:
-
Mike Brandes https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikebrandesav/
-
David Maksa https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-maksa-05527322/
Q-SYS products discussed
-
Room Suite Collaboration Bar https://www.qsys.com/products/q-sys/roomsuite/roomsuite-collaboration-bar/
-
Room Suite Modular System https://www.qsys.com/products/q-sys/roomsuite/roomsuite-modular-system/
-
Performance Audio line https://www.qsys.com/products/loudspeakers/installed/passive/performance/pl-series/
Alternate show titles:
-
Teach and preach spaces
-
Get up on that mic
-
10-4, good buddy
-
Try to do the entire thing with no mouse
-
I’m sure there’s an entitlement involved
-
Saddle up your horses
-
Wizard-based configuration
-
Take away scissors from people who are running
-
We all love our science fair product line
-
I had some chicken tenders
We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com
▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀
► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com
► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends
► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends
► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends
► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social
► Email: mailbag@avsuperfriends.com
► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss
Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support