What is the difference between AES67 and Dante?

What is the difference between AES67 and Dante? Both AES67 and Dante are audio-over-IP (AoIP) standards that move uncompressed digital audio across a standard Ethernet network instead of analogue or proprietary digital cabling. Dante, developed by Audinate, is the dominant proprietary standard and is used in over 90% of pro AV deployments. AES67 is an open AES (Audio Engineering Society) interoperability standard that defines a common subset so equipment from different AoIP ecosystems can

What is the best background music system for retail?

What is the best background music system for retail? A retail background music system needs three things: a licensed music source, a distribution architecture sized to the floor area, and calibration to 65 to 70 dBA at ear level so customers feel the atmosphere without conversation becoming an effort. The right setup depends on shop size, ceiling type and how many zones you need to control independently. The music source is a licensing decision before it is a hardware decision. Any UK

BYOD vs native room: which is better?

BYOD vs native room: which is better? BYOD is better when users move between platforms (Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Webex) and the organisation wants to keep room hardware platform-agnostic. Native (MTR, Zoom Rooms, Webex Rooms, Google Meet hardware) is better when the organisation has standardised on one platform and wants consistent one-touch join across every room. Most UK estates run a hybrid: huddle rooms BYOD, larger rooms native. | Dimension | BYOD (USB-C bring-your-own laptop) | Native

What is a classroom interactive display?

What is a classroom interactive display? A classroom interactive display is a large-format multi-touch panel, typically 65 to 86 inch, that replaces the projector-and-whiteboard combination for front-of-class teaching. Pupils and teachers can write, annotate, drag objects and run educational software directly on the screen using fingers or a passive stylus. The dominant UK brands are Promethean ActivPanel, ViewSonic ViewBoard, Samsung Flip, Clevertouch and BenQ Board. Unlike consumer TVs and

Crestron vs Q-SYS: which is better for meeting rooms?

Crestron vs Q-SYS: which is better for meeting rooms? Crestron is the stronger choice for control-heavy boardrooms and complex AV-over-IP estates that need deep automation, room scenes and integration with lighting, blinds and BMS. Q-SYS is stronger for audio-led rooms (training rooms, larger meeting rooms, performance spaces) and native integration with Microsoft and Cisco video platforms. Many UK estates run both: Crestron for control and video distribution, Q-SYS for DSP and audio. |

What is a desk booking app?

What is a desk booking app? A desk booking app is software (usually phone, web and Outlook plug-in) that lets staff reserve a hot desk, neighbourhood seat or specific workstation in advance, see who else is in that day and check in on arrival. It's the core tool offices use to run hybrid working without overcrowding on Tuesdays and ghost-towns on Fridays. Most platforms work the same way: staff open the app, pick a date, see a floor plan with available desks shaded green, click one and book it.

What is education digital signage?

What is education digital signage? Education digital signage is a network of commercial-grade screens deployed across schools, colleges and universities to show wayfinding, lesson timetables, exam information, student notices, safeguarding alerts and visitor information. The brief is different from retail or corporate signage because the audience is large, captive and rotates several times a day at lesson changeover, and the screens often carry safeguarding-critical messaging. Typical

What is the Evoko Liso?

What is the Evoko Liso? The Evoko Liso is an 8-inch Android-based meeting room scheduling panel that mounts outside the room and shows the room's name, current availability, the next booking and the day's schedule, with red, amber or green LED status lighting visible from down the corridor. It's one of the original purpose-built room booking panels, made by Swedish manufacturer Evoko, and it pairs with the company's Naso management software or third-party platforms via standard calendar

Is there free digital signage software?

Is there free digital signage software? Yes, free digital signage software exists for small or single-screen deployments, but the genuinely free options come with one of three trade-offs: hardware lock-in, a screen-count cap or limited features. The realistic free shortlist for UK SMEs in 2026: | Platform | What's free | Catch | |---|---|---| | Yodeck | 1 screen, full features, forever | Adds £8 to £18/screen/month from screen 2 | | Samsung MagicInfo Lite | All features for basic single-site

What is hospitality digital signage?

What is hospitality digital signage? Hospitality digital signage is a network of commercial-grade screens deployed across hotels, resorts, restaurants and conference venues for guest information, wayfinding, event boards, in-room content and food and beverage menus. It differs from retail or corporate signage in that the audience is paying guests, the content is often integrated with the property management system (PMS), and the operational tempo runs 24/7 with overnight content rotation.

How do I lay out a hybrid meeting room?

How do I lay out a hybrid meeting room? A hybrid meeting room is laid out so remote participants get equal presence with people in the room: camera at seated eye level, faces lit from the front, microphones distributed for even coverage, and the display visible to everyone seated. The starting point is to treat the remote participant as another seat at the table rather than a window into the room. Camera position. Mount the camera just below the front-of-room display, between 1.0 and 1.2 metres

How do I roll out AV across multiple meeting rooms?

How do I roll out AV across multiple meeting rooms? A multi-room AV rollout succeeds on standardisation rather than perfection in any single room. Define 2 or 3 room standards (huddle, standard meeting room, boardroom), pilot one of each, refine the spec based on what worked, then phase the rest of the estate. Trying to design every room individually is the most common reason large rollouts run over time and over budget. The framework that works for estates of 10 rooms upwards: Define the room

How long does meeting room AV installation take?

How long does meeting room AV installation take? Meeting room AV installation typically takes 1 to 2 days for a huddle room, 3 to 5 days for a standard meeting room, and 1 to 2 weeks for a boardroom with custom programming and joinery. Multi-room rollouts across an estate are phased over weeks rather than days, with crew sizing and room sequencing planned around floor access, working hours and network cutover. The breakdown by room type: Huddle room (3-5 people, integrated VC bar): 1 to 2 days.

How much does digital signage cost?

How much does digital signage cost? Digital signage costs £500 to £1,500 per screen for small UK deployments and £3,000 to £10,000 per location for chain rollouts with video walls, sales-feed integration or interactive elements. On top of hardware, expect £15 to £40 per screen per month for the content management system. Prices vary with screen size, brightness, install complexity and how many sites are tied into a single CMS tenant. The price has four components: | Component | Typical range |

How much does it cost to install AV in a meeting room?

How much does it cost to install AV in a meeting room? Installing AV in a meeting room typically costs between £4,000 and £60,000 in the UK, with most standard rooms landing in the £8,000 to £25,000 bracket. The variation comes from room size, the video conferencing platform you certify against, control system complexity, and how much acoustic and cabling work the build needs. A small huddle room (3 to 5 people) with a single 55 to 65 inch display, a certified video bar (Logitech Rally Bar

Huddle room vs meeting room: what's the difference?

Huddle room vs meeting room: what's the difference? A huddle room is a 3 to 5 person space with an integrated video conferencing bar and a single display, while a meeting room is a 6 to 12 person space with separate components: ceiling microphones, dedicated camera, distributed speakers and a touch panel control system. The split is mainly driven by capacity, but it has knock-on effects on cost, install time and what kinds of meetings the room supports well. | Dimension | Huddle room | Meeting

What is hybrid working software?

What is hybrid working software? Hybrid working software is the umbrella platform that combines desk booking, room booking and occupancy analytics so an office can run flexible attendance without Tuesdays overcrowding and Fridays going empty. It replaces the patchwork of spreadsheets, Outlook room resources and "ask your manager" that most UK offices left behind once attendance dropped below 100% five days a week. A typical deployment has four moving parts: the booking app staff use on phone,

What are the best meeting room cameras?

What are the best meeting room cameras? Meeting room cameras fall into three categories, and the right choice depends on room size, layout and whether the room is fixed-front (boardroom) or non-directional (collaboration). The three categories are front-of-room video conferencing bars, separate PTZ cameras, and 360-degree or AI-framing devices. Front-of-room VC bars combine camera, microphone and speakers in a single unit that mounts under the display. The Logitech Rally Bar, Poly Studio X30

What is the best meeting room lighting for video conferencing?

What is the best meeting room lighting for video conferencing? Good meeting room lighting for video conferencing means 300 to 500 lux at desk level, a colour temperature of 3,500 to 4,500 K for natural skin tone, and lighting that hits faces from the front rather than directly above. Get those three right and the camera produces a usable image even on a mid-range VC bar; get them wrong and a £40,000 boardroom looks like a dim box on the far end of the call. The most common lighting problems on

What are the best meeting room microphones?

What are the best meeting room microphones? The best meeting room microphone depends on room size and what you are trying to capture: voices around a fixed table, a presenter standing at the front, or any speaker anywhere in a flexible space. Five microphone types cover most commercial deployments, and most rooms above a basic huddle use a combination. Integrated VC bar microphones (built into the Logitech Rally Bar, Poly Studio X30 or Yealink MeetingBar) work to roughly 4 to 5 metres and suit

What is office digital signage?

What is office digital signage? Office digital signage is a network of commercial-grade screens in workplace environments showing internal communications, room availability, wayfinding, visitor information, KPIs and emergency notices. Unlike retail signage aimed at customers, the audience is staff and visitors, and the content mix is heavier on operational data (meeting room status, hot-desk maps, fire muster information) than promotional content. A typical UK office deployment has four screen

What is an outdoor digital signage display?

What is an outdoor digital signage display? An outdoor digital signage display is a weatherproof, high-brightness commercial screen rated IP65 (dust-tight, water jet resistant) or IP66 (dust-tight, vandal-grade), with brightness of 2,500 to 5,000 nits so it stays readable in full sunlight. They're used at petrol forecourts, drive-thru menu boards, transport interchanges, outdoor wayfinding, building facades and public-realm advertising. There are two main technology choices: | Technology |

What are restaurant menu boards?

What are restaurant menu boards? Digital restaurant menu boards are networked commercial-grade displays, typically 43 to 55 inch portrait, mounted above the counter to show menus, prices, allergens and promotional content with scheduled changes through the day. They replace printed boards and chalk menus, letting operators switch from breakfast to lunch to dinner automatically and update prices across every site from one console. A typical UK quick-service or casual-dining setup uses a

How much does Robin cost?

How much does Robin cost? Robin pricing in the UK typically lands at £4 to £10 per desk per month for desk booking and £40 to £80 per room per month for meeting room booking, with the exact figure depending on tier (Starter, Professional or Enterprise), contract length and whether desks and rooms are bundled. Robin publishes list prices on robin.com but sells most UK deals through annual contracts via partners or direct, and the negotiated rate sits below list once volume passes a couple of

What is a sound masking system?

What is a sound masking system? A sound masking system is a network of ceiling or under-floor emitters that broadcasts a precisely tuned background spectrum, typically 100Hz to 5kHz, calibrated to 42 to 48 dBA at ear level so private conversations stay private and ambient noise becomes less distracting in open-plan offices. The technology works by lifting the noise floor of the room without being consciously perceived as noise. The masking spectrum is shaped to overlap the frequency range of

What is the difference between sound masking and white noise?

What is the difference between sound masking and white noise? Sound masking is an engineered audio spectrum shaped specifically to match the frequency range of human speech, while white noise is a flat-spectrum signal containing equal energy across all audible frequencies. The practical consequence is that masking blocks conversations effectively at low, comfortable levels (42 to 48 dBA), while white noise has to run louder to achieve the same privacy and tends to fatigue listeners after a few

VC bar vs separate camera and microphone: which is better?

VC bar vs separate camera and microphone: which is better? An integrated VC bar (Logitech Rally Bar, Poly Studio X70, Yealink MeetingBar A40) is better for small to mid-size meeting rooms up to roughly 12 people because it's faster to install, simpler to support and certifies cleanly against MTR, Zoom Rooms and Webex. A separate camera plus ceiling microphones plus DSP architecture is better for larger rooms, boardrooms and any space where audio quality across a long table is the priority. |

What is a visitor management system in the UK?

What is a visitor management system in the UK? A visitor management system (VMS) is a digital platform UK offices use to handle every stage of the visitor lifecycle: pre-registration before arrival, sign-in at reception, NDA or induction signing, badge printing, host notification, evacuation roll call and a digital audit log of who entered the building, when and to see whom. Compared with a basic visitor sign-in app, a full VMS adds enterprise features such as watchlist screening, contractor

What is a visitor sign-in system?

What is a visitor sign-in system? A visitor sign-in system is the digital replacement for the paper visitor book at reception: a tablet or kiosk where visitors enter their name, who they're seeing and the company they represent, optionally take a photo, sign an NDA or health-and-safety acknowledgment, and trigger an automatic notification to the host via Teams, email or SMS. A printer attached to the kiosk produces a wearable badge, and the visitor record drops into a digital log that doubles

What is wayfinding digital signage?

What is wayfinding digital signage? Wayfinding digital signage is a category of digital signage that shows interactive maps, directories and turn-by-turn directions on screens, typically 32 to 55 inch portrait kiosks, used in hospitals, large offices, university campuses, shopping centres, transport hubs and conference venues. It replaces static printed maps and directory boards, and lets visitors filter by department, floor, accessibility route or open-now status. There are two delivery

What does AV maintenance cover?

What does AV maintenance cover? AV maintenance covers planned servicing, reactive fault response, remote monitoring and lifecycle management for an installed audiovisual system, typically delivered against an annual service-level agreement (SLA). The scope is wider than a one-off repair contract because AV systems span hardware (displays, cameras, microphones, control processors, DSPs), software (firmware, control programs, room-resource subscriptions) and the network they sit on, and any one

What equipment is needed for a hybrid meeting?

What equipment is needed for a hybrid meeting? A hybrid meeting needs a display, a certified video conferencing bar (camera and microphones), a control panel for one-touch join, a scheduling panel outside the door, and a reliable network capable of carrying HD video without packet loss. Everything else is layered on top depending on room size and the platform you standardise on. A typical certified kit looks like this: Display: a single 55 to 75 inch 4K display for rooms up to 12 people, dual

What equipment is needed for a meeting room?

What equipment is needed for a meeting room? A standard hybrid meeting room needs eight categories of equipment: display, camera, microphones, speakers, control panel, room scheduling panel, compute (room PC or BYOD), and the cabling and network behind all of it. A huddle room can collapse some of these into a single VC bar, a boardroom expands them across separate components. The full list, with what each does: Display - typically a 65 to 86 inch 4K commercial display, sized to the room using

What is a lockdown alert system?

What is a lockdown alert system? A lockdown alert system is a networked technology platform that broadcasts a structured warning across voice alarm, digital signage and mass notification channels when a security threat is detected, instructing staff and the public to secure themselves in place rather than evacuate. Under Martyn's Law (the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025), lockdown is one of the four named public protection procedures alongside evacuation, invacuation and

What is acoustic treatment in a meeting room?

What is acoustic treatment in a meeting room? Acoustic treatment is the use of absorption, diffusion and reflection control materials to manage how sound behaves in a room, with the goal of bringing reverb time (RT60) into the 0.4 to 0.6 second range that gives clean speech intelligibility on video calls. Untreated meeting rooms with glass, drywall and hard floors often run 0.8 to 1.2 seconds, which is the main reason rooms sound "echoey" or "boomy" on conference calls. The three categories of

What is ACT awareness training?

What is ACT awareness training? ACT (Action Counters Terrorism) awareness training is a free e-learning programme delivered by the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) that teaches staff how to recognise suspicious activity, respond to a security incident and protect the public. For premises within scope of Martyn's Law (the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025), it's one of the most direct ways to demonstrate the "reasonably practicable" staff-awareness steps the

What is AI meeting transcription and which platform is best?

What is AI meeting transcription and which platform is best? AI meeting transcription uses speech-to-text and large language models to turn spoken meetings into searchable transcripts, summaries and action items in real time or shortly after the call ends. The choice of platform matters because data residency, consent and integration with your existing video conferencing platform all differ between native and third-party tools. Most enterprise video conferencing platforms now ship transcription

What is huddle room AV?

What is huddle room AV? Huddle room AV is the simplified, lower-cost stack used in small 3 to 5 person rooms: a single 55 to 65 inch display, an integrated video conferencing bar that combines camera, microphones and speakers in one unit, and either BYOD inputs (USB-C laptop connection) or a single-platform deployment such as Microsoft Teams Rooms or Zoom Rooms. Typical UK cost is £4,000 to £8,000 including certification, install and commissioning. The defining trait of a huddle room is that

What is retail digital signage?

What is retail digital signage? Retail digital signage is a networked system of commercial-grade displays used by shops, restaurants, fuel stations and shopping centres to show promotions, wayfinding, menu boards, queue information and brand content. Unlike consumer TVs, the screens are built for 16/7 or 24/7 operation, support remote content management and integrate with point-of-sale, stock and analytics systems. A typical retail deployment has three layers. Displays are commercial panels

What is Samsung MagicInfo?

What is Samsung MagicInfo? Samsung MagicInfo is Samsung's content management system for its commercial displays, used to schedule, distribute and monitor content across one screen or thousands. It runs on the built-in System on Chip in Samsung commercial panels (QM, QH, QB, OMN-D series), which removes the need for a separate media player like a BrightSign or small PC. MagicInfo comes in two main flavours UK integrators specify: MagicInfo Lite: free, basic, runs on the panel's SoC; suitable for

What is the Cisco Webex Room Kit?

What is the Cisco Webex Room Kit? The Cisco Webex Room Kit is a family of certified video conferencing endpoints designed for huddle rooms, medium meeting rooms and boardrooms running Cisco Webex (or, increasingly, Microsoft Teams Rooms on Cisco hardware). Each model bundles a camera, codec and microphones tuned to a specific room size, and the family now sits under the wider "Cisco Devices for Webex" or "Devices for Microsoft Teams Rooms" branding depending on the platform layer you deploy.

What network requirements does a meeting room have?

What network requirements does a meeting room have? A modern meeting room needs a dedicated AV VLAN, PoE+ on the access switches feeding ceiling devices and panels, QoS prioritising video conferencing traffic, certificate-based authentication for native room devices, and roughly 5 Mbps symmetric per simultaneous HD VC stream plus headroom. A flat-network deployment is the single most common cause of VC quality complaints across an estate. The full list of network requirements for a properly

What size display do I need for a meeting room?

What size display do I need for a meeting room? Meeting room display size follows the viewing-distance rule: the screen diagonal should be a fraction of the distance from the screen to the furthest seat. Use 4 times the diagonal for critical viewing of detail (CAD, financial models, dense spreadsheets), 6 times for video and standard presentation content, and 8 times for general information displays where readability of fine text isn't required. In practice that means most hybrid meeting rooms

What size meeting room do I need for 10 people?

What size meeting room do I need for 10 people? A 10-person meeting room typically needs 24 to 28 m² of floor area with a ceiling height of at least 2.7 metres. Common dimensions are 6 m by 4 m or 7 m by 4 m, sized so the table seats ten comfortably with chair clearance and a clear sight-line from every seat to the front-of-room display. Capacity sizing scales roughly linearly with headcount, with the figures below as a starting point for boardroom-style hybrid use. | Capacity | Minimum area |

What's the best AV for a boardroom?

What's the best AV for a boardroom? The best boardroom AV pairs twin large displays (or an LED video wall), ceiling array microphones, a PTZ or 360-degree camera, DSP-driven audio, AV-over-IP for content distribution and a custom-programmed touch panel, all integrated into joinery for an executive aesthetic. Budgets typically run £30,000 to £100,000+ depending on capacity, display strategy and the level of bespoke joinery and programming. The components that earn their place in a 10 to 20+

What's the best AV for a training room?

What's the best AV for a training room? Training room AV is built around a presenter-led layout with a wireless lapel or handheld microphone, a primary display for the trainees, a content monitor for the trainer to see slides and notes, screen-share to trainee positions where useful, and recording capability for catch-up. Typical UK budgets run £15,000 to £40,000 depending on capacity, recording requirements and how interactive the room needs to be. The setup that works for most corporate and

What's the best digital signage software?

What's the best digital signage software? There isn't one best digital signage software. The right choice depends on hardware brand, network scale, integrations needed and content-update cadence. For UK projects in 2026, the shortlist most commercial AV integrators specify against falls into four buckets: | Platform | Best for | Typical UK price | Notes | |---|---|---|---| | Samsung MagicInfo | All-Samsung estates, 5+ sites | £15 to £30/screen/month (Cloud) | Runs on the panel's SoC; tight

What's the best meeting room layout for AV?

What's the best meeting room layout for AV? The best meeting room layout for AV depends on room shape, capacity and the room's primary use: presentation-led, hybrid video conferencing or in-person collaboration. Three layouts cover most commercial deployments, and each has different implications for camera, microphone and display choice. Boardroom layout is a single rectangular table with the display on the short wall, sized for 8 to 16 people. The camera and primary microphone array sit just

What's the difference between a commercial display and a TV?

What's the difference between a commercial display and a TV? A commercial display is a large-format screen from Samsung, LG, Philips, NEC or Sony built for 16/7 or 24/7 operation in retail, office, hospitality and public-space environments. A consumer TV is built for around 6 to 8 hours of evening viewing in a living room. Use a TV in place of a commercial display and you'll typically see panel burn-in, fan or capacitor failure within 12 to 18 months, and a manufacturer warranty that's voided

Why does my meeting room sound echoey on calls?

Why does my meeting room sound echoey on calls? A meeting room sounds echoey on calls because hard surfaces (glass, drywall, hard floors) reflect sound back into the microphones, the mic gain is set too high, or the acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) in the VC bar or DSP is misconfigured for the room. The fix is usually a combination of acoustic treatment, microphone placement and DSP tuning rather than any single change. The five causes that account for most echo complaints, in roughly the order

What is the best wireless presentation system for meeting rooms?

What is the best wireless presentation system for meeting rooms? The best wireless presentation system for a UK meeting room is usually Barco ClickShare, Mersive Solstice or Crestron AirMedia, with the right choice driven by room size, BYOD device mix and whether the room also runs a native video conferencing platform. All three handle the core job (share laptop content to the in-room display without cables) but differ on how they integrate with Microsoft Teams Rooms, Zoom Rooms and guest