THE PROBLEM
Through the public Request for Proposals (RFP) process, PCD was selected to do a complete design-build upgrade of the outdated AV system at the City of Santa Rosa’s Utilities Field Office location. The UFO office serves as the broadcast location for City meetings, a training center for City employees including Police and Fire, and serves as the Emergency Operations Center when necessary.
The City was looking for the following solutions:
- Provide upgrade of systems to meet current and future AV needs
- Utilize most current technology to design and improve the meeting experience
- Increase usability for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) purposes
PCD’S APPROACH
The newly proposed AV system needed to be able to integrate and feed audio and video to the existing broadcast system at 1080i with stereo audio over HD Serial Digital Interface (HD-SDI).
PCD provided and installed an upgrade of the AV systems for three meeting rooms and the control room including the removal of old equipment and replacement of three Digital Projection M Vision projectors and three Da-lite 87″ x 139″ projection screens. Replaced video cameras with new Vaddio Roboshot pan/tilt/zoom cameras, replaced six existing speakers per meeting room with new Crestron Saros loudspeakers and installed new LG 75” TV and mounts in each of the three meeting rooms.
At the Lectern locations for each meeting room, PCD provided and installed new wiring to connect to new Crestron flip-top touch panels for laptop connectivity, installed new Wolfvision HD document cameras, and installed new microphone at lecterns and wireless for sound reinforcement during meetings. PCD also provided Crestron Airmedia to wirelessly present to the system without a cable so they can bring their own device, laptop, Ipad, or any device able to connect to the wifi system. PCD removed and replaced the existing AMX control touch panels with upgraded Crestron color touch panels for complete control of the room’s AV systems.
In the Control Room rack, PCD provided and installed a new QSC DSP system, new 8×8 Crestron digital AV matrix switcher, and new Crestron control processor, new Crestron amplifier to drive the new speakers, and six channels of Shure digital wireless microphones with handheld and bodypack transmitters. New Lifesize ICON 800 brand codec for video conferencing and three iPads configured to work wirelessly act as touch panels for room controls that are connected to the existing Assisted Listening System. A new Vaddio ProductionVIEW precision camera controller was installed for use at the control booth adjacent to the Tricaster video production controller for a full AV production of live events. Lastly, two new Crestron room sensors were installed that identify when room dividers are open or closed which trigger the room combining features of the audio system for larger meetings or small individual room meetings.
PCD’S SOLUTION
The equipment installed replaced a large majority of the equipment in the existing AV rack and will not require additional cooling to allow safe operating temperatures any more than the existing equipment. Existing electrical infrastructure had no battery backup power but PCD included a new Surgex Surge protection battery backup device that will filter incoming AC and clean the power for the equipment in the rack.
THE RESULT
The client is now very happy with the meeting rooms being not only up to date with technology but also to have a standard set to now look towards other facilities that can provide a mesh network of communication from various facilities in the city to combine media and share content.
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT
PCD Staff