Evertz AV is best known for its high-quality broadcast AV switching offerings, in fact, if you’ve ever watched a division one basketball game on TV, you’ve probably seen their handiwork. But, while Evertz is well recognized in broadcast, it has slowly been offering up less expensive solutions for educational spaces using the same high-quality design and construction.
AV over IP is the future of classroom AV technology, but it’s still somewhat cost prohibitive for smaller spaces. At some point, the price of IP based AV systems will demand that most systems be IP based, and Evertz’s price point is very attractive. Here are the general Pros and Cons of the platform:
Pros:
- Simple to configure: We had the demo unit up and running in under 8 minutes.
- Cost: The competition has a similar price point but doesn’t provide decoding and encoding simultaneously, that’s big
- 1GbE: This all runs on 1-gigabit networking, so you most likely won’t need an expensive switch
Cons:
- Evertz doesn’t provide a control environment, so you’ll still need a Crestron or Extron interface
- Sorry “vintage” AV folks, no RS232 or relay control with this system
- Evertz has a range of products, but not nearly as many as many of the large integrated AV manufacturers… but does that matter?
Overall, I was impressed with their offerings and I look forward to seeing how they might fit in at Duke University.
