Integrated AV solutions from Crestron in District C of Telefónica

Telefónica Servicios Audiovisuales designs a solution integrating QuickMedia and RoomView technology.

Telefónica has chosen Crestron integrated AV systems for integration throughout the entire District C complex where the Spanish multinational has established its 'headquarters'. The management solutions designed and installed by the engineering team at Telefónica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA) have gone far beyond simple control of AV devices to include centralized network management and lighting control. To this end, TSA has designed a solution integrating Crestron QuickMedia technology and RoomView software to allow real-time monitoring of all system devices via Ethernet. For its part, RoomView offers control of all AV resources throughout the entire facility, allowing IT administrators to manage and control all rooms from any touch panel or PC connected to the network.

One of the challenges that the TSA engineering team has faced has been to design the centralized control of the 120 plasma displays that are located throughout the four buildings that make up District-C. The technical solution has been to equip each of the displays with a compact QMI-RMC control system that will connect to the RS-232 or IR port (depending on the display model) to control on and off, and additionally a failure detection system has been implemented in case of a technical problem with the display that consists of connecting to one of the inputs of the I/O port of the QMI-RMC. The control system is connected to the building's LAN, sharing a connection with the content server that will feed audiovisual content to the viewer.

The central control post has a CP2E control system that manages communication between the different local processors of each display, and a server equipped with Roomview 7.0 software to monitor and verify the proper functioning of the plasmas, as well as their control. The perfect example for a medium-performance room configuration is the QuickMedia QM-RMCRX-BA and QM-MD5X1 tandem. The first offers control of audiovisual devices with an integrated 20W audio amplifier and at the same time acts as a QuickMedia signal receiver. The second provides a mixed matrix with support for Video, S-Video, component, RGBHV and QuickMedia signals, along with their corresponding audio signals.

The QuickMedia transmission system is being used more and more in multipurpose rooms thanks to its simple installation (by using CAT5e cabling you do not have to perform welding) and at the lower cost of wiring since the need to wire the display equipment in triplicate (Video/S-Video/RGBHV) is eliminated. All this providing high image quality by transmitting HDTV signals of up to 1080i/1080p with RGBHV resolutions of up to 1920×1200 @ 60Hz, and with easy programming thanks to the SystemBuilderTM programming suite.

As lighting and automation control, we find the European module CH-HREL8-D6, which offers us in a DIN-rail format of 6 units, a group of 8 independent high voltage relays, where each relay can operate with a limit of 16Amp. at 250V with VDR protection (385V). Another example of a QuickMedia configuration can be found in the MPS-300 model, which provides a compact 8x7 mixed matrix solution (Video, S-Video, components, VGA and QuickMedia) with integrated power amplifier and 2-series control system on the same platform. This configuration allows us to use the analog outputs (Video, S-Video, components and RGBHV) for the main display device, being able to expand the number of additional displays necessary for the room through QuickMedia distribution, reaching the signal through the QM-RX video receivers, avoiding large runs of Video, S-Video and RGBHV cabling.

The fact that these are independent configurations means that the centralized management system that Roomview offers us has a practical and technical sense, being able to monitor in real time everything that happens in each of the rooms connected to the network, and even maintain a thread of communication between the user and the maintenance staff in case of a technical problem thanks to the HelpDesk integrated with Roomview.