r/audiovisual

Hey everyone,

Tired of manufacturer calculators that only work for their own gear? I’ve spent the last few months building AV TOOLS PRO, a centralized, platform-agnostic engineering suite designed for the modern AV/IT specialist.

It’s completely free, and we just hit 19 professional-grade tools. Every tool is built for actual engineering submittals, not just quick estimates.

The Complete 19-Tool Engineering Suite:

Video & Display Engineering:

1. AVoIP Bandwidth Calculator: Analyzes data rates for NDI, SDVoE, and custom multicast streams based on resolution, frame rate, and chroma subsampling.
2. Projector Brightness & Throw: Calculates required Lumens (fL) based on ambient light levels and validates throw distances for lens selection.
3. Display Brightness Calculator: Uses the Inverse Square Law to determine the required display nits/fL for clear visibility in high-ambient light environments.
4. Display Viewing Angle: Calculates optimal seating positions and viewing distances following AVIXA DISCAS standards for image quality.
5. DvLED Pixel Pitch: Determines the optimal LED pitch (mm) to avoid pixellation based on the closest viewer's distance and desired resolution.
6. Video Wall Controller: Maps out processor requirements, I/O counts, and canvas sizing for complex multi-input display systems.
7. Video Wall Builder: A visual tool to design tiled display arrays, calculating total bezel-to-bezel dimensions and power requirements.
8. Display Size (BDM/ADM): Professional screen sizing tool using the Basic Decision Making (BDM) and Analytical Decision Making (ADM) content standards.
9. Camera Distance (DORI): Calculates camera placement and lens requirements using IEC 62676-4 (Detection, Observation, Recognition, Identification) benchmarks.
10. .Audio Data Rate & Bandwidth: Real-time bandwidth tracking for Dante, AES67, and Milan streams based on sample rate and channel count.
11. Speaker Design (EPR): Calculates Equivalent Pink Noise (EPR) and amplifier sizing to ensure consistent SPL coverage across the listening area.
12. Speaker Cable Calculator: Determines the required wire gauge (AWG) to keep power loss under 5%, factoring in NEC ampacity and distance limits.
13. DSP System Design: A documentation tool for matrix gain structure, AEC tail lengths, system latency, and I/O routing.
14. Cable Conduit Capacity: Calculates fill-ratios (40% rule) and required conduit trade sizes for complex bundles of Cat6, Fiber, and Power.
15. PoE Budget Calculator: Tracks power draw across network switches and injectors to ensure compliance with 802.3af/at/bt power classes.
16. Rack Cooling & BTU: Aggregates equipment wattage to calculate total thermal load (BTU/hr) and required airflow (CFM) for the equipment room.
17. Rack Builder: A visual layout tool to design equipment racks while ensuring proper spacing, weight distribution, and thermal management.
18. Professional IP Planner: A network documentation engine with auto-conflict detection, VLAN tagging, and CSV assignment export.
19. Enterprise UPS Sizing: Our advanced tool to calculates capacity, runtime, Heat Load (BTU/hr), and Input Breaker Sizing for UPS sizing coordination.

Advanced Reporting & Exports

I know how important documentation is for project closeouts. Most of the advanced tools (like UPS, IP Planner, and Rack Builder) include Professional PDF Export and CSV/Excel capabilities so you can attach high-fidelity engineering reports directly to your project submittals.

Why use this for your designs?

• Engineering Standards: Everything is built on AVIXA, IEC, or NEC formulas.
• Cross-Trade Coordination: We provide the BTU/hr and Breaker Sizes that your electrical and HVAC contractors actually ask for.
• Hardware Neutral: Whether you're speccing Q-SYS, Crestron, or Extron, the math stays the same.

! Disclaimer: I’ve added some non-intrusive ads to the site. I want to keep these tools free for the community, and the ad revenue helps cover the server costs and maintenance required to keep the engineering logic up to date.

Please check it out, I’d love to hear your feedback on what other professional parameters would be useful for your next project!

 

Hello people!

I’m the FM for a mid-sized firm, and I’m hitting a wall (literally and figuratively) with our current office acoustics.

The Space:

We have a very modern, high-aesthetic layout. Think: lots of glass partitions instead of traditional drywall and a very wide-open floor plan. Undeniably, the office looks exceptionally beautiful but admittedly the noise leakage is one heck of a nightmare!

The Problem:

Employees are complaining that the office is "distractingly loud." We need a solution that actually works to "blur" conversations and drop the noise floor without being an annoying hiss. The glass panels just reflect everything and the partitions we DO have are just absolutely useless. The office urgently requires some privacy for effectively managing sensitive information as well as enhancing the overall ability to focus.

What I’ve Seen Before:

Before anyone goes and suggests Biamp, I’ve actually witnessed the Biamp options in real time (my old workplace had the Qt (Quiet technology) system installed). However, I was extremely surprised to see that it is revered industry wide because the noise that it emits is extremely harsh and noticeable. You could genuinely hear the noise go in and out as you walked around the office/down the corridors. It was actually a prevalent complaint at my last workplace, so I would like to find something that is actually science-backed and effective.

Has anyone moved away from Biamp to something more sophisticated? I am open to all suggestions for high-end, reliable sound masking. Thanks in advance!

I got the opportunity to be AV Tech for my local hockey arena where my NHL team plays. This was a HUGE opportunity for me and on my first day I got to help with setting up the stage for a touring artist, and on that same day, help with dismanting said stage after the performance was over. In my company, we were all assigned to certain aspects of the process: Lighting, audio, the stage itself, etc., and me and a bunch of other people were under supervision of one lead. We're usually supposed to remain idle until told otherwise when we have a task to do and not wander around. A senior addressed the matter to this, and I listened and corrected that behavior accordingly.

But then, while we were loading all the equipment onto loading trucks, I (along with another person) was asked to follow someone. (He wasn't the manager btw) After he wrote our exit times on the sign-up sheet, he told us "You're not coming back here", claiming that us "wandering around the place like we don't know shit" (or something, idk) made them not trust us. I wasn't even given the chance to correct that behavior for future gigs. Even though I had another lead tell me not to do the same thing and give me a chance to do that. And now that chance gets robbed of me.

I feel like an absolute joke.

So much, that they will make the AV Tech company not even give you a chance to correct it, and instantly lose trust in you completely and NEVER want anything to do with you again?

And DEFINITELY won't take ignorance as an excuse either.

I’m not an AV tech, but a teacher at a university. One of our lav mics broke in a presentation hall, and we’re trying to replace it in time for an important course next week. Official support does exist but would take long and is quite flaky, because this system was originally installed by a third party. We have contact with the original installer, but in the meantime we’re just looking for a quick fix.

The details of the system:

The transmitter where the mic is plugged in is a wireless AKG PT470 transmitter. (Mini XLR input). This connects with a AKG SR 470 receiver and ultimately an RCF AM1000 MK2 Series P.A Amplifier.

We currently have a Sennheiser HS2 headband style mic which works fine, but we need a lav mic for the upcoming course.

We’ve received an Omnitronic MOM-10BT4 lav mic from the institution earlier, but this one is very quiet (unusable), even with the gain control on the receivers put on the highest. Did we get an incompatible mic? Is something wrong with our settings? The same exact settings and hardware worked fine for our previous lav mic (which unfortunately was taken away, so we don’t know the model) or the HS-2 headband style mic.

 

What kind of other lav mic can we buy? What are the specs we should look out for to see if it’s compatible?

Hey everyone!
If you’ve ever done a presentation on an LED wall, you know the pain — the speaker pulls out their laser pointer, confidently draws circles in the air, and absolutely nobody sees anything on screen.
We’re AV professionals from Budapest and this drove us crazy enough to actually build a solution. GYROCUE uses gyroscopic technology instead of a laser — the pointer shows up directly in the presentation software, so it works on LED walls, projected screens, whatever you’re throwing content at. Gyrocue.com
Mechanical switches, built for live event use. We use it on our own shows.
Anyone else been in that awkward “uh, can everyone see my pointer?” moment mid-event?

I'm looking to create a linear synchronization of tvs - ideally 7-12, but at least 3-4 - to simulate the passing of a landscape (think car or train ride). Could someone help point me in the right direction or explain how it can or cannot be done? Thank you!

So I'm about to work in a circus-like environment. It's all going to be under UV glow lights. I've read that this kind of light is bad for you.

What kind of PPE should I wear for this job?

I've been looking at getting prescription UV-rated goggles (ANSI Z87.1-1989 certified) but I'm uncertain on a good company to buy it from.

Also should I wear sunblock?

Soy estudiante de Argentina, necesito una cámara económica (hasta 800.000), necesito recomendaciones de marcas y modelos, o incluso recomendaciones de que tener en cuenta para comprar una cámara usada. Será principalmente utilizada para grabar cortometrajes y sacar fotografías simples.

Hey folks.

We're a church plant (small, new church) using an OBSBOT Meet 2 to stream our services through a laptop into OBS to youtube at 1080p 30. Ideally, we'd be able to have the camera pick up both the speaker and the power point slides within the same shot, but it's looking washed out. We don't have much control over room lighting and such. We tried adding the slides as a seperate element in OBS but that crashed our stream.

Any input on what we could do to make the bottom portion of the screen more visible? Thanks for your help.

https://preview.redd.it/9v5uygknsjzg1.png?width=1373&format=png&auto=webp&s=a2487cf8d7b4e5daf06c93675804c6b8401cf6bc