av-tech

Describe/document the AV setup.

graph TD
    subgraph SpeakerRecording
        PHONE[Cellphone Camera<br>Standalone]
    end

    subgraph Inputs
        L2[Annountment Laptop<br>Video Source]
        L1[Presenter Laptop<br>Video Source<br>via Active Optical Cable]
    end

    subgraph Switching
        EX[Extron Switcher<br>HDMI Inputs]
    end

    subgraph Distribution
        SPLIT[HDMI Splitter<br>1x2]
    end

    subgraph Outputs_Display
        PROJ[Projector<br>Display]
    end

    subgraph Capture_Setup
        CAP[HDMI Capture Box]
        L3[Recording Laptop<br>Recording / Streaming]
        AUDIO_IF[USB Audio Interface]
        WIRELESS[Wireless Mic Set<br>Input]
        DIRECT_BOX[Direct Box]
        PA[PA System<br>Output]
    end

    %% Connections
    L2 -->|HDMI| EX
    L1 -->|Active Optical HDMI| EX

    EX -->|HDMI| SPLIT

    SPLIT -->|HDMI Out 1| PROJ
    SPLIT -->|HDMI Out 2| CAP

    CAP -->|USB| L3

    WIRELESS -->|XLR / 1/4 Input| AUDIO_IF
    AUDIO_IF -->|USB| L3
    AUDIO_IF -->|Main Output| DIRECT_BOX
    DIRECT_BOX --> |XLR Out| PA


    %% Styling
    classDef source fill:#d4e6f1,stroke:#2874a6,stroke-width:2px;
    classDef processing fill:#f9e79f,stroke:#d4ac0d,stroke-width:2px;
    classDef output fill:#d5f5e3,stroke:#1e8449,stroke-width:2px;

    class L1,L2,PHONE,WIRELESS source;
    class EX,SPLIT,CAP,AUDIO_IF processing;
    class PROJ,PA,L3 output;

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Packout notes

Some equipment is owned by TechLancaster, some by Joshua Boyd. Most of the TechLancaster equipment is in the gear bag in the closet. That includes:

• Some power extensions
• Powerstrip
• XLR cables
• short HDMI cables (3ft)
• Long HDMI optical cable
• Monitoring headphones
• HDMI 1x2 and power brick
• an HDMI->USB capture box and its USB cable (the plug is recessed making it hard to use your own cable).
• Gaffe tape.
• Sharpies
• Knife
• Multi-screw driver
• Flashlight
• OWC USB-C dock that is the most foolproof way to make MacBooks do USB-C -> HDMI.

Joshua's case usually has:

• More HDMI
• Second power strip
• USB Audio interface
• Wireless mics and receiver.
• 1/4" cable
• Direct Box for 1/4" to XLR, plus transformer isolation.
• Tripod with phone mount.
• Random other stuff.

Tech person should bring (or arrange someone else to bring):

• Laptop for capture and pre-roll/intermission slides. Slides are currently in LibreOffice Present. Recording can be tried with anything that can record a webcam, but usually OBS is used.
• Tablet for stage timer (preferred, but optional).
• 2x Cell phones (one is to record the speaker, the second is in case it is needed for recording slides).

Wireless mics

The wireless mics and receiver charge via USB-C. Since the power incident, the receiver seems to generated a lot of buzz when plugged into USB charger or laptop USB, so making sure it is charged is important. It hasn't been tried on a USB batter banks, maybe that would behave better?

In theory, the receiver should be putting one mic left and one mic right. There seemed to be trouble with that last time, so some menu diving might be needed. The two mics also seemed to be different levels, which is probably also a menu diving thing on the receiver to correct.

The receiver can also be set to just send mono, but that makes it hard to mute one mic.

Backup plan

Point a cell phone at slides, point a cell phone at the person speaking, use a hand held mic to the PA system, and connect the presenter laptop directly to the projector.