Archimedia Journal February 2014

1. The Archimedia family
would like to thank
everyone who has
made this past
decade so memorable.
From the many friends
who have allowed us into
their homes to the many
more that will come, it’s
been a pleasure helping
you realize all your
entertainment needs! JOURNAL NEW HIRES
& ORGANIZATIONAL
CHANGES
Alistair Levine
Regional Director of Sales
Elham Mogharbel
Solutions Executive
David Lintin
Solutions Consultant
Hashem Arafat
Multimedia Designer
Youstina Alfons
Cad Designer
Mina Shohdy
Cad Designer
Mina Maher
Data Entry Specialist
Halim Greiss
Regional Director of
Business Development
Sherif Zaki
Sales Manager
Shereen Edward
Regional Design Team Manager
Shady Petro
Operations Manager, Acting
Sales Manager
Mina Helmy
Senior System Designer
Adham Hany
System Designer
Sherif Amir
Design Team Manager
Adham Shahin
Logistics Coordinator
Sherif El Dahshan
General Manager
Shereen Edward
Design Team Manager
Shady Petro
Operations Manager
Ahmed Omar
Solutions Consultant
Sameh Fahmy
Project Manager
Mina Helmy
Senior System Designer
Ahmed Refai
General Manager
Adel El Defraoui
Operations Manager
Lloyd Esteban
Project Coordinator
Andy Gorospe Jr
Technician
DUBAI, UAE
CERTIFIED
PROFESSIONALS
CAIRO, EGYPT
Our Dubai showroom is currently un-
dergoing renovation in order to better
serve you and reflect the newest
industry innovations. This complete
overhaul will feature some incredible
solutions never before on display in
the region! Some of these additions
will include a Reference Auro3D 13.1
private cinema, StarGlass screen
projection system, dedicated 4K
room and much more. We can’t wait
to welcome you to our new experi-
ence centre at the end of March.
New Hires
Organizational Changes
Resignations
Auro3D is a new surround sound format providing an audio immersion experience like never
before. In traditional surround sound, the speakers are arranged around the room at ear level
based on where you are seated. Auro3D adds an additional layer near the top portion of the
ceiling, as well as a speaker directly above your listening position termed “Director’s Voice.”
Sound Designers and Engineers, the people responsible for creating the soundtrack and audio
environments for movies, now have incredible control over sound reproduction. This is not brin-
ing you ‘closer to the movie’ this is literally putting you in the movie!
Hollywood has embraced this format so soon with already 18 major titles out and much more
to come! Furthermore, all of your existing movies are capable of being played in virtual Auro3D
through this incredible technology. Once you immerse yourself in such sound, you will never
want to experience a movie without it.
We all know that things keep getting smaller. A
few weeks ago Google announced what is the lat-
est manifestation of our shrinking world in Google
Chromecast – much to the dismay of the World’s
HDMI cable manufacturers. ‘Here we go again’ I
hear you all say. Another classic Google ‘throw a
technology out into the marketplace and see what
happens’ device. Well, I think this one is different
and a clear sign of the fight for content on our TVs.
The Google Chromecast.
The past five years have seen us go from a pure-
ly over-the-airwaves-delivered TV experience,
through devices that combine some over-the-air-
ways-delivery with IP delivery, and now to the ab-
solute acknowledgment that the future of all con-
tent delivery is The Internet. Just look at the sort of
companies at work here – Microsoft with the Xbox,
Sony with the PlayStation, Apple with the AppleTV,
and now, Google with the Chromecast.
This isn’t Google’s first bite at the Apple either
(pun absolutely intended). Does anyone remem-
ber Google TV? If you don’t, fear not, because
it was very flawed and few people have bought
one. A key difference with Chromecast is price – it
is US$35. This is low enough for most people to
take a punt, and is as close as a hardware device
gets to a ‘freemium’ model. It is also yet another
sign that hardware no longer rules our world, but a
combination of commercial deals for content, and
software that does.
Global IPTV
Already, in the US, around a third of primetime
downstream Internet traffic to the home is Net-
flix, and a unique thing about the Netflix platform
is how many hardware (that of course, are really
computers in disguise running software) devices
support it – the list of big players above all do. Add
in Roku, Boxee and most ‘smart’ TVs, and in Net-
flix we have the closest to a universally-accepted
Global IPTV delivery platform as currently exists.
Netflix accounts for a huge amount of peak time
Internet traffic.
Making it Easy for Our Clients
As integrators, our job is to present these options
to our clients in as easy, flexible and upgradeable
way as is possible. How many of you regularly visit
your clients with older systems to discuss how to
take advantage of all the new content platforms?
I would wager that today many of your clients are
totally unaware of what is now available and would
welcome being introduced to current and upcom-
ing possibilities.
You will, however, need to make some technical
choices. There is no reason why a Chromecast
cannot simply be plugged into an AVR or an HDMI
matrix switch directly, thus acting as any other
source component. The challenge, however, is to
balance choice with ease of use.
Picture the scenario where your client’s system
has a smart TV (with Audio Return channel via
HDMI enabled), a couple of games consoles, an
Apple TV and a Chromecast. Here we potentially
have five sources for the same Netflix content. Un-
less managed correctly by you, the integrator, this
leads to what I call ‘content fragmentation’ where
a user is unsure of which platform delivers which
content.
Until the commercial landscape matures further,
the reality is that there will not be a single all-en-
compassing hardware device that supports all
platforms. In the UK, I favour a Sky and Apple TV
mix – if only there were discrete control commands
that enable us to go straight to specific content
apps on these boxes. This would enable our UIs
to have buttons for content, rather than buttons for
hardware.
For now, we need to do as best a job as we can
to manage our clients’ ability to watch the same
content on multiple platforms. All the players dis-
cussed want dominance of our living rooms. It en-
ables their manufacturers to supplement declining
hardware revenues with increasing revenues from
IP-delivered content.
Providing a Coherent Media Experience
All of these manufacturers, to a certain extent,
make their products part of a closed ecosystem
that does not play well with other products. The
physical and on-screen interfaces on a games
console will be optimised for multidimensional
gameplay rather than simple menu navigation. Al-
though we can use these devices as a platform
for video content, I’m not sure I would choose to
at the moment, preferring the simple and elegant
UI of an AppleTV. It doesn’t play games, yet, but
paired with an Apple-ecosystem-friendly disk rip-
per/server provides a compelling and relatively in-
expensive solution. And don’t forget, we can still
make money by engineering the robust Ethernet
and 802.11x networks that these types of systems
crave in order to work reliably.
The Outclass server fits neatly into the
Apple Ecosystem.
Rather than these devices disintermediating(1)
us, they provide an opportunity for upgrades as
discussed above, as well as thoughtful integration
to give our customers an integrated and coher-
ent media experience. We must also never forget
about performance. Most consumer-orientated
IP-delivered content is far more compressed than
Blu-ray, with a very noticeable difference in picture
and sound quality as a result.
It is simply wrong to engineer a projector based 7.1
cinema and then feed it with highly-compressed
Internet-delivered content. Recently, Kaleides-
cape announced a relatively (for them) affordable
media server that can access a dedicated online
store to download Blu-ray-quality movies. This is
limited to the studios that they have so far done
deals with, but provides the convenience of down-
loads, with the quality of Blu-ray.
The new Kaleidescape Cinema One media
server can access a dedicated online store
to download Blu-ray-quality movies.
Conclusion
We all need to understand, and to a certain ex-
tent embrace, all of these content platforms. Don’t
just scream ‘but I make no money on them!’ There
is still the rest of the system to make a profit on.
Embrace quality, simplify the complex and in all
cases ensure that your customers understand and
can access all of the Internet content available to
them.
(1) In economics, disintermediation is the removal
of intermediaries in a supply chain, or ‘cutting out
the middleman’. Instead of going through tradi-
tional distribution channels, which had some type
of intermediate (such as a distributor, retailer or
integrator), companies may now deal with every
customer directly, for example via the Internet.
One important factor is a drop in the cost of servic-
ing customers directly. This can happen in any in-
dustry where distributors or resellers operate and
the manufacturer wants to increase profit margins,
therefore missing out intermediaries to increase
their margins.
Peter Aylett is a world-renowned speaker and lec-
turer in residential technology, and the Technical
Director at Archimedia, a multinational high-end
residential integrator in The Middle East. He is also
currently Chair of CEDIA’s International Technolo-
gy Council Applied Content Action Team, and a
regular contributor to HiddenWires.
We’re thrilled to announce that
Archimedia CEO Omar Hikal has
joined the CEDIA Board of Direc-
tors. CEDIA is the world’s leading
trade association of companies
specializing in home theater in-
stallation, planning, home theater
design, whole-house integration
and energy efficiency systems.
We employ more CEDIA
certified professionals
than all other companies
in the region combined.Omar Hikal joins
CEDIA’s Board
of Directors
Archimedia would like to
welcome Lloyd’s new baby
girl “Lloraine Abrielle”
* She was born on January 11
NEW BABY!NEW BABY!
We’re Renovating!
DUBAI SHOWROOM
By Peter Aylett,
Archimedia.
The Fight for Control of Your
Living Room Entertainment
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