The quality of educational content should match the caliber of the institution providing it. When the University of Miami’s UOnline department set out to revitalize its content creation capabilities, it needed a facility capable of meeting the rigorous demands of a premier online learning system.

Midtown Video recently collaborated with the UOnline team to design and integrate a comprehensive production hub, featuring a sophisticated control room, two versatile studios, and an audio podcast room. We were honored to join the UOnline team for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony, celebrating a space that is already serving as a vital resource for the University.

Take a look at the project below.

SEE ALSO: The University of Miami Art Gallery at The Chapel

It Quickly Became a Multidisciplinary Resource

While the facility’s primary mission is to produce high-end content for UOnline’s curriculum, the space’s impact has already expanded across the University. The studios are designed for flexibility, making them a valuable rental resource for other departments. 

The Miller School of Medicine has already secured multiple production dates for the coming months, and representatives from the College of Engineering were present at the launch to discuss future collaborations. Cross-departmental utility is a testament to the facility’s professional-grade specifications and Midtown’s abilities to design, install, and support leading-edge technology solutions in higher education.

Solving for Space and Standards

Every project presents unique architectural challenges. For the UOnline facility, the primary hurdle was the narrow footprint of the control room. Our engineering team had to balance a high-density equipment load with strict ADA compliance requirements.

To solve this, Midtown designed a custom control console with a shallower profile than is typical for broadcast environments. Despite the physical constraints, the workstation remains ergonomically sound and fully functional. Producers can manage complex multi-camera shoots without compromising comfort or accessibility.

Specialized Tools for Pedagogy

The studios are equipped with specialized tools designed to make digital instruction more engaging and intuitive. Maintaining this critical human connection during technical lessons is imperative for online learning and student success.

One of the standout features is a translucent lightboard that lets professors face the camera and write on a glass surface with special markers during recordings. The text is later mirrored in post-production so students can see the instructor’s face and their notes simultaneously. 

The facility also includes:

• A Full Green Screen Cyclorama: For immersive virtual environments and high-quality compositing.
• Professional Studio Lighting: Tuned for skin tones and set depth across both studio spaces.
• Broadcast-Grade Control: A centralized switching and audio mixing station for real-time production and streaming.

We Provide End-User Training and Partnership

While the hardware is impressive, a system is only as effective as the team operating it. A significant focus of this project was the transition from installation to operation. Midtown’s own Hernan Polo led the comprehensive training sessions for the UOnline team. The client’s feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The Multimedia Production team for UOnline noted that the training process was essential to their success. Midtown ensures teams have the confidence and technical proficiency to use our creative installations to their full potential.

Morgyn Joubert, the Director of Multimedia Production at the University of Miami UOnline, had this to say: “Working with Midtown Video on the UOnline production suite has been an outstanding experience from start to finish. Their team not only delivered a highly functional and professional-grade multimedia environment but also took the time to understand how faculty and production teams actually work within higher education. The attention to detail, custom solutions, and hands-on training have helped position the University of Miami’s UOnline studios as a scalable, future-focused resource for online learning and cross-campus collaboration.” 

This is What Totally Awesome Systems Look Like

The UOnline production suite represents the intersection of technical craftsmanship and educational vision. By focusing on intentional signal flow, custom furniture solutions, and dedicated user training, Midtown Video has helped create a learning environment that enables the University of Miami to produce world-class digital content for years to come.

Midtown Video is a leading AV integrator for large-scale institutional and corporate projects, specializing in high-density multi-studio builds and enterprise-wide rollouts. Whether we are building a broadcast studio for a university or a collaboration hub for a global firm, our goal remains the same: to create systems that support communication without distraction.

Book a consultation with Midtown Video today!

The post Inside the New UOnline Production Suite appeared first on Midtown Video | Professional Audio Video Integration Experts.

In the world of private equity, communication is the primary currency. When deal flow is constant and global collaboration is a daily requirement, the technology supporting those conversations cannot be a variable. It must be a constant.

Midtown Video recently partnered with a leading private equity firm in Brickell to execute a complete audiovisual transformation for the entire floor. Operating at the highest levels of international finance, the firm required a sophisticated refresh of its collaboration spaces, incorporating systems that could keep pace with the business while maintaining absolute reliability.

Keep reading to see how we helped them.

VIEW OUR OTHER PROJECTS HERE

Discretion and Reliability Were Top Requirements

Because of the sensitive nature of their work and adherence to SEC marketing regulations, our client chooses to maintain a high level of privacy regarding their internal operations. At Midtown Video, we respect our clients’ privacy and maintain strict confidentiality and full discretion. We understand that for many of our partners, the goal isn’t to draw attention to the technology, but to use the technology to support the mission without distraction.

The firm had previously struggled with aging, inconsistent systems, and service from other integrators that didn’t meet its standards. They needed a partner who prioritized technical depth and clean execution, then stuck around to provide long-term support when needed.

Expert Engineering for the Boardroom

The centerpiece of this multi-room rollout was the firm’s primary boardroom. For a space that hosts continuous, often back-to-back, high-level Zoom meetings throughout the week, good enough audio and video were not options.

Midtown Video designed and installed a robust solution featuring dual Sony 85” displays. To provide the visual clarity required for global presentations, we integrated a three-camera QSC system. Audio needed to be treated with equal importance, so we installed high-fidelity microphones along the entire 30-foot conference table, paired with SoundTube ceiling speakers positioned for uniform coverage. The result is a room where every participant, whether in the room or on the screen, is heard with total clarity.

Scalable Solutions Across the Office

The integration extended beyond the main boardroom into various specialized spaces throughout the office, each tailored to specific workflows:

Secondary Boardroom

This space features dual Sony 75” displays integrated with a Neat Bar Pro and Neat Center. We utilized Lightware signal management to keep the conferencing experience clean and stable.

Seven-Person Conference Room

Outfitted with a Sony 75” display and a Neat Bar Gen 2, this room allows the team to manage Zoom sessions with a single touch.

Executive Huddle Rooms

Smaller, high-impact spaces were equipped with Sony 65” displays and Neat Bar Gen 2 systems, providing the same professional-grade experience in a more compact footprint.

A Partnership Built on Follow-Through

Earning this client’s trust was not a matter of a single installation. It was the result of extensive research, collaborative design, and a commitment to superior programming. Midtown Video has exclusive access to best-in-class manufacturer partners, but we offer so much more than equipment. We ensure the signal flow is logical, the control interfaces are intuitive, and the backend is rock-solid.

What truly separates a Midtown Video project is our remaining dedication once the project is “done.” Every system we build is backed by great follow-up service and ongoing support. For this Brickell firm, knowing that their AV partner is available to refine and maintain their systems provides the confidence they need to focus on their clients, not their cabling and tech.

Looking Ahead

Our work with this firm continues to evolve. We are currently in the design phase for a dedicated executive podcast and streaming studio, as well as planning the AV architecture for a future office expansion that will include more than ten additional collaboration spaces.

At Midtown Video, we take pride in building systems that bring people together. For our clients in Brickell and beyond, we deliver innovative new spaces that are thoughtfully engineered, expertly installed, and fully supported.

Ready to build something incredible? Start a conversation here.

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The SAS certification is the third accreditation developed by The Alliance and involves a comprehensive process to ensure its Certified Solution Providers (CSPs) meet PSNI’s criteria for pre-installation practices, including customer relationships and engagement, deployment practices and future growth strategy.
Chris Miller, Executive Director for PSNI Global Alliance explained the importance that this new Strategic Account Specialist Certification will deliver for customers, “The SAS program is a business transformational model that focuses on teaching CSP account managers the critical skills that utilize common value enablers provided by being part of The Alliance. “

“In a world where everything is quickly being commoditized, it is how you engage with customers and connect with their real needs that is the differentiating factor. PSNI’s Strategic Account Specialist Certification has undoubtedly enhanced our customers experience already.”

Covering several areas, including, customer experience, proven best practices, and relationship building, CSPs are required to train and complete a strategic account management workshop, as well as present to a PSNI panel and build a suitable account plan to earn their accreditation.

“Professionalism and preparation are the keys to understanding, meeting and exceeding customer expectations—locally and globally,” said Chris “By reinforcing the best practices of universal professional account management strategies, we are developing a sustainable approach that benefits our CSPs as well as their customers’ experience. This latest certification from PSNI is a big help in reinforcing those practices.”

To date, 10 PSNI Certified Solution Providers across the globe have officially earned their Strategic Account Specialist certification, applying their learnings to customers worldwide.

To learn more about the Alliance and it’s globally unified offering, visit: www.psni.org.

About PSNI Global Alliance
PSNI Global Alliance is the world’s most recognized network of AV integrators, manufacturers, distributors, and service partners, with a presence in more than 200 cities worldwide. Its innovative model allows best-in-class providers to work as one, bringing scalable, standardized technology solutions and managed services to organizations everywhere. With proprietary global deployment and services certifications, and truly localized support, The Alliance improves the integration and optimization of technology solutions so organizations around the world can transform the ways we work and live. www.psni.org.

The post Chari Hill, Midtown Video Customer Account Partner, Achieves PSNI Certification for Strategic Account Engagement appeared first on Midtown Video | Professional Audio Video Integration Experts.

By Jesse Miller, CEO, Midtown Video, Inc. (Read the original article here: www.cepro.com)

With residential integrators taking on more light commercial/resimercial work, I want to share Midtown Video’s innovative development to improve the audio experience for a retail chain that specifically focuses on rotating through multiple immersive ‘experiences’ throughout its space.

Camp, A Family Experience Company, has eight locations from New York to California. Each toy store features standard retail offerings in the front and an 8,000-square-foot ticketed immersive experience in the back, revealed by a secret passage disguised as a bookshelf.

A single CAMP location can cycle through multiple different themes throughout the year, necessitating supporting elements, such as the audio and lighting, to change with the theme. Photo Courtesy/Midtown Video

As the retailer opened new locations, they introduced additional themes including Space Camp, Cooking Camp, and Sports Camp. To keep each location fresh, Camp would rotate the thematic experiences between their locations every six months. Imagine getting called back to the store twice per year to re-position speakers and re-run 16 AWG cable from the rack to every single pendant hanging throughout the space.

As their success grew, so did their partnerships. Soon, there was “Mickey and Friends,” allowing kids and parents to celebrate Mickey Mouse’s birthday with giant projection-mapped rooms featuring classic Disney characters.

Camp Experiences began to launch the same day as feature films, including The Little Mermaid in Atlanta and Trolls: Band Together in New York. To make way for the Trolls Experience, the Encanto Experience running in the Manhattan store was taken down, crated up, and shipped to launch the new Washington, D.C. store.

Each immersive experience is a combination of AV technology, set building, life safety, in-person camp counselors, and retail merchandising. You can guess where AV fit into the construction schedule: Last! We were given the shortest amount of time on site, and only after the carpet was laid, the sets were built, and the paint had dried.

We needed a solution to reduce the amount of AV work during hectic theme rotations, and still meet deadlines and expectations.

Digital Audio Adds Much-Needed Flexibility for Immersive Retail Experiences

Enter an idea from Camp’s Director of IT, Josh Wright. He also serves as their AV liaison (and lighting, control, building access, etc.). Having a partner with such a broad understanding of technology is critical to success. At the outset, Wright standardized a 6 x 6-foot unistrut grid suspended 13 feet above the floor at every store. From the grid, we mounted all the DMX lighting, Wi-Fi access points, IP cameras, pendant speakers, and projectors.

With each theme rotation, our busy techs moved speakers and re-ran cables to fit the new floor maps. “Mickey’s Birthday” audio zones didn’t line up precisely with the summer camp bunks. Isabella’s Flower Garden isn’t the same shape as Ariel’s grotto, and the speaker zones required precise boundaries.

“If I put a network jack at each intersection of the 6 x6 grid, can we somehow reduce the amount of time and work it takes to rotate themes?” Wright asked.

Yes, it could — if we converted the audio from analog to digital using Dante! The next three store buildouts featured network jacks in the unistrut grid, and about 20 SoundTube IP-enabled pendant speakers. We filled the rack with Netgear M4250 switches and ran shielded twisted pair to all 170 network jacks.

Dante and the network grid give us the freedom to dynamically re-draw speaker zones without having to run a bunch of new cable throughout the retail space every time they wanted to switch over to a new immersive experience.

If the new layout calls for a pendant speaker to be moved, a 10-foot patch cable guarantees that we can reach a network jack. If we overload one location with devices, we can simply add a small PoE+ switch. This is how we solved the “Sing along with the band” Concert Arena in the Trolls Experience — it features an extra set of 6x IP-enabled trapezoids and a 15-inch subwoofer with Audinate Avio Dante-to-XLR-output adapter.

Half of Camp stores have these network jacks. Once we can convert the rest, Camp will have successfully reduced the AV install times company-wide. We’re looking forward to meeting the next deadline with great enthusiasm.

The post Creating Rotating Immersive Retail Experiences Through Digital Audio appeared first on Midtown Video | Professional Audio Video Integration Experts.

In this interview, Jesse discusses the challenges and successes encountered while working extensively with houses of worship during the tumultuous years of 2020-21. Midtown Video’s commitment to helping churches seamlessly transition to broadcast services is illuminated, showcasing their expertise in live production, streaming technology, and audio system optimization.

Discover how NDI technology has become a catalyst for change, enabling remote camera and switcher operations. The integration of modern tech with traditional church aesthetics has been a core challenge, and Jesse elaborates on Midtown Video’s innovative solutions, including strategic speaker placements to enhance sound without compromising the visual appeal of the church.

As churches increasingly embrace digital over the network, NDI technology emerges as a beacon of possibilities. Explore the new horizons it opens for churches seeking reliable and user-friendly upgrades to their audiovisual systems. Join us in this conversation to witness the intersection of technology, tradition, and worship.

Key Points Covered:

-NDI Transformations: Discover how NDI technology has empowered Midtown Video to execute unique projects, allowing for remote camera and switcher operations.

-Church Focus in 2020-21: Explore Midtown Video’s significant role in assisting houses of worship during the pandemic, facilitating smooth transitions to broadcast services.

-Audio and Video Harmony: Learn how Midtown Video has addressed the challenge of integrating advanced technology with the aesthetic beauty of churches, ensuring seamless audio and video experiences.

-New Horizons with NDI: Uncover the exciting possibilities opened up by digital over the network, as NDI technology enables churches to upgrade systems with reliability and user-friendly features.

Learn more about NDI November  https://ndinovember.com/ Learn more about NDI  https://videoguys.com/collections/ndi…

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Step into the realm of enhanced athlete experience at the University of Miami’s football locker room, where technology takes center stage! Take a sneak peek behind the scenes as we unveil the remarkable evolution of their locker room. From dynamic visual displays to interactive gaming zones. With the help of Midtown Video, this innovative setup caters to a range of needs, enriching the overall athlete experience. Join us as we explore the collaborative efforts that made this project successful, all while underlining the role of advanced tech from AVPro Edge. Immerse yourself in the realm of evolving sports technology, where college football athletes engage and unwind like never before. Watch now to see how the partnership with Midtown Video created the University of Miami’s versatile AV setup. Unlocking a new level of athlete entertainment!

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A: Worrying about our logo isn’t something we do

B: We were so busy building AWESOME SYSTEMS for our clients that we couldn’t find the time

C: We must be marketing geniuses and went into the wrong line of work

D: We are running out of business cards in the supply closet so it was kind of time….

Or maybe… With new leadership and new ideas, there comes a time for a new look!

Aaaand it’s fair to say that if you can name the root technology of our original logo you – like some of us at Midtown Video – are gazing fondly at your AARP card and thinking about how great your hair looked back in 1984 – when you had any…. Yes, that’s an oscilloscope – a key piece of video tech back in the day if you wanted your cameras calibrated and your test patterns just right!

As anyone who has gone through a visual brand refresh can attest – it’s a bit of all of the above. In any case, we are excited to be launching the NEW MIDTOWN VIDEO BRAND!
We still hold true to our humble beginnings as South Florida’s very first all video broadcast and production equipment rental and sales company. As our mission states: Midtown Video delivers systems that our customers use with pride and confidence

Since 1984 Midtown Video has been a leader in developing advanced technology solutions for enterprise-level organizations seeking to communicate, collaborate and connect. We develop solutions that are optimized for users, that simplify complex challenges, and that provide powerful automation and intelligence to make your work efficient and effective.

From 1984 to 2023 – and beyond!

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Rants & rAVes — Episode 1218: InfoComm Is More Than New Products and Tech; It’s About Education, Too!

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