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Process · Survey to install
We measure the room before we quote it, and the room arrives signed in.
Five steps from the first photo to the first call: survey, specification, a 48-hour burn-in on your own platform, staging, and meeting room installation in the Austin area or a configured shipment anywhere in the United States.
7 mThe room the 3 m bar was sold into
Why we will not quote a room we have not measured
The most common job we get called to is not a broken device. It is a compact video bar chosen for a 3 m huddle room, installed at the end of a 7 m table with a glass wall down one side. The bar works perfectly. The people in the back three seats sound like they are in the parking lot.
Nobody did anything wrong on paper. The spec sheet said "conference room". So we start every job with the same short list: room length, seat count, ceiling height and a photo of each wall. That is enough to start.
The five steps
What happens, and when
Each step has an owner on our side and one thing we need from yours.
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Day 1 to 2
Survey
In the Austin area we come and measure: a laser meter for length, width and ceiling height, a clap test for reverb, and photos of every wall, the ceiling grid, the floor boxes and the network point. Outside Austin you do the same with a tape and a phone, and we walk you through it on a call.
We note what changes the hardware: glass, a supply vent over the table, a window behind the display, a credenza where the room PC has to live, and the distance to the nearest switch.
- We need from you
- Room access or photos of every wall
- You get
- A one-page room sheet with measurements
Fig. 1The red dot lands on the far glass wall. That reading decides between a bar and a ceiling array. -
Day 2 to 3
Specification and written quote
We pick the camera, audio, display and connectivity for the room as measured, not the room as described. Camera on the display at 1,150 mm off the floor, because above that everyone looks like they are being filmed from a ladder. Display size from the viewing distance: screen height times four should reach the back seat.
The written quote lists every line: hardware, compute unit, mounts, cable by the metre, install, freight. Platform licences are yours to buy and we say which ones. Payment is by invoice once you accept the written quote.
- We need from you
- Platform, room account details, firmware policy
- You get
- A written quote and a room drawing
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Week 1 to 2
48-hour burn-in on your platform
Every device runs for 48 hours on the bench in Austin before it is staged. Firmware is set to the version your IT team approves. Where you give us a room account, the room is signed into your Teams Rooms or Zoom Rooms tenant and joins test calls on a schedule through the two days.
Roughly one unit in a batch shows something during burn-in: a fan that ticks, a camera that drops USB after an hour, a touch controller that will not wake. Those go back to the distributor before you ever see them. That is the point of the 48 hours.
- We need from you
- A room account or a test account
- You get
- A burn-in log per device
- Laser survey
- Clap test
- Camera at 1,150 mm
- Screen height × 4
- 48 h burn-in
- Room account signed in
- Cables labelled per room
- PoE+ 802.3at
- 30 days configuration support
Staging and install
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Week 2 to 3
Staging
Each room is laid out on the bench as it will sit on site: bar, PC, controller, table box, ceiling tiles. Every cable is cut to the surveyed length, terminated and labelled at both ends with the room name and the port. Mounts are pre-assembled. A multi-room order is packed one crate per room, so the installer never opens a box to find somebody else's controller.
Outside Austin this is where your order ships, with a printed room sheet, the labelled cables and a booked phone session for the day your electrician or AV contractor mounts it.
- We need from you
- Install date and site access
- You get
- One crate and one room sheet per room
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Install day
Install and first call
In the Austin area we mount, cable and tune. Ceiling tiles go into the grid on a single Cat6 run each, lobes are steered off the door and the vent, and the camera framing is set with people sitting in the actual chairs. A huddle room takes half a day. A boardroom with two ceiling tiles and two displays takes a full day.
The room is handed over after a live call with someone on your team at the far end, not after the lights come on. Then the 30-day configuration support starts; the terms are on the warranty page.
- We need from you
- Someone to join the test call
- You get
- A working room and 30 days of configuration support
Fig. 2A ceiling array going into a 600 mm grid on one Cat6 run. Power and audio share the same cable.
Before the survey
What to send with the first email
Six things. If you only have the first three, send those.
- Room length and widthA tape measure is fine. Wall to wall, in metres or feet.
- Seat countChairs at the table, plus any that line the wall during big meetings.
- A photo of each wallTaken from the opposite corner, lights on. Glass shows up well this way.
- Ceiling height and typeGrid tiles, plaster or open deck. A photo looking straight up helps.
- PlatformTeams Rooms, Zoom Rooms or people's own laptops over USB.
- Where the network point isAnd roughly how far the nearest switch sits from the room.
Who this suits
Where our process is the wrong fit
Short list. Better to say it now than after the survey.
- A boardroom priced from a webcamWe do not sell webcams for boardrooms. Ask and we will tell you why; the short version is that a 90° lens at one end of a 6 m table shows the back of the nearest two heads.
- Rooms over 24 seatsAuditoriums and divisible halls need an acoustic consultant and a different class of hardware. We will refer you rather than stretch a boardroom kit.
- Hardware only, no configurationThe burn-in and setup are in every band. If you want boxes at the lowest price, a distributor will be cheaper.
- Install the same week48 hours of burn-in plus staging means two weeks at the fastest. We will not skip the bench to hit a date.
Planning questions
What buyers ask before booking a survey
Is the survey charged?
A photo survey is free. An on-site survey in the Austin area is part of the install line on the written quote; if you do not go ahead, we say up front what the visit costs before we book it.
Can our own AV contractor do the install?
Yes. We stage and label for them, send the room sheet and stay on the phone through mounting. Many buyers outside Texas work this way.
What if we already own some of the hardware?
Send the model numbers. If a display or a switch is fine, we plan around it and drop it from the quote. If a bar is wrong for the room, we will say so and say why.
How do you handle twenty rooms across three floors?
Survey all of them, group them by size into a handful of standard room types, burn in and stage one type at a time. The estimator shows the volume reductions at 5 and 15 rooms.
Book a survey
Start with one room
Send the room length, the seat count and a photo of the walls. That is enough to start.