At PSRC, central Puget Sound counties (King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap), cities and towns, ports, tribes, transit agencies, and the state work together to develop policies and make decisions about regional issues. Five Board Committees meet on a regular basis and these meetings require in room presentation and voice reinforcement, as well as live streaming, recording, and archival capabilities. Prior to the upgrade, the existing systems did not support high resolution digital video and the quality of audio systems did not allow far-end meeting participants the ability to hear and understand what was being said in the Council Chambers. It was time to bring the technology up to current standards and after interviewing several companies, PSRC selected Tempest to provide Design/Build services for the design, acquisition and installation of the new AV systems for the Boardroom, Conference Rooms, and Lobby Displays.
The chairman is now able to moderate meetings via a Creston touch screen located at the chairman’s station for simple, intuitive use of the AV Systems. The new conferencing system supports the requirement for flexible seating arrangements, while electronically recognizing who is seated at what position, displaying a video overlay of their name/title while they are on camera. The conferencing software keeps a meeting stack, allowing only the person whose turn it is to take the floor by activating their microphone. In addition, the software supports the tallying of committee member votes.
A variety of presentation sources are selectable via the touch panel, to be viewed on two WUXGA projectors and two 16:10 HD Progressive screens for viewing by participants. A 70" LCD display also allows the public gallery and guests to view the presentation as well.
Video teleconferencing and output to the streaming system is achieved utilizing a LifeSize integrated videoconferencing system with (4) ceiling mounted Pan/Tilt/Zoom cameras. The cameras are tightly integrated with the conferencing system and automatically present views of the current speaker when their microphone is active. The sophisticated control logic and the high-speed cameras allow the system to make camera transitions without the end user ever experiencing a "camera swing", which can be extremely distracting during meetings.
Additional video outputs are provided to support overflow to two 46" lobby displays. These displays can show presentation content from the Boardroom and medium conference room, or play an automated slideshow when meeting overflow is not required.